Plotly tutorial

Last Updated : 09 Jul, 2025

Plotly is a popular open-source Python library used for creating interactive, publication-quality visualizations. It is widely used in data science, analytics and machine learning for presenting data insights visually and interactively. It supports a wide variety of charts including line plots, scatter plots, bar charts, pie charts, heatmaps and 3D plots. It integrates well with Jupyter notebooks, Dash and web applications.

Important Facts to Know:
Interactive by Default: Built-in support for zoom, pan, tooltips and legends enhances data exploration.
Web Integration: Easily embeddable in web apps and dashboards using frameworks like Dash.

This tutorial aims at providing you the insight about Plotly with the help of the huge dataset explaining the Plotly from basics to advance and covering all the popularly used charts.

Table of Content

1. How to install Plotly?

Before installing Plotly in system, you need to install pip in your system, Refer to -

Download and install pip Latest Version

Plotly does not come built-in with Python. To install it type the below command in the terminal.

pip install plotly

This may take some time as it will install the dependencies as well.

2. Package Structure of Plotly

There are two main modules in Plotly used for creating visualizations:

2.1 plotly.graph_objects

This module provides Python classes to build figures using objects like Figure, Layout and plot types such as Scatter, Bar and Box. Figures are structured as:

data: List of traces (e.g., scatter, bar)
layout: Plot configuration (e.g., axes, title, legend)
frames: Used for animations

Each figure is serialized to JSON and rendered by Plotly.js. Nested elements like layout.legend are dictionaries of configurable properties.

2.2 plotly.express

This is a high-level module used to quickly generate complete figures. It internally uses graph_objects and returns a graph_objects.Figure instance.

Example:

Python

import plotly.express as px 


# Creating the Figure instance
fig = px.line(x=[1,2, 3], y=[1, 2, 3]) 

# printing the figure instance
print(fig)

Output

Figure({
'data': [{'hovertemplate': 'x=%{x}<br>y=%{y}<extra></extra>',
'legendgroup': '',
'line': {'color': '#636efa', 'dash': 'solid'},
'marker': {'symbol': 'circle'},
'mode': 'lines',
'name': '',
'orientation': 'v',
'showlegend': False,
'type': 'scatter',
'x': array([1, 2, 3]),
'xaxis': 'x',
'y': array([1, 2, 3]),
'yaxis': 'y'}],
'layout': {'legend': {'tracegroupgap': 0},
'margin': {'t': 60},
'template': '...',
'xaxis': {'anchor': 'y', 'domain': [0.0, 1.0], 'title': {'text': 'x'}},
'yaxis': {'anchor': 'x', 'domain': [0.0, 1.0], 'title': {'text': 'y'}}}
})

3. Getting Started

After learning the installation and basic structure of the Plotly, let's create a simple plot using the pre-defined data sets defined by the plotly.

Example:

Python

import plotly.express as px 

fig = px.line(x=[1, 2, 3], y=[1, 2, 3]) 

fig.show()

Output:

In the above example, the plotly.express module is imported which returns the Figure instance. We have created a simple line chart by passing the x, y coordinates of the points to be plotted.

4. Creating Different Types of Charts

With plotly we can create more than 40 charts and every plot can be created using the plotly.express and plotly.graph_objects class. Let's see some commonly used charts with the help of Plotly.

4.1 Line Chart

Line plot in Plotly is much accessible and illustrious annexation to plotly which manage a variety of types of data and assemble easy-to-style statistic. With px.line each data position is represented as a vertex (which location is given by the x and y columns) of a polyline mark in 2D space.

Example:

Python

import plotly.express as px 

df = px.data.iris() 

# plotting the line chart
fig = px.line(df, x="species", y="petal_width") 

fig.show()

Output:

Refer to the below articles to get detailed information about the line charts.

