Free Sankey Diagram Software Mac

Whether you are looking for flowcharts, sitemaps, business processes, organization charts, wireframes or other diagrams to use on your website, we can help!

Visualization is a powerful medium of communication. What can be expressed in thousands of words can be easily conveyed through one image or diagram. Diagrams are pictorial or graphical presentation of information. They can be used for a plethora of purposes. Diagrams can simplify the sharing of important data, they can be used in sales or purely for informational purposes, they can be used for convenience and they can supplement other forms of presentation. A business website should make optimum use of different types of diagrams. Not all forms will be relevant for every website, but if you choose one of the best website builders then you should be able to easily integrate the diagram of your choice. While you should look for tools that can help you to create professional looking diagrams to use on your website, the first thing you need to decide is the type of diagram you must choose for a given purpose.

Different Types of Diagrams

You must be familiar with flowcharts and sitemaps. You may not be familiar with wireframes and business processes. Some diagrams are for the audience, such as pie charts and organisation charts which can be helpful if you are blogging for beginners on a “how to” type of site. Some diagrams are for the business or those managing the website, such as wireframes. Your choice of a particular diagram will depend on the process you are trying to map out, the purpose you have in mind, if there would be any math involved in the presentation, whether or not there will be any comparison and illustration, if it would be simply a statistical presentation or a plan of action with definitive steps. Every type of diagram has one fundamental purpose, to present information or data in a way that is meaningful, easy to comprehend and helpful.

Diagram

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  • One of the most widely used diagrams on websites is a flowchart. Nothing lays out the steps as simply and coherently as a flowchart. It is simple and effective. There are enough variations and symbols that you can use for a flowchart to present complex ideas or steps without complicating the presentation.
  • The next most common type of diagram is business process modeling notation. This is more suited for substantially complicated processes. A flowchart can be found lacking in some niches so if you have something highly technical or a cobweb of information, then you should go for business process modeling notation.
  • The third popular type of diagram is UML, which is unified modeling language. This type has several variants and is usually a favorite among business analysts and software engineers. Like other sets of diagrams, unified modeling language can cater to various purposes.

The Plethora of Choices for Specific Purposes

Over the years, many diagrams have become associated and almost synonymous with specific purposes. Fishbone is widely used for marketing purposes. Organisation charts, which are not very different from family tree as a concept, are almost customary to present associations, network of partners or the hierarchy of a company. If there are math problems that need to be presented in a simple manner then you could opt for probability tree diagrams or Venn diagrams. You could use pie charts, bar/column charts and bubble charts among others.

Unified modeling language diagrams are a little more complicated than pie charts and organisation charts. There are many types of diagrams within this system that you have to be familiar with before you can use a tool to create them. These diagrams are categorized as structure, class, component, deployment, object, package, profile, composite structure, behavioral, use case, activity, state machine, sequence, communication, interaction overview and timing.

Tools to Help you Create Professional Looking Diagrams on your Website

There is no dearth of templates that you can use. Many templates come with enough scope for customisation so you don’t need to settle for exactly what is available. You don’t need to design diagrams from the scratch but you would need to work on the content, present it in a professional way and host it on your website. You may need your webmaster to incorporate the diagrams seamlessly into your website design. The diagrams must not look out of place. This is why most business owners and managers use specific tools.

