Charts
Bar Chart Maker
Paste categories and values, get a bar chart with an axis that starts at zero.
Also called bar plot maker, bar graph maker, column chart maker, bar graph generator.
Have a spreadsheet? Drop a CSV here
Or . CSV, TSV or plain text. You pick which column is which after it loads — the names in your file do not have to match ours. The file is read in your browser and never uploaded.
How to read this result
Bars start at zero, always. The length of a bar is what encodes the value, so cutting the axis makes a 3% difference look like a doubling. This is the most common way a chart misleads, and it is why the axis here cannot be truncated.
Sort by size unless the categories have a natural order. Days of the week, age bands and Likert responses have an order that carries meaning; brands, countries and products do not, and sorting them by value makes comparison far easier.
Bars have gaps; histogram bars do not. The gap signals that the categories are separate things rather than intervals of one continuous variable. Using a bar chart for continuous data implies an axis that is not there.
Horizontal bars for long labels. Rotated text is hard to read and shrinks the plotting area; turning the chart sideways solves both.
The formula
Each category's share of the total, reported beside the chart. When the shares are the point of the chart rather than the values, consider a pie chart — but only with a handful of categories.
Worked example
Visits by day of the week
Seven days of visitor counts. The categories have a natural order, so they stay in it rather than being sorted by size.
Monday 120, Tuesday 190, Wednesday 70, Thursday 150, Friday 210, Saturday 95, Sunday 80
- Add the values.total = 915
- The largest and smallest.Friday 210, Wednesday 70
- Each category's share of the total.Friday 210/915 = 23.0%, Wednesday 70/915 = 7.7%
- The mean per day, for a reference line.915 / 7 = 130.7
Friday is three times Wednesday. On a chart with the axis starting at 60 the gap would look like ten times — which is exactly why the axis starts at zero here.
Checked against arithmetic.
The calculator above is loaded with these numbers by the Load the worked example button.
Assumptions, and when to use something else
Bar charts assume distinct categories and values that share a unit. Two rules follow: do not put percentages and counts on the same chart, and do not use a bar chart for values that are parts of a sequence — a line graph is the honest choice there.
Negative values are drawn from zero downward and are fine; a pie chart cannot handle them at all.
- The values are parts of one wholePie chart makerOnly with a handful of slices — bars are easier to compare.
- The data are a sequence over timeLine graph makerA line implies the space between points means something, which is true for time.
- The data are one continuous variableHistogram makerContinuous data needs touching bars over a numeric axis.
- You want to compare distributions rather than totalsBox plot makerBars show one number per group; box plots show the spread.
Questions people ask
Should the y-axis start at zero?
For a bar chart, yes — always. The bar's length is the encoding, so a truncated axis distorts every comparison on the chart. For a line graph, where position rather than length carries the value, a non-zero axis is defensible.
What is the difference between a bar chart and a histogram?
A bar chart compares separate categories and has gaps between the bars. A histogram shows one continuous variable's distribution and its bars touch. The gap is the signal for which kind of axis you are looking at.
Should I sort the bars?
Sort by size when the categories have no natural order — it makes ranking effortless. Keep the natural order for days, months, age bands and ordered survey responses, where the sequence itself carries information.
How do I download the chart?
Every chart draws to a canvas in your browser. Use the download button for a PNG, or right-click the image and save it. Nothing is uploaded to produce it.