What is a radial bar chart?

A radial bar chart - also called a polar bar chart or circular bar chart - arranges categories around a circle with bars radiating outward from the center. Bar length encodes the measure value. It shows the same information as a standard horizontal bar chart but in a circular layout. Use it when visual impact matters and the number of categories is small enough that bar lengths remain distinguishable.

When should I use a radial bar chart instead of a bar chart?

Use a radial bar chart when you want a visually distinct layout for a ranked comparison - for example, on a public-facing dashboard or executive summary where presentation impact matters. Use a standard Horizontal Bar chart when precise value comparison is the priority, since straight bars with a shared baseline are easier to read than bars radiating from a center point.

How many categories work well in a radial bar chart?

Between 4 and 12 categories is the practical range. Below 4, the circular layout adds no benefit over a bar chart. Above 12, bars become narrow, category labels around the circle overlap, and the chart becomes unreadable. Keep to 8 or fewer for most use cases.

What does Radius control?

Radius sets the inner and outer boundaries of the chart ring as percentages of the container. The inner radius is the empty center hole - increasing it makes the center hole larger and bars shorter. The outer radius is the maximum bar reach - increasing it fills more of the container. Both range from 10% to 100%. Default is inner 10%, outer 80%.

What is the difference between Radius Labels and Radial Polar Labels?

Radius Labels are the value scale labels on the inner ring - the concentric circle gridlines that show what value each ring represents. Radial Polar Labels are value labels printed on the bars themselves - showing the actual data value for each bar. Both are optional. Enable Radial Polar Labels when viewers need to read exact values without hovering for a tooltip.

What do Split Lines and Split Area do?

Split Lines are the concentric circular gridlines radiating through the chart at each value interval on the radius axis. Split Area fills alternate bands between those gridlines with a subtle background color. Both help viewers estimate bar length against the value scale. Leave Split Lines on for most layouts. Turn Split Area off for a minimal look.

Why are my category labels overlapping around the chart?

Label overlap happens when too many categories are assigned or category names are too long for the available arc space. Reduce the category count to 8 or fewer in Transform before building the chart, or shorten category names. Reducing the outer radius slightly also gives labels more room at the edge of the chart.

Can I add multiple measures to a radial bar chart?

No. The radial bar chart accepts exactly one measure. If you need to compare multiple measures per category, use a Grouped Bar chart or a Radar Chart instead.

Radial Bar Chart | Edilitics Docs

Compare a single measure across categories arranged in a circle, with bar length radiating outward from the center - a ranked comparison with visual interest.

A radial bar chart - also called a polar bar chart or circular bar chart - arranges categories around a circle and draws bars that radiate outward from the center. Bar length encodes the measure value; the angle position identifies the category. Drop one categorical field into Column and one numeric field into Row. Use it when a circular layout suits the presentation context and the category count is small enough that bar lengths remain visually distinguishable.

When to Use

A radial bar chart shows the same information as a Horizontal Bar chart but in a circular form. The circular layout has one cost: bars do not share a common straight baseline, so comparing bar lengths across the circle is less precise than reading a standard bar chart. Use a radial bar when visual impact or layout variety matters more than pixel-level precision - executive summaries, public dashboards, or embedded analytics where the chart is one element in a visual story.

Radial bars are harder to compare than straight bars. The human eye is better at judging lengths along a straight axis than lengths radiating outward at different angles. If viewers need to make precise comparisons between categories, use a Horizontal Bar chart instead. Reserve the radial bar for contexts where the overall shape and the largest-vs-smallest contrast are what matter.

Switch to a different chart when:

Precise value comparison is the goal - use Horizontal Bar
You have more than 12 categories - use Horizontal Bar with Data Zoom
You have multiple measures per category - use Grouped Bar or Radar Chart
Your dimension is time - use Line Chart

Scenario	Dimension	Measure
Revenue by sales region	Region name	Sum of revenue
NPS score by product category	Product category	Average NPS
Headcount by department	Department name	Count of employees
Support tickets resolved by team	Team name	Count of resolved tickets
Ad spend by channel	Channel name	Sum of spend

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 the comparison question. On a radial bar, the title sits above the circle and is the first thing viewers read before interpreting bar lengths.

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.

The angle axis is the circular axis that positions each category around the circumference of the chart - think of it as the equivalent of the X-axis on a standard bar chart, bent into a circle. Reach for these controls when labels overlap or the axis line adds visual clutter to the circular layout.

Axis Line - the circular outer border of the chart.

Control	What it does
Show	Shows or hides the circular axis line.
Color	Color of the axis line.
Line Type	Solid, Dashed, or Dotted.

Axis Label - the category names arranged around the circle.

Control	What it does
Show	Shows or hides the category labels. Hiding labels also hides axis ticks.
Font size	Label font size, up to 20. Reduce if labels overlap at the edge of the circle.
Bold / Italic	Weight and style.
Font Color	Label text color.
Font Family	Font applied to category labels.

Axis Tick - the small marks on the axis line at each category position.