4.2 Bar Chart

A bar chart is a pictorial representation of data that presents categorical data with rectangular bars with heights or lengths proportional to the values that they represent. In other words, it is the pictorial representation of dataset. These data sets contain the numerical values of variables that represent the length or height.

Example:

Python

import plotly.express as px 

df = px.data.iris() 

# plotting the bar chart
fig = px.bar(df, x="sepal_width", y="sepal_length") 

fig.show()

Output:

Refer to the below articles to get detailed information about the bar chart.

4.3 Histograms

A histogram contains a rectangular area to display the statistical information which is proportional to the frequency of a variable and its width in successive numerical intervals. A graphical representation that manages a group of data points into different specified ranges. It has a special feature that shows no gaps between the bars and similar to a vertical bar graph.

Example:

Python

import plotly.express as px 

# using the iris dataset
df = px.data.iris() 

# plotting the histogram
fig = px.histogram(df, x="sepal_length", y="petal_width") 

# showing the plot
fig.show()

Output:

Refer to the below articles to get detailed information about the histograms.

Histogram using Plotly in Python
Histograms in Plotly using graph_objects class
How to create a Cumulative Histogram in Plotly?

4.4 Scatter Plot and Bubble charts

A scatter plot is a set of dotted points to represent individual pieces of data in the horizontal and vertical axis. A graph in which the values of two variables are plotted along X-axis and Y-axis, the pattern of the resulting points reveals a correlation between them.

A bubble plot is a scatter plot with bubbles (color-filled circles). Bubbles have various sizes dependent on another variable in the data. It can be created using the scatter() method of plotly.express.

Example 1: Scatter Plot

Python

import plotly.express as px 

# using the iris dataset
df = px.data.iris() 

# plotting the scatter chart
fig = px.scatter(df, x="species", y="petal_width") 

# showing the plot
fig.show()

Output:

Example 2: Bubble Plot

Python

import plotly.express as px 

# using the iris dataset
df = px.data.iris() 

# plotting the bubble chart
fig = px.scatter(df, x="species", y="petal_width", 
                 size="petal_length", color="species") 

# showing the plot
fig.show()

Output:

Refer to the below articles to get detailed information about the scatter plots and bubble plots.

plotly.express.scatter() function in Python
Scatter plot in Plotly using graph_objects class
Scatter plot using Plotly in Python
Bubble chart using Plotly in Python

4.5 Pie Charts

A pie chart is a circular statistical graphic, which is divided into slices to illustrate numerical proportions. It depicts a special chart that uses “pie slices”, where each sector shows the relative sizes of data. A circular chart cuts in a form of radii into segments describing relative frequencies or magnitude also known as circle graph.

Example:

Python

import plotly.express as px 

# using the tips dataset
df = px.data.tips() 

# plotting the pie chart
fig = px.pie(df, values="total_bill", names="day") 

# showing the plot
fig.show()

Output:

Refer to the below articles to get detailed information about the pie charts.

Pie plot using Plotly in Python

4.6 Box Plots

A Box Plot is also known as Whisker plot is created to display the summary of the set of data values having properties like minimum, first quartile, median, third quartile and maximum. In the box plot, a box is created from the first quartile to the third quartile, a vertical line is also there which goes through the box at the median. Here x-axis denotes the data to be plotted while the y-axis shows the frequency distribution.

Example:

Python

import plotly.express as px 

# using the tips dataset
df = px.data.tips() 

# plotting the box chart
fig = px.box(df, x="day", y="total_bill") 

# showing the plot
fig.show()

Output:

Refer to the below articles to get detailed information about box plots.

Box Plot using Plotly in Python
Box plot in Plotly using graph_objects class
How to create Grouped box plot in Plotly?

4.7 Violin plots

A Violin Plot is a method to visualize the distribution of numerical data of different variables. It is similar to Box Plot but with a rotated plot on each side, giving more information about the density estimate on the y-axis. The density is mirrored and flipped over and the resulting shape is filled in, creating an image resembling a violin. The advantage of a violin plot is that it can show nuances in the distribution that aren’t perceptible in a boxplot. On the other hand, the boxplot more clearly shows the outliers in the data.

