Bar graph maker
Give each bar a label and a value — typed in or pasted from a spreadsheet — and name the axes.
One row per bar: a name, then a number. Paste two columns from a spreadsheet or type them here.
Drawing…
How to use it
- Step 1Type a name and a number on each line, or paste two columns from a spreadsheet — names on the left, numbers on the right.
- Step 2Choose the order the bars stand in, and turn them on their side if the names are long.
- Step 3Name the chart and the axes, then download a PNG or an SVG, or press “Share a link”.
Making a bar graph that reads well
Bars compare sizes, and the comparison is done by their length — which is why the value axis has to start at zero. A bar chart cut off at 90 makes a 2 % difference look like a threefold one; it is the single most common way a chart tells a lie without a single wrong number in it. This page starts the axis at zero.
The order of the bars is yours to choose and it changes what the chart says. Leave the order as you typed it when it means something — months, grades, stages of a process. Sort by size when the question is which is biggest, which is what a reader will look for first if the categories have no natural order.
When to lay the bars on their side
Long category names under vertical bars end up turned at an angle or stacked on two lines, and on a phone they end up unreadable. Horizontal bars give every name a full line of its own, and the chart simply grows downward as you add rows. As a rule of thumb: more than eight bars, or names longer than about twelve characters, and the chart reads better on its side.
Negative values are drawn from the zero line in the other direction, so a table of gains and losses comes out as bars on both sides of the axis without any extra setting.
What this page is not for
Bars for parts of one whole — where the numbers add up to 100 % of something — are often better as a pie chart, and a bar chart of measured numbers grouped into ranges is a histogram, which has a page of its own. Data collected over time belongs on a line graph, where the gaps between the points carry meaning.
Questions and answers
How do I make a bar graph for free?
Type your labels and numbers into the box on this page, or paste them from a spreadsheet. The chart is drawn as you type and downloads as a PNG or an SVG, with no account and no watermark.
Can I sort the bars from largest to smallest?
Yes — the order control has “Largest first” and “Smallest first”, as well as the order you typed them in.
Why does the axis have to start at zero?
Because a bar is read by its length. If the axis starts halfway up, a bar twice as long as another one can stand for a difference of a few percent, which misleads even when every number is right.
Can I put the numbers on the bars?
Yes, and they are on by default. Turn them off if the chart is going next to a table that already lists the values.