How to Make a Bubble Chart Online (Free)

To make a bubble chart, open the Bubble Chart Maker and paste one row per bubble as label, x, y, size, group — for example countries with income, life expectancy and population, coloured by region. The size and group columns are optional. A header row names the axes. Set the Largest bubble (px), Opacity (%) and labels, and download a PNG, JPG or SVG.

Make a bubble chart step by step

1. Open the Bubble Chart Maker.
2. Paste or type the data in Rows: label, x, y, size, group:

Country,Income per person,Life expectancy,Population (m),Region
Japan,42000,84,124,Asia
India,8400,71,1430,Asia
Germany,58000,81,84,Europe
Brazil,16000,76,216,Americas
Nigeria,5300,54,224,Africa

1. Under the options:
   • Largest bubble (px) and Opacity (%).
   • Label the bubbles.
   • X axis starts at zero / Y axis starts at zero.
   • X-axis title and Y-axis title (taken from the header row automatically).
2. Download PNG, SVG or JPG.

Reading a bubble chart

A bubble chart is a scatter plot with extra dimensions:

• Position — two measurements (x and y).
• Size — a third (population, revenue, budget).
• Colour — a category (region, product line, team).

The famous example plots countries by income and life expectancy, with bubble size for population — showing at a glance both the relationship and which countries matter most by size.

Honest bubble sizes

Bubble area — not radius — is proportional to the size value, so a value twice as big looks twice as big. (Scaling the radius would make it look four times bigger, a common mistake that exaggerates differences.)

Labels that don't collide

Labels go inside a bubble when they fit, otherwise beside it; a label with no free spot is left out rather than drawn over another. Hover over a bubble in the preview to see its details.

Good uses

• Countries or regions — economic and health indicators.
• Products — price, rating and sales volume.
• Projects — cost, value and risk.
• Marketing channels — cost per lead, conversion rate and spend.
• Customers — frequency, recency and revenue.

Tips

• Ten to forty bubbles read well; many more become a cloud — reduce Opacity so overlaps show.
• Use a log scale mindset: if one value dwarfs the rest (India's and China's populations, for example), labels and small bubbles get crowded; consider charting the giants separately.
• Explain the size. With a header row, the chart adds a subtitle such as "Bubble size: Population (m)" automatically.

A worked example: marketing channels

Paste one row per channel — cost per lead (x), conversion rate (y), monthly spend (size), and channel type (group). The best channels sit top-left (cheap leads that convert well); big bubbles in the bottom-right are expensive, poorly converting channels taking a large share of the budget — the obvious place to look for savings.

Bubble or scatter?

Without a size column, a bubble chart is a scatter plot. For a trend line with its equation and R², use the Scatter Plot Maker. For values in a grid of rows and columns, a heatmap may be clearer.

Privacy

Your data stays in your browser — nothing is uploaded or stored.

Frequently asked questions

Can I leave out the size?

Yes — every bubble is then drawn the same size.

Can I colour by group without a size?

Yes — leave the size empty and add the group column.

What if a size is zero or negative?

Bubbles need positive sizes; a missing, zero or negative size is treated as 1, so it shows as a small bubble.