The donut chart is the pie’s modern sibling: same parts-of-a-whole story, but the open center gives the design room to breathe, and a natural home for the headline number. This maker puts your total there automatically, calculates every percentage, and keeps slices crisp with clean separators.
Like every Graphmint tool, it runs fully in your browser: no account, no upload, no watermark you can’t remove.
How to make a donut chart online
- Enter segments. One row per segment with a label and a value. The total in the donut’s center and each percentage update as you type.
- Arrange. Keep your row order or enable “Sort slices by size”. Segments start at the top and run clockwise.
- Style. Choose a palette and canvas (the donut looks especially sharp on the dark canvas) and pick percentage or value labels.
- Export. Download PNG or SVG, copy the image, or share a link that carries the whole chart in the URL.
Donut or pie: when to choose which?
Functionally, donuts and pies encode data the same way: slice angle equals share. Choose the donut when the total deserves to be seen: the center displays it prominently, turning the chart into both a breakdown and a headline metric.
Donuts also read slightly better with similar-sized segments, because readers compare arc lengths along the ring rather than angles at the center.
The same caution applies as with pies: keep segments few, group the tail into “Other”, and if precise comparison across many categories is the goal, a horizontal bar chart will serve readers better.
Quick tips for a chart people trust
- Lead with your biggest segment at 12 o’clock: enable sorting or order rows yourself.
- The center total is your headline: make sure your values use one consistent unit.
- On dashboards, a donut per metric beats one donut with ten segments.
- Dark canvas + the Neon palette makes a striking donut for social posts and slides.
Frequently asked questions
What does the number in the middle mean?
It’s the sum of all your segment values, formatted compactly (2.5k, 1.2M). Enter a budget of 1150 + 420 + 180 and the center reads the exact total, a built-in headline for your chart.
Is a donut chart better than a pie chart?
Neither is universally better. Donuts offer a focal point for the total and a more contemporary look; pies make small slices slightly easier to judge because the angle meets at the center. Both are one click apart in this editor, so try each with your data.
Can I show values instead of percentages?
Yes: in the Style tab, switch “Show percentages” off and slices display their raw values in compact form instead.
Can I use the chart commercially?
Yes. Charts you create are yours, for any use: reports, articles, client decks, products. No attribution required; the optional graphmint.app caption is just a toggle.