Example:

Python

import plotly.express as px 

# using the tips dataset
df = px.data.tips() 

# plotting the violin chart
fig = px.violin(df, x="day", y="total_bill")

# showing the plot
fig.show()

Output:

Refer to the below articles to get detailed information about the violin plots

Violin Plots using Plotly

4.8 Gantt Charts

Generalized Activity Normalization Time Table (GANTT) chart is type of chart in which series of horizontal lines are present that show the amount of work done or production completed in given period of time in relation to amount planned for those projects.

Example:

Python

import plotly.figure_factory as ff 

# Data to be plotted
df = [dict(Task="A", Start='2020-01-01', Finish='2009-02-02'), 
    dict(Task="Job B", Start='2020-03-01', Finish='2020-11-11'), 
    dict(Task="Job C", Start='2020-08-06', Finish='2020-09-21')] 

# Creating the plot
fig = ff.create_gantt(df) 
fig.show()

Output:

Refer to the below articles to get detailed information about the Gantt Charts.

Gantt Chart in Plotly

4.9 Contour Plots

A Contour plots also called level plots are a tool for doing multivariate analysis and visualizing 3-D plots in 2-D space. If we consider X and Y as our variables we want to plot then the response Z will be plotted as slices on the X-Y plane due to which contours are sometimes referred as Z-slices or iso-response.

A contour plots is used in the case where you want to see the changes in some value (Z) as a function with respect to the two values (X, Y). Consider the below example.

Example:

Python

import plotly.graph_objects as go 


# Creating the X, Y value that will
feature_x = np.arange(0, 50, 2) 
feature_y = np.arange(0, 50, 3) 

# Creating 2-D grid of features 
[X, Y] = np.meshgrid(feature_x, feature_y) 

Z = np.cos(X / 2) + np.sin(Y / 4) 

# plotting the figure
fig = go.Figure(data =
    go.Contour(x = feature_x, y = feature_y, z = Z)) 

fig.show()

Output:

Refer to the below articles to get detailed information about contour plots.

Contour Plots using Plotly in Python

5. Heatmaps

Heatmap is defined as a graphical representation of data using colors to visualize the value of the matrix. In this, to represent more common values or higher activities brighter colors basically reddish colors are used and to represent less common or activity values, darker colors are preferred. Heatmap is also defined by the name of the shading matrix.

Example:

Python

import plotly.graph_objects as go 


feature_x = np.arange(0, 50, 2) 
feature_y = np.arange(0, 50, 3) 

# Creating 2-D grid of features 
[X, Y] = np.meshgrid(feature_x, feature_y) 

Z = np.cos(X / 2) + np.sin(Y / 4) 

# plotting the figure
fig = go.Figure(data =
     go.Heatmap(x = feature_x, y = feature_y, z = Z,)) 

fig.show()

Output:

Refer to the below articles to get detailed information about the heatmaps.

Create Heatmaps using graph_objects class in Plotly
Annotated Heatmaps using Plotly in Python

6. Error Bars

For functions representing 2D data points such as px.scatter, px.line, px.bar, etc., error bars are given as a column name which is the value of the error_x (for the error on x position) and error_y (for the error on y position). Error bars are the graphical presentation alternation of data and used on graphs to imply the error or uncertainty in a reported capacity.

Example:

Python

import plotly.express as px 

# using the iris dataset
df = px.data.iris() 

# Calculating the error field
df["error"] = df["petal_length"]/100

# plotting the scatter chart
fig = px.scatter(df, x="species", y="petal_width",
                error_x="error", error_y="error") 

# showing the plot
fig.show()

Output:

7. 3D Charts

7.1 3D Line Plots

Line plot in plotly is much accessible and illustrious annexation to plotly which manage a variety of types of data and assemble easy-to-style statistic. With px.line_3d each data position is represented as a vertex (which location is given by the x, y and z columns) of a polyline mark in 3D space.

