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 “spider 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. If there is any chance you will reuse this, drop it into a small template tab right now: a labelled input area on the left and the formula beside it, checked once against the tool above. Next time the same question comes up, the answer is a single paste away instead of a rebuild from memory.
In Google Sheets
If you are in Google Sheets rather than Excel, the good news is that the formula shown here is identical and the workflow barely changes — menus sit across the top instead of in a ribbon, and a few function names differ slightly, but anything you build here moves across with little or no rework. 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. Treat “spider chart excel” as a small building block rather than a chore. Once the inputs sit in their own cells and the formula reads from them, the same setup answers a dozen related questions with a tweak, and Excel keeps every dependent figure current as the data changes. The tool above is there so you can rehearse and verify before committing anything to a real workbook; the steps and worked example are there so the logic sticks. Get it right once and it stops costing you time — it starts saving it, every time the question comes back around.
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
- spider graph excel