What is a donut chart?

A donut chart - also called a doughnut chart - shows how a single measure breaks down across a small number of categories, drawn as a ring with a hollow center instead of a solid disc. It communicates the same proportions as a pie chart but the hollow center frees up space for a total figure, an icon, or simply a cleaner look. Use it when there are 2 to 6 categories and the question is about share of total.

When should I use a donut chart instead of a pie chart?

Use a donut chart when you want the hollow center - to place a total value, a label, or just for visual preference. The hollow center can also make small slices feel slightly more distinguishable since the ring is thinner relative to its diameter than a solid disc. Use a Pie Chart when you do not need the center space and prefer the simpler, more universally recognized solid disc.

What is the default size of the hole in the middle?

Inner Radius defaults to 40% and Outer Radius defaults to 70%, meaning the ring itself occupies the band between 40% and 70% of the chart's available radius, with the inner 40% left empty. Both values are adjustable in Pie Radius.

How many categories should a donut chart have?

Keep a donut chart to 2 to 6 categories, the same guidance as a pie chart. Beyond 6, the ring segments become too thin to label clearly, and the chart stops communicating anything a bar chart would not show more directly.

Can I put text or a number in the hollow center?

Not as a built-in chart control. The donut chart's hollow center is empty by default - there is no formatting option to place a custom total or label inside it. Increasing Inner Radius creates more visual space in the middle, but adding text there would require a separate text or KPI element layered on top in the dashboard layout.

What does adjusting Inner Radius and Outer Radius do?

Inner Radius controls the size of the hollow center, 0 to 80%. Outer Radius controls how far the ring extends, 20 to 80%. Increasing Inner Radius relative to Outer Radius makes the ring thinner; narrowing the gap between the two values makes the ring band itself thinner and the hole larger.

Why is it hard to compare two similarly sized donut segments?

The same limitation that applies to pie charts applies here: the human eye is better at comparing bar lengths than at comparing the angle or arc length of two ring segments. When two segments are close in size, viewers will likely misjudge which is larger without reading the label. If precise comparison matters more than proportion, use a Horizontal Bar chart instead.

Donut Chart | Edilitics Docs

Show how a single measure breaks down into categories as a ring with a hollow center - the proportion view of a pie chart, with room in the middle.

A donut chart - also called a doughnut chart - shows how a single measure breaks down across a small number of categories, drawn as a ring with a hollow center instead of a solid disc. Drop one categorical field into Column and one numeric field into Row. Use it when there are 2 to 6 categories and the question is about proportion, the same use case as a pie chart, with the added option of a hollow center for visual breathing room or a total figure placed alongside it.

When to Use

A donut chart answers the exact same question as a Pie Chart - what share of the whole does each category represent - with one visual difference: the center is hollow rather than filled. Choose it when the hollow center fits the design you want, or when you plan to place a total value or label near the center of the chart.

The same slice-comparison limitation applies as on a pie chart. The human eye struggles to compare the arc length or angle of two similarly sized ring segments. If two categories are close in size, viewers will likely misjudge which is larger without reading the label. If your data has several categories of similar magnitude, a Horizontal Bar chart will communicate the comparison far more reliably.

Switch to a different chart when:

You have more than 6 categories - use Horizontal Bar
Categories are similar in size and need precise comparison - use Horizontal Bar
You do not need the hollow center - use Pie Chart
You need to track proportion over time - use Stacked Bar in 100% mode or Stacked Area

Scenario	Dimension	Measure
Market share by competitor	Competitor name	Sum of market share %
Budget allocation by department	Department name	Sum of budget
Survey responses by answer choice	Answer choice	Count of responses
Revenue split by customer segment	Segment name	Sum of revenue
Device type breakdown of site visits	Device type	Count of sessions

Required Inputs

Field	Type	Count
Dimension	Categorical	Exactly 1
Measure	Numeric	Exactly 1

For step-by-step build instructions, see Build Your First Chart.

Formatting Options

The Format tab unlocks after at least one field is assigned. Once your chart is rendering, use these controls to define how it looks and how viewers interact with it.

Style

Use the chart title to state what the whole represents - viewers need to know what 100% means before they read the ring.

Control	What it does
Show Chart Title	Shows or hides the title. The text is preserved when hidden so you can toggle it back without re-entering.
Enter Chart Title	Title text. Maximum 50 characters.
Font family	Font applied to the title.
Font size	5 to 30.
Bold / Italic	Weight and style.
Alignment	Left, center, or right within the chart container.

Pie Styles controls the color palette across segments, the rotation of the first segment, and the border between segments. Each ring segment also has a subtle rounded corner applied automatically, which is not user-adjustable.

Control	What it does
Start Color	The color applied to the first category's segment.
End Color	The color applied to the last category's segment. Segments in between are interpolated between Start and End. Each segment also has its own radial gradient, lighter near the center and full color near the outer edge.
Border Width	Thickness of the border drawn between segments, 0 to 10px. At 0, segments touch with no visible separator.
Border Color	Color of the border between segments. Only available when Border Width is greater than 0.
Border Type	Solid, Dashed, or Dotted. Only available when Border Width is greater than 0.

Pie Radius controls the size of the ring and the size of the hollow center. This is the control that distinguishes a donut chart from a pie chart.

