Flourish

Flourish

Description of Flourish neural network

Flourish is a no-code platform for creating interactive data visualizations, developed by British specialists Donald Clark and Robin Houston in 2018. In 2022, the service was acquired by Canva. The tool allows users to upload data from spreadsheets and build animated charts, maps, and diagrams using ready-made templates without writing code. Users can customize the appearance of visualizations, combine them into presentations with a scrollytelling effect, and embed them into websites or reports. Flourish supports dynamic data updates, branding, and team collaboration, making it suitable for educational projects, business analytics, and media.

Flourish characteristics

Characteristic	Value
Type	No-code platform for data visualization
Category	Data visualization, Presentations, Infographics
Platforms	Web application (works in a browser)
Free plan availability	Yes (free plan with limitations)
Year founded	2018
Developer	British company (Donald Clark and Robin Houston), acquired by Canva in 2022
Work format	Visual editor with templates
Distribution model	Freemium

Who is Flourish suitable for?

Teachers and students

Flourish is suitable for educational projects where complex topics need to be explained clearly using data. Students and teachers can create interactive charts and presentations without technical skills.

Marketers and analysts

Marketing and analytics professionals use the platform to turn data sets into visual stories that capture the audience's attention. The tool makes it quick to build reports and presentations with dynamic data.

Journalists and media professionals

Newsrooms use Flourish to visualize news data and infographics. The ability to embed charts into websites and create stories with scrolling makes the platform popular among journalists.

Government agencies and NGOs

Organizations that need to increase reporting transparency use Flourish to create clear and visually appealing reports. The platform is also suitable for presenting social and economic indicators.

Developers

Technical specialists have access to APIs and SDKs, allowing them to create custom templates and automate the publication of visualizations.

How to use Flourish?

Choosing a template

The first step is selecting a suitable template from the platform's library. Flourish offers a wide range of ready-made formats: animated bar chart races, line charts, geographic maps, Sankey diagrams, and many more. The template defines the basic structure of the future visualization.

Uploading data

After choosing a template, you need to upload data. Flourish supports CSV and Excel formats, as well as dynamic connections through Google Sheets or a CSV link for real-time updates. Data can be imported manually or via a URL.

Customization and publishing

At the final stage, users customize the appearance of the visualization: changing fonts, color schemes, adding logos and tooltips. The finished visualization can be embedded into a website, presentation, LMS, or report — it adapts to any screen and supports interactive elements.

Key features of Flourish

Creating animated and interactive charts

Flourish supports many visualization types: animated bar chart races, line and scatter charts, Sankey diagrams, geographic maps (chloropleths, scatter maps), trees, hierarchies, and timelines. All charts can include interactive filters, animations, and tooltips.

Scrollytelling and presentations

The platform lets users combine individual visualizations into presentations with a scrollytelling effect — scroll-driven stories where data unfolds as the user moves. This is a key storytelling feature that sets Flourish apart from many other tools.

Live data and customization

Flourish supports dynamic data updates through Google Sheets and CSV via URL (Live Data). Users can customize fonts, logos, and color schemes to match their brand. SDKs and APIs are available for developers to create custom templates. Alt texts and color schemes for colorblind users are also supported.

Advantages of Flourish

Intuitive interface

The platform requires no technical skills — the visual editor interface with templates is accessible to users of any level. The result looks professional, as if designed by a team.

Flexibility and customization

Flourish offers a wide selection of ready-made templates for quick setup while also providing flexibility for developers through APIs and SDKs. The ability to create animated and interactive stories makes the tool versatile for a variety of tasks.

Teamwork and branding

The platform is built for collaboration: you can set a unified style across all projects, share materials with colleagues, and use white-label solutions for corporate clients.

Disadvantages of Flourish

The main disadvantage of Flourish is the limitations of the free plan. The free version has restrictions on branding (visualizations include the platform logo), project privacy, and collaboration capabilities. To unlock the full functionality, including scrollytelling, white-label, and advanced analytics, you need to upgrade to a paid plan. Additionally, the platform is a web application, so a constant internet connection is required to work.

What tasks does Flourish solve?

Turning data into visual stories

Flourish helps turn spreadsheets and datasets into interactive charts, maps, and presentations. This allows the audience not just to look at numbers but to explore them, click, and dive into the data.

Creating interactive reports and infographics

The platform is suitable for visualizing news data, creating reports for media, and educational projects. The ability to embed visualizations into third-party websites, LMS, CMS, and reports makes it convenient for automating publications.

Explaining complex topics

Flourish is used to explain complex topics in educational projects, as well as to increase reporting transparency for government agencies and NGOs. Scrollytelling allows you to tell stories with data that keep viewers engaged until the end.

Flourish pricing

Flourish operates on a freemium model. There is a free plan with limitations on branding, privacy, and collaboration. Paid plans unlock white-label solutions, scrollytelling, team projects, and advanced analytics. Specific figures and plan costs are not provided in the source data — please refer to the service's official website for up-to-date information.

Flourish terms of use

Registration is required to use the platform. The free plan has limitations: visualizations contain Flourish branding, and project privacy and collaboration options are restricted. Paid plans remove these limitations. Detailed terms of use, including the data processing policy and license agreements, are available on the service's official website.

Flourish availability

Flourish is available as a web application — no installation is required. The service works in any modern browser and is available globally without regional restrictions. The platform supports embedding visualizations into any website, where they adapt to screens of different devices.

How is Flourish different from alternatives?

The main difference between Flourish and other data visualization tools is its focus on storytelling. The platform allows you to create not only individual charts and maps but also interactive presentations with a scrolling effect (scrollytelling) and audio narration. Unlike traditional BI tools, Flourish is not aimed at business analytics in the conventional sense but at turning dry numbers into an engaging narrative that people want to watch to the end. Furthermore, the no-code approach and extensive library of ready-made templates make the platform accessible to users without technical skills, whereas many alternatives require programming knowledge or complex configuration.

Conclusion

Flourish Studio is a versatile data visualization tool that combines ease of use with powerful features for creating interactive stories and presentations. The platform suits businesses, education, media, and non-profit organizations, allowing users to turn spreadsheets and datasets into visually appealing and understandable stories. Thanks to its no-code approach, live data support, scrollytelling, and customization options, Flourish occupies a unique niche at the intersection of analytics and storytelling.