Datawrapper vs Tasmap

Datawrapper and Tasmap both help non-engineers publish clean maps without writing code, yet they solve different publishing problems. Datawrapper turns statistical tables into newsroom charts, choropleths and locator graphics; Tasmap turns places, routes, areas and prose into interactive maps for visitors and readers.

Writers, researchers, policy analysts and communications teams frequently evaluate Datawrapper and Tasmap side by side. Both tools run in the browser, both care deeply about typography and visual restraint, and neither asks you to learn desktop GIS software before publishing a map on a website.

The difference comes down to what your reader is trying to do with the map once the page loads.

What Datawrapper is built to do

Datawrapper grew up in newsrooms and research organizations where a map is one visual figure inside a data story, sitting alongside bar charts, line graphs and tables. Its map suite covers three specific formats:

Choropleth maps that shade countries, states, municipalities or election districts across more than 4,000 built-in administrative basemaps according to a numeric or categorical column.
Symbol maps that plot proportional circles or icons over geographic coordinates to compare quantities such as population, housing prices or weather station readings.
Locator maps that place point markers, area shapes, tooltips, callout lines and optional 3D buildings into a framed view to show a reader where an event or project sits.

On Datawrapper's free plan, teams can publish and embed interactive visualizations and download PNG images with a Created with Datawrapper attribution line. Its Pro plan at $21 per user per month removes attribution and adds PDF and SVG exports along with a 90-day edit history, while full custom brand themes are offered as an enterprise add-on.

Where a chart-style map reaches its boundary

A newsroom locator map or choropleth is designed to be read like a diagram. The author chooses the exact framing, places a handful of callout labels, and guides the reader's eye to a statistical pattern or a single news site.

When the job shifts from illustrating a statistic to helping someone navigate a campus, follow a multi-day itinerary, filter 300 member businesses or hike a trail network, a diagram-style map runs into practical limits:

Readers need to search across place names, notes, dates and numeric ranges inside the map itself.
Markers, routes and polygons need to hold full multi-paragraph articles, images and external link previews rather than short hover tooltips.
Long-form stories need paragraphs and cards that actively pan and highlight map elements as the reader scrolls, without requiring custom JavaScript on the host website.
Visitors walking on the ground often want to tap Show my location or install the map to their home screen as a progressive web app.

How Tasmap approaches the problem

Tasmap is built specifically for interactive narrative and operational maps. Every map combines a customizable vector canvas with three layout choices: Classic for map-first exploration, Story for long-form articles where scrolling highlights linked places, routes and areas, and Cards for swipeable place guides.

Instead of focusing on statistical choropleths across census tracts, Tasmap focuses on the elements a project or venue team draws and imports:

Rich geometry and textures: Draw curved or dashed routes with directional arrows, polygons and hollow polygons with interior cutouts, and apply 80 repeatable paper, media and material textures to custom areas or natural land layers, alongside 3D terrain and hillshading.
Broad data and text import: Import GeoJSON, KML, KMZ, GPX, CSV, TSV and XLSX files, or paste unstructured itineraries, PDFs and Markdown notes so AI can extract a structured location table before geocoding.
Viewer search and live utilities: Every published and embedded map includes a full search engine supporting phrases, exclusions, numeric ranges and date ranges, plus style toggles, QR code generation and optional geolocation.
High-resolution print export: From the Classic layout, you can export PNG, JPEG, WebP or PDF files from A4 up to A0 or custom pixel dimensions at up to 300 DPI, preserving your 3D camera tilt and textures.

Tasmap's Free plan includes 3 maps, 1,000 monthly views and 50 monthly credits. The Pro plan at $25 per month or $225 per year supports 500 maps, 50,000 monthly views, 1,000 monthly credits and removes the Built with Tasmap badge without requiring a separate custom-theme add-on.

Which tool fits your project

Primary content: Pick Datawrapper for statistical rates, election results, regional comparisons or a tight newsroom locator frame. Pick Tasmap for visitor guides, trail networks, event maps, property portfolios and narrative tours.
Reader interaction: Pick Datawrapper when readers inspect hover tooltips and color legends inside an article figure. Pick Tasmap when readers pan, zoom, search by keyword or range, toggle categories and read linked articles.
Route and area editing: Pick Datawrapper for basic locator markers and uploaded GeoJSON shapes. Pick Tasmap for interactive route drawing, vertex simplification, hollow polygons and 80 surface textures.
Unstructured text import: Pick Datawrapper when you start from structured tabular data or manual marker search. Pick Tasmap when you paste prose, PDFs, Markdown, GPX, KML, KMZ, GeoJSON and spreadsheets.

Many editorial and research teams use both: Datawrapper for the charts and regional choropleths in a report, and Tasmap when readers need an interactive guide, a route map or a story map they can search and carry on their phones.

References

Maps, Datawrapper. Overview of Datawrapper's choropleth, symbol and locator map types and basemap library.
Pricing, Datawrapper. Plan tiers, attribution rules, PDF and SVG export availability, and custom theme pricing.
Getting started, Datawrapper Docs. Documentation on how Datawrapper visualizations are structured and published.