Example:

Python

import plotly.express as px 

# data to be plotted
df = px.data.tips() 

# plotting the figure
fig = px.line_3d(df, x="sex", y="day", 
                 z="time", color="sex") 

fig.show()

Output:

Refer to the below articles to get detailed information about the 3D line charts.

plotly.express.line_3d() function in Python
3D Line Plots using Plotly in Python

7.2 3D Scatter Plot Plotly

3D Scatter Plot can plot two-dimensional graphics that can be enhanced by mapping up to three additional variables while using the semantics of hue, size and style parameters. All the parameter control visual semantic which are used to identify the different subsets. Using redundant semantics can be helpful for making graphics more accessible. It can be created using the scatter_3d function of plotly.express class.

Example:

Python

import plotly.express as px 

# Data to be plotted
df = px.data.iris() 

# Plotting the figure
fig = px.scatter_3d(df, x = 'sepal_width', 
                    y = 'sepal_length', 
                    z = 'petal_width', 
                    color = 'species') 

fig.show()

Output:

Refer to the below articles to get detailed information about the 3D scatter plot.

7.3 3D Surface Plots

Surface plot is those plot which has three-dimensions data which is X, Y and Z. Rather than showing individual data points, the surface plot has a functional relationship between dependent variable Y and have two independent variables X and Z. This plot is used to distinguish between dependent and independent variables.

Example:

Python

import plotly.graph_objects as go 
import numpy as np 

# Data to be plotted
x = np.outer(np.linspace(-2, 2, 30), np.ones(30)) 
y = x.copy().T 
z = np.cos(x ** 2 + y ** 2) 

# plotting the figure
fig = go.Figure(data=[go.Surface(x=x, y=y, z=z)]) 

fig.show()

Output:

8. Interactive Plot Features

Plotly provides various tools for interacting with the plots such as adding dropdowns, buttons, sliders, etc. These can be created using the update menu attribute of the plot layout. Let's see how to do all such things in detail.

A drop-down menu is a part of the menu-button which is displayed on a screen all the time. Every menu button is associated with a Menu widget that can display the choices for that menu button when clicked on it. In plotly, there are 4 possible methods to modify the charts by using update menu method.

restyle: modify data or data attributes
relayout: modify layout attributes
update: modify data and layout attributes
animate: start or pause an animation

Example:

Python

import plotly.graph_objects as px
import numpy as np

# creating random data through randomint
np.random.seed(42)

# Data to be Plotted
random_x = np.random.randint(1, 101, 100)
random_y = np.random.randint(1, 101, 100)

plot = px.Figure(data=[px.Scatter(
    x=random_x,
    y=random_y,
    mode='markers',)
])

# Add dropdown
plot.update_layout(
    updatemenus=[
        dict(
            buttons=list([
                dict(
                    args=["type", "scatter"],
                    label="Scatter Plot",
                    method="restyle"
                ),
                dict(
                    args=["type", "bar"],
                    label="Bar Chart",
                    method="restyle"
                )
            ]),
            direction="down",
        ),
    ]
)

plot.show()

Output:

In the above example we have created two graphs for the same data. These plots are accessible using the dropdown menu.

8.1 Adding Buttons to the Plot

In plotly, actions custom Buttons are used to quickly make actions directly from a record. Custom Buttons can be added to page layouts in CRM, Marketing and Custom Apps. There are also 4 possible methods that can be applied in custom buttons:

restyle: modify data or data attributes
relayout: modify layout attributes
update: modify data and layout attributes
animate: start or pause an animation

Example:

Python

import plotly.graph_objects as px
import pandas as pd

df = go.data.tips() 


plot = px.Figure(data=[px.Scatter(
    x=data['day'],
    y=data['tip'],
    mode='markers',)
])

# Add dropdown
plot.update_layout(
    updatemenus=[
        dict(
            type="buttons",
            direction="left",
            buttons=list([
                dict(
                    args=["type", "scatter"],
                    label="Scatter Plot",
                    method="restyle"
                ),
                dict(
                    args=["type", "bar"],
                    label="Bar Chart",
                    method="restyle"
                )
            ]),
        ),
    ]
)

plot.show()

Output:

In this example also we are creating two different plots on the same data and both plots are accessible by the buttons.

