Excel Pie Chart vs. Excel Tree Map: Which One Should You Use?

Follow these easy steps to create an Excel pie chart or Excel tree map depending on your data. Data visualization is a crucial part of data analysis, enabling you to transform raw data into meaningful insights. Excel offers a variety of chart types to help you display data effectively. Among these, pie charts and tree maps are popular choices for representing hierarchical and proportional data. Understanding when to use each type can enhance your ability to communicate information clearly. In this blog post, we'll explore the differences between Excel pie charts and tree maps, and provide guidance on when to use each.

Watch the video explanation here.

What Is an Excel Pie Chart?

A pie chart displays data as a circle divided into slices, where each slice represents one category's share of the total. The bigger the slice, the larger that category's contribution to the whole.

Pie charts are the most recognized chart type in business. Almost everyone who has opened a spreadsheet or sat in a meeting has seen one. That familiarity is one of their biggest advantages. When you put a pie chart in a presentation, your audience already knows how to read it before you explain anything.

When pie charts work well:

They work best when you have a small number of categories, generally five or fewer, and you want to show how those categories divide up a total. Think of market share broken into three or four competitors. Budget split across a handful of departments. Revenue divided between product lines. In those situations, the pie chart communicates proportion almost instantly.

They also work when you want to draw attention to one dominant category. A slice that takes up 60% of the circle is immediately, visually obvious. You do not need to annotate it heavily or explain why it stands out.

Where pie charts break down:

The moment you add more categories, the slices get smaller and the comparisons get harder. Humans are not naturally good at comparing angles. When two slices are similar in size, most people cannot reliably tell which is bigger just by looking at the chart. You end up adding data labels to solve a problem the chart was supposed to solve visually.

Pie charts also cannot show hierarchy. Every slice is at the same level. If your data has subcategories within categories, a pie chart forces you to either flatten the structure or build multiple separate charts, both of which lose important information.

What Is an Excel Tree Map?

A tree map displays data as nested rectangles. The size of each rectangle is proportional to its value, so larger values get more space. Categories can contain subcategories, shown as smaller rectangles inside the larger ones, which makes tree maps uniquely suited to hierarchical data.

Tree maps are less immediately familiar than pie charts, which means there is a small learning curve for audiences who have not seen them before. But for the right dataset, the information density they offer is something no pie chart can match.

When tree maps work well:

Tree maps are built for situations where you have many categories, subcategories within those categories, or both. If you are visualizing department budgets broken down into individual line items, a tree map shows both the department-level picture and the line-item detail in a single view. A pie chart cannot do that without becoming unreadable or requiring multiple charts.

They also work when space is limited and you have a lot of data to display. Rectangles pack together efficiently. A tree map with 20 categories is still readable. A pie chart with 20 slices is not.

The rectangles themselves carry more information than pie slices do. Color can indicate a separate dimension, such as performance, growth rate, or category type, while size shows the value. That layering of information is something pie charts simply cannot replicate.

Where tree maps break down:

Tree maps require more interpretation effort from the reader. Audiences unfamiliar with the format may need a moment to orient themselves, which matters when you are presenting to a mixed group rather than a data-literate team.

When the rectangles get very small, labels overlap and become unreadable. This is the same crowding problem that affects pie charts with too many slices, but it appears at a higher category count in tree maps. Still, it is a limitation worth knowing before you build one.

Color dependency is also worth noting. Tree maps often use color to distinguish categories or encode a second variable. For audiences with color vision deficiencies, that distinction can be lost. Thoughtful color choices and clear labels help, but it is a consideration pie charts share less.

Pie Charts

Overview: Pie charts are one of the most commonly used chart types in Excel. They display data as a circular graph divided into slices, each representing a proportion of the whole. Pie charts are best suited for showing the relative sizes of parts of a whole.

Advantages:

1. Simplicity: Pie charts are easy to understand at a glance, making them ideal for presenting simple data sets.
2. Comparison: They allow for quick comparison of different categories, especially when there are few categories.
3. Visual Appeal: Pie charts are visually appealing and can effectively highlight significant data points.

Disadvantages:

1. Limited Categories: Pie charts become cluttered and hard to read when there are too many categories.
2. Precision: They are not ideal for precise comparisons, as it's challenging to compare slices that are similar in size.
3. Size Limitation: The effectiveness of pie charts diminishes as the number of slices increases.

When to Use:

• To show part-to-whole relationships.
• When you have a small number of categories.
• To highlight a few key data points.

Tree Maps

Overview: Tree maps display hierarchical data using nested rectangles. Each branch of the hierarchy is represented by a rectangle, which is then tiled with smaller rectangles representing sub-branches. The size of each rectangle is proportional to its value.

Advantages:

1. Hierarchical Data: Tree maps are excellent for visualizing hierarchical data, showing the structure of the data as well as the relative size of each category.
2. Space Utilization: They make efficient use of space, allowing you to display a large amount of data within a compact area.
3. Detailed Insights: Tree maps can display both the part-to-whole relationships and the structure of the data in one view.

Disadvantages:

1. Complexity: They can be more complex to interpret, especially for those unfamiliar with tree maps.
2. Color Dependency: Tree maps often rely on color to distinguish between categories, which can be challenging for color-blind individuals.
3. Overlapping Text: With many small rectangles, text labels can overlap and become hard to read.