Control	What it does
Inner Radius	Size of the hollow center as a percentage of the available space, 0 to 80%. Default is 40%. Increase for a larger hole and a thinner ring; decrease toward 0 to approach the look of a solid pie chart.
Outer Radius	Size of the ring's outer edge as a percentage of the available space, 20 to 80%. Default is 70%. Increase to fill more of the chart container.

The ring's visible thickness is the gap between Inner Radius and Outer Radius. Narrowing that gap (for example, Inner 60% and Outer 70%) produces a thin ring; widening it (Inner 20% and Outer 70%) produces a thick ring.

Pie Data Label controls what text appears on or near each segment and how it is formatted. By default, labels show only the category name - turn on Show Value and Show Percentage to add more detail.

Control	What it does
Show Data Labels	Shows or hides labels on segments entirely.
Inside / Outside	Inside places the label within the ring segment - readable only on wider segments. Outside places the label beyond the ring edge with a connecting line, the default and most reliable choice for a donut chart since the ring is narrower than a full pie slice.
Auto Format Labels	When on, labels are automatically thinned if the category count exceeds Max Labels, preventing overlapping text on charts with many categories.
Max Labels	Maximum number of labels shown when Auto Format Labels is on, 1 to 100. Default is 24. Beyond this count, labels are skipped at a regular interval.
Show Percentage	Adds each segment's percentage share of the total to its label.
Show Value	Adds each segment's raw value to its label. Turn on both Show Value and Show Percentage to display category, value, and percentage together - this gets crowded on charts with more than 6 categories.
Number Type	Default, Scientific, Decimal, Currency, Percentage, or Custom. Applies when Show Value is on.
Display Unit	None, Thousand, Million, or Billion.
Decimal Places	0 to 6. Available when Number Type is not Default.
Font Family / Color / Font Size / Bold / Italic	Text styling for the label.
Text case	Uppercase, Lowercase, or Capitalize. Applies to the category name portion of the label and the legend.

The legend lists every category and is the primary way viewers identify which color belongs to which segment, especially for narrow ring segments where the label does not fit.

Control	What it does
Show Legends	Shows or hides the legend. On by default, positioned to the right of the chart.
Vertical position	Top, middle, or bottom alignment of the legend block.
Horizontal position	Start, center, or end alignment.
Show Name	Default: labels always visible. On Hover: labels appear only when viewer hovers the legend.
Orientation	Vertical or Horizontal legend layout. Vertical is the default and works best alongside a circular chart.
Item Gap	Spacing between legend items.
Font Size	Legend label font size.
Color	Legend label text color.

Interactivity

The tooltip shows the category name, its value, and optionally its percentage when hovering any segment.

Control	What it does
Show Tooltip	Shows or hides the tooltip on hover.
Background Color	Tooltip background color.
Headers / Values tabs	Separate styling for the category name row (Headers) and the value row (Values). The Values tab includes Number Type, Display Unit, and Decimal Places. The percentage row, when Show Percentage is on, follows the same header styling.

Keep animation on when the chart is first presented - the ring sweeping into place draws attention to the relative sizes as they form. Turn it off on dashboards that auto-refresh.

Control	What it does
Enable Animation	Turns the build animation on or off.
Duration	How long the animation runs, 0 to 3000ms. Default is 1000ms.
Delay	Time before the animation starts after the chart loads, 0 to 2000ms.
Easing Function	The motion curve. Cubic Out (the default) gives a natural deceleration.

Emphasis highlights the hovered segment, making it easier to track which segment corresponds to which part of the legend or tooltip.

Control	What it does
Show Emphasis	Enables or disables the hover effect.
Focus Type	Item: highlights the hovered segment and dims the rest. None: no visual change on hover.
Enable Scale	Scales the hovered segment slightly larger, making it visually pop from the rest of the ring.
Scale Size	How much the segment scales. Keep at 1.1 or below - large values can push the segment outside the chart boundary on a tightly cropped container.

Enable the Toolbox when viewers need to export the chart or inspect the exact values behind each segment.

Control	What it does
Show Toolbox	Shows or hides the toolbox icon bar.
Save as Image	Adds a download icon that saves the chart as a PNG.
Data View	Adds an icon that opens the underlying data table in the chart area.

Best Practices

Keep category count at 6 or fewer. Beyond 6 categories, ring segments become thin and hard to label or compare. Group minor categories into an "Other" segment in Transform if you have more than 6.

Don't make the ring too thin. A very narrow gap between Inner Radius and Outer Radius (for example, 60% and 70%) leaves little room for labels or visual distinction between similarly sized segments. Keep at least a 25 to 30 percentage-point gap between Inner and Outer Radius for a readable ring.

Use Outside label position for narrow rings. Because a donut's ring is thinner than a full pie slice, Inside labels often do not fit even on the largest segment. Outside is the more reliable default for this chart type.

Show Percentage, not just Value, for proportion questions. The whole point of a donut chart is showing share of total. If only Show Value is on, viewers have to do the percentage math themselves. Turn on Show Percentage so the proportion is stated directly on the chart.

Use a bar chart instead when segments are close in size. If your top categories are within a few percentage points of each other, a donut chart will not let viewers tell which is actually larger without reading every label. A sorted Horizontal Bar chart makes the ranking immediately visible.

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Donut Chart