Free Mandal-Art Chart Makers Compared — Ohtani's 9×9 Goal Chart in Apps, Notion, Canva, Spreadsheets and 24Houring

By 24Houring · 2026-10-22

If you want a free mandal-art chart, 24Houring's mandal-art lets you fill in the 81-cell goal chart in the browser with no sign-up. Ticking actions done raises the progress for each block and for the whole chart, actions can be sent to calendar dates, and the chart saves as one PNG that prints well. The free plan keeps one chart and there are no ads, so it suits someone who wants to break one goal for the year down to what to do today.

What to look for in a mandal-art tool

A mandal-art chart is a 9×9 grid: one core goal in the centre, eight sub-goals around it and eight actions for each sub-goal. You spend far longer living with it than filling it in.

• Does it keep the structure? Each sub-goal appears twice, in the middle block and at the centre of its own outer block. In a home-made grid you keep those two cells in step by hand.
• Is it useful after it is filled? Look for ticking off and progress, and whether actions lead to dates or habit tracking.
• Can you read it on a phone? All 81 cells on a small screen make the text tiny.
• Printing and sharing: does it come out cleanly as an image or PDF for the wall above your desk?
• Free limits and sign-up: how many charts, ads, and whether you need an account.

At a glance (as of October 2026)

Each alternative, briefly

• Canva is the best choice for a good-looking printout with the colours, fonts and decoration you want. Canva Free alone gives you over 1.6 million templates and PDF, PNG and JPG export (as of October 2026). A search for "만다라트" (mandal-art) in Canva's public template gallery returned no dedicated template (as of October 2026), so you build the 81 cells yourself from a table or shapes. Ticks and progress are marked by hand, which makes it a chart to pin up and look at.
• Notion templates: searching "만다라트" in Notion's template marketplace returns 25 templates, a mix of free ones and paid ones at about $3 to $5 (as of October 2026). They are made by creators and each is built differently, but if your tasks and journal already live in Notion, keeping your goals in the same place is a real advantage. Notion's free plan gives individuals unlimited pages and blocks.
• Excel or Google Sheets: a 9×9 grid with merged cells and a little colour is the quickest thing to make, and you control cell sizes and the print area exactly. You do have to write each sub-goal twice and work out progress yourself, and on a phone the 81 cells look small.
• Dedicated mandal-art apps: searching "만다라트" on Google Play shows more than ten dedicated apps (as of October 2026). Bandalart (반다라트), for example, cuts the grid down to 5×5, needs no login, keeps up to five charts and shows progress and shares images (it contains ads). Mandarin (만다린) is built for writing habits into a mandal-art and checking them every day, with habit cards that reset daily, a daily report and a calendar, and a strict rule that deletes a card after two misses. Free limits and ads differ from app to app, so check the "Contains ads" and "In-app purchases" labels on the store page before installing.

Where 24Houring's mandal-art is strong

• The app keeps the 81-cell rules. A sub-goal written in the middle block appears at once in the centre of its outer block, so the two copies never drift apart. A cells-written count (n/81) lets you fill the chart over several days.
• It carries on after you fill it. Ticking an action done raises the block and overall progress, and the calendar button plus a date turns the action into a plan in the app's own calendar. The day itself can then be laid out on the circular timetable.
• It fits the screen. A computer shows all 81 cells at once; a phone opens one 3×3 block at a time, large, and you swipe to the next.
• A printable image: Export saves the title, the progress and all 81 cells as one PNG of about 1180×1290 pixels, a good size for one A4 page.
• It works with the mind map. If your thoughts are still scattered, spread them out in a mind map and press "To mandal-art"; a mandal-art chart can also become a mind map.
• Five presets: healthy living, career growth, study and pass the exam, money and investing, and a year of self-growth, each with all 81 cells written, in eight languages. They are original examples, not a copy of Ohtani's chart.

Where it is honestly weaker

• One chart on the free plan. Keeping charts for the year, an exam and fitness side by side needs Pro ($0.99 a month, up to 30). Some apps, such as Bandalart, keep several charts for free. Reaching the limit never removes a chart.
• Little room for decoration. You fill words into a fixed 81-cell frame; for a printout in colours and fonts of your choosing, Canva is the right tool. The saved PNG carries a small 24houring.com mark in the bottom-right corner.
• Daily habit tracking goes deeper in dedicated apps. 24Houring marks actions done and sends them to dates. If the goal is to check habits every day and score them, an app such as Mandarin fits better.
• No co-editing, and it lives in your browser by default. Clearing site data can lose it, so save an image or use Pro sync. On iPhone it runs in the browser or from the home screen rather than as an app.

Make a mandal-art chart in 24Houring

1. Open the mandal-art chart. The first time you open the Mind tab, it starts on this page.
2. Start a blank 81-cell chart, or choose "Start from a preset" and adapt one.
3. Write the core goal in the centre and eight sub-goals around it.
4. Fill eight actions into each block. On a phone, swipe from block to block.
5. Mark finished actions done, and send actions that need a date to the calendar.
6. Use Export at the top to save a PNG and print it.

For example, with "TOEIC 850 by December" as the core goal, the sub-goals become conditions such as vocabulary, listening and practice tests, and "one practice test on Saturday morning" in the practice-test block can go to this Saturday in the calendar.

To widen your thinking first, start in the mind map; to begin from who you want to be in ten years, start with the vision house. Their tools are compared in free mind map software compared and free vision board makers compared, and turning a goal into time is covered in Turn a Goal into a Schedule. Dated actions carry on in the free calendar and the circle timetable. The feature overview is at mandal-art, and Free versus Pro is on pricing.

FAQ

Can you recommend a site for making a mandal-art chart for free?

24Houring makes the 81-cell chart in the browser with no sign-up or install; ticking off, progress, sending to the calendar and PNG export are free, with no ads. The free plan keeps one chart. Notion templates suit you if your other notes already live in Notion, and Canva if the goal is a beautiful printout.

Should I make Ohtani's mandal-art chart in Excel or in an app?

If you only want to print it and pin it up, Excel or Google Sheets is enough. If you want to tick actions off and move them into your schedule afterwards, a tool with progress and a calendar link is easier. The structure Ohtani used, a goal in the centre with eight conditions and eight actions for each, is the same in any tool.

How do I print a mandal-art chart on A4?

In 24Houring, Export at the top saves a PNG of about 1180×1290 pixels that fits one A4 page. Canva exports a PDF, and in Excel you set the print area and print directly.

What is the easiest way to use a mandal-art chart on a phone?

All 81 cells on one screen make the text tiny, so viewing one block at a time works better. 24Houring opens one 3×3 block at a time on a phone, and Bandalart shrinks the whole grid to 5×5 so it fits at a glance.