How to Make a Pie Chart (Step by Step, with Examples)
Updated · 3 min read
A pie chart shows how one total divides into parts. It is one of the most recognised charts, and one of the most misused. This guide takes you through making one that is accurate and easy to read, using the free pie chart maker.
1. Check that your data is “part of a whole”
A pie chart only makes sense when the slices are mutually exclusive (each item belongs to exactly one category) and add up to a meaningful total. Good examples:
- A monthly budget split into spending categories.
- Votes for candidates in a single-choice poll.
- Market share of the companies in one market.
Bad examples include average scores per team, survey questions where people could pick several answers, and values from different years. None of these add up to a single whole.
2. Collect raw values; percentages are optional
You don’t need to convert your numbers to percentages first. Enter the raw amounts and the tool divides each one by the total. For a budget of Housing $1,450, Food $620, Savings $500, Transport $340, Health $210 and Entertainment $180, the total is $3,300:
| Category | Amount | Share | Angle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Housing | $1,450 | 43.9% | 158° |
| Food | $620 | 18.8% | 68° |
| Savings | $500 | 15.2% | 55° |
| Transport | $340 | 10.3% | 37° |
| Health | $210 | 6.4% | 23° |
| Entertainment | $180 | 5.5% | 20° |
Each angle is the share × 360°.
3. Keep the number of slices small
Above about six or seven slices, the smallest ones become slivers that can’t be labelled. Combine minor categories into “Other”. In our tool, the option Combine slices under X% into “Other” does this for you and tells you which categories it merged.
4. Order and label the slices
Sort slices from largest to smallest, starting at 12 o’clock and going clockwise, unless the categories have a natural order such as “Strongly agree” → “Strongly disagree”. Label slices directly with names or percentages so readers don’t have to jump back and forth to a legend.
5. Choose colors with care
Use distinct colors for adjacent slices, and avoid encoding meaning with red and green alone, which about 1 in 12 men find hard to tell apart. The Colorblind-Friendly palette and pattern fills are available under Customize → Colors & style. To highlight one slice, give it a strong color and make the others muted grays.
6. Don’t tilt it
3D tilted pies make slices at the front look bigger than equal slices at the back. If you want visual depth, use a shaded style that keeps the pie flat. Our “Shaded (decorative 3D-style)” option does exactly that.
7. Download in the right format
- PNG: documents, slides and websites. Choose “High resolution” for crisp results on large screens.
- SVG: infinitely scalable, and editable in Illustrator, Inkscape or Figma.
- PDF: vector output for printing and reports.
When a pie chart is the wrong choice
If slices are similar in size, readers can’t rank them reliably by angle. The bar chart below shows the same data, and the ranking is obvious. See Pie chart vs bar chart for a full comparison.