Radar chart

A radar chart plots several measures around a circle, one axis each. It is good for comparing two or three entities against the same criteria, and bad at almost everything else.

Area on a radar chart is meaningless, and reordering the axes changes the shape entirely. Use it knowingly.

#When this is the right chart

• Comparing two or three options against fixed criteria.

• Capability or skill assessments.

• Scorecards where the axes are agreed in advance.

#What the data needs to look like

#A worked example

Two candidate tools against five criteria:

The source, which you can paste into a new diagram and edit:

radar-beta
  title Tool evaluation
  axis speed["Speed"], cost["Cost"], support["Support"]
  axis ease["Ease of use"], sec["Security"]
  curve tool_a["Option A"]{85, 60, 70, 90, 65}
  curve tool_b["Option B"]{60, 85, 90, 55, 95}
  max 100
  min 0

#A few things that catch people out

• Every axis must use the same scale, or the shape is meaningless.

• Two or three entities at most. Overlapping shapes become unreadable quickly.

• The order of the axes changes the shape. Agree it before anybody sees the chart.

#Related

Pick the chart for the question, not for the look.