Histogram visualization (SmartViz)

Important

This feature is in beta and subject to change. Reach out to support with any issues.

The Histogram visualization shows the distribution of a single numeric column by sorting values into equal-width buckets and plotting how many fall into each. It answers questions about spread and shape: where response times cluster, or how many items sit in the long tail.

When to use a histogram

A histogram takes one numeric column and shows how its values are distributed across equal-width buckets. Unlike most charts here, it needs no categorical column at all.

It's the right tool when an average misleads. Plotting AWS Lambda Duration across all invocations shows whether a mean of 200ms comes from consistent responses, or from a fast majority plus a slow tail.

Select Log for the y-axis scale when a few buckets dominate the count, which is common with latency data.

To compare distributions across several categories rather than examine one, use a Box plot.

Try it out

Change the settings below and see how the chart updates. Select a dataset from the dropdown to see different use cases.

Interactive example
Showing

Response times from cache hits and cache misses, mixed together. At three or four bins they blur into one hump, and more bins split them into two peaks.

05101516192225
Histogram: 40 values across 4 bins

Histogram settings

Data mapping

Setting
Description
Value
Required. Select the numeric column whose distribution you want to plot.

X axis

Setting
Description
Show Labels
Enable to show the tick labels along the x-axis.
Label Rotation (°)
Enter the rotation for x-axis labels, from -90 to 90 degrees. Useful when labels overlap.
Tick Density
Select how many tick labels are shown. Choose from: Sparse, Auto, or Dense.
Show Axis Title
Enable to show the axis title text.
Axis Title
Enter a custom title for the x-axis.
Show Grid Lines
Enable to draw vertical grid lines at each x-axis division.

Y axis

Setting
Description
Scale
Select the axis scale. Choose from: Linear or Log.
Range
Select how the axis range is set. Choose from: Fit to data, which scales to the values plotted, or 0–100%, which fixes the range regardless of the data.
Min Value
Enter a value to fix the bottom of the axis. Leave empty to fit the axis to the data.
Max Value
Enter a value to fix the top of the axis. Leave empty to fit the axis to the data.
Decimal Places
Enter the number of decimal places shown on axis labels, from 0 to 6.
Inverse Axis
Enable to flip the axis so values increase downwards.
Show Labels
Enable to show the tick labels along the y-axis.
Label Rotation (°)
Enter the rotation for y-axis labels, from -90 to 90 degrees.
Tick Density
Select how many tick labels are shown. Choose from: Sparse, Auto, or Dense.
Show Axis Title
Enable to show the axis title text.
Axis Title
Enter a custom title for the y-axis.
Show Grid Lines
Enable to draw horizontal grid lines at each y-axis division.
Unit Column
Enter the name of the column whose first-row value is appended as a suffix to the y-axis tick labels, for example ms, %, or GB. Available on line, bar, and scatter charts.

On a histogram the y-axis is a count of rows per bucket, and the x-axis labels are the bucket ranges. Select Log for the y-axis scale when a few buckets dominate the count.

Legend & labels

Setting
Description
Axis Label Font Size (px)
Enter the font size for both the x- and y-axis tick labels, from 6 to 72.
Show Data Labels
Enable to print the count on each bucket.
Label Color
Choose the text color for data labels.
Label Font Size (px)
Enter the font size for data labels, from 6 to 72.
Label Format
Enter an Expression to format the data label content. The date, number, and percent helpers are available.

Histogram

Setting
Description
Bin Count
Enter the number of equal-width buckets, from 2 to 200. More bins give finer detail; fewer bins give wider buckets. Leave empty to calculate the bin count automatically using Sturges' rule.

Colors

Add up to 20 colors to set the palette, in order. The palette repeats when there are more items than colors. Leave the palette empty to use the SquaredUp default colors.

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