Google Chart Tools

This is a terrific charting tool by Google which is completely free. There are many types of charts you can utilize from Gantt charts to bubble charts, scatter plots, hierarchical treemaps, geo charts, donut charts and many more. You can completely customize these charts to suit your purposes and embed them on your website, and many of them are integrated into Google Webmaster Tools. They are all cross platform and cross browser compatible so there are no issues using them on any device including iOS and Android with no plugin necessary. You can connect charts in their interactive dashboard and connect your data in real time. The analytics dashboard included with filters is a helpful feature. It's lightweight, flexible and reliable. There's no need for additional modules or server side libraries and it's easy to extend and relatively easy to implement for multiple purposes. Many of the charts are zoomable and pannable. Google has solid documentation available to help you get a handle on any aspects you need to learn how to implement with a forum available as well. There is also a great reference on the site with an glossary of relevant terminology which is perhaps the best way to get started in my opinion.

These tools required definite technical savvy in order to fully utilize their potential and may require external help which would have a cost associated with it even though it's quite a lot simpler than having to deal with server side libraries and modules. I wish Google charts was available linked from within your Gmail account like almost all other tools they offer are currently. When I clicked even more tools unless I am mistaken I did not find it there either. This would make it a completely seamless experience.

I find this product much more user friendly than Excel in terms of utilizing advanced features. My only issue so far is learning about all of the various chart types and determining the best suited for each of our needs. Though is a very minor issue and a good one to have with access to so many in a centralized system from a company that is trustworthy and reliable.