SWOT analysis maker, a drawn board in four boxes.

A SWOT analysis is a simple way to look at a business, project or person in four boxes: strengths and weaknesses inside, opportunities and threats outside. This free SWOT analysis maker draws the 2 by 2 board as you type, lets you start from an example for a coffee shop, a freelancer, an online shop, a career move or a community group, and saves it as a PNG picture or a PDF. A second table helps you turn the four boxes into actions.

How to make a SWOT analysis

1. Pick Start from an example to see a finished board, or leave the boxes empty.
2. Give the board a Title and say What it is about, such as the shop, the project or yourself.
3. Type the Strengths and Weaknesses, one point per line. These are inside things you can change.
4. Type the Opportunities and Threats, one point per line. These come from outside, and you can only prepare for them.
5. Under Turn it into actions, write what each pair of boxes tells you to do.
6. Click Download PDF for a printable file, Download PNG for a picture to put in slides, or Copy as text. Choose Black and white under Colours if you will print it on a plain printer.

The four boxes and the questions to ask

Tips for a SWOT that helps

• Sort inside from outside. If you can change it, it is a strength or a weakness. If it happens to you, it is an opportunity or a threat. A new competitor is a threat, and being slow to answer customers is a weakness.
• Be specific. "Good service" says little. "Regulars who know the staff by name" can be acted on.
• Keep each box short. Three to six points is plenty. If a box has twenty, pick the ones that matter most.
• Ask other people. Colleagues and customers see strengths and weaknesses you have stopped noticing.
• Be honest in the weakness box. A weak SWOT usually has a full strengths box and a thin one for weaknesses.

From four lists to actions (TOWS)

A SWOT only describes. The action table pairs the boxes so each pair asks one question: how can a strength take an opportunity, how can an opportunity fix a weakness, how can a strength cut a threat, and how do we avoid weaknesses that a threat could use. Here is how it works for a small coffee shop.

The action table is page 2 of the PDF. Leave the four action boxes empty and page 2 is left out, unless some points did not fit on the board.

About the board and the files

The board is drawn as you type. Each box shrinks its text to fit, down to a small size, and if a list is still too long it shows how many points are missing. The PDF then adds a page with all four lists in full. The PNG is the board only, drawn at twice the size you see on screen, so it stays sharp on a slide. The board is drawn in your browser from what you type, so nothing leaves your computer.

A SWOT works well next to other planning tools. Run the meeting that discusses it with the meeting agenda maker, draw how the ideas connect with the mind map maker, or compare overlapping groups with the Venn diagram maker.