Visualize how rankings change over time with slope charts
Slope charts are ideal for showing how categories rise or fall between two or three points – whether you're tracking political parties, sports teams, or market leaders.
With Flourish, you can create interactive, animated slope charts with no coding required. Highlight key lines, switch between score, rank, or % change views, and bring your before-and-after comparisons to life.
Create your free slope chart
USE CASES
When to use slope charts
Slope charts are ideal when you want to compare values, ranks, or positions over time
Compare two (or more) points in time
Perfect for year-over-year or before-and-after views. Easily show how categories shift between a starting and an ending point.
Highlight trends and outliers
See which values increase, decrease, or stay flat, and quickly spot entities that move against the overall trend.
Show changes in rank or hierarchy
Display rankings side by side to reveal who moved up, who dropped down, and how the order has shifted.
FEATURES
Everything you need to create online scatter plots
Powerful features that make data visualization easy and beautiful
No coding required
Build interactive and animated slope charts without writing a single line of code.
Interactive elements
Add filters, popups, legends and time sliders so viewers can explore your data dynamically.
Multiple value modes
Switch between raw values, rankings, or percentage change – all in one template.
Custom styling
Adjust colors, fonts, label placement, and more to match your brand or visual style.
Grid of charts
Use small multiples to compare category shifts across different segments or groups.
Responsive embeds
Every chart is fully responsive by default and ready to publish across sites and slide decks.
Classic slope chart
Plot two variables to reveal patterns, trends, or correlations.
Grid of charts
Cluster dots to show distribution more clearly.
Slope with filter
Show data spread and outliers using quartiles.
RESOURCES
Data visualization resources
Tips, guides, and resources to make your interactive slope charts even more effective
Frequently asked questions
A slope chart shows how values or ranks change between two or three points in time. It’s best for before-and-after comparisons, rankings, or highlighting upward/downward movement clearly — especially when a full line chart would be too much.
While both show change over time, slope charts are simpler – they’re designed for comparing only a few time points (usually two), and their axis doesn't have to start at zero. They also emphasize direction and steepness more clearly.
You’ll need one column for categories (like country or product name), and two or three columns for values (one for each point in time). You can also add extra columns for filters or color categories. Check our help doc for more info.
Flourish offers a free plan that’s perfect for exploring interactive data storytelling. You’ll get access to the full range of visualization types available in Flourish (including slope charts), unlimited projects, full privacy for your unpublished work, plus helpful support resources.
If you’re an individual creating presentations and reports, our Presenter plan might be the right fit. It includes access to the Flourish app within Canva, along with image and SVG export options for your visualizations.
And if you’re ready to create fully branded visuals without attribution, collaborate across teams, connect your systems via API, and unlock advanced storytelling features like scrollytelling, our premium plans are designed for you. Reach out to our team to find the best option for your business.
Once you publish your Flourish visualization, you’ll get a responsive embed code you can paste anywhere HTML is supported – from WordPress and Medium to custom CMS platforms. Your chart will look great on any screen size, no extra setup needed.
Every project also comes with a unique URL, so you can easily share your work on social media or link to it directly.
