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description	display_as	language	layout	name	order	page_type	permalink	redirect_from	thumbnail
How to make subplots in python. Examples of stacked, custom-sized, gridded, and annotated subplts.	file_settings	python	base	Subplots	16	u-guide	python/subplots/	ipython-notebooks/subplots/	thumbnail/subplots.jpg

Simple Subplot

Figures with subplots are created using the make_subplots function from the plotly.subplots module.

Here is an example of creating a figure with two scatter traces in side-by-side subplots.

from plotly.subplots import make_subplots
import plotly.graph_objects as go

fig = make_subplots(rows=1, cols=2)

fig.add_trace(
    go.Scatter(x=[1, 2, 3], y=[4, 5, 6]),
    row=1, col=1
)

fig.add_trace(
    go.Scatter(x=[20, 30, 40], y=[50, 60, 70]),
    row=1, col=2
)

fig.update_layout(height=600, width=800, title_text="Subplots")
fig.show()

Stacked Subplots

Here is an example of creating a figure with two vertically stacked subplots.

from plotly.subplots import make_subplots
import plotly.graph_objects as go

fig = make_subplots(rows=3, cols=1)

fig.append_trace(go.Scatter(
    x=[3, 4, 5],
    y=[1000, 1100, 1200],
), row=1, col=1)

fig.append_trace(go.Scatter(
    x=[2, 3, 4],
    y=[100, 110, 120],
), row=2, col=1)

fig.append_trace(go.Scatter(
    x=[0, 1, 2],
    y=[10, 11, 12]
), row=3, col=1)


fig.update_layout(height=600, width=600, title_text="Stacked subplots")
fig.show()

Multiple Subplots

Here is an example of creating a 2 x 2 subplot grid and populating each subplot with a single scatter trace.

import plotly.graph_objects as go
from plotly.subplots import make_subplots

fig = make_subplots(rows=2, cols=2, start_cell="bottom-left")

fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=[1, 2, 3], y=[4, 5, 6]),
              row=1, col=1)

fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=[20, 30, 40], y=[50, 60, 70]),
              row=1, col=2)

fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=[300, 400, 500], y=[600, 700, 800]),
              row=2, col=1)

fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=[4000, 5000, 6000], y=[7000, 8000, 9000]),
              row=2, col=2)

fig.show()

Multiple Subplots with Titles

The subplot_titles argument to make_subplots can be used to position text annotations as titles for each subplot.

Here is an example of adding subplot titles to a 2 x 2 subplot grid of scatter traces.

from plotly.subplots import make_subplots
import plotly.graph_objects as go

fig = make_subplots(
    rows=2, cols=2,
    subplot_titles=("Plot 1", "Plot 2", "Plot 3", "Plot 4"))

fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=[1, 2, 3], y=[4, 5, 6]),
              row=1, col=1)

fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=[20, 30, 40], y=[50, 60, 70]),
              row=1, col=2)

fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=[300, 400, 500], y=[600, 700, 800]),
              row=2, col=1)

fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=[4000, 5000, 6000], y=[7000, 8000, 9000]),
              row=2, col=2)

fig.update_layout(height=500, width=700,
                  title_text="Multiple Subplots with Titles")

fig.show()

Simple Subplot with Annotations

from plotly.subplots import make_subplots
import plotly.graph_objects as go

fig = make_subplots(rows=1, cols=2)

fig.add_trace(
    go.Scatter(
        x=[1, 2, 3],
        y=[4, 5, 6],
        mode="markers+text",
        text=["Text A", "Text B", "Text C"],
        textposition="bottom center"
    ),
    row=1, col=1
)

fig.add_trace(
    go.Scatter(
        x=[20, 30, 40],
        y=[50, 60, 70],
        mode="markers+text",
        text=["Text D", "Text E", "Text F"],
        textposition="bottom center"
    ),
    row=1, col=2
)

fig.update_layout(height=600, width=800, title_text="Annotations and subplots")

fig.show()

Side by Side Subplot

The column_widths argument to make_subplots can be used to customize the relative widths of the columns in a subplot grid. It should be set to a list of numbers with a length that matches the cols argument. These number will be normalized, so that they sum to 1, and used to compute the relative widths of the subplot grid columns. The row_heights argument serves the same purpose for controlling the relative heights of rows in the subplot grid.

Here is an example of creating a figure with two scatter traces in side-by-side subplots, where the left subplot is wider that the right.

import plotly.graph_objects as go
from plotly.subplots import make_subplots

fig = make_subplots(rows=1, cols=2, column_widths=[0.7, 0.3])

fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=[1, 2, 3], y=[4, 5, 6]),
              row=1, col=1)

fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=[20, 30, 40], y=[50, 60, 70]),
              row=1, col=2)

fig.show()

Customizing Subplot Axes

After a figure with subplots is created using the make_subplots function, its axis properties (title, font, range, grid style, etc.) can be customized using the update_xaxes and update_yaxes graph object figure methods. By default, these methods apply to all of the x axes or y axes in the figure. The row and col arguments can be used to control which axes are targeted by the update.

