A Power BI radar chart that compares profiles, each axis on its scale

In short

What is a radar chart? A radar (or spider) chart places several criteria in a star around a center: one axis per criterion. Each item you compare (a player, a product, a team) becomes a polygon joining its values on every axis. The further the polygon reaches toward the edge of an axis, the better the item on that criterion; its shape shows its strengths and weaknesses at a glance.

A tiny example. Léa runs at 31.5 km/h, has a stamina rating of 88 out of 100 and completes 86% of her passes; Marc runs at 33.8 km/h, has 72 stamina and completes 78% of his passes. On a three-axis radar, Marc's polygon points toward speed, Léa's toward stamina and passes.

• What the visual does. Radar Plume draws these polygons from several measures (one axis per measure, each with its own scale: km/h, score out of 100, %) or from a category (one axis per skill, criterion or month). A Series field gives one polygon per player, product or team from a single measure. With premium (★), it adds the play axis (polygons morph from one year to the next), the normalized scale, axes ordered by value or in a custom order, a target, a benchmark, a ▲▼ gap under each axis, an overall score, the polar rose and small multiples.
• When to use it. Comparing 2 to 8 profiles across 3 to 12 criteria: player statistics, skills assessments, product sheets, satisfaction by store, seasonality over 12 months.
• When to prefer something else. A single criterion, or dozens of items to rank: a bar chart (Bar Plume) reads better. Two values per item (before / after): Dumbbell Plume.
• What you will be able to do. Prepare a table, create the measures, insert the visual, choose the right mode (measures or category), read the scales, filter the page with a click.
• What you need: Power BI Desktop, the Radar Plume visual installed (see the shared basics), a data table. The sample report PlumeRadar-Sample-EN, in your "Downloads" area, shows the profiles of 8 players and the skills of 3 teams (page 1), a brand image animated from 2019 to 2025 and sales seasonality (page 2), then the ★ features (page 3).

The data to provide

The visual accepts two data shapes.

Shape 1: one measure per criterion (the most common case). One row per compared item, one column per criterion.

Player	Speed km/h	Stamina score	Passes	Shots	Goals scored	Annual salary
Léa	31.5	88	0.86	2.4	14	120,000
Marc	33.8	72	0.78	3.6	19	210,000
Inès	29.4	94	0.91	1.2	6	95,000
Hugo	30.2	81	0.82	2.0	11	150,000
Sarah	32.6	77	0.88	2.9	16	180,000

To try it without a file: Modeling › New table, then paste:

Players =
DATATABLE (
    "Player", STRING, "Speed km/h", DOUBLE, "Stamina score", INTEGER, "Passes", DOUBLE, "Shots", DOUBLE, "Goals scored", INTEGER, "Annual salary", INTEGER,
    {
        { "Léa", 31.5, 88, 0.86, 2.4, 14, 120000 },
        { "Marc", 33.8, 72, 0.78, 3.6, 19, 210000 },
        { "Inès", 29.4, 94, 0.91, 1.2, 6, 95000 },
        { "Hugo", 30.2, 81, 0.82, 2.0, 11, 150000 },
        { "Sarah", 32.6, 77, 0.88, 2.9, 16, 180000 }
    }
)

The measures. Each axis is a measure (a calculation Power BI redoes depending on the filters, written in DAX; see the glossary). Choose the aggregation that makes sense for each criterion:

Speed = AVERAGE ( Players[Speed km/h] )           -- an average: speeds do not add up
Stamina = AVERAGE ( Players[Stamina score] )
Passes completed = AVERAGE ( Players[Passes] )    -- Percentage format in the Measure tools tab
Shots per game = AVERAGE ( Players[Shots] )
Goals = SUM ( Players[Goals scored] )             -- a sum: goals add up
Salary = AVERAGE ( Players[Annual salary] )
-- A measure cannot have the name of a column of its own table: hence "Speed km/h" for the column and "Speed" for the measure

Shape 2: one row per item and per criterion ("long" format: an assessment, a survey). The criterion is then a column, which you will drop in Axes, and a single measure is enough.

