How it works

From a column of numbers to a finished graph.

No scripting and no fiddling with defaults. The graph is correct when it first appears, and every setting is one click away.

Bring your data
Type it in, paste from Excel with Ctrl+V (the header row becomes the column names), or import CSV, XLSX or ODS. Decimal commas such as 1,5 read correctly. Mark columns as X, Y, ± error or labels. An error column next to a Y column becomes its error bars.
Pick a chart
Choose from 13 chart types, or open one of 14 worked examples and swap in your own numbers.
Analyse on the plot
Add a curve fit with its equation and R², choose SD, SEM or 95 % CI error bars, and mark significant differences with t-test brackets.
Send it where it's going
Copy straight into Word or PowerPoint at its real printed size, or export PDF, SVG, TIFF or PNG at up to 2400 dpi.

PlotBench start screen with buttons for a blank figure, importing data and opening a project, above a grid of example figures.

Lab report to journal

One app for every graph you'll make in your degree and after it.

Undergraduates

Lab reports and assignments

Clear axes with proper units, error bars and a trend line in minutes. Paste the graph into your Word report and move on.

Final-year & postgraduate

Projects and theses

Thesis presets fit the A4 text block and match your body text, so every chapter's graphs look like one document.

Lecturers & presenters

Slides, posters and notes

Slide and poster presets set type large enough for the back row. Share one .plotbench file with students, data included.

Researchers

Journal and conference papers

Presets for IEEE, Elsevier, Nature, Springer, ACS, PLOS, MDPI, IEEJ, IEICE and more set the width, fonts and DPI for you.

Change the destination. The graph follows.

The same data, redrawn for each target at its real printed width. Font, text size, line weight and resolution change with it.

Grouped bar chart of dry biomass for Control and Treatments A to C at days 7, 14 and 21, in thesis A4 style, 150 mm wide.

Built-in check

Catches what markers and reviewers notice.

The Check tab scores your graph against the chosen target's rules and fixes most problems in one click.

Text large enough to read once printedSub- and superscripts included.
Colours that stay distinct for colour-blind readersChecked for protan, deutan and tritan vision.
Width that fits the page or columnPlaced at 100 %, so nothing is rescaled.
Line weights, resolution and embedded fonts
Honest statisticsWarns when a bar of means hides 30 or fewer data points.

PlotBench window with the Check tab open. The figure uses red, green and magenta bars and scores 93; a warning says the red and green look alike with protanopia and offers the Okabe–Ito palette.

Red and green bars look alike to readers with protanopia, about 1 in 12 men. The check says so and offers a colour-blind-safe palette.

Bar chart in bright red, green and magenta. — **On your screen**Spreadsheet colours look distinct on a monitor.

The same bar chart in grayscale, where the red and green bars become nearly the same grey. — **On a grayscale printout**Red and green turn into the same grey. The preview shows you this before your lecturer or examiner sees it.

What's inside version 0.1.2

Labels typed like a printed page.

Write units and symbols as plain text. PlotBench sets italics, sub- and superscripts and true minus signs the way a typesetter would.

mg L^{−1}mg L⁻¹

H_{2}OH₂O

\i{T}_{g} (°C)T_g (°C)

\alpha-Fe_{2}O_{3}α-Fe₂O₃

Chart types: 13 types: line, line + symbol, scatter, area, grouped, stacked and horizontal bar, mean bar + points, dot plot, box plot, violin, histogram with normal curve, pie and donut.
Analysis: Linear, quadratic, cubic, exponential, power and log fits with equation and R²; exponential and power by true nonlinear least squares. SD, SEM or 95 % CI error bars. Welch t-test brackets with exact p.
Axes: Linear or log scales, a second Y axis, minor ticks, reversed axes and number formats including ×10ⁿ and percent.
Data: Type, or paste from Excel with its header row. Decimal commas read correctly. Import CSV, TSV, TXT, XLSX and ODS in UTF-8, Shift_JIS or Windows-1252. Several data sheets per project.
Layout: Multi-panel figures from 1×1 to 3×2 with axes aligned across panels and (a), (b) labels added. Text annotations anywhere.
Style: 4 themes and 8 palettes, 5 of them colour-blind safe. Live colour-blind and grayscale preview. Drafts a caption and alt text.
Targets: 29 presets: lab and thesis pages, 16:9 slides, poster panels, and journals and conferences from IEEE, Elsevier, Nature, Springer, ACS, APS, PLOS, MDPI, Wiley, IEEJ, IEICE, ACM and LNCS.
Export: Copy to Word or PowerPoint. PDF and SVG with fonts embedded; TIFF and PNG at 300–2400 dpi; source-data CSV. Projects save as open .plotbench files with 120 steps of undo. Ctrl+S saves in place, and PlotBench asks before you close unsaved work.

What you see is what you get

One renderer draws the on-screen preview, the PDF, the SVG and the image files. The layout does not shift when you paste into Word, open in Illustrator or print.

Details that make a graph look professional

True minus signs. Italic quantities with upright units. Axis limits that stay tight to your data. Legends placed in the emptiest corner, clear of fit lines. Panels aligned to the point.

Pricing

Free for coursework and your thesis. Pro when you submit to a journal.

One app, two editions. Free is on the Microsoft Store now. Pro is coming soon, as a licence key you enter in the same app, so there will be nothing to reinstall.

Free

Students · evaluation

US$0no time limit, no watermark

Everything you need for lab reports, assignments, slides, posters and a whole thesis.

All 13 chart types, multi-panel figures and 14 worked examples
Curve fits with equation and R², error bars, t-test brackets
Copy to Word and PowerPoint; PDF and SVG; TIFF and PNG up to 600 dpi
Thesis, slide and poster presets, with the check and one-click fixes
Colour-blind and grayscale preview; caption and alt-text drafts
Preview any journal preset and see its score and issues

Pro

Coming soon

US$29per year

Everything in Free, plus the tools that get a figure through journal submission.

Apply the full journal and conference preset library: IEEE, Elsevier, Nature, Springer, ACS, APS, PLOS, MDPI, Wiley, IEEJ, IEICE, ACM, LNCS
Check and one-click fixes against each publisher's figure rules
Re-target a finished figure to another journal in one click
TIFF and PNG up to 2400 dpi with line-art settings; source-data CSV
Rule updates as publishers change their author guides

Pro is not on sale yet. It is coming soon, at one price for everyone: students, lecturers and researchers, in every country. Start with Free now; your projects carry straight over when you upgrade.

Labs and departments

5 to 19 seats are 20 % off. For 20 or more seats or a campus licence, email [email protected] for a quotation.

Your work is never locked

If Pro lapses, every project still opens, edits and exports. Journal presets you already applied stay applied.

No account, works offline

The licence key is checked on your computer and shows your name. Leave your email in the download section to hear when Pro goes on sale.

Download · version 0.1.2

Make your next graph in PlotBench.

PlotBench runs on Windows 10 and 11 (64-bit), with no account and no internet connection needed. Get it free from the Microsoft Store.

Available now

Free on the Microsoft Store

Installed and signed by Microsoft, so Windows shows no security warning. Updates arrive automatically.

New in 0.1.2

Asks before closing or replacing a figure with unsaved changes; Ctrl+S saves to the same file
Copied graphs paste into Word and PowerPoint at their real size
Exponential and power fits are true least-squares fits
Pasting from Excel keeps the header row as column names; decimal-comma numbers import correctly
A damaged project file no longer closes the window, and PDFs are smaller

Scientific graphs, from lab report to journal.