What Is a Radar Chart? Axes and Scores

A radar chart plots several scores for the same item on axes that share a center. Each axis is one measure. The values connect into a polygon. A second item can be a second polygon on the same spokes. People also call this shape a spider chart or a spider graph. This page is about reading that profile. To draw one, use the radar chart maker.

How the spokes work

Imagine five review scores for a product: price, battery, screen, camera, and support. Each score uses the same 0 to 10 scale. Draw five axes from one origin, evenly spaced. Put the price score on the first spoke, battery on the next, and so on. Connect the five points. The polygon is the product's profile.

A larger polygon means higher scores only if every spoke uses the same scale and the outer ring is the maximum. If one spoke runs from 0 to 100 and another from 0 to 5, the shape lies. Normalize first, or do not use a radar chart.

What readers can and cannot see

Readers can see whether one item is strong on a few spokes and weak on others. They can see whether two polygons overlap or one sits inside the other.

They cannot reliably compare spoke lengths the way they compare bar lengths. The axes point in different directions, so "which score is 2 points higher" is harder than on a bar chart. Use a radar chart for the overall profile. Use a bar graph maker when the ranking of individual scores is the point.

Area inside the polygon is also a poor summary. The area changes if you reorder the spokes, even when the scores stay the same. Do not rank items by polygon area.

A small example

Two phones, scores out of 10:

Measure	Phone A	Phone B
Price value	8	5
Battery	6	9
Screen	7	8
Camera	5	9
Support	9	6

Phone A bulges toward price value and support. Phone B bulges toward battery and camera. Neither polygon contains the other, so neither phone wins every spoke. A bar chart of the same ten numbers would make the 3-point camera gap easier to measure. The radar chart makes the tradeoff easier to see in one shape.

Keep the spoke order stable if you publish an update later. Moving camera next to price redraws the silhouette and looks like the data changed.

When a radar chart fits

Use one when:

• You have a handful of related measures, roughly three to eight.
• Every measure can share a scale, or you have already converted them to a common score.
• You are comparing one to three items, such as two products or a team against a target profile.
• The story is the shape of the profile, not a precise ranking.

Skip it when:

• You have one measure and many categories. Bars rank those categories.
• You have more than about eight spokes. Labels collide and the polygon turns into a star that nobody can read.
• Scales differ and you cannot normalize them honestly.
• The audience needs exact differences. A table or a bar chart will be faster.

Radar chart versus a bar chart

Need	Better chart
Profile across a few shared scores	Radar chart
Rank many categories on one measure	Bar chart
Change of one score over time	Line chart
Two raw measurements	Scatter plot

If you are unsure, draw both. Keep the chart that answers the sentence you wrote first. The guide to types of charts walks through that choice.

Design choices that change the reading

Start at zero. If a spoke starts at 6 instead of 0, small gaps look large. For scores, the outer ring should be the real maximum.

Fill lightly. A solid fill hides the second polygon. Use a transparent fill or an outline so both series stay visible.

Limit the series. Two profiles are comparable. Five overlapping polygons are decoration.

Name every spoke. Abbreviations that only the author knows make the chart a puzzle.

Polygon grid versus circular grid. A polygon grid matches the spokes. A circular grid softens the background. Either is fine if the data marks stay readable. Switch the grid in the radar panel after you open a template.

Common mistakes

• Mixing units. Revenue on one spoke and a 1-to-5 rating on the next will inflate whichever spoke has the larger raw number.
• Too many series. The chart becomes a filled disk. Split the items or switch to bars.
• Implying that area equals quality. Reordering spokes changes the area. Say which scores are high instead of citing the area.
• Using it for time. Months are an ordered line, not spokes around a circle, unless the cycle itself is the point, such as a seasonal profile you have already justified.

Build one in BeCharts

1. Open the radar chart maker or a layout in the radar templates.
2. Rename the spokes and replace the sample scores. Confirm that every spoke shares a scale.
3. Add a second series only for a real comparison, and keep the fill light enough to see both shapes.
4. Export PNG, SVG, or PDF. No account is required. Saved charts stay in the browser unless you export them.

If the ranking of each score matters more than the silhouette, leave this chart and build bars instead.

A note on the name

Search results mix "radar chart," "spider chart," and "radar graph." They refer to the same spoke-and-polygon layout. Pick one name in the title of your figure and use it in the caption. Switching between names in one deck makes readers think the chart type changed.

When you publish the figure, list the scale once ("scores from 0 to 10") and the items in the legend. A reader who sees only the image should not need the surrounding paragraph to know which polygon is which. That check matters more for a radar chart than for a bar chart, because the spokes are easy to mix up once the labels are small.

Frequently asked questions

What is a radar chart used for?

A radar chart compares several scores for one or a few items when every spoke uses the same scale. The polygon is the profile, not a ranking of area.

Is a spider chart the same as a radar chart?

Yes. Spider chart, spider graph, and radar chart name the same spoke-and-polygon layout.

How do I make a radar chart in BeCharts?

Open the radar chart maker, rename the spokes, replace the scores, and export PNG, SVG, or PDF. https://www.becharts.com/radar-chart-maker