Free Online Combo Chart Maker
Mix bars and lines in one chart. Show two related metrics with different scales together.
Create Your Combo Chart Now — It's FreeWhat Is a Combo Chart?
Key components include the bar series on the primary Y-axis, the overlaid line series, shared category labels on the X-axis, a legend distinguishing each series, and optional data-point markers on the line. Combo charts are one of the most common business chart formats because they pack two stories into a single, easy-to-read visual without requiring the viewer to switch between separate charts.
What Data You Need for a Combo Chart
A shared category axis (dates or labels) plus one or more value series on a single common y-axis: the first series is drawn as bars and every later series as a line over the same categories. Example: Month | Revenue ($K) | Growth Rate (%) → Jan, 42, 5 / Feb, 48, 8 (both plotted against the same y-scale).
When to Use a Combo Chart
Combo charts are a staple of executive dashboards, sales reports, and marketing analytics. They work best when the two metrics are meaningfully related and share the same X-axis. If the two metrics have wildly different scales, consider the Dual Axis chart type instead, which provides an independent Y-axis for each series.
Where a Combo Chart Works Best
- Revenue (bars) against profit margin % (line) to see if growth is profitable
- Monthly rainfall in mm (bars) versus average temperature in degrees (line) on a weather dashboard
- Units sold (bars) overlaid with average selling price (line) to track volume-vs-price tradeoffs
- Support ticket volume (bars) against average resolution time in hours (line) to spot when backlog hurts speed
Combo Chart Example: Revenue vs. Conversion
An ecommerce team tracks monthly ad spend against the resulting conversion rate. Spend is plotted as bars on the left axis; conversion rate runs as a line on the right axis. They want to see whether pouring in more budget actually lifts conversion.
Sample data: Jan: spend $42k, conv 2.4% | Feb: $51k, 2.3% | Mar: $68k, 2.1% | Apr: $55k, 2.6% | May: $47k, 3.0%
Spend and conversion move in opposite directions — the highest-spend month (March) had the lowest conversion, suggesting diminishing returns from scaling budget too fast.
How to Create a Combo Chart Online
- Step 1: Open ChartLoad and select the Combo Chart type from the chart picker on the main page
- Step 2: Enter your shared category labels in the first column, bar values in the second, and line values in the third
- Step 3: ChartLoad renders the first series as bars and the second as a line overlay automatically
- Step 4: Customize bar colors, line thickness, marker style, and legend position to match your brand
- Step 5: Add a chart title, axis labels, and annotations to highlight key takeaways in the data
- Step 6: Click Export and download your combo chart as PNG, PDF, SVG, JPEG, or WebP
Combo Chart Best Practices & Tips
- Use a combo chart when two metrics share the same X-axis but telling their story requires different chart types.
- Clearly distinguish the bar series from the line series using contrasting colors and a legend.
- If the two series have very different value ranges, consider a dual-axis chart instead of a shared-axis combo.
- Add data labels to the line series at key peaks or troughs to highlight the most important data points.
- Keep combo charts to two series maximum — adding more mixes too many visual encodings in one chart.
- Use a solid fill for bars and a thin line for the overlaid series to maintain clear visual separation.
- Combo charts are a staple of business dashboards — they answer "what happened?" (bars) and "how fast?" (line) in one view.
Common Combo Chart Mistakes to Avoid
- Combining series that don't share a category axis — a combo chart only works when bars and line line up on the same x-values (same months, same regions), not unrelated dimensions.
- Layering more than two metrics (extra lines or a second bar set) so the chart becomes an unreadable tangle; a combo chart should stay at one bar series plus one line.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use two Y-axes?
For two independent Y-axes, use the Dual Axis chart type instead. Combo chart shares one Y-axis.
What chart types can I combine?
The standard combo pairs bars with lines. For more flexibility, use the Dual Axis type.
Can I choose which series is bars and which is a line?
Yes. The first dataset renders as bars and the second as a line by default. You can swap them or add more series in the chart settings panel.
Related Chart Types
Ready-Made Combo Chart Templates
Skip the blank canvas — open a free, editable Combo Chart template, swap in your own data, and export. Browse all templates.
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