Overview

Datastory combines chart-making with a publishing workflow: visualizations can stand alone as links, appear embedded in websites, or be exported as high-quality images. The Open Data catalog adds statistics from sources such as OECD, WHO, Eurostat, the World Bank and the UN, which can help users start from established public datasets rather than importing everything themselves.

Its AI can interpret uploaded data, recommend visualizations, surface insights and draft captions grounded in workspace data. The chart picker also reads data columns and recommends encodings for categorical, temporal, geographic and hierarchical information. That guidance is relevant for people working across varied data, though the product's central strength is explaining and publishing data, not simply producing static graphics.

Key features

Publishing flexibility is a practical advantage: the same visualization can be shared as a link, embedded in a site or exported as an image. Datastory says embedding works in Notion, Webflow, newsletters and content management systems, giving teams multiple routes to put work in front of readers.

For collaborative or governance-conscious teams, role-based access control and multi-factor authentication accompany encryption in transit with TLS 1.3 and at rest with AES-256. Datastory states that it complies with GDPR as a data processor and platform provider, with a data processing agreement standard in project contracts. Primary data centers are in EU/EEA regions; enterprise customers may request data-residency options. Linked data, for connecting datasets in a knowledge graph and reusing metric definitions, is an Enterprise feature.

Accessibility remains a gap to weigh: contrast-checked, color-blind-safe palettes are in progress, while keyboard and screen-reader support are on the roadmap. Teams for whom accessible visualizations are a present requirement should account for that status before choosing Datastory.

Pricing

Starter costs 0.00 USD per free. It includes 10 data visualizations, up to 3 team members, 100 AI credits per month, unlimited open-data downloads and email support. This is enough room to explore the workflow or support a small, occasional project, but the visualization and seat ceilings constrain sustained team publishing.

Professional costs 15.00 USD per month, billed per user. It removes the visualization and collaborator limits and raises the allowance to 1000 AI credits per month; priority support, custom logo and theming are also included. For teams publishing regularly, the per-user billing is the key trade-off: capacity expands, but costs scale with the people on the account.

Enterprise has custom pricing and includes unlimited visualizations and collaborators, custom data integration and modeling, custom visualizations, a dedicated account manager and AI credits on demand. It is the tier for organizations needing bespoke data work or linked-data capabilities, rather than a predictable self-serve price.

Platforms

Datastory is available on the web. The service supports data import, team collaboration and interactive publishing, and the plans include a 15-project limit.

Who it's for

Datastory is best suited to data storytellers, analysts, journalists, NGOs and research teams that need to turn datasets into explorable, shareable explanations. The open-data catalog and chart recommendations make it especially relevant when projects span different data types; its publishing options suit work intended for websites and other channels. It is less compelling for users whose primary need is accessible chart output today, given that keyboard and screen-reader support remain on the roadmap.

Pros and cons

Multiple publishing formats: links, embeds and high-quality image exports let teams adapt a visualization to different channels.
Guidance for varied datasets: column-aware chart recommendations and AI-assisted insight and caption drafting can support the path from data to explanation.
Useful free entry point: unlimited open-data downloads and 100 monthly AI credits are included, but 10 visualizations and three team members limit continued use.
Accessibility work remains unfinished: contrast and color-blind-safe palettes are in progress, and keyboard and screen-reader support are still on the roadmap.
Professional scales by seat: visualizations and collaborators are unlimited, but the 15.00 USD per month per-user price can add up as teams grow.

Alternatives

Choose Visme instead if you want a broader web and desktop/mobile platform; its free Basic plan includes 500MB of storage and 50 slides/pages per project. Infogram is another option for users focused on interactive charts and maps, with its Basic plan offering 35+ chart types, 13 map types and online publishing.

Jeda.ai is an alternative. Piktochart is worth considering for infographic work; its Free plan includes 2 downloads and 1 GB storage. InfografAI offers a free Starter plan with 3 credits and 10 infographic styles. Venngage is another option, with a free plan limited to 5 designs and 6 image uploads. Text to Infographic is an alternative. a.graphics is a free web-based alternative.

For broader comparisons, see AI Infographic Makers, Data Storytelling Tools and Infographic Software.

Verdict

Choose Datastory if your work depends on turning real datasets into interactive stories and publishing them across links, embeds and image exports. Its chart guidance, open-data catalog and generous Professional collaboration limits support that workflow. Look elsewhere if accessibility support is a must-have now, or if per-user Professional pricing does not suit a growing team.

	Datastory	Marq
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Free trial	No	No
Paid from	$15/mo	$12/mo
Open source	No	No
Platforms	Web	Web
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Data import	Yes	—
Interactive publishing	Yes	—
Brand kit	Yes	Yes
Team collaboration	Yes	—
Publishing mode	both	—
Project limit	15	—
Paid from	—	10 /user/mo

Datastory vs Marq

Datastory

Marq