How to Choose the Right Chart Type for Your Data

Picking the right chart type makes the difference between a clear story and a confusing one. This guide walks you through the main chart types and when to use them.

Start with Your Goal

Before you choose a chart, ask:

• Compare values? Bar or column charts work well.
• Show change over time? Use a line chart.
• Show parts of a whole? Pie or donut charts are common.
• Show distribution or correlation? Consider scatter or heatmap.

Line Charts: Trends Over Time

Line charts are best for time series and trends. Use them when the horizontal axis is time (days, months, years) and you want to show how one or more metrics change.

Good for: Revenue over quarters, website traffic, temperature over a week.

In BeCharts you can turn a line chart into an area chart, add smooth curves, or use step lines for discrete changes.

Bar and Column Charts: Comparing Categories

Use bar charts when you're comparing categories (e.g. products, regions, teams). Use column charts when category names are short and you have few items.

Good for: Sales by region, top 10 items, before/after comparisons.

You can stack bars to show composition or group them to compare multiple series side by side.

Pie and Donut: Parts of a Whole

Pie and donut charts show proportions. Use them when you have a small number of segments (roughly 2–7) and the total is meaningful.

Good for: Market share, budget breakdown, survey responses.

Avoid too many slices; if you have many categories, consider a bar chart instead.

When to Use Other Types

• Radar: Compare several dimensions for one or more items (e.g. skills, product ratings).
• Scatter: Show relationship or distribution between two (or three) variables.
• Heatmap: Show density or values across two dimensions (e.g. time × category).
• Sankey: Show flow or transfer between stages (e.g. funnel, migration).