Ternary Plot

Display the proportions of three variables that sum to a constant, mapped onto an equilateral triangle.

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About

About Ternary Plot

Visualize compositional data like never before with the Ternary Plot Viz Extension. A ternary plot displays the proportions of three variables that sum to a constant, mapped onto an equilateral triangle: each point represents the relative weight of three categories, right inside your Tableau dashboards.

Whether you’re analyzing survey budget allocations, soil compositions, alloy mixtures, or audience breakdowns, this extension turns three-part compositional data into a clear, readable picture of how observations split across three competing categories.

Three-way proportions are notoriously hard to read in bar charts or tables. The Ternary Plot Viz Extension solves this by placing every observation inside a triangle whose corners represent the three components: points near a corner are dominated by that component, points near the center are balanced. Grid lines, axis ticks, and an optional reading guide make every position easy to interpret.

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See Ternary Plot in action

Key features

Everything you need

Configurable corner labels and tick marks
Customizable grid lines for easy reading
Merge overlapping marks into sized groups
Optional reading guide to interpret any point
Clockwise or counter-clockwise axis direction
Discrete or continuous color encoding

Best used for

When Ternary Plot shines

Survey results where respondents allocate a fixed budget across three options
Compositional data such as soil samples, alloys, or audience breakdowns
Comparing how observations split across three competing categories

Setup

Setup in Tableau

Two short phases: add the Viz Extension to your workbook once, then drop the relevant fields on the new Marks Card.

Phase 1

Add the extension to Tableau

Open the Marks card and choose Add Extension On any Tableau worksheet (Desktop, Cloud or Server), open the Marks card dropdown and select "Add Extension". A new dialog will list available Viz Extensions.
Pick the Exchange listing or upload the .trex file Either choose "Access Extensions on the Exchange" for the free hosted build, or click "Access local extensions" and upload the .trex file you received with your LaDataViz license.
Review and accept the data-access prompt Tableau will ask you to allow the extension to read the worksheet's aggregated data. Accept it — a new Viz Extension Marks Card will appear next to Color, Size, Tooltip, etc.

Tableau's official Viz Extensions guide

Phase 2

Configure Ternary Plot

Drag three Measures on X, Y and Z, and a Dimension on Detail.
Click Format Extension to configure the visualization.

Security & Privacy

Enterprise-grade by design

Every LaDataViz Viz Extension is built so your data never leaves Tableau. Here's exactly how we keep it that way.

No data is ever stored As a recognized Tableau Partner, your data is never stored anywhere — not even temporarily. Everything runs in your browser.

Only aggregated data The extension cannot access your data source’s raw fields. It only reads the aggregated marks the Worksheet already displays.

Cloud or on-premise Use the hosted cloud version, or deploy a packaged build inside your own environment with no internet connection required.

Trusted by Tableau Listed on the official Tableau Exchange, with free tiers hosted by Tableau themselves and reviewed against their security guidelines.

Read the full Privacy & Licensing Agreement (PDF)