Team	Skill	Rating
North team	Communication	4.2
North team	Technical skills	3.1
South team	Communication	3.0
South team	Technical skills	4.6

Average rating = AVERAGE ( Assessments[Rating] )

Pitfalls.

• Give each measure a format (km/h, %, $) in the Measure tools tab: the visual uses it under each axis name and in tooltips.
• For an average, use AVERAGE, not SUM: with several rows per player, a sum would inflate the values.
• Power BI sorts a text category alphabetically: for months, select the Month column, then Column tools › Sort by column › Month number; the visual follows the model order (see the use cases).

Step by step: your first radar in 10 minutes

1. In the Visualizations pane, click the Radar Plume icon. An empty frame appears with a landing page listing the fields to drop; enlarge it.
2. Drop the measures Speed, Stamina, Passes completed, Shots per game, Goals and Salary in Values. A polygon appears, with one axis per measure.
3. Drop the Player column in Series: one polygon per player, one color each, and the legend at the top. The title becomes "Profile by Player".
4. Read the scales: under each axis name, the visual writes the scale of that axis, for example "0.0 km/h – 40.0 km/h" for speed or "0 – 100" for stamina. Since the measures have different units, the scale is one per axis (Automatic setting of Format › Scale).
5. Hover a point: the tooltip gives the player, the measure, the value and the position on the axis scale. Hover a polygon: the other players fade.
6. Click Marc's polygon: the other visuals of the page filter on Marc (cross-filtering, see the glossary). Ctrl + click to add a player; click an empty area of the visual to clear.
7. Open Format › Radar: lower Fill opacity (%) to 8 if polygons overlap too much, or set Marker shape to One shape per series to tell players apart without color.
8. Open Format › Layout › Grid shape and choose Circular for a round web; go back to Polygonal.
9. Add a second radar: drop Skill in Axes, Team in Series and Average rating in Values. Here the axes come from the category: the scale is common (from 0 to 5 for ratings out of 5) and its values are written along the grid.
10. Click an axis name, for example "Technical skills": the page filters on that skill.

Expected result: two readable radars, one with a scale per axis written under each name, the other with a common scale from 0 to 5; a click on a point, a polygon or an axis name filters the page.

Troubleshooting

What you see	Likely cause	Solution
"Add fields to get started"	No measure in Values	Drop at least one measure in Values
One or two lines instead of a polygon	Fewer than 3 axes	Add measures to Values, or a category to Axes (message in edit mode)
Every polygon is squashed in the center except one axis	Common scale with different units (salary in $ and a score out of 100)	Format › Scale › Axis scale: One scale per axis (or Normalized ★)
Values too large (doubled, tripled)	The measure adds several rows	Use AVERAGE instead of SUM
Months out of order (April, August, December…)	Power BI's alphabetical sort	Column tools › Sort by column with the month number (or, with premium, Format › Sort › Axis order = Custom ★)
"Only the first 60 axes are drawn"	The category has too many values	Filter the Axes field: a radar reads well with 3 to 12 axes
"Premium preview" watermark	A ★ feature is used without a key	Key in Format › Plume Studio License, or a free setting
Polygons blend together	Many series	Keep 2 to 6 series, filter with a slicer, or use small multiples ★

Key takeaways

• Several measures in Values = one axis per measure; a category in Axes = one axis per value.
• The Series field gives one polygon per player, product or team, from a single measure.
• Different units: keep the Automatic scale (one per axis); ratings out of 5 or 100: common scale, with its maximum if needed.
• A click on a point, a polygon or an axis name filters the page.

Going further

• Radar Plume use cases: recipes for common needs.
• Radar Plume fields and settings: every field well and every setting.
• Getting started with Plume visuals: installation, license, styles and shared settings.
• The visual's page: Radar Plume. A question: support.