  • Plot.ly is a popular tool. You can use the application to import the data you need. You would not have to manually fill the various fields within a diagram. You can source all the data and present them in a customised way. You can use this tool for free but if you wish to collaborate with others then there is a fee you need to pay every month. Plot.ly allows you to use bar charts, line graphs, heat maps, box plots, histograms, bubble charts and error bars among others. There are three dimensional charts and graphs as well. You can work with various types of files including PNG, PDF, SVG, EPS, WebP and JPG among others. Plot.ly is used by Washington Post, Boston Globe and even the United States Air Force.
  • Hohli is another popular online charts builder. This tool is for everyone who does not want to deal with the coding or the technicalities. This is a turnkey application in a way. You can focus only on the data and how it is being represented using the chosen diagrams. Hohli uses Google Charts API as its foundation but it has fewer options than Google. You can work with pie charts, line charts, column or bar charts, scatter and area, trend and map among others. You can choose from a plethora of styles, sizes, colors and orientations. Hohli is widely used by students and teachers. It is just as useful to make charts for your website.
  • Google Charts is a fascinating tool if you want to create amazing diagrams for your website. Google Charts is widely used by developers so you can imagine the myriad of charts & diagrams that it can help you to create. The tool uses JavaScript and leverages HTML5/SVG for compatibility across browsers. This tool may be a little complicated for those who have no familiarity with coding. You must know a fair bit about web design to make the most of this tool. There are twenty eight types of graph including bubble charts, histograms, bar charts, flowcharts, organisation charts, wireframes and Sankey diagrams. All these can be customised in innumerable ways. The tool allows you to make interactive charts, not something every application facilitates. You can effortlessly link your diagrams to a dashboard and other features on your website.
  • There are many other tools such as Rich Chart Live, RAW and Cacoo but they don’t really outperform Creately. You can try Creately for free but the full scope can be explored only with a personal or team plan. Creately is a treasure trove for anyone looking for professional diagrams. The infographics libraray is an almost unmatched resource. The company offers great support. You can work with business processes diagrams, user interfaces, organisation charts and there is a flowchart maker. The personal and team plans will give you access to their mind mapping software, SWOT analysis, wireframe software, sitemap drawing software, Gantt charts software, flowchart software for Mac, business diagram and system diagram software. There are UML diagrams creator and UML sequence diagrams. You can use a case diagram tool, class diagrams creator, database design software, Venn diagram creator, software for network diagram, educational diagrams creator, ER software and concept map maker. Creately is easy to use. The shapes and connectors are the best in class. You can collaborate with others and explore thousands of templates. There are desktop and mobile versions of the application. You can also use the online version.

Many of you have asked if I could name some software tools that can be used for drawing Sankey diagrams. So I am compiling a list of programs I have tested, or came across during my research. By no means do I wish to endorse any of these products, however, I do have a favorite, as some of the readers of this blog might have observed already.

I am grouping the list in (1) softwares that are specifically designed to make Sankey diagrams, (2) tools that support one specific type of Sankey or Sankey-style diagrams (this section also includes Matlab routines and open source), (3) software that are not available any more, and (4) other programs that do have Sankey as one of their features, but the main purpose for using the software is different. Time permitting I will do individual pages for the tools, and include my test notes and screenshots. The lists are sorted alphabetically.

This is a simple list. No warranty taken whatsoever for the software tools listed here. Download and install at your own risk. Contact the individual software makers for support, not me, please!

Please note: This list is to be understood as non-exhaustive! Do you know of any Sankey diagram software not listed here? Let me know

Full Sankey Desktop Software Tools

  • e!Sankey 5 (website)
    First released in November 2006, latest update version November 2019, a tool by German software firm ifu Hamburg. Version ‘pro’ with Excel interface. This is one of the tools I use for my work, see sample diagrams on this blog. License costs 240 €/480 € (pro). Free trial version.
  • S.DRAW 5.x (website)
    S.DRAW, originally developed by Austrian company STENUM is now being handled by Altenburger Consulting & Software in the US. A single license is 485 US$/405 €. Comes with a hardlock key (dongle). Update December 2010. A demo version is available.
  • Sankey Editor 2011 (website offline)
    A Sankey drawing software by an Austrian company named Stenum. First released in 2005 by LogSim (their website seems dead: website). Single license is 149 €. Demo version available.
  • Sankey Helper 2.4 (website)
    A freeware tool by Gabor Doka from Switzerland that allows to draw simple Sankey diagrams in Excel. It was one of the first software for Sankey diagrams available. Last updated in January 2010.

