Raincloud Plot Generator

A raincloud plot is a hybrid visualization that combines three data representations in one figure: a half-violin plot (the 'cloud') showing the kernel density estimate, a box plot (the 'umbrella') showing the median, IQR, and whiskers, and individual raw data points (the 'rain') plotted below. Together, they provide a more complete picture of your data's distribution than any single chart type.

Your data should have three columns: ID, Group, and Value — one observation per row. You can use tab-separated or comma-separated values. The ID column is a sample or observation identifier, Group is the category label, and Value is the numeric measurement. Paste directly from Excel or a spreadsheet.

This tool supports up to 6 groups, each assigned its own color. If your dataset has more than 6 groups, the tool will still process the data but colors will cycle through the defined palette.

The kernel bandwidth (bw) controls how smooth the density estimate (the half-violin 'cloud') appears. A smaller bandwidth produces a more jagged, detailed curve that closely follows the raw data. A larger bandwidth produces a smoother, more generalized density shape. The default of 0.5 works well for most datasets.

Use a raincloud plot when you want to show your audience the full picture: distribution shape, summary statistics, and actual data points simultaneously. Box plots hide distributional details, and violin plots hide the raw data. Raincloud plots solve both problems, especially when comparing groups in clinical, biological, or social science research.

For each group, the table shows the sample size (N), mean, median, standard deviation, first quartile (Q1), third quartile (Q3), interquartile range (IQR), minimum, and maximum. These statistics correspond directly to what would be encoded visually in the box plot component of the raincloud plot.

IQR stands for Interquartile Range — the difference between the 75th percentile (Q3) and the 25th percentile (Q1). It represents the spread of the middle 50% of your data and is a robust measure of variability that is not affected by extreme outliers, unlike standard deviation.

Yes. Raincloud plots are widely used in clinical trials, genomics, psychology, and neuroscience to compare distributions across experimental conditions or patient groups. The combination of density, box plot, and raw data makes them especially suitable for peer-reviewed publications where transparent data reporting is required.