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. 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. The difference between a quick fix and a sheet you can trust is the extra minute you spend validating “radar graph in 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. One habit worth forming early: name the cells that hold your inputs, so the formula reads in plain language instead of a string of cell addresses. A reviewer — or you in three months — can then follow the logic without decoding what B7 and D2 were supposed to mean, which is most of what makes a sheet maintainable.
In Google Sheets
Everything above works in Google Sheets too. Excel and Sheets share the formula syntax used here; only the surrounding menus are arranged differently. That portability is deliberate — learn it once and it follows you between the two tools and across Windows and Mac. The aim was to get you unstuck fast and leave you a little more capable than a copy-paste would. The answer is at the top, the tool proves it, and the detail above shows why it holds — so the next time a colleague asks, you can answer without reaching for search. Here is the takeaway for “radar graph in 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.