Kumu
Web app for building interactive relationship, stakeholder and systems maps, free for public projects.
- Verified facts
- 4 of 4
- Alternatives ranked
- 3
- Approved reviews
- 0
- Visits sent from here
- 0
About Kumu
Kumu is a browser-based tool for mapping relationships: stakeholder maps, social networks, systems maps with causal loops, community asset maps and concept maps. You add elements and connections by hand or import them from a spreadsheet, then use decorations, filters and clustering to style and explore the map, and a built-in presentation builder walks viewers through it. Maps can be embedded on a website. It is aimed at nonprofits, foundations, consultants and educators more than data scientists, and needs no software install. Pricing is unusual: public projects are free and unlimited, while private projects and team features are paid monthly per project and per workspace, with free private projects for students and a pay-what-you-can postcard scheme for those who can't afford it. Kumu Enterprise is a self-hosted or private cloud instance for sensitive data. It lacks the heavy graph algorithms of desktop tools like Gephi.
Best for: Nonprofits, consultants and educators mapping stakeholders or systems for others to explore.
Pros and cons
What works
- Runs in the browser with nothing to install
- Unlimited public projects and collaborators for free
- Presentation builder and embeddable maps
- Self-hosted Enterprise option for sensitive data
Why people leave
- Private projects are billed per project, which adds up
- Fewer analysis algorithms than Gephi or Cytoscape
- Free projects are public and indexed by search engines
Top Kumu alternatives
See all 3- 1
Gephi66.5Free desktop tool with far stronger graph algorithms for large datasets, though harder to share.
- 2
Cytoscape62.6Free, scriptable network analysis platform for researchers who need statistics, not presentations.
- 3
yEd Graph Editor52.6Free graph editor with automatic layouts, fine for one-off maps without per-project fees.
Why people left Kumu
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Reviews
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Kumu: common questions
Is Kumu free?
Kumu has a free plan and paid plans. Free plan: Unlimited public projects (checked on Kumu's own site).
Is Kumu open source?
No, Kumu is not open source. Open-source alternatives include Gephi and Cytoscape.
What platforms does Kumu run on?
Kumu is available for Web and Self-hosted.
What are the best alternatives to Kumu?
The highest-ranked Kumu alternatives right now are Gephi, Cytoscape and yEd Graph Editor. See the full ranked list for pricing, platforms and verified facts.