Kumu
What it is
Kumu organizes complex information into relationship maps linking people, systems, and concepts. It supports stakeholder, systems, social network, community asset, and concept mapping. Users can build maps manually or import spreadsheet data, including live information from Google Sheets. Analysis tools include closeness, betweenness, and eigenvector centrality, together with automated community detection and clustering. A presentation builder helps explain maps, and interactive maps can be embedded on websites. Kumu is offered on the web and as self-hosted software. The free Basic workspace includes unlimited public projects, collaborators, maps, and views, but public projects are visible to everyone and indexed by search engines. Private projects require a paid project or eligible student discount, and a two-week trial is available for private projects. A private project costs $9/month per project. Pro costs $10/month per workspace, with private projects at $20/month per project. Enterprise is billed annually per user and can be self-hosted or managed in AWS, with SAML single sign-on, priority support, and a 99.95% uptime SLA. Enterprise managed hosting uses a customer-selected geographic location.
For and against
For
- Maps relationships among people and systems
- Imports spreadsheets and live Google Sheets data
- Includes centrality and clustering analysis
- Embeds interactive maps on websites
- Offers self-hosted Enterprise deployment
Against
- Free projects are public and search-indexed
- Private projects require payment or eligibility
- Private projects cost separately on Pro
The verdict
Kumu combines relationship mapping, analysis, presentation, and embedding for complex organizational information. The free tier supports public work, while private collaboration and enterprise controls require paid plans.
Who it suits
Kumu suits organizations mapping complex relationships and systems, including social-sector leaders working toward impact. It also fits teams needing public visualization, spreadsheet imports, or self-hosted deployment.
Plans and prices
Basic workspace / public projects
Unlimited public projects · unlimited collaborators, maps, and views
Read 4 Oct 2026 · kumu.io
Basic workspace / private project
Private projects · unlimited collaborators, maps, and views
Read 4 Oct 2026 · kumu.io
Pro workspace
Unlimited public projects · private projects $20/month per project · view-only access · custom branding
Read 4 Oct 2026 · kumu.io
Kumu Enterprise
Self-hosted or managed cloud · SAML single sign-on · priority support · 99.95% uptime SLA
Read 4 Oct 2026 · kumu.io
On the record
- Analysis
- Built-in metrics include closeness, betweenness, and eigenvector centrality, alongside automated community detection and clustering.kumu.io · read 4 Oct 2026
- Enterprise deployment
- Enterprise can be self-hosted or managed by Kumu in AWS, with a customer-selected geographic location for managed hosting.kumu.io · read 4 Oct 2026
- Enterprise security
- Enterprise supports data encryption at rest and SAML 2.0 single sign-on; its managed option runs each customer on a separate Amazon EC2 instance.kumu.io · read 4 Oct 2026
- Free-plan limit
- Public projects are visible to everyone and indexed by search engines; private projects require a paid project or an eligible student discount.kumu.io · read 4 Oct 2026
- Map creation
- Users can build maps by hand or import spreadsheet data, including live data from Google Sheets.kumu.io · read 4 Oct 2026
- Mapping use cases
- The maker lists stakeholder, systems, social network, community asset, and concept mapping among Kumu’s uses.kumu.io · read 4 Oct 2026
- Security
- The security page says browser traffic uses HTTPS, each project has a separate CouchDB database, and backups are retained for at least 30 days.kumu.io · read 4 Oct 2026
- Sharing
- Kumu includes a presentation builder and lets users embed interactive maps on websites.kumu.io · read 4 Oct 2026
- Support
- Kumu directs users to its help resources and support email, and Enterprise includes priority support.kumu.io · read 4 Oct 2026
- Trial
- Kumu offers a two-week free trial of private projects.kumu.io · read 4 Oct 2026
- What it does
- Kumu organizes complex data into relationship maps for people, systems, and concepts.kumu.io · read 4 Oct 2026
- Who it is for
- The maker describes Kumu as a tool for organizations working with complex relationships and systems, including social-sector leaders seeking to create impact.kumu.io · read 4 Oct 2026
