Sharing helps us build more free tools
Bar graphs show the numeric properties of categories as bars of different heights. Bar graphs are a really good way to compare relative sizes.
The chart below shows a bar graph created with this free bar graph maker
Bar graphs are sometimes called bar charts.
When To Use a Bar Graph
Bar graphs are useful for showing the numeric values of different categories.
For example, if you had an e-commerce store, you might use a bar chart to how many purchases were made by new or returning users. In this case, there would be one bar for new users and one bar for returning users.
Bar charts can be used instead of pie charts to show absolute values for each category. Pie charts can be used instead of bar charts to show the percent contribution of each category.
How To Make a Bar Graph
Upload your dataset
Click the dataset input at the top of the page. Or drag and drop your dataset into the input box.
Pick a column to use for your bar graph
Choose a column that is ordinal or categorical and has a small number of different values. Otherwise, there will be a lot of bars on the graph.
Download graph
Click the download button on the graph to download an image file of the finished bar chart.
What Are Some Different Types of Bar Charts
A horizontal bar graph is similar to a regular bar graph. The main difference is that the bars start on the y axis and extend on the x axis.
Double bar graphs and stacked bar graphs are useful when you have two or more different variables to visualize.
Stacked bar graphs are useful when the data is additive, e.g. you want to see the different reasons why users have canceled their subscriptions.
Double bar graphs are useful when there are two or more variables and they are not additive.
How Can I Make a Bar Graph in Word
- Upload your data set to the bar graph maker using the input at the top of this page
- Select the x and y values for your bar graph
- Download your bar graph
- Open Word
- Drag the downloaded bar graph on to your word document