A donut chart maker turns a list of numbers into a ring chart: each slice of the ring is one part of the whole, and the hole in the middle shows the total. Enter one slice per line, and the chart above draws itself with the percentages on the ring. The example splits an 8-hour workday into five activities.
Donut charts are pie charts with a job for the center. Here is when that center earns its place, and how to make the ring readable.
What is the difference between a donut chart and a pie chart?
The math is identical: each slice takes value ÷ total × 360 degrees. The differences are visual:
- The center is free. A donut can carry its headline number inside the ring, such as 8 hours, €500,000 or 250 answers.
- Slices read as arcs. Readers compare the length of each piece of the ring instead of the angle at a sharp center point.
- It fits dashboards and slides. Several small donuts in a row look tidy, and a single-share donut works like a progress ring.
Research backs the choice. Robert Kosara and Drew Skau tested pie chart variations in 2016 and found that donut charts were read about as accurately as regular pies. Their work also showed that people judge pies by arc length and area more than by the angle at the center, which explains why the hole doesn’t hurt.
How do you make a donut chart here?
- Enter the data, one slice per line:
Deep work: 3. Paste two columns from Excel or Google Sheets if you have them. - Keep Donut ticked. The total appears in the middle of the ring automatically.
- Put the unit in the title, such as An 8-hour workday or Budget in €, so the number in the center means something.
- Pick the labels: percent for shares, value and percent when the amounts matter too.
- Change colors in the table under the chart and download the PNG or SVG.
When should you use a donut chart?
- A headline total with a breakdown: €500,000 raised, split by use of funds; 250 survey answers, split by response.
- Progress toward a goal: one colored slice and a gray remainder. The percentage pie chart draws exactly that with a slider; tick Donut there for a ring.
- Several breakdowns side by side: one donut per team, region or year, all with the same colors in the same order.
Pick a bar chart instead when you compare values that don’t form a whole, or when slices are close in size and the exact ranking matters.
How do you make a donut chart easy to read?
- Five or six slices at most. The ring is thinner than a pie, so thin slices vanish sooner. Group the rest into “Other”.
- Start the biggest slice at 12 o’clock (tick Largest first) and let the rest follow clockwise.
- Label the ring with percentages and keep names in the legend. Long names on a narrow ring overlap.
- One accent color. For a single share, color the slice you care about and gray out the rest. Readers see the story in one glance.
- No 3D, no shadows. A tilted ring distorts the front slices even more than a tilted pie does.
Where are donut charts used most?
Analytics dashboards love them: device share, traffic sources, budget used. Annual reports use them for revenue by region, and fitness apps close their activity rings every day. In startups, the donut shows up on the funding slide, where the amount raised sits in the middle and the use of funds wraps around it.
Where can you go next?
For a full pie with any number of slices, the pie chart maker with percentages explains how labels add up to exactly 100%. For one share in a ring, try the percentage pie chart. Every chart on this site can switch between pie and donut with one tick.
The donut chart maker is free from Fe/male Switch, a startup game and incubator where women build a company step by step, from the first idea to the pitch deck.
Published 27 October 2026 · by the Fe/male Switch team