Free Online Marimekko Chart Maker

Create Marimekko (Mekko) charts that vary both bar width and height to show two dimensions of data simultaneously.

Built & maintained by the ChartLoad editorial team

Create Your Marimekko Chart Now — It's Free

What Is a Marimekko Chart?

A Marimekko chart (Mekko chart or mosaic plot) is a stacked bar chart where each bar's width is proportional to an additional data dimension — typically the total market size or category volume. This dual encoding means the Y-axis shows segment percentages while the X-axis width shows category magnitude, packing two quantitative stories into one chart.

Key components include the variable-width bars, stacked segments within each bar, axis labels, a color legend for segments, and percentage or value labels. Marimekko charts are a favorite in management consulting (McKinsey, BCG, Bain) for presenting market landscape analyses, competitive positioning, and portfolio reviews in a single, information-dense visual.

What Data You Need for a Marimekko Chart

Category labels in the first column plus one numeric value column per stacked segment. The renderer derives each bar's WIDTH from the column total (the sum of that column's segment values across all series) — there is no separate width-driver column — and normalizes each segment to its percentage of that column's total for the stacked height. Example rows: Region | Premium | Standard | Basic — "North,40,35,25" / "South,25,40,35"; North's width comes from 40+35+25=100, and its Premium segment renders at 40%.

When to Use a Marimekko Chart

Use a Marimekko chart when you need to show both segment breakdown and total size for each category simultaneously. Classic applications include market share analysis (segment share within markets of different sizes), competitive landscape mapping, product portfolio revenue splits, regional sales breakdowns, and budget allocation by department size.

Marimekko charts are popular in strategy consulting, private equity, and executive presentations. They work best with 3-8 categories and 2-5 segments. Choose a Marimekko over a regular stacked bar when bar width carries meaningful information. For audiences unfamiliar with the format, add clear labels — the variable width is not intuitive to everyone.

Where a Marimekko Chart Works Best

Showing market share split within markets of unequal size — e.g. brand share across regions where each region's total volume differs, so you see share and stakes at once.
Portfolio or revenue analysis where you want segment mix (product lines) shown against the relative weight of each business unit or customer tier.
Competitive landscape slides for strategy decks where leadership needs both 'how big is this market' and 'who owns it' in a single graphic.
Survey or demographic breakdowns where group sizes vary widely — e.g. response mix across age bands of different population sizes.

Marimekko Chart Example: Revenue by Plan Tier × Segment

A SaaS company charts three plan tiers (Basic, Pro, Premium) across three customer segments, entering the raw revenue of each tier per segment.

Sample data: Category labels = segments; one value column per tier (Basic, Pro, Premium). Each segment bar’s width is the SUM of its tiers; its height is split into 100% by each tier’s share.

The widest column is the largest segment; within it, the Premium band’s share of the 100% height shows how premium-heavy that segment’s revenue is.

How to Create a Marimekko Chart Online

Step 1: Open ChartLoad and select the Marimekko Chart type from the chart picker on the main page
Step 2: Enter your categories in the first column, their total sizes in the second, and segment breakdowns in subsequent columns
Step 3: ChartLoad calculates proportional bar widths and stacked segment heights automatically
Step 4: Ensure each category's segments sum to 100% for proper percentage-based stacking
Step 5: Customize segment colors, add value labels, and adjust fonts and the chart title for presentation readiness
Step 6: Click Export and download your Marimekko chart as PNG, PDF, SVG, JPEG, or WebP

Marimekko Chart Best Practices & Tips

Explain the variable width to your audience — most viewers are not familiar with Marimekko chart conventions.
Add width labels (market size) below each bar to make the dual encoding explicit and accessible.
Ensure segment percentages sum to 100% within each bar for the stacking to be meaningful.
Marimekko charts pack two data dimensions into one chart — ideal for consulting and strategy presentations.
Keep the number of bars to 3-8 for readability; too many creates very narrow columns with illegible labels.
Test comprehension with a non-analyst audience — add annotations explaining that bar width encodes market size.
Marimekko charts are sometimes called "variable-width column charts" or "mosaic plots" in academic literature.
Include a footnote or annotation explaining that bar width represents total market size — this single clarification dramatically improves comprehension for audiences unfamiliar with the format.

Common Marimekko Chart Mistakes to Avoid

Stacking raw values instead of within-bar percentages — Marimekko segments must each sum to 100% of their column, or the dual encoding (width = totals, height = share) breaks and the mosaic stops tiling cleanly.
Letting a tiny-volume category render as a hairline-thin column — its stacked labels become unreadable; merge or drop columns below ~3-4% of total width.
Cramming in more than ~5 stacked series or ~7 columns; the mosaic gets noisy and viewers can't compare areas across non-adjacent tiles.
Expecting readers to compare exact rectangle areas by eye — humans judge area poorly, so print the width % and share % as labels, don't rely on the tiles alone.

Frequently Asked Questions

What data do I need?

You need categories with a total value (for bar width) and segment values (for bar height). Each category's segments should sum to 100%.

How is this different from a regular stacked bar?

In a regular stacked bar chart all bars have equal width. In a Marimekko chart, bar widths vary to represent an additional data dimension.

Is this good for presentations?

Yes — Marimekko charts are a favorite in consulting and strategy presentations for showing market landscape data compactly.

Related Chart Types

Ready-Made Marimekko Chart Templates

Skip the blank canvas — open a free, editable Marimekko Chart template, swap in your own data, and export. Browse all templates.

Ready to Create Your Marimekko Chart?

No signup. No watermark. 100% free.

Start Creating Now