Here is an example that creates a figure with a 2 x 2 subplot grid, populates each subplot with a scatter trace, and then updates the x and y axis titles for each subplot individually.

from plotly.subplots import make_subplots
import plotly.graph_objects as go

# Initialize figure with subplots
fig = make_subplots(
    rows=2, cols=2, subplot_titles=("Plot 1", "Plot 2", "Plot 3", "Plot 4")
)

# Add traces
fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=[1, 2, 3], y=[4, 5, 6]), row=1, col=1)
fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=[20, 30, 40], y=[50, 60, 70]), row=1, col=2)
fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=[300, 400, 500], y=[600, 700, 800]), row=2, col=1)
fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=[4000, 5000, 6000], y=[7000, 8000, 9000]), row=2, col=2)

# Update xaxis properties
fig.update_xaxes(title_text="xaxis 1 title", row=1, col=1)
fig.update_xaxes(title_text="xaxis 2 title", range=[10, 50], row=1, col=2)
fig.update_xaxes(title_text="xaxis 3 title", showgrid=False, row=2, col=1)
fig.update_xaxes(title_text="xaxis 4 title", type="log", row=2, col=2)

# Update yaxis properties
fig.update_yaxes(title_text="yaxis 1 title", row=1, col=1)
fig.update_yaxes(title_text="yaxis 2 title", range=[40, 80], row=1, col=2)
fig.update_yaxes(title_text="yaxis 3 title", showgrid=False, row=2, col=1)
fig.update_yaxes(title_text="yaxis 4 title", row=2, col=2)

# Update title and height
fig.update_layout(title_text="Customizing Subplot Axes", height=700)

fig.show()

Subplots with Shared X-Axes

The shared_xaxes argument to make_subplots can be used to link the x axes of subplots in the resulting figure. The vertical_spacing argument is used to control the vertical spacing between rows in the subplot grid.

Here is an example that creates a figure with 3 vertically stacked subplots with linked x axes. A small vertical spacing value is used to reduce the spacing between subplot rows.

from plotly.subplots import make_subplots
import plotly.graph_objects as go

fig = make_subplots(
    rows=3, cols=1, shared_xaxes=True, vertical_spacing=0.02
)

fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=[0, 1, 2], y=[10, 11, 12]),
              row=3, col=1)

fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=[2, 3, 4], y=[100, 110, 120]),
              row=2, col=1)

fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=[3, 4, 5], y=[1000, 1100, 1200]),
              row=1, col=1)

fig.update_layout(height=600, width=600,
                  title_text="Stacked Subplots with Shared X-Axes")
fig.show()

Subplots with Shared Y-Axes

The shared_yaxes argument to make_subplots can be used to link the y axes of subplots in the resulting figure.

Here is an example that creates a figure with a 2 x 2 subplot grid, where the yaxes of each row are linked.

from plotly.subplots import make_subplots
import plotly.graph_objects as go

fig = make_subplots(rows=2, cols=2, shared_yaxes=True)

fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=[1, 2, 3], y=[2, 3, 4]),
              row=1, col=1)

fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=[20, 30, 40], y=[5, 5, 5]),
              row=1, col=2)

fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=[2, 3, 4], y=[600, 700, 800]),
              row=2, col=1)

fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=[4000, 5000, 6000], y=[7000, 8000, 9000]),
              row=2, col=2)

fig.update_layout(height=600, width=600,
                  title_text="Multiple Subplots with Shared Y-Axes")
fig.show()

Subplots with Shared Colorscale

To share colorscale information in multiple subplots, you can use coloraxis.

from plotly.subplots import make_subplots
import plotly.graph_objects as go

fig = make_subplots(rows=1, cols=2, shared_yaxes=True)

fig.add_trace(go.Bar(x=[1, 2, 3], y=[4, 5, 6],
                    marker=dict(color=[4, 5, 6], coloraxis="coloraxis")),
              1, 1)

fig.add_trace(go.Bar(x=[1, 2, 3], y=[2, 3, 5],
                    marker=dict(color=[2, 3, 5], coloraxis="coloraxis")),
              1, 2)

fig.update_layout(coloraxis=dict(colorscale='Bluered_r'), showlegend=False)
fig.show()

Custom Sized Subplot with Subplot Titles

The specs argument to make_subplots is used to configure per-subplot options. specs must be a 2-dimension list with dimensions that match those provided as the rows and cols arguments. The elements of specs may either be None, indicating no subplot should be initialized starting with this grid cell, or a dictionary containing subplot options. The colspan subplot option specifies the number of grid columns that the subplot starting in the given cell should occupy. If unspecified, colspan defaults to 1.

