Free Ridgeline Plot Maker
Charts & GraphsMake a ridgeline plot (joyplot) online: paste groups of numbers and each becomes an overlapping density ridge. Adjust overlap, smoothing, colours and peak labels. Free PNG.
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How to Use
- 1
Paste your groups
Open Paste or edit data and write one group per line, like "Jan: 31, 28, 35, 40", or paste two spreadsheet columns (group, value). Every group becomes one ridge, and the plot redraws as you type.
- 2
Pick Distributions or Series
Distributions draws each group's raw values as a smoothed density curve, the classic ridgeline. Series draws an ordered sequence, such as the episode ratings of each TV season, as a profile, with an optional ground line the ridge can dip below.
- 3
Tune the ridges
Set how much the ridges overlap, the smoothing bandwidth and the fill opacity, sort groups by mean or median, and colour them by group or by value.
- 4
Label the story
Switch on peak labels to name the highest ridges automatically, placed so no two labels collide, and add mean and median markers. Click the title, subtitle, axis title or source line to type your own.
- 5
Download
Choose Report, Slide, Square or the 1080 × 1920 Story size and download a free PNG at exactly that size, with no watermark. Pro adds vector SVG and HD PNG.
Why Choose GraphMake?
How to Read a Ridgeline Plot
Each ridge is one group. Its height at any point on the x axis shows how many of the group's values fall near that point, so a tall narrow peak means values bunch tightly and a low wide ridge means they spread out. Two humps on one ridge mean the group holds two different populations.
Read down the stack to see the shift. When the peaks march to the right from ridge to ridge, the values are rising; when one ridge sits apart from its neighbours, that group is the outlier. The overlap is deliberate: it keeps many groups in a compact space while each curve stays visible above the one in front of it.
Mean and median markers pin the centre of each ridge. On a skewed ridge, such as response times with a long slow tail, the mean sits to the right of the median, which is a quick way to spot skew.
Ridgeline Plot, Histogram or Box Plot?
A histogram shows one distribution in detail; for one or two groups it is the clearer choice, and the histogram maker makes one. A box plot summarises many groups with five numbers each but hides their shape, including a group that splits in two. A ridgeline keeps the full shape of every group and stays readable up to about 20 groups.
With very few values per group (under about 10), a density curve can suggest a shape the data does not have. Show every value instead with the dot plot maker. For values over time in a grid of days or episodes, the heatmap maker is another option.
Making a Ridgeline That Tells One Story
Pick the order that carries the point: time order for drift, median order for a ranking. Colour by value when the x axis itself means something warm or cold, fast or slow; colour by group when the groups are the point.
Turn on peak labels only for the ridges you want people to notice, and keep the overlap moderate so labels have room. For a phone screen, a slide or a vertical video, choose the Square or Story size and a Large or Extra large text size so the labels stay readable when the image is shrunk.
What You Can Create
Seasonal Patterns
Daily temperatures, sales or traffic by month, showing how the whole distribution moves through the year.
Performance by Release
Response times or load times per version, with medians marked, so regressions and wins show up at once.
Scores by Group
Exam scores by class or survey answers by segment, sorted by median, including groups that split in two.
TV Episode Ratings
One ridge per season of a show, its best episodes labelled and a ground line that bad seasons sink below.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a ridgeline plot?
A ridgeline plot stacks one smoothed distribution per group on a shared x axis and lets the curves overlap, so they look like a mountain range seen from the side. It shows how a distribution shifts across many groups, such as temperatures by month or response times by release, in far less space than a grid of separate charts.
Is a joyplot the same as a ridgeline plot?
Yes. "Joyplot" is the older nickname, from the Joy Division album cover Unknown Pleasures, which shows stacked radio pulses from a pulsar. The name ridgeline plot is now more common. Pick the Pulsar theme and set the fill opacity to zero for the album-cover look.
How is each ridge calculated?
In Distributions mode each ridge is a kernel density estimate: every value adds a small bell curve, and the curves are summed. All ridges share one bandwidth (by default Silverman's rule, the median across groups), so their shapes compare fairly. Lower the smoothing to reveal bumps, or raise it to smooth them away.
What data format does the ridgeline maker accept?
Either one group per line with its values after a colon ("v3.1: 410, 388, 395") or long-format CSV with a group column and a value column, which is what most spreadsheets and databases export. A header row is skipped automatically.
Can I plot a sequence instead of a distribution?
Yes. Switch to Series and each group's values are drawn in order as a profile. Name points by writing the label before the number and splitting with a bar: "S2: Blackwater 9.2 | Valar Morghulis 9.0". The TV episode ratings sample does exactly that, one ridge per season, with its highest episodes labelled.
How many groups can a ridgeline plot show?
Ridgelines work well from about 4 to 20 groups, which is where they beat side-by-side box plots or histograms. This maker draws up to 30 groups and 3,000 values. For many groups, use a taller canvas such as Square or Story and a little more overlap.
Should I sort the groups?
Keep a natural order (months, releases, seasons) when there is one, since the drift over time is the story. For categories with no order, such as classes or countries, sort by mean or median so the shift from lowest to highest reads at a glance.
Is this ridgeline plot maker free?
Yes. Making a ridgeline plot and downloading it as a PNG is free, with no signup and no watermark. SVG and high-resolution PNG downloads are part of GraphMake Pro.
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