Visual.ly announced today the launch of a new marketplace that aims to allow more than 45,000 designers to meet potential customers with a view to producing quality, visually compelling infographics out of data sets - with a hint of storytelling dropped in.

Rather than being a mere meeting platform, the solution will include a proprietary project management dashboard that will allow both parties to collaborate as seamlessly as possible.

In doing so, Visual.ly positioned itself as a vertically integrated freelancing website, albeit one with a rather steep $1,495 starting price, which is more than twice what you’d expect to pay to get customised infographics from Piktochart.

That said, price alone should never be the decisive factor with Visual.ly’s numerous features; like the ability to upload and approve drafts, a program timeline, and a tight integration between budget and time estimates, making it a compelling solution that could be extended to other verticals.

Compare that with Infogr.am (above), a beta service launched by a Latvian startup that aims to make everyone a budding infographic designer by offering all the necessary tools and an intuitive environment in which to evolve.

Just pick a template, insert or upload your data, type in your text and that’s it. The infographic or chart can then either be shared on social media or embedded on a website. Arguably, the customisation options are limited in order to prevent any possible compatibility issues, and unlike Visual.ly, Infogr.am is free.

In reality though, just like there are do-it-yourself packages for websites and professional web designers, the two services are squarely aimed at two different audiences with Visual.ly likely to attract media professionals, and Infogr.am the rest of us.