Web-based, mostly building on open-source d3.js

  • eco-data.fr (webpage)
    eco-data.fr offers different types of online visualization tools, among which there is also a Sankey diagram. Based apparently on d3.js and the Sankey library the diagrams are built by defining nodes (‘noeuds’) and links (‘liens’). Dragging nodes horizontally or vertically keeps the arrows attached to the nodes. Your Sankey diagrams can be saved and reopened for modification. Enter values manually or loaded from a csv file.
  • Excel to Sankey (blog)
    Developed by Bruce McPherson based on work done by Mike Bostock this code uses d3.js to create left-to-right distribution diagrams over several categories/columns. An interactive version can be created that allows dragging the nodes within the columns.
  • Google Charts / Sankey (webpage)
    The Google Charts available on the Google Developers page now include Sankey diagrams. Again, nodes and links to show a “many-to-many mapping” between two categories or multiple paths through a set of stages. Color options for nodes and bands.
  • Sankey Builder (Blog)
    Sankey Builder is another online tool for distribution diagrams built originally on d3.js. New features were added in January 2016. A free version is available, pricing scheme for commercial users available at 20 US$ and 30 US$.
  • Sankey Flow Show (webpage)
    A web-based Sankey diagram tool by Thortec Software in Germany. Straight-forward drawing of diagrams. Many layout options, e.g. node types, arrow curves, arrow shadow. Diagrams can be stored locally or in cloud drive. Free trial/student account, pro account at 3.99 US$/month.
  • SankeyMATIC (webpage)
    An online tool by Steve Bogart. Users can enter their value sets in a list box, diagram will create automatically. Based on open source d3.js and its Sankey library.
  • Wikibudgets Sankey Web App (Website)
    A free web app focused on financial flows (budget, transfers) by wikibudgets.org. A novel approach for setting up the diagram since you hand pick the element shapes and just plug them together in the browser window.

Free Sankey Diagram

One specific type of Sankey-style diagrams, e.g. alluvial

  • iOS Sankey Diagram App (website)
    The first Sankey app for iOS, by SquishLogic LLC. Optimized for the iPad. Handles different diagrams, move nodes with gestures, set arrow colors. Left-to-right orientation of diagrams. Export as PNG or PDF. Connects to mail, Twitter, Facebook. Available for $9.99 at iTunes.
  • ParSets V2.1 (blog)
    A project by Robert Kosara, featured on eagereyes. Freeware for Mac, Windows and Linux. Can do top-down oriented bands, hooked to nodes (categories). Data can be imported from CSV file. Similar to Fineo.

Sankey Diagram Free Software

For the geeks (Javascript, Python, R, Mathlab)

  • drawSankey (Code available at Matlab Central.)
    Developed by James Spelling and Germain Augsburger at EPFL in Lausanne. DrawSankey.m draws simple Sankey diagrams in Matlab (input, losses, output).
  • jstepien’s Sankey (link broken)
    A very basic online tool to draw simple left-to-right b/w Sankey diagrams. You can enter a number of named nodes and define the edges with quantities. Didn’t get it to work, but you can see an example here.
  • Sankey (Sankey @ github)
    A Mathematica workbook by Sam Calisch that can be used to draw left-to-right distribution diagrams with several nodes ordered in columns. An example of the output can be seen here.
  • Sankey Diagrams in Python (matplotlib @ Sourceforge)
    ‘matplotlib’ is an open source project. Now has functionality to draw left-to-right oriented Sankey diagrams. Features available are labeling of flows, formatting of colors, fonts, borders, etc.
  • Sankey by tamc (tamc/Sankey @ github)
    Commenter Colm O’G suggested this javascript library for drawing sankey / flow diagrams in a browser to be added to the list, thanks. This seems to have been inspired by Fineo. An online implementation example can be seen on Andy Tow’s Atlas Electoral here.
  • SankeyR (blog post)
    An adaptation of the Matlab drawSankey function (see above) to work in R by Aaron Berdanier at Colorado State. Simple left to right Sankey diagrams. New release in July 2010.
Free Sankey Diagram Software Mac

