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.
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. Most people learn this as a sequence of clicks and forget it by next week; learning it as a pattern instead is what lets you apply it to the next, slightly different version of the problem without starting from scratch. That is the difference this page is trying to make. The difference between a quick fix and a sheet you can trust is the extra minute you spend validating “radar chart excel”. Start on a copy or a tiny sample, keep the affected chart visible, and compare the result with the tool above before you touch the real workbook. 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. The point is a visual that makes the number obvious at a glance, but the practical win is that someone else can open the file and understand what happened without asking you.
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. A practical tip before you scale it up: build it once on a small block of test data, confirm the number against the tool on this page, and only then point it at your real sheet. That one habit catches almost every mistake while it is still cheap to fix, long before a wrong figure reaches a report or a colleague.
In Google Sheets
Google Sheets handles this almost identically to Excel. The formula syntax above is the same, and the menu lives under a slightly different label rather than a ribbon tab. Use the platform toggle at the top of the page to switch every keyboard shortcut between Windows and Mac, and expect at most cosmetic differences in naming. Keep this page bookmarked for the next time the same question comes up. Better still, rebuild the example once in your own sheet — doing it yourself, with the tool above to check against, is what turns a copied formula into a technique you own. Here is the takeaway for “radar chart excel”: copy the answer if you are busy, but if you have a spare few minutes, rebuild the example in Excel yourself with the tool above open beside it. That single pass — type it, run it, watch the result move when you change an input — is what turns a formula you found into a technique you trust. Keep your inputs labelled and referenced, never hard-coded, and the same sheet stays correct and auditable as it grows. Done that way, you will not need to look this up again, and you will be the person others ask.
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
This guide also answers
- radar graph in excel