Here is an example that creates a 2 by 2 subplot grid containing 3 subplots. The subplot specs element for position (2, 1) has a colspan value of 2, causing it to span the full figure width. The subplot specs element for position (2, 2) is None because no subplot begins at this location in the grid.

from plotly.subplots import make_subplots
import plotly.graph_objects as go

fig = make_subplots(
    rows=2, cols=2,
    specs=[[{}, {}],
           [{"colspan": 2}, None]],
    subplot_titles=("First Subplot","Second Subplot", "Third Subplot"))

fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=[1, 2], y=[1, 2]),
                 row=1, col=1)

fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=[1, 2], y=[1, 2]),
                 row=1, col=2)
fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=[1, 2, 3], y=[2, 1, 2]),
                 row=2, col=1)

fig.update_layout(showlegend=False, title_text="Specs with Subplot Title")
fig.show()

Multiple Custom Sized Subplots

If the print_grid argument to make_subplots is set to True, then an text representation of the subplot grid will be printed.

Here is an example that uses the rowspan and colspan subplot options to create a custom subplot layout with subplots of mixed sizes. The print_grid argument is set to True so that the subplot grid is printed to the screen.

from plotly.subplots import make_subplots
import plotly.graph_objects as go

fig = make_subplots(
    rows=5, cols=2,
    specs=[[{}, {"rowspan": 2}],
           [{}, None],
           [{"rowspan": 2, "colspan": 2}, None],
           [None, None],
           [{}, {}]],
    print_grid=True)

fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=[1, 2], y=[1, 2], name="(1,1)"),
              row=1, col=1)
fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=[1, 2], y=[1, 2], name="(1,2)"), row=1, col=2)
fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=[1, 2], y=[1, 2], name="(2,1)"), row=2, col=1)
fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=[1, 2], y=[1, 2], name="(3,1)"), row=3, col=1)
fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=[1, 2], y=[1, 2], name="(5,1)"), row=5, col=1)
fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=[1, 2], y=[1, 2], name="(5,2)"), row=5, col=2)

fig.update_layout(height=600, width=600, title_text="specs examples")
fig.show()

Subplots Types

By default, the make_subplots function assumes that the traces that will be added to all subplots are 2-dimensional cartesian traces (e.g. scatter, bar, histogram, violin, etc.). Traces with other subplot types (e.g. scatterpolar, scattergeo, parcoords, etc.) are supporteed by specifying the type subplot option in the specs argument to make_subplots.

Here are the possible values for the type option:

"xy": 2D Cartesian subplot type for scatter, bar, etc. This is the default if no type is specified.
"scene": 3D Cartesian subplot for scatter3d, cone, etc.
"polar": Polar subplot for scatterpolar, barpolar, etc.
"ternary": Ternary subplot for scatterternary.
"mapbox": Mapbox subplot for scattermapbox.
"domain": Subplot type for traces that are individually positioned. pie, parcoords, parcats, etc.
trace type: A trace type name (e.g. "bar", "scattergeo", "carpet", "mesh", etc.) which will be used to determine the appropriate subplot type for that trace.

Here is an example that creates and populates a 2 x 2 subplot grid containing 4 different subplot types.

from plotly.subplots import make_subplots
import plotly.graph_objects as go

fig = make_subplots(
    rows=2, cols=2,
    specs=[[{"type": "xy"}, {"type": "polar"}],
           [{"type": "domain"}, {"type": "scene"}]],
)

fig.add_trace(go.Bar(y=[2, 3, 1]),
              row=1, col=1)

fig.add_trace(go.Barpolar(theta=[0, 45, 90], r=[2, 3, 1]),
              row=1, col=2)

fig.add_trace(go.Pie(values=[2, 3, 1]),
              row=2, col=1)

fig.add_trace(go.Scatter3d(x=[2, 3, 1], y=[0, 0, 0], z=[0.5, 1, 2], mode="lines"),
              row=2, col=2)

fig.update_layout(height=700, showlegend=False)

fig.show()

As an alternative to providing the name of a subplot type (e.g. "xy", "polar", "domain", "scene", etc), the type option may also be set to a string containing the name of a trace type (e.g. "bar", "barpolar", "pie", "scatter3d", etc.), which will be used to determine the subplot type that is compatible with that trace.