Former Sankey diagram software: discontinued or fate is unclear

  • Sankey 3.1 (no website known)
    The fate of this tool is unknown. It was developed and distributed by Fichtner Consulting from Stuttgart, Germany in the late 1990ies. However, no information or screenshots can be found on the web.
  • Sankey Diagram Maker v1.08 (blog)
    New in 2012, a freeware tool provided by H.J. Berchmans, downloadable from Google Docs. .NET 4.0 must be installed on your machine. Users can draw simple left-to-right Sankey diagrams, choose colors. Make sure to read the comments…
  • Sankey Generator 0.4 (blog)
    Result of a student project by Sam Brenner, not intended to be launched commercially. Allows drawing of simple inflow/outflow Sankey diagrams. Code has been released to public domain.
  • Sankey PROFI Energie (webpage discontinued)
    A software with templates for energy management, available in German only. Published by software reseller WEKA, from the looks it is most likely a customized/branded version of e!Sankey (see above).
  • Sankey.Vis (website, now redirected)
    From the makers of the interactive Sankey diagram tool at Bauhaus University Weimar. The developers seem to have founded a company in Berlin and we could see this tool being developed further.
  • SimSankey (website, in German only)
    This small-scale tool by a company named ‘Similar’ from Germany, allows to draw simple top-down-oriented energy diagrams.
  • Yekans (website offline)
    This software probaly never got beyond the first idea, and a small website. Website not available any more.

Free Sankey Diagram Software Macromedia

Software with different areas of application, that have some kind of Sankey functionality

Sankey Diagram Software

  • CASAnova (website)
    Subtitle: An Educational Software for Energy and Heating Demand, Solar Heat Gains and Overheating Risk in Buildings. This freeware tool allows to enter numerous parameters for a building, and will eventually produce a Sankey diagram of energy flows.
  • eMPlant
    eMPlant (part of the UGS Tecnomatix Suite) claims to “Material flow may be visualized in a Sankey chart that, at a glance, shows transport volume in the context of the layout”. I have not verified this information.
  • Foreseer (website)
    An online tool will help users predict trade-offs between the global commodities of energy, water and land. Developed at University of Cambridge by Julian Allwood and his research group. Foreseer relies heavily on Sankey diagrams.
  • GaBi (website)
    A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) software for analyzing the environmental impacts of a product. This tool by German maker PE Europe can visualize the flows of material in a life cycle with Sankey diagrams.
  • HSC Chemistry (website)
    A simulation software package for chemical processes by Outotec Research Oy from Finland. text on website claims “The HSC-Sim module has built-in ‘Sankey diagrams’ to visualize the distribution of the elements and process variables”.
  • LESOSAI (website)
    A software for calculating the heat balance of a building. Developed by the Solar Energy and Building Physics Laboratory at the EPFL in Lausanne, it is marketed by a company E4tech. Sankey diagrams for heat losses in a building can be dispayed.
  • OpenLCA (Help page)
    Another Life Cycle Assessment software that has a basic Sankey diagram feature as “graphical illustration of the impacts of different flows in the product system”.
  • Pleiades + Comfie (website)(Wiki)
    Pleiades + Comfie is a software for energy simulation in builings by a French company named Izuba. Although I haven’t seen any screenshot, it seems to have some kind of Sankey diagram output.
  • Raw (website)
    Raw is an “open web app to create custom vector-based visualizations”. Numerous chart types, one of which are alluvial diagrams. This is the successor of Fineo by DensityDesign.
  • SimaPro (website)
    Another LCA software, by PRé Product Ecology Consultants from Amersfoort, Netherlands. The contributions of the individual life cycle phases are displayed in a tree-like Sankey-style graphic.
  • SIMBA / ifak-Sankey (website)
    A simulation software developed by ifak at the University of Magdeburg, Germany. SIMBA was developed to simulate wastewater systems, and also has a Sankey display feature. They are also the maker of ifak-Sankey (offered by Kontenda).
  • STAN 2 (website)
    STAN is a software for substance flow analysis, developed by inka software for the University of Technology of Vienna, Austria. It has a feature for displaying flows in their network diagrams as Sankey arrows. Version 2.0 released May 2009.
  • Tableau (website)
    Data visualization and data analytics software for business intelligence. Now also provides distribution diagrams organized in columns (similar to Fineo, Parsets). See an example here.
  • Tecnomatix Plant Simulation (website)
    Comprehensive plant simulation software package by Siemens claims that “Material flow may be visualized in a Sankey chart that, at a glance, shows transport volume in the context of the layout”. A Sankey-like diagram is shown in their product brochure.
  • Umberto (website)
    A Life Cycle Assessment and Material Flow Analysis software by ifu Hamburg GmbH. A display of flow values (material, energy, cost, environmental impact) in a Sankey diagram has been a feature of this software since version 3.0. They are also the maker of e!Sankey (see above).

    • Last update of this list: March 2018