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Chord Diagram Maker

Show flows between every pair in a group, arranged around a circle. Upload a source, target and value column, and publish an interactive chord diagram you can embed anywhere — free.

Chord Diagram erstellen — kostenlosGalerie ansehen

Was ist ein Chord Diagram?

A chord diagram arranges entities around the edge of a circle and draws ribbons between them, each ribbon's thickness proportional to the quantity flowing between that pair. It exists for data where everything can connect to everything: migration between countries, trade between regions, transfers between clubs, co-occurrence between tags. A Sankey handles flow that moves forward through stages; a chord handles flow that goes in every direction at once, including back. The circle is what makes that possible — with no left and right, there is no implied direction to contradict.

Wann ein Chord Diagram sinnvoll ist

  • Every entity can connect to every other

    Migration, trade, transfers, message volume between teams. The relationship is a matrix, not a pipeline.

  • Flows run in both directions

    A chord can show that A sent more to B than B sent back, which a stage-based diagram cannot express without duplicating nodes.

  • You have between five and fifteen entities

    Below five, a table or a few bars is clearer. Above fifteen, the ribbons cross so heavily that the picture becomes a knot.

  • Total activity per entity matters too

    The arc length of each entity around the circle is its total involvement, so the chart answers "who is busiest" alongside "who connects to whom".

Wann ein Chord Diagram nicht passt

  • Exact values matter

    Ribbon thickness at a crossing point is genuinely hard to judge. If the numbers will be quoted, a heatmap of the same matrix is more honest and easier to read.

  • The flow moves through stages

    Source to intermediate to destination is a Sankey. Forcing it into a circle throws away the sequence that gives it meaning.

  • The matrix is sparse

    A handful of connections between twenty entities leaves a mostly empty circle. Bars or a network layout will use the space better.

  • Your audience needs to act on it quickly

    Chord diagrams reward study. On a dashboard someone glances at for four seconds, they communicate very little.

Chord Diagram erstellen: Schritt für Schritt

Von der Tabelle zum veröffentlichten Diagramm, Schritt für Schritt.

01

Start from the chord template

Open the PlotSet chord template. It loads with sample data bound so you can see the three-column matrix shape it expects.

02

Shape your data as source, target, value

One row per pair, in both directions if the flows differ. Entities are created from the names used, so there is no separate list to maintain.

03

Upload or connect your data

Import a CSV or Excel file, paste from a spreadsheet, or connect a Google Sheet so the diagram can be refreshed later.

04

Aggregate the small flows

Thin ribbons add crossings without adding information. Group the long tail into a single named entity before uploading, and the structure appears.

05

Publish, embed or export

Publish for a live interactive embed where hovering an entity highlights only its ribbons — the feature that makes a dense chord readable — or export a PNG, SVG or PDF.

Starten Sie mit der Chord Diagram-Vorlage samt Beispieldaten und ersetzen Sie diese durch Ihre eigenen.

Vorlage öffnen

Die Bestandteile eines Chord Diagram

Arc
One entity, drawn as a segment of the outer ring. Its length is that entity's total flow, in and out combined.
Ribbon (chord)
The flow between two entities. Its width at each end is the amount travelling in that direction, which is how asymmetry becomes visible.
Ribbon width
The value encoding. Because ribbons taper and overlap, width is best read where it meets the arc, not in the middle.
Ordering around the circle
Which entity sits where. Grouping related entities adjacently dramatically reduces crossings and is the single biggest legibility lever.
Colour
Usually inherited from the source arc, so the eye can tell which end a ribbon started at.
Gap
The space between arcs. Without it, entities merge into a continuous ring and the totals stop being readable.

Häufige Fehler bei einem Chord Diagram

Too many entities

Twenty arcs and a dense matrix produce a ball of yarn. Aggregate to the ten or twelve that carry the volume and name the rest as a group.

Ordering entities alphabetically

It scatters related flows around the circle and maximises crossings. Order by total, or cluster entities that trade with each other.

Ignoring direction

If A to B and B to A differ, a single averaged ribbon hides the imbalance that is often the whole point.

Shipping it static

Without hover highlighting, a dense chord diagram is close to unreadable. Publish the interactive version wherever you can.

Chord Diagram: häufige Fragen

Showing flows or relationships between every pair in a group — migration between countries, trade between regions, or transfers between organisations — where connections run in all directions.

Erstellen Sie jetzt Ihr Chord Diagram

Kostenlos starten mit über 300 Vorlagen. Keine Kreditkarte nötig.

Chord Diagram erstellen — kostenlosAlle Diagrammtypen