In Excel: put the categories in one column and each subject in its own column, then choose Insert ▸ Waterfall, Funnel, Stock, Surface or Radar ▸ Radar.
On this page7
List the categories down one column and each subject in its own adjacent column.
Select the block including the headers and the category labels.
Insert ▸ Charts ▸ Waterfall, Funnel, Stock, Surface or Radar ▸ pick Radar, Radar with Markers or Filled Radar.
Right-click the value axis ▸ Format Axis and fix Minimum and Maximum so charts are comparable.
For a filled radar, set each series fill to about 40 percent transparency so the series behind it stays visible.
What this does
A radar chart arranges the categories as spokes around a circle and plots each subject as a closed outline joining its values on those spokes. Excel offers three variants: plain radar, radar with markers, and filled radar. It works only when every category shares a comparable scale, because all spokes read against the same axis. The same idea underpins a lot of everyday Excel work, so the few minutes spent getting it right here pay back across every sheet you build afterwards. Treat it as a pattern, not a one-off, and it stops being something you look up and starts being something you reach for. Treat “create a spider chart in excel” as a small repeatable workflow rather than a one-off click you hope to remember next time. Use a small test block before the live file, so any surprise in the affected chart shows up while it is still harmless. When this is a ribbon command, the selection matters more than the button: confirm the range, apply the command, then spot-check the output before saving. That turns a visual that makes the number obvious at a glance into a method you can reuse, explain, and defend when the workbook leaves your screen.
A worked example
Six competencies rated 1 to 5 for two candidates. Categories in A2:A7, candidate scores in B and C, headers in row 1. Select A1:C7 and insert Radar with Markers. Then set the axis maximum to 5 by hand so the shape means the same thing on every chart you produce. Skills matrices and vendor scorecards are shape comparisons, and a radar shows the shape — as long as the scale is pinned so two charts can be laid side by side. When the result is not what you expected, undo straight away rather than repairing it by hand — undo restores the sheet exactly, while manual fixes tend to leave small inconsistencies behind that surface later.
In Google Sheets
This is a command rather than a formula, so there is no syntax to carry over. Google Sheets arranges its commands in menus across the top instead of a ribbon, names some of them differently and does not have every Excel command — look for the equivalent in the Sheets menus or its help before assuming the steps match. Nothing on this page is behind a login or a download: the exact answer is at the top, and the detail below it is there for when you need it. That is the whole promise here — the answer first, and just enough context to make it stick. The short version of “create a spider chart in excel”: the answer is at the top of this page, and the sections above explain why each step matters, so a variation of the problem does not stump you. Try it once on a copy of a real file and the steps stick far better than re-reading them.
Common mistakes
- Mixing units on one radar — a score out of five and a revenue figure on adjacent spokes are unreadable together.
- Using more than about eight spokes, where the labels collide and the outline stops being a shape anyone can read.
- Leaving filled radar series opaque, so the series drawn first is completely hidden.
- Reading the enclosed area as a total: reordering the categories changes the area without changing a single value.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the radar chart in Excel?
Insert ▸ Charts ▸ the Waterfall, Funnel, Stock, Surface or Radar button, which holds all three radar variants.
How do I fix the outer edge of the scale?
Right-click the value axis, open Format Axis and set an explicit Maximum instead of leaving it automatic.
How do I compare two people on one chart?
Give each person their own column of values; every column becomes one outline on the same set of spokes.
Radar or bar chart?
A bar chart is easier to read for exact comparison. A radar is better when the shape of a profile, not the individual value, is the message.
Other ways people ask this
On the way here you may have searched this as “how to create spider chart in excel” and “how to make spider chart in excel” — it is all the same task, and this page is the single, complete answer to it.
Why do people search for this in so many different ways?
Because the same task has many names. “how to create spider chart in excel”, “how to make spider chart in excel” all point at the one operation explained on this page, which is why they all lead here.