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Grafana Cloud Enterprise Open source

Pie chart

A pie chart is a graph that displays data as segments of a circle proportional to the whole, making it look like a sliced pie. Each slice corresponds to a value or measurement.

Pie charts

The pie chart visualization is ideal when you have data that adds up to a total and you want to show the proportion of each value compared to other slices, as well as to the whole of the pie.

You can use a pie chart if you need to compare:

  • Browser share distribution in the market
  • Incident causes per category
  • Network traffic sources
  • User demographics

Configure a pie chart visualization

The following video guides you through the creation steps and common customizations of pie chart visualizations and is great for beginners:

Give it a try using Grafana Play

With Grafana Play, you can explore and see how it works, learning from practical examples to accelerate your development. This feature can be seen on Grafana Bar Charts and Pie Charts.

Supported data formats

The pie chart is different from other visualizations in that it will only display one pie, regardless of the number of datasets, fields, or records queried in it.

To create a pie chart visualization, you need a dataset containing a set of numeric values either in rows, columns, or both.

Example - One row

The easiest way to provide data for a pie chart visualization is in a dataset with a single record (or row) containing the fields (or columns) that you want in the pie, as in the following example. The default settings of the pie chart visualization automatically display each column as a slice of the pie.

Value1Value2Value3Optional
532Sums10

Pie chart visualization with multiple values in a single row

Example - Multiple rows

If you need to use numeric data that’s in multiple rows, the default Show parameter of the visualization Value options is set to Calculate and use data from the last row.

ValueLabel
5Value1
3Value2
2Value3

Pie chart visualization with multiple row values showing the last one

By default, the visualization is configured to calculate a single value per column or series and to display only the last row of data.

To allow values in multiple rows to be displayed, change the Show setting in the Value options from Calculate to All values.

Pie chart visualization with multiple row values showing all values

Example - Multiple rows and columns

If your dataset contains multiple rows and columns with numeric data, by default only the last row’s values are summed.

Value1Value2Value3Optional
532Sums10
1064Sums20
2082Sums30

Pie chart visualization with multiple rows and columns showing the last one

If you want to display all the cells, change the Show setting in the Value options from Calculate to All values. This also labels the elements by concatenating all the text fields (if you have any) with the column name.

Pie chart visualization with multiple rows and columns showing the all values

If you want to display only the values from a given field (or column), once the Show setting in the Value options is set to All values, set the Fields option to the column you wish to sum in the display. The value labels are also concatenated as indicated before.

Pie chart visualization with multiple rows and columns showing values from one column

Panel options

In the Panel options section of the panel editor pane, set basic options like panel title and description, as well as panel links. To learn more, refer to Configure panel options.

Value options

Use the following options to refine the value in your visualization.

Show

Choose how much information to show.

  • Calculate - Reduces each value to a single value per series.
  • All values - Displays every value from a single series.

Calculation

Select a calculation to reduce each series when Calculate has been selected. For information about available calculations, refer to Calculation types.

Limit

When displaying every value from a single series, this limits the number of values displayed.

Fields

Select which field or fields to display in the visualization. Each field name is available on the list, or you can select one of the following options:

  • Numeric fields - All fields with numerical values.
  • All fields - All fields that are not removed by transformations.
  • Time - All fields with time values.

Pie chart options

Use these options to refine how your visualization looks.

Pie chart type

Select the pie chart display style.

Pie

Pie type chart

Donut

Donut type chart

Labels

Select labels to display on the pie chart. You can select more than one.

  • Name - The series or field name.
  • Percent - The percentage of the whole.
  • Value - The raw numerical value.

Labels are displayed in white over the body of the chart. You might need to select darker chart colors to make them more visible. Long names or numbers might be clipped.

The following example shows a pie chart with Name and Percent labels displayed.

Pie chart labels

Tooltip options

Tooltip options control the information overlay that appears when you hover over data points in the visualization.

Tooltip mode

When you hover your cursor over the visualization, Grafana can display tooltips. Choose how tooltips behave.

  • Single - The hover tooltip shows only a single series, the one that you are hovering over on the visualization.
  • All - The hover tooltip shows all series in the visualization. Grafana highlights the series that you are hovering over in bold in the series list in the tooltip.
  • Hidden - Do not display the tooltip when you interact with the visualization.

Use an override to hide individual series from the tooltip.

Values sort order

When you set the Tooltip mode to All, the Values sort order option is displayed. This option controls the order in which values are listed in a tooltip. Choose from the following:

  • None - Grafana automatically sorts the values displayed in a tooltip.
  • Ascending - Values in the tooltip are listed from smallest to largest.
  • Descending - Values in the tooltip are listed from largest to smallest.

Max height

Set the maximum height of the tooltip box. The default is 600 pixels.

Legend options

Use these settings to define how the legend appears in your visualization. For more information about the legend, refer to Configure a legend.

Visibility

Toggle the switch to turn the legend on or off.

Mode

Use these settings to define how the legend appears in your visualization.

  • List - Displays the legend as a list. This is a default display mode of the legend.
  • Table - Displays the legend as a table.

Placement

Choose where to display the legend.

  • Bottom - Below the graph.
  • Right - To the right of the graph.

Width

Control how wide the legend is when placed on the right side of the visualization. This option is only displayed if you set the legend placement to Right.

Values

Select values to display in the legend. You can select more than one.

  • Percent: The percentage of the whole.
  • Value: The raw numerical value.

Standard options

Standard options in the panel editor pane let you change how field data is displayed in your visualizations. When you set a standard option, the change is applied to all fields or series. For more granular control over the display of fields, refer to Configure overrides.

OptionDescription
UnitChoose which unit a field should use.
Min/MaxSet the minimum and maximum values used in percentage threshold calculations or leave these field empty for them to be calculated automatically.
Field min/maxEnable Field min/max to have Grafana calculate the min or max of each field individually, based on the minimum or maximum value of the field.
DecimalsSpecify the number of decimals Grafana includes in the rendered value.
Display nameSet the display title of all fields. You can use variables in the field title.
Color schemeSet single or multiple colors for your entire visualization.
No valueEnter what Grafana should display if the field value is empty or null. The default value is a hyphen (-).

To learn more, refer to Configure standard options.

Data links allow you to link to other panels, dashboards, and external resources while maintaining the context of the source panel. You can create links that include the series name or even the value under the cursor.

For each data link, set the following options:

  • Title
  • URL
  • Open in new tab

To learn more, refer to Configure data links.

Value mappings

Value mapping is a technique you can use to change how data appears in a visualization.

For each value mapping, set the following options:

  • Condition - Choose what’s mapped to the display text and (optionally) color:
    • Value - Specific values
    • Range - Numerical ranges
    • Regex - Regular expressions
    • Special - Special values like Null, NaN (not a number), or boolean values like true and false
  • Display text
  • Color (Optional)
  • Icon (Canvas only)

To learn more, refer to Configure value mappings.

Field overrides

Overrides allow you to customize visualization settings for specific fields or series. When you add an override rule, it targets a particular set of fields and lets you define multiple options for how that field is displayed.

Choose from the following override options:

OptionDescription
Fields with nameSelect a field from the list of all available fields.
Field with name matching regexSpecify fields to override with a regular expression.
Fields with typeSelect fields by type, such as string, numeric, or time.
Fields returned by querySelect all fields returned by a specific query, such as A, B, or C.
Fields with valuesSelect all fields returned by your defined reducer condition, such as Min, Max, Count, Total.

To learn more, refer to Configure field overrides.