How to Make a Sankey Diagram (Budget, Income, Flows)

To make a Sankey diagram, open the Sankey Diagram Maker and type one flow per line as Source [amount] Target — for example Salary [3500] Budget and Budget [1200] Rent. Each node is created from the names, and every band's width matches its amount, so the big flows stand out. You can also paste three spreadsheet columns: source, target, value. Download the diagram as an image.

Make a Sankey diagram step by step

1. Open the Sankey Diagram Maker.
2. Type the flows, one per line:

Salary [3500] Budget
Side job [500] Budget
Budget [1200] Rent
Budget [600] Food
Budget [400] Transport
Budget [800] Savings
Budget [1000] Other

Lines starting with // are notes and are ignored. 3. Or paste three columns from a spreadsheet: source, target, value. 4. Under Options, choose the Band colour (Same as source node, Same as target node or Grey), Opacity %, Node width and Node gap, tick Show amounts on labels, and add a Prefix or Suffix such as $ or kWh. 5. Download a PNG, JPG or SVG.

How it works

• Nodes are created automatically from the names you use. A node can receive flows and pass them on — "Budget" above receives from two incomes and splits into five expenses.
• Band widths are proportional to amounts.
• Stages are arranged left to right from sources to final destinations.
• Loops aren't allowed — a flow can't go back to an earlier node. If you write one, the diagram tells you which flows form the loop.

The format is the same as the popular SankeyMATIC tool, so existing diagrams can be pasted straight in.

What Sankey diagrams are good for

• Household budgets: income sources flowing into spending categories.
• Income statements: revenue split into costs, taxes and profit — a favourite for company results.
• Energy flows: sources to uses, including losses.
• Website traffic: channels to pages to conversions.
• Customer journeys: where people go next and where they drop off.
• Material flows: recycling, supply chains, migration.

Tips for clear diagrams

• Make totals add up. If Budget receives 4000 but sends out 3800, the difference shows as an unexplained gap — add an "Unallocated" flow.
• Group small flows into "Other" so labels don't crowd.
• Order lines logically (largest first) for a tidier layout.
• Three or four stages are easy to follow; more becomes a tangle.

Sankey, waterfall or funnel?

• Sankey — flows splitting and merging across stages.
• Waterfall — a running total going up and down step by step.
• Funnel — one process losing people at each step.
• Treemap — the parts of a whole, without flows.

A worked example: an income statement

Product sales [800] Revenue
Services [200] Revenue
Revenue [450] Cost of sales
Revenue [550] Gross profit
Gross profit [300] Operating costs
Gross profit [250] Operating profit
Operating profit [60] Tax
Operating profit [190] Net profit

Readers see at a glance how a thousand in revenue shrinks to 190 of profit — and which costs take the biggest bites.

Privacy

Your figures stay in your browser — nothing is uploaded or stored.

Frequently asked questions

Can amounts have decimals or thousands separators?

Yes — decimals work; write large numbers without separators, or paste columns from a spreadsheet.

Can I colour flows?

Bands take the colour of their source or target node (or grey) — choose under Band colour — and node colours come from the palette in the style options.

Why is part of a node's bar empty?

The flows into it and out of it don't add up. Add the missing flow.