Here is the example above, modified to specify the subplot types using trace type names.

from plotly.subplots import make_subplots
import plotly.graph_objects as go

fig = make_subplots(
    rows=2, cols=2,
    specs=[[{"type": "bar"}, {"type": "barpolar"}],
           [{"type": "pie"}, {"type": "scatter3d"}]],
)

fig.add_trace(go.Bar(y=[2, 3, 1]),
              row=1, col=1)

fig.add_trace(go.Barpolar(theta=[0, 45, 90], r=[2, 3, 1]),
              row=1, col=2)

fig.add_trace(go.Pie(values=[2, 3, 1]),
              row=2, col=1)

fig.add_trace(go.Scatter3d(x=[2, 3, 1], y=[0, 0, 0], z=[0.5, 1, 2], mode="lines"),
              row=2, col=2)

fig.update_layout(height=700, showlegend=False)

fig.show()

Side by Side Subplot (low-level API)

import plotly.graph_objects as go

trace1 = go.Scatter(
    x=[1, 2, 3],
    y=[4, 5, 6]
)
trace2 = go.Scatter(
    x=[20, 30, 40],
    y=[50, 60, 70],
    xaxis="x2",
    yaxis="y2"
)
data = [trace1, trace2]
layout = go.Layout(
    xaxis=dict(
        domain=[0, 0.7]
    ),
    xaxis2=dict(
        domain=[0.8, 1]
    ),
    yaxis2=dict(
        anchor="x2"
    )
)
fig = go.Figure(data=data, layout=layout)
fig.show()

Subplots with shared axes (low-level API)

import plotly.graph_objects as go

trace1 = go.Scatter(
    x=[1, 2, 3],
    y=[2, 3, 4]
)
trace2 = go.Scatter(
    x=[20, 30, 40],
    y=[5, 5, 5],
    xaxis="x2",
    yaxis="y"
)
trace3 = go.Scatter(
    x=[2, 3, 4],
    y=[600, 700, 800],
    xaxis="x",
    yaxis="y3"
)
trace4 = go.Scatter(
    x=[4000, 5000, 6000],
    y=[7000, 8000, 9000],
    xaxis="x4",
    yaxis="y4"
)
data = [trace1, trace2, trace3, trace4]
layout = go.Layout(
    xaxis=dict(
        domain=[0, 0.45]
    ),
    yaxis=dict(
        domain=[0, 0.45]
    ),
    xaxis2=dict(
        domain=[0.55, 1]
    ),
    xaxis4=dict(
        domain=[0.55, 1],
        anchor="y4"
    ),
    yaxis3=dict(
        domain=[0.55, 1]
    ),
    yaxis4=dict(
        domain=[0.55, 1],
        anchor="x4"
    )
)
fig = go.Figure(data=data, layout=layout)
fig.show()

Stacked Subplots with a Shared X-Axis (low-level API)

import plotly.graph_objects as go

trace1 = go.Scatter(
    x=[0, 1, 2],
    y=[10, 11, 12]
)
trace2 = go.Scatter(
    x=[2, 3, 4],
    y=[100, 110, 120],
    yaxis="y2"
)
trace3 = go.Scatter(
    x=[3, 4, 5],
    y=[1000, 1100, 1200],
    yaxis="y3"
)
data = [trace1, trace2, trace3]
layout = go.Layout(
    yaxis=dict(
        domain=[0, 0.33]
    ),
    legend=dict(
        traceorder="reversed"
    ),
    yaxis2=dict(
        domain=[0.33, 0.66]
    ),
    yaxis3=dict(
        domain=[0.66, 1]
    )
)
fig = go.Figure(data=data, layout=layout)
fig.show()

Reference

All of the x-axis properties are found here: https://plot.ly/python/reference/#XAxis All of the y-axis properties are found here: https://plot.ly/python/reference/#YAxis

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Simple Subplot

Stacked Subplots

Multiple Subplots

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Simple Subplot with Annotations

Side by Side Subplot

Customizing Subplot Axes

Subplots with Shared X-Axes

Subplots with Shared Y-Axes

Subplots with Shared Colorscale

Custom Sized Subplot with Subplot Titles

Multiple Custom Sized Subplots

Subplots Types

Side by Side Subplot (low-level API)

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Stacked Subplots with a Shared X-Axis (low-level API)

Reference

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File metadata and controls

Simple Subplot

Stacked Subplots

Multiple Subplots

Multiple Subplots with Titles

Simple Subplot with Annotations

Side by Side Subplot

Customizing Subplot Axes

Subplots with Shared X-Axes

Subplots with Shared Y-Axes

Subplots with Shared Colorscale

Custom Sized Subplot with Subplot Titles

Multiple Custom Sized Subplots

Subplots Types

Side by Side Subplot (low-level API)

Subplots with shared axes (low-level API)

Stacked Subplots with a Shared X-Axis (low-level API)

Reference