Bar Graph Maker
Paste a list of labels and numbers, or upload a spreadsheet, and get a clean bar graph to download as a PNG image or an Excel file.
- Runs in your browser
- Free
- No sign-up
Paste cells from Excel or Google Sheets, or type rows separated by tabs or commas.
Chart data as a table
| Region | Q1 | Q2 |
|---|---|---|
| Northeast | 42,000 | 46,500 |
| Southeast | 38,500 | 41,200 |
| Midwest | 29,800 | 33,100 |
| Southwest | 25,400 | 27,900 |
| West | 51,200 | 49,800 |
How to Make a Bar Graph Online
- Add your data. Paste cells copied from Excel or Google Sheets into the Data box, or upload an .xlsx, .xls or .csv file. The sample data shows the layout.
- Check the headers. The first row is used as column names when it has no numbers in it; untick "First row is headers" if that guess is wrong.
- Give the chart a title. It is drawn at the top of the image and used for the file names.
- Download. PNG for slides, documents and email (drawn at twice the on-screen size so it stays sharp), SVG for print and the web, or Excel for the numbers behind the chart.
When to Use a Bar Graph
A bar graph compares amounts across separate categories: sales by region, votes by candidate, tickets by team. Bar length is the easiest visual comparison people make, so it is the safest default when the categories have no natural order in time.
Add a second value column and the bars are grouped side by side, one color per column, which is how you compare two periods or two measures of the same unit across each category.
How to Lay Out Your Data
Put the category labels in the first column and one or more columns of numbers after it. Each extra numeric column becomes another bar in every group, named by its header. Rows that repeat a label are added together, so a raw list of transactions charts as totals per category.
How to Make a Bar Graph in Excel
To build the same chart natively in Excel, download the Excel file above (or use your own sheet) and:
- Select the labels and the numbers, including the header row.
- Go to Insert > Insert Column or Bar Chart.
- Choose Clustered Column for vertical bars, or Clustered Bar for horizontal ones.
- Use the + button beside the chart (Chart Elements) to add data labels or an axis title.
Excel calls vertical bars a column chart and horizontal bars a bar chart. This tool draws vertical bars, which Excel files under Column.
What This Bar Graph Maker Does Not Do
- Bars are vertical only, and grouped rather than stacked.
- Up to eight value columns; further columns are ignored.
- Bars appear in the order of your rows. Sort the data first to rank them.
Other Chart Makers
Every chart maker takes the same pasted or uploaded data, and you can switch type in the Chart type box without retyping anything. To chart a whole workbook column by column, with grouping by sum, count or average, use the Excel chart maker.
- Line Graph Maker: Plot a trend over time with one line per series.
- Pie Chart Maker: Show parts of a whole with percentages worked out.
- Scatter Plot Maker: Plot X against Y to see whether two numbers are related.
- Doughnut Chart Maker: A pie chart with the total shown in the center.
- Radar Chart Maker: Compare profiles across several attributes on a spider chart.
- Histogram Maker: Count a column of numbers into bins to see its spread.
- Area Chart Maker: A line graph with the volume underneath shaded in.
Frequently Asked Questions
A bar graph compares separate categories, so the bars could go in any order and there are gaps between them. A histogram shows how one column of numbers is spread out: the bars are ranges of values (bins) in numeric order with no gaps. Use the histogram maker for that.
Not in this tool, which draws vertical bars. Download the Excel file, select the data and choose Insert > Insert Column or Bar Chart > Clustered Bar to get the horizontal version in Excel.
Yes. The axis extends below zero and negative bars hang down from the zero line, so profit and loss or change-from-last-year figures chart correctly.
It contains the chart's data, laid out the way Excel's Insert > Chart expects, not a chart object. Open it, select the cells and insert the chart type named in the steps above; it takes a few seconds and gives you a native chart you can restyle. For a finished picture, use Download PNG.
No. Pasted data and uploaded files are read and drawn in your browser, and the PNG, SVG and Excel files are made there too. Nothing is sent to a server.