Horizontal Bar Chart — Pygal

A horizontal bar chart displaying categorical data with rectangular bars extending horizontally from the y-axis. The length of each bar is proportional to the value it represents. This orientation is particularly effective when category names are long or numerous, as horizontal labels are easier to read than rotated vertical labels. Horizontal bar charts excel at rankings, comparisons, and survey results visualization.

Horizontal Bar Chart rendered with Pygal

Python source (Pygal)

""" anyplot.ai
bar-horizontal: Horizontal Bar Chart
Library: pygal 3.1.0 | Python 3.13.13
Quality: 91/100 | Updated: 2026-05-07
"""

import os

import pygal
from pygal.style import Style


# Theme tokens
THEME = os.getenv("ANYPLOT_THEME", "light")
PAGE_BG = "#FAF8F1" if THEME == "light" else "#1A1A17"
INK = "#1A1A17" if THEME == "light" else "#F0EFE8"
INK_MUTED = "#6B6A63" if THEME == "light" else "#A8A79F"
BRAND = "#009E73"  # Okabe-Ito position 1

# Data - Programming language popularity (sorted descending for ranking display)
categories = ["Python", "JavaScript", "Java", "C++", "TypeScript", "C#", "Go", "Rust", "PHP", "Swift"]
values = [68.7, 62.3, 45.2, 38.5, 37.1, 29.8, 22.4, 18.6, 16.3, 12.9]

# Custom style for large canvas with theme-adaptive colors
custom_style = Style(
    background=PAGE_BG,
    plot_background=PAGE_BG,
    foreground=INK,
    foreground_strong=INK,
    foreground_subtle=INK_MUTED,
    colors=(BRAND,),
    title_font_size=28,
    label_font_size=22,
    major_label_font_size=18,
    legend_font_size=16,
    value_font_size=16,
)

# Create horizontal bar chart
chart = pygal.HorizontalBar(
    width=4800,
    height=2700,
    style=custom_style,
    title="bar-horizontal · pygal · anyplot.ai",
    x_title="Popularity (%)",
    show_legend=False,
    show_y_guides=False,
    show_x_guides=True,
    spacing=30,
    margin=50,
    margin_left=200,
    margin_right=60,
    margin_top=80,
    margin_bottom=80,
    print_values=True,
    print_values_position="end",
    value_formatter=lambda x: f"{x:.1f}%",
    truncate_label=-1,
)

# Add data as single series with category labels on y-axis
chart.add("Popularity", values)
chart.x_labels = [str(i * 10) for i in range(8)]
chart.y_labels = categories

# Save outputs
chart.render_to_png(f"plot-{THEME}.png")
chart.render_to_file(f"plot-{THEME}.html")

Part of Horizontal Bar Chart on anyplot.ai.

Other implementations