Overview

Instead of asking readers to make sense of a dashboard on their own, Understand presents a story as cards that unfold as they scroll. Authors can pair data with narrative annotations and interactive visualizations, shaping a presentation that supports sharing insights and decisions. Stories can be shared publicly or embedded; Growth adds email and Slack notifications.

Understand supports scheduled story updates and says its stories display well on mobile. Those features suit recurring updates and audiences reading on phones, though the plan details make clear that richer data connections come at additional cost.

Key features

Connections, AI, and branding

Data can be imported from files, Google, SQL databases, OLAP cubes, or APIs. In practice, the included connectors vary by plan: Starter permits CSV uploads and manual entry, while Growth adds Google Sheets, PostgreSQL, MySQL, and MariaDB. BigQuery, Redshift, Azure, and Snowflake are charged separately per connector. Enterprise-ready adds OLAP and custom connectors.

Understand AI can analyze and summarize stories and find anomalies. Growth includes AI for 30 cards; additional usage costs $15 per 30 cards per month. Custom themes are included with Growth, while the white-label solution supports embedding stories in another product with custom branding and a custom domain.

Privacy and security

Understand Labs says it does not sell or rent user data, and users own their data. Its privacy policy describes encryption of personal information, regular penetration testing, and physical security measures for premises where personal data is stored. Users can request account deletion and request access, correction, erasure, and portability of personal information. Enterprise-ready includes private cloud or single-tenant deployment, SSO, and access control. The website is available only to people aged 13 or older.

Pricing

Starter is free and allows one editor, unlimited stories, CSV uploads and manual data entry, public sharing, and scrollytelling. It is a useful way for an individual to create and publish stories, but it lacks the Growth connectors, themes, viewer allowance, and notifications that make team distribution more practical.

Growth costs $25.00 per editor per month with annual billing (save 20%). It includes unlimited viewers, custom themes, Google Sheets and PostgreSQL, MySQL, and MariaDB connections, Understand AI for 30 cards, and email and Slack notifications. This is the clearest fit for teams publishing stories regularly, but per-editor billing means costs rise as the author group grows.

Additional Understand AI usage costs $15.00 per month per 30 cards. Advanced connectors cost $99.00 per connector per month for BigQuery, Redshift, Azure, or Snowflake. The API plan costs $199.00 per month to create stories at scale using the API. Enterprise-ready has custom pricing and adds OLAP connectors, custom API, custom connectors and charts, as well as private deployment and access controls. A 14-day trial is offered.

Platforms

Understand is available on Android, iOS, and the web, with API access also listed. Mobile display support is useful for readers on phones, while the API option is relevant to teams creating stories at scale.

Who it's for

Understand is a good match for analysts and teams that need to wrap data in a guided narrative, share it with viewers, and refresh stories on a schedule. Starter suits an individual working with CSVs or manual data. Teams needing named data connections, branded themes, or notifications will be better served by Growth; organizations needing single-tenant deployment, SSO, or custom integrations should consider Enterprise-ready.

It is less compelling for a team that only needs standalone charts or dashboards and does not need a narrative presentation: the paid connectors and per-editor Growth charge may be unnecessary for that use.

Pros and cons

Pros: Card-based scrollytelling combines visualizations with narrative annotations, giving authors a structured way to lead readers through data.
Pros: The free plan supports unlimited stories and public sharing, with no editor charge for a solo author.
Pros: Growth supports unlimited viewers and scheduled distribution through email and Slack notifications.
Cons: Starter is restricted to one editor and CSV or manual data entry, so collaboration and direct database connections require paid plans.
Cons: Several important connections and extra AI use carry separate monthly charges on top of Growth.

Alternatives

Data Storytelling Tools is a useful category to browse if you want to compare options beyond Understand.

Choose Datawrapper if you want charts, maps, and tables with web publishing and embedding, PNG downloads, and attribution on its free plan. Graphtelling is another freemium web option, with a free tier limited to three charts, 50 one-time AI actions, JPEG export, and branding.

Unmapped may suit someone who wants to publish up to three branded stories with 500 MB of storage on a free plan, while Infogram offers a freemium option with interactive charts and maps. Consider BStreams if its free plan's one collaborator, 50 MB storage, 3 MB upload limit, and watermark fit your needs.

DataStories is a paid alternative if you prefer a product without a free plan. Flourish offers unlimited projects and stories, public publishing, and embeds on its free plan, with attribution. Mimasa AI is another freemium alternative, with five credits per day and one user on its free tier.

Verdict

Choose Understand if you need to turn data into a guided story and share it with an audience, especially if Growth's connectors and notifications match your workflow. Look elsewhere if your priority is a lower-cost team setup or straightforward chart publishing: its per-editor pricing and separately charged connectors can make that format expensive.

	Evidence	Understand
Free plan		Yes
Free trial	Yes	Yes
Paid from	$2,500/mo	$15/mo
Platforms	api, self-hosted, Web	Android, api, iOS, Web
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Interactive visualizations	Yes	Yes
Share mode	both	both
Paid from		25 /user/mo
Narrative annotations		Yes
Presentation flow		Yes
Live data refresh		Yes

Evidence vs Understand

Evidence

Understand