8.2 Creating Sliders and Selectors to the Plot

In plotly, the range slider is a custom range-type input control. It allows selecting a value or a range of values between a specified minimum and maximum range. And the range selector is a tool for selecting ranges to display within the chart. It provides buttons to select pre-configured ranges in the chart. It also provides input boxes where the minimum and maximum dates can be manually input.

Example:

Python

import plotly.graph_objects as px 
import plotly.express as go 
import numpy as np 

df = go.data.tips() 

x = df['total_bill'] 
y = df['day'] 

plot = px.Figure(data=[px.Scatter( 
    x=x, 
    y=y, 
    mode='lines',) 
]) 

plot.update_layout( 
    xaxis=dict( 
        rangeselector=dict( 
            buttons=list([ 
                dict(count=1, 
                    step="day", 
                    stepmode="backward"), 
            ]) 
        ), 
        rangeslider=dict( 
            visible=True
        ), 
    ) 
) 

plot.show()

Output:

Welcome-To-Colaboratory---Colaboratory-(2) — Output

Plotly tutorial

1. How to install Plotly?

2. Package Structure of Plotly

2.1 plotly.graph_objects

2.2 plotly.express

3. Getting Started

4. Creating Different Types of Charts

4.1 Line Chart

4.2 Bar Chart

4.3 Histograms

4.4 Scatter Plot and Bubble charts

4.5 Pie Charts

4.6 Box Plots

4.7 Violin plots

4.8 Gantt Charts

4.9 Contour Plots

5. Heatmaps

6. Error Bars

7. 3D Charts

7.1 3D Line Plots

7.2 3D Scatter Plot Plotly

7.3 3D Surface Plots

8. Interactive Plot Features

8.1 Adding Buttons to the Plot

8.2 Creating Sliders and Selectors to the Plot

9. More Plots using Plotly

Scatter & Line Plots

Area charts

Sunburst & Treemap

Heatmaps & Density Plots

Ternary & Polar Charts

3D Plots

Carpet & Quiver Plots

Sankey & Parallel Coordinates

Other Plot Types

10. Styling & Features

Styling and Customization

Dynamic & Animated Plots

Web & Media

Similar Reads

Plotly tutorial

1. How to install Plotly?

2. Package Structure of Plotly

2.1 plotly.graph_objects

2.2 plotly.express

3. Getting Started

4. Creating Different Types of Charts

4.1 Line Chart

4.2 Bar Chart

4.3 Histograms

4.4 Scatter Plot and Bubble charts

4.5 Pie Charts

4.6 Box Plots

4.7 Violin plots

4.8 Gantt Charts

4.9 Contour Plots

5. Heatmaps

6. Error Bars

7. 3D Charts

7.1 3D Line Plots

7.2 3D Scatter Plot Plotly

7.3 3D Surface Plots

8. Interactive Plot Features

Creating Dropdown Menu in Plotly

8.1 Adding Buttons to the Plot

8.2 Creating Sliders and Selectors to the Plot

9. More Plots using Plotly

Scatter & Line Plots

Area charts

Sunburst & Treemap

Heatmaps & Density Plots

Ternary & Polar Charts

3D Plots

Carpet & Quiver Plots

Sankey & Parallel Coordinates

Other Plot Types

10. Styling & Features

Styling and Customization

Dynamic & Animated Plots

Web & Media

Similar Reads

Creating a plot

Advanced Plot Customization

Plotly Dash Basics