If you’re in a B2B go-to-market team, you know the drill: you need slick visuals to explain complex stuff fast. You want infographics for sales decks, case studies, maybe even LinkedIn posts. Problem is, most of your team isn’t made up of designers, and you don’t have time to fuss with clunky tools.
There are a million infographic platforms out there. Today, I’m breaking down Venngage — warts and all — for software company teams who need to communicate clearly and look sharp without losing hours to pixel-pushing.
Who actually needs an infographic tool?
Let’s get real. Not every B2B team actually needs a dedicated infographic maker. Here’s when it makes sense:
- You send a lot of customer-facing reports, case studies, or one-pagers.
- You want to make sales enablement content pop without waiting on design.
- You’re tired of PowerPoint and Google Slides hacks.
- You want fast, on-brand visuals for content marketing or social.
If your visuals just need to be “good enough” for internal docs, you can probably get away with Canva, Slides, or even basic Figma. But if infographics are a regular thing and you want to crank them out quickly, it’s worth looking at a specialized tool.
What Venngage does (and what it doesn’t)
Venngage is an online tool for making infographics, reports, flowcharts, and data-heavy visuals. It’s built for non-designers, but it’s not just clip-art and text boxes. Here’s what you get:
What works: - Templates galore: Hundreds of starting points for different business needs. Some of them are genuinely useful out of the box. - Drag-and-drop everything: No steep learning curve. You won’t need a training session. - Data viz basics: Charts, icons, and maps you can customize with your own data. - Branding controls: Upload your logo, colors, and fonts to keep things consistent. - Collaboration features: Comment on drafts, share links, or invite teammates to edit (with some caveats — more on that below). - Export options: Download as image, PDF, or even interactive online links.
What doesn’t: - Real-time collaboration isn’t Figma-level: It’s fine for handing off or reviewing, but don’t expect Google Docs-style editing at once. - Limited advanced charting: You won’t replace Tableau, and even Google Sheets has more chart options. - Template overload: A lot of the templates are, frankly, ugly or outdated. You’ll need to dig to find the gems. - Locked features on free plan: Most exports and branding options are paywalled.
Setting up Venngage: What to expect
Getting started is pretty painless. Sign up, choose a template, and you’re moving. Here’s the real experience:
- Onboarding: There’s no forced onboarding flow, which is nice. You can poke around and start making something in minutes.
- Template selection: Use the search bar — otherwise, you’ll wade through a sea of “fun” resumes and academic posters.
- Brand kit: Pro tip: Set up your brand kit right away. It’s the only way to keep everyone from using random colors and fonts.
- Data imports: You can paste data into charts or upload CSVs, but don’t expect Excel-level flexibility.
- Team roles: You can invite teammates, but permission settings are basic (think “editor” or “viewer,” not granular controls).
Speed bump: If your company is strict on security or SSO, check with IT before you commit. Venngage supports SSO on business plans, but it’s not as robust as some SaaS tools.
Real-world use cases for B2B go-to-market teams
Venngage isn’t just for “top 10 productivity hacks” posts. Here’s where it actually helps B2B software teams:
- Sales enablement: Visualize feature comparisons, pricing tiers, or customer journeys.
- Customer case studies: Turn dry stats into slick, brand-friendly graphics.
- Product marketing: Flowcharts for onboarding, product roadmaps, or process diagrams.
- Content marketing: Shareable infographics for LinkedIn, blogs, or email campaigns.
- Internal reporting: Quick dashboards or performance summaries for exec updates.
What’s not a fit: If you need custom illustrations, advanced animations, or interactive dashboards, this isn’t your tool. Stick with Figma, Illustrator, or a real BI platform.
How does Venngage compare to the alternatives?
If you’re considering Venngage, you’ve probably looked at Canva, Piktochart, and maybe even Visme. Here’s the straight talk:
| Feature | Venngage | Canva | Piktochart | Visme | |------------------------|-----------------|------------------|------------------|-----------------| | Templates (B2B) | Good selection | More generic | Decent | Broad | | Data visualizations | Basic | Basic | Slightly better | Similar | | Branding controls | Solid (paid) | Good (paid) | Okay | Okay | | Ease of use | Simple | Very simple | Simple | Slightly clunky | | Collaboration | Decent | Best in class | Basic | Decent | | Export options | Good (paid) | Good (paid) | Limited (free) | Good (paid) | | Price | Mid-range | Can be cheaper | Similar | Slightly higher |
Honest take:
- Venngage is best if you want a focused infographic tool with lots of templates tailored for business use.
- Canva is more flexible overall, with better real-time collaboration and more design freedom — but its infographics are a bit bland.
- Piktochart splits the difference, but feels dated and hasn’t evolved much lately.
- Visme is powerful but has a steeper learning curve and more “all-in-one” bloat.
If you already use Canva for everything else and don’t need specific infographic features, you might not need Venngage. But if you’re churning out infographics frequently and want a dedicated workflow, it’s worth a look.
Pricing: Is it worth it for a B2B team?
Venngage isn’t the cheapest, but it’s not outrageous either. As of early 2024, here’s how it breaks down:
- Free plan: Severely limited. Watermarked exports, most templates locked, no branding.
- Premium (~$19/month): Solo use, unlocks most templates, basic exports. Not enough for teams.
- Business (~$49/month per user): Teams, brand kit, SSO, real-time comments, priority support.
- Enterprise (custom): SSO, security reviews, onboarding, etc. You’ll need to talk to sales.
Gotchas: - Prices are per user. If your whole marketing team needs access, it adds up fast. - Exports are only high quality on paid plans. - You can’t “share seats” easily (e.g., floating licenses).
Pro tip: If you only need a few infographics a month, try the paid plan for a month or two, batch your work, then downgrade. No need to commit long-term.
What B2B teams like (and complain about)
What users actually praise: - The time they save not waiting on design. - Easy brand consistency for non-designers. - Templates that don’t look like every other PowerPoint deck.
What users gripe about: - Clunky chart editing — fine for bar charts, but anything fancy is frustrating. - Occasional bugs or slowdowns with big graphics. - Customer support is responsive but sometimes slow on technical requests. - Collaboration can get confusing if multiple people jump in at once.
Don’t ignore: If you care about accessibility (screen readers, color contrast, etc.), Venngage is only okay. Some templates are better than others, but it’s not their top priority.
Should you buy Venngage for your software company?
Here’s the bottom line:
- If you need to make a lot of infographics, and you want them fast, Venngage is solid.
- If your team already lives in Canva or Figma, or you don’t care that much about infographics, skip it.
- If you need robust charting, interactive dashboards, or advanced design, look elsewhere.
Keep it simple: try the free plan, make a real asset your team actually needs, and see if it saves you time. If it does, great. If not, move on — there are plenty of other ways to make things look good without overcomplicating your workflow.
Focus on the message, not just the medium. Infographics are a tool, not a strategy. Iterate, don’t overthink, and keep your visuals as clear as your pitch.