Org charts in Visio, and the free alternative
Visio has drawn org charts from spreadsheets for twenty years, and if you already have it, it works. The question is whether an org chart is worth a Visio subscription per person who needs to touch it. Here is how the wizard works and what the plans cost, in Microsoft's own words, and what a chart drawn from the same spreadsheet looks like when it is free.
Drawn from a spreadsheet, here
How Visio's wizard works
From Microsoft's own instructions.
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Start an Organization Chart
Select File, then New, choose the Organization Chart category and select Create. The Organization Chart Wizard opens.
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Point it at your data
On the first page, select the option for information that is already stored in a file or database, and follow the wizard. An Excel worksheet, a delimited text file or an Exchange directory all work. If you have nothing yet, the wizard can open an Excel sheet with sample columns for you to fill in.
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Have the three columns it needs
Employee name, a unique identifier, and the person each employee reports to, left blank for the person at the top. Other columns are allowed and can be shown on the shapes.
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Keep it in step
The Organization Data group has tools to import again from the source, to export the organization data to Excel or a text file, and to compare the diagram with the external data source. That last one is the honest part: the diagram and the data drift, and Visio gives you a way to find out how far.
Microsoft also documents building an org chart from Excel data in Visio for the web, as a separate flow from the wizard.
What it costs
Microsoft's pricing pages on 5 September 2026: Visio Plan 1 at $5.00 per user per month, paid yearly, for the web version with 2 GB of OneDrive storage, templates, Teams collaboration and Power BI embedding. Visio Plan 2 at $15.00 per user per month, paid yearly, adding Export to Word, Slide Snippets for PowerPoint, Data Visualizer for Excel and connecting diagrams to external data sources.
Two things to check before paying for the org chart. The plan pages do not say which plan includes the Organization Chart Wizard. And the Plan 2 page still lists "Data Visualizer for Excel", while Microsoft's own retirement notice says the Data Visualizer add-in for Excel was removed from the add-in store on 8 December 2025 and switched off on 2 March 2026; ask what the feature means now before you buy for it.
When Visio is the right answer
When you already have it. Visio comes with some Microsoft 365 arrangements, and if the org chart is one diagram among the flowcharts, network maps and floor plans your team draws, it belongs where the rest are. When the chart has to live in Teams or a Power BI report, Visio's embedding is the point. And when an IT department has standardised on it, the standard wins.
When it is not: when the only diagram you need is the org chart, when the people who need to see it outnumber the people who will edit it by a hundred to one, and when the chart's job is to stay current. A per-user licence for a picture most people only look at is a strange purchase, and re-running a wizard is the reason most Visio org charts are a year old.
Side by side
| Visio | orgchart.live | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Plan 1 $5, Plan 2 $15, per user per month, paid yearly | Free to build; $4.99 pass, $49 a year Pro, $199 a year Business |
| From a spreadsheet | The Organization Chart Wizard: name, a unique identifier, and who each person reports to | Name and who they report to; title, department, dotted line, staff and type if you have them |
| Keeping it current | Re-run the wizard; compare the diagram with the data source | Re-import the sheet, edit live, or sync from BambooHR, Gusto or Rippling every six hours on Business |
| Working together | Visio files in Teams and OneDrive | Live editing with cursors; view links need no account |
| Getting it out | Visio files; embeds in Teams and Power BI | PNG free; PDF, SVG and editable PowerPoint on a pass or plan |
| Other diagrams | Flowcharts, network diagrams, floor plans and more | Org charts only |
Visio facts from Microsoft's pricing and support pages, read on 5 September 2026; prices are in US dollars as shown there. If Microsoft changes a price or a plan, this page is wrong until it is updated. The right-hand column is what the code does today, and the pricing page is the source for what is paid.
Questions people ask
- Can Visio create an org chart from Excel?
- Yes. Start a new Organization Chart, and on the wizard's first page choose the option for information that is already stored in a file or database. The sheet needs a column for the employee's name, one for a unique identifier, and one for who they report to, left blank for the person at the top. Microsoft also documents a separate route for building an org chart from Excel data in Visio for the web.
- How much does Visio cost?
- On Microsoft’s pricing pages on 5 September 2026: Visio Plan 1 is $5.00 per user per month and Visio Plan 2 is $15.00 per user per month, both paid yearly. Plan 1 is the web version with 2 GB of OneDrive storage and Teams and Power BI integration; Plan 2 adds features such as Export to Word, Slide Snippets for PowerPoint and connecting diagrams to external data sources.
- Which Visio plan do I need for the org chart wizard?
- Check before you buy. Microsoft describes the Organization Chart Wizard in the Visio app and a separate Excel-data route for Visio for the web, and its plan pages do not say which plan includes which. Ask Microsoft, or your admin, whether the plan you have opens the wizard you need.
- Is there a free alternative to Visio for org charts?
- For org charts specifically, yes: build one here from the same spreadsheet, free at any size, with live editing and a free PNG export. What Visio does that this does not is everything else it draws. If you need flowcharts and floor plans as well, Visio is the broader tool; if you need an org chart that stays right, this is the cheaper one.
- Can I move a Visio org chart here?
- Yes. Visio's Organization Data tools include exporting the organization data to Excel or a text file. Export it, and import that file: the name and reports-to columns are what the importer needs, and it reads the identifier columns too.
Same spreadsheet, no seat licence
Export the organisation data from Visio, or start from your HR export, and import it. The chart draws itself, everyone can look at it without a licence, and you pay only for a clean file out.