Comparison
MakeCharts vs Excel
Excel is where the data already is, and for a bar chart in a working file nothing beats selecting a range and pressing a key. It stops being the right tool at the point where the chart leaves the spreadsheet — when it has to look designed, when it has to be a Sankey, or when someone has to be able to change it without opening the workbook.
Feature by feature
| Feature | MakeCharts | Excel |
|---|---|---|
| Charting data you already have | Paste or upload it | It is already there |
| Sankey diagrams | Native, with financial presets | No native chart type; needs an add-in or manual shapes |
| Making it look designed | Editorial defaults, colourblind-safe palettes | Possible, but many dialogs deep |
| Editing by describing a change | Yes | Not offered |
| Vector export | SVG on the free plan | Copy as picture, or save the sheet as PDF |
| Formulas and pivot tables | Not offered — bring the result | The whole point of Excel |
| Working offline | No | Yes |
| Price | Free to start | Part of a Microsoft 365 subscription |
Plans and limits read from Excel in August 2026. Pricing changes — check theirs before deciding.
When Excel is the better choice
Keep the chart in Excel while the numbers are still moving. If the data changes daily, if the chart is one of forty in a working model, or if it never leaves the workbook, moving it to another tool only adds a step. Excel is also unbeatable at the part MakeCharts does not do at all: computing the numbers in the first place.
The short version
Do the analysis in Excel. Bring the result to MakeCharts when the chart is going in front of people — especially if it is a Sankey, which Excel has never supported natively.
Questions people ask
- How do I make a Sankey diagram from Excel data?
- Export or copy the rows as source, target and amount, then paste them into MakeCharts or upload the file. The diagram is built from those three columns; no add-in and no manual shape drawing.
- Does MakeCharts read .xlsx files?
- You can upload a CSV, or paste a selection straight from Excel or Google Sheets — copied cells arrive as tab-separated text and are parsed into rows automatically.
- Do I need an account to try MakeCharts?
- No. The editor opens and works without signing up — import data, edit by chatting and export. An account is only needed to save charts to the cloud and to collaborate with a team.