When to Use:

• To visualize large and complex hierarchical data sets.
• When you need to show the structure and the part-to-whole relationships of the data.
• To compare many categories within a compact space.

Real Business Scenarios: Which Chart to Use

Scenario 1: You want to show quarterly revenue split across four product lines. Use a pie chart. Four categories, one level of data, you want the reader to see proportions immediately. This is exactly what pie charts are built for.

Scenario 2: You are presenting a company budget broken down by department, with each department's spending divided into sub-categories. Use a tree map. You have two levels of hierarchy, and you need to show both the department totals and the internal breakdown in a single view. A pie chart cannot do this without multiple separate charts.

Scenario 3: You are showing market share across 15 competitors. Use a tree map. Fifteen slices on a pie chart is unreadable. A tree map with 15 rectangles is dense but manageable, and the size differences between competitors are easier to see as rectangle area than as narrow angular slices.

Scenario 4: You want to highlight that one product accounts for more than half of all sales. Use a pie chart. The dominant slice will be immediately obvious. The simplicity of the chart directs the reader's attention to the finding you want them to take away.

Scenario 5: You are tracking website traffic sources broken down by channel and device type within each channel. Use a tree map. You have channels as parent categories and device types as subcategories. The nested rectangle structure maps directly onto that hierarchy and communicates both levels without requiring the reader to switch between charts.

Scenario 6: You are presenting to a non-technical audience who has never worked with data visualizations. Use a pie chart if the data fits. Familiarity reduces friction. If the data requires a tree map, introduce it briefly before letting the chart speak for itself.

How to Build Each Chart in Excel

Building a pie chart in Excel:

Select your data including category labels and values. Go to Insert, then Charts, and select Pie. Choose 2D Pie for the cleanest result. Right-click the chart and select Add Data Labels to display percentages or values on each slice. Keep the number of slices to five or fewer and use contrasting colors so each slice is clearly distinguishable.

Building a tree map in Excel:

Select your data including category labels, any subcategory labels, and values. For hierarchical data, structure your spreadsheet with a column for the parent category, a column for the subcategory, and a column for the value. Go to Insert, then Charts, and select Treemap under the Hierarchy section. Excel will automatically nest subcategories within parent rectangles if your data is structured correctly. Right-click to format colors and adjust label display so smaller rectangles remain readable.

One important note on Excel tree maps: they were introduced in Excel 2016. If you or your audience is using an older version of Excel, the tree map option will not appear in the chart menu. Pie charts work in every version of Excel without exception.

The Bigger Skill: Knowing Which Chart Fits the Story

The choice between a pie chart and a tree map is really a question about what story you are trying to tell and who you are telling it to.

Pie charts tell a simple proportional story to any audience immediately. Tree maps tell a complex hierarchical story with more information density but require slightly more from the reader.

Neither is universally better. The best chart is the one that communicates your specific data to your specific audience as clearly as possible. That judgment, knowing which tool fits which problem, is the skill that separates someone who uses Excel from someone who is good at it.

If you want to develop that judgment across every major chart type in Excel, including how to build charts from real business data rather than sample spreadsheets, the Excel Foundations course at xecutethevision.com covers chart creation as part of four complete real-world projects: an event planner, an order manager, a business budget, and a project tracker. 67 video lessons, downloadable workbooks, one-time purchase for $19.

If you want to go further into advanced chart design, dynamic dashboards, and data visualization at a professional level, the Excel Xpert Collection includes 220 lessons with a lifetime reference workbook for $29 at xecutethevision.com.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the main difference between an Excel pie chart and a tree map?

A pie chart shows proportions as slices of a circle and works best with a small number of categories at a single level. A tree map shows proportions as nested rectangles and handles many categories and multiple levels of hierarchy in a single view. Use a pie chart for simple part-to-whole comparisons with five or fewer categories. Use a tree map when your data has subcategories, many categories, or both.

When should you not use a pie chart in Excel?

Avoid pie charts when you have more than five categories, when the values of different categories are similar in size and hard to distinguish visually, when your data has hierarchy or subcategories, or when your audience needs to make precise numerical comparisons. In those situations, a tree map or a bar chart will communicate the data more clearly.

Can a tree map replace a pie chart?

For simple datasets with few categories and familiar audiences, a pie chart communicates more quickly. For complex hierarchical datasets or those with many categories, a tree map is more effective. They are not direct replacements for each other but serve overlapping purposes with different strengths.

Which is easier to read, a pie chart or a tree map?Pie charts are easier to read at a glance for simple data because they are immediately familiar to almost every audience. Tree maps carry more information but require slightly more interpretation effort, particularly for audiences who have not encountered them before.

Does Excel have a tree map chart?

Yes. Tree maps are available in Excel 2016 and all later versions. You can find them under Insert, Charts, Hierarchy. Older versions of Excel do not include tree maps, so if compatibility with earlier versions matters, a pie chart or bar chart is the safer choice.

Which chart is better for a business presentation?

It depends on the data. For a quick point about market share or budget split with a few categories, a pie chart is clean and immediately understood. For a detailed breakdown of a large dataset with subcategories, a tree map delivers more information in less space. When in doubt, ask whether your audience needs to see structure or simplicity. Structure points to a tree map. Simplicity points to a pie chart.

Happy charting!