Looking for a MapChart alternative? Here is an honest side-by-side of what each tool produces, what it costs, and which one fits the job you actually have.
The map above is live. Open the editor and change the colour, shape, and density yourself — there is nothing to install and no account needed to start.
You want the dotted aesthetic itself — a map drawn as a dot grid with no borders — rather than a dot pattern filling a bordered region.
You need a scalable SVG for print or large-format display, not just an image.
You want a transparent background to composite the map over an existing design.
Free to use. No sign-up required.
| Feature | World in Dots | MapChart |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free tier; $5 week pass, $8/month, or $80/year for unlimited exports | Free with ads; MapChart Plus $49.99/year |
| Map style | Dotted — landmass rendered as a dot grid, no borders | Choropleth — solid filled regions with borders |
| Per-region colours | No — one dot colour per map | Yes — click any region to colour it |
| Legend | No | Yes |
| SVG export | Yes | Downloads as a high-quality image |
| Transparent background | Yes | Background colour is configurable |
| US counties / districts | Not currently — states only | Yes |
| Best for | Dotted map graphics for design work | Data-driven thematic and election maps |
MapChart is a free online map maker built around colouring regions. You click a country, state, or subdivision to assign it a colour, build a legend, and download the result as an image. It covers world maps, continents, US states, counties and congressional districts, individual country maps, and a set of fantasy and game maps.
Styling includes custom colours and fill patterns — dots, stripes, and lines among them — plus control over background colour and borders. A paid MapChart Plus tier is $49.99 per year and removes advertisements, adds saved maps and palettes across devices, iOS app editing, and shareable configuration links.
The two tools produce genuinely different kinds of map. MapChart makes choropleths: the geography is drawn as solid filled regions, and colour carries the data. World in Dots renders the landmass itself as a field of discrete dots, which is a graphic treatment rather than a data encoding.
This matters most for the word 'dots'. MapChart offers a dotted fill pattern — a texture applied inside a region's outline. That is not the same as a dotted map, where the dot grid replaces the outline entirely and the map has no borders at all. If you searched for one and found the other, this is usually the confusion.
MapChart is also the stronger tool for anything requiring a legend or per-region values. World in Dots has no legend and no per-region colouring; every dot in a given map shares one colour.
Not in the sense most people mean. MapChart offers a dots fill pattern, which applies a dot texture inside a region's outline — the borders stay visible and the region stays a bounded shape. A dotted map replaces the geography entirely with a grid of dots and has no borders at all. If you want the second thing, MapChart's dot pattern will not get you there.
Yes. MapChart states that all present and future maps and the main map-making tools are available for free, supported by advertising. MapChart Plus is $49.99 per year and adds an ad-free canvas, saved maps and palettes, iOS app editing, and shareable links.
If the map is showing data — sales by state, where your users are, election results — use MapChart, because you need per-region colour and a legend. If the map is a visual element, such as a title slide background or a section divider, a dotted map generally looks better and scales cleanly.
Pricing and feature claims about MapChart were last checked in August 2026 against the vendor’s own pages. Vendors change their pricing — confirm current terms before you buy.