What Plot Do I Need?
Start from your research question - not your data type. Find the exact chart you need and generate it with Plotivy in one click.
“I want to show which genes are differentially expressed”
Best chart: Volcano Plot
Combines fold-change magnitude with statistical significance in a single view. Standard for RNA-seq and proteomics.
Alternative: MA Plot if you want to show mean expression vs fold change instead
“I want to show how my drug dose affects cell viability”
Best chart: Dose-Response Curve
Sigmoidal fit reveals EC50/IC50 and Hill coefficient. Required for pharmacology papers.
“I want to show protein expression across conditions”
Best chart: Grouped Bar Chart with Error Bars
Direct comparison across conditions with uncertainty quantification. Show individual data points for transparency.
“I want to compare survival between two patient groups”
Best chart: Kaplan-Meier Survival Curve
Time-to-event analysis with censoring handling. Include at-risk table and log-rank p-value.
“I want to show the relationship between two continuous biomarkers”
Best chart: Scatter Plot with Regression
Reveals linear or nonlinear correlation with statistical quantification.
“I want to show my bacterial growth curve”
Best chart: Growth Curve (Line Chart)
Time-course visualization with optional logistic model fit for lag, exponential, and stationary phases.
“I want to show the distribution of my cell measurements”
Best chart: Violin Plot
Reveals distribution shape that box plots hide. Shows bimodality, skewness, and outliers.
Alternative: Box Plot if journals require box plots or you have many groups
“I want to compare multiple treatment groups statistically”
Best chart: Box Plot with Significance Brackets
Displays distributions and statistical test results. Significance brackets show pairwise comparisons.
“I want to show my ELISA standard curve”
Best chart: Standard Curve (Scatter + Fit)
4-parameter logistic fit is standard for ELISA. Shows dynamic range and limits of detection.
“I want to show enzyme kinetics”
Best chart: Michaelis-Menten Plot
Nonlinear fit to extract Km and Vmax. Include Lineweaver-Burk for comparison if needed by reviewers.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is this different from the Chart Selector tool?
The Chart Selector starts from your data type (continuous, categorical, temporal). This tool starts from your research question (“I want to show...”). Same destination, different starting point depending on how you think about your problem.
What if my research question is not listed?
Describe your research question directly to Plotivy using natural language. It understands scientific context and will recommend and generate the appropriate visualization for your specific scenario.
Can Plotivy generate all of these chart types?
Yes. Plotivy generates Python code using matplotlib, plotly, seaborn, and specialized libraries (lifelines for survival analysis, scipy for curve fitting, sklearn for ML plots). It produces both the figure and the complete source code.