Control	What it does
Show	Shows or hides tick marks. Hiding ticks does not hide labels.
Color	Color of the tick marks.

Reach for these controls to adjust the overall size and shape of the chart ring, the bar color, and the background grid.

Control	What it does
Radius (%) - inner	The empty center hole as a percentage of the container, 10 to 100. Increasing the inner radius makes the hole larger and shortens the bars.
Radius (%) - outer	The maximum bar reach as a percentage of the container, 10 to 100. Increasing the outer radius fills more of the container with bars. Default is 80%.
Bar Color	The fill color of all bars. Single color applied uniformly - no per-category color control.
Show Split Lines	Shows or hides the concentric circular gridlines at each value interval. Leave on to help viewers estimate bar length against the value scale.
Show Split Area	Fills alternate bands between split lines with a subtle background color. Turn off for a minimal look.

Radius labels are the value scale labels on the inner ring - they show what numeric value each concentric gridline represents. Enable them when viewers need to estimate values without hovering for a tooltip.

Control	What it does
Show Radius Labels	Shows or hides the value scale labels on the radius axis.
Font Style	Font family applied to radius labels.
Font size / Bold / Italic	Text weight, style, and size.
Font Color	Label text color.
Number Type	Default, Scientific, Decimal, Currency, Percentage, or Custom.
Display Unit	None, Thousand, Million, or Billion.
Decimal Places	0 to 6. Available when Number Type is not Default.

Radial Polar Labels print the data value directly on each bar. Enable them when the tooltip is not available - for example, on a printed export or a static screenshot.

Control	What it does
Show Labels	Shows or hides value labels on bars. Off by default.
Font Style	Font family applied to labels.
Font size / Bold / Italic	Text weight, style, and size, 8 to 20.
Font Color	Label text color.
Position	Outside: label appears beyond the bar tip. Inside: label sits within the bar. Center: label centered in the bar. Outside is most readable when bars are short. Inside works when bars are long enough to contain the text.
Number Type	Default, Scientific, Decimal, Currency, Percentage, or Custom.
Display Unit	None, Thousand, Million, or Billion.
Decimal Places	0 to 6. Available when Number Type is not Default.

On a radial bar with a single measure, the legend identifies the measure name. It is less critical than on multi-series charts - the chart title and axis labels usually provide enough context.

Control	What it does
Show Legend	Shows or hides the legend.
Vertical position	Top, middle, or bottom alignment of the legend block.
Horizontal position	Start, center, or end alignment.
Orientation	Vertical or Horizontal legend layout.
Item Gap	Spacing between legend items.
Font Size	Legend label font size.
Color	Legend label text color.

Interactivity

The tooltip is the primary way viewers read exact values on a radial bar - bar lengths are harder to read against a curved axis than a straight one, so the tooltip does more work here than on a standard bar chart.

Control	What it does
Show Tooltip	Shows or hides the tooltip on hover. Keep on.
Background Color	Tooltip background color.
Headers / Values tabs	Separate styling for the category label row (Headers) and the measure value row (Values). The Values tab includes Number Type, Display Unit, and Decimal Places.

Keep animation on when the chart is presented for the first time - the bars building outward from the center draw attention to length differences. 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.

Use emphasis to help viewers identify individual categories when the circular layout makes it hard to trace which bar belongs to which label.

Control	What it does
Show Emphasis	Enables or disables the hover effect.
Focus Type	Item: highlights the hovered bar and dims all others. Series: highlights all bars in the series - on a single-measure chart this is equivalent to Item. None: no visual change on hover.
Enable Scale	Scales the hovered bar slightly outward.
Scale Size	How much the hovered bar scales. Keep at 1.1 or below - large scale values push bars outside the chart boundary on narrow containers.

Enable the Toolbox when viewers need to export the chart or inspect exact values - any context where a viewer will question what a bar length represents.

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 between 4 and 8. Below 4, the circular layout adds no benefit over a bar chart. Above 8, bars become narrow, the angle between categories shrinks, and category labels around the circumference begin to overlap. Pre-filter to the top N categories in Transform if your dimension has more than 8 values.

Always enable the tooltip. Bar lengths radiating from a center point are harder to compare against a curved value scale than lengths along a straight axis. Viewers cannot reliably read exact values from bar length alone. The tooltip is the only reliable way to get exact values - do not hide it.

Leave Split Lines on. Concentric gridlines give viewers a reference grid for estimating bar length. Without them, the chart is essentially a shape with no scale reference and viewers can only judge which bar is longest, not by how much.

Set Radial Polar Label Position to Outside for short bars. Inside position requires the bar to be long enough to contain the label text. On a chart with a wide range of values, short bars will clip their labels when Position is Inside. Outside places labels beyond the bar tip where there is always room.

Use a single prominent color. The radial bar has one series so per-category color differentiation is not available. The circular layout and bar length already differentiate categories - a single strong color for the bars reads more cleanly than trying to introduce color variation through the background or split areas.

FAQs

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Radial Bar Chart