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How to Make a 3 Axis Graph in Google Sheets

Cody Schneider••7 min read

Google Sheets doesn't offer a ready-made three-axis chart, but that doesn't mean you're out of options for visualizing three different data series at once. With a clever workaround using a combination chart, you can effectively create a graph with a shared x-axis and what appears to be three distinct y-axes. This tutorial will walk you through setting up your data and building this visualization step-by-step.

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What is a 3-Axis Graph and Why Would You Need One?

A standard graph plots data along two axes: a horizontal x-axis and a vertical y-axis. A dual-axis graph adds a second y-axis, allowing you to plot two different data series with different scales - like revenue in tens of thousands and an email open rate as a percentage - on the same chart.

A three-axis graph takes this concept one step further, letting you display three data series that have vastly different units or magnitudes. For instance, a marketing team might want to track:

  • Total Website Sessions (e.g., values from 50,000 to 100,000)
  • New Customer Conversion Rate (e.g., values from 1% to 3%)
  • Total Weekly Ad Spend (e.g., values from $500 to $1,500)

Trying to plot these three on a single y-axis would be impossible. The Website Sessions numbers are so large they would shrink the other two series into unreadable lines at the bottom of the chart. That's where this combination chart approach comes in handy.

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Step 1: Get Your Data Ready

The first step is organizing your data in a clear, chart-friendly format. Your first column should always be your shared x-axis label, which is typically a time period like Day, Week, or Month.

Subsequent columns should contain your three distinct data series you want to plot. Let's stick with our marketing example. Your data in Google Sheets should look something like this:

Make sure your numbers and percentages are correctly formatted by going to Format > Number and selecting the appropriate option (Number, Percent, Currency, etc.).

Step 2: Create a Combination Chart

With your data organized, you can now insert the initial chart. The key is to start with a "Combination chart" (or combo chart).

Instructions:

  1. Highlight the entire data range, including the headers (in our example, a range like A1:D9).
  2. Go to the menu and click Insert > Chart.
  3. Google Sheets will likely default to a line or column chart. In the Chart editor on the right, under the Setup tab, find the Chart type dropdown.
  4. Scroll down and select Combo chart.

You’ll now have a chart that plots all three data series, but it still looks messy because they're all sharing the single left y-axis.

Step 3: Assigning the First Two Axes

Now, let’s assign two of our data series to different y-axes. This will put us at a standard dual-axis chart level - we’ll get to the third axis in the next step.

The best practice is to keep your series with the largest numeric values (Website Sessions) on the left axis and move one of the others to the right axis.

Instructions:

  1. In the Chart editor, switch from the Setup tab to the Customize tab.
  2. Click on the Series dropdown menu.
  3. Select the data series you want to move to the right axis. Let’s choose Conversion Rate, since percentages often need their own axis.
  4. In the settings for the Conversion Rate series, look for the Axis dropdown. It will be set to "Left axis" by default. Change this to Right axis.
  5. Optional: Changing the look. You might want to represent your Conversion Rate as a line and your Ad Spend and Sessions as columns to make things clearer. Within this same Series menu, you can change the chart type for an individual series from a Column to a Line. Let's make Conversion Rate and Ad Spend both Line charts.

You now have a clean dual-axis chart. Website Sessions are represented by blue columns tied to the left axis, and both Conversion Rate and Ad Spend are lines still sharing that same left axis. This tells us we need another step to separate that third measure.

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Step 4: The Workaround for the Third Axis

Since Google Sheets has no native "third axis" feature, we have to create one ourselves using a bit of a trick. The goal is to separate our remaining line (Ad Spend) from the website sessions scale. We'll do this by moving Ad Spend over to the right axis as well, but then we'll change its presentation so it looks like it belongs to its own axis.

Adjusting the Third Series

Let's make our third series (Ad Spend) more distinct so it can stand on its own.

Instructions:

  1. Back in the Customize > Series section of the Chart Editor, select your third data series (Ad Spend in our example).
  2. Change its Axis to Right axis. Now both Conversion Rate and Ad Spend reference the right axis. This still isn't quite right, but we're getting close. The right axis scale has adjusted to accommodate the Ad Spend numbers, squishing the Conversion Rate line to the bottom.
  3. To fix this, we need to make one of these series visual without tying it directly to the ticks on the axis line. A great way to do this is with points and data labels.

Now, your Ad Spend is represented by bold data points with numeric labels, while your Conversion Rate is a clean line chart. Both technically use the right-side axis, but visually, they function independently since the Ad Spend values are explicitly labeled on the chart itself.

Step 5: Format Your Chart for Clarity

A complex chart like this can be confusing without excellent formatting. Clear titles and labels are not just good practice - they're essential for anyone to understand your graph.

Formatting Tips:

  • Chart & Axis Titles: Under Customize > Chart & axis titles, give your chart a descriptive title, like "Weekly Marketing Performance: Sessions vs. Conversion Rate vs. Ad Spend." Make sure to also label your vertical axes clearly. For example, the Left Vertical Axis should be titled "Website Sessions", and the Right Vertical Axis could be titled "Conversion Rate (%)". Since Ad Spend isn't tied to an axis, mention it in the overall title.
  • Add Your Source Info: In the sub-title, write “Ad Spend shown as labeled data points.” This removes all ambiguity for the reader.
  • Colors: In the Customize > Series menu, use distinct and contrasting colors for each of the three series so they’re easy to tell apart.
  • Legend: Ensure your legend is visible and clear. You can change its position under Customize > Legend. Placing it at the bottom often works best for a chart this busy.

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When to Avoid a "3-Axis" Graph

This technique is a powerful way to show relationships between disconnected metrics, but it's not always the right choice. Because it can be visually dense, it's easy for your audience to misinterpret.

Avoid this chart type when:

  • Your audience needs to make precise comparisons between values.
  • You are presenting to people who are unfamiliar with the data.
  • You have enough space to simply place two separate, clearer charts side-by-side. Sometimes, two simple charts are far more effective than one complex one.

Use it when you need a single, at-a-glance view for a dashboard or report where the primary goal is to show general trends and correlations between three different KPIs simultaneously.

Final Thoughts

While Google Sheets doesn't have a direct option for a three-axis graph, this combination chart method provides an elegant and effective workaround. By leveraging dual axes and creative formatting with data labels, you can build a comprehensive visualization that shows the high-level relationship between three metrics with different scales.

Building workarounds like this in spreadsheets can be a bit of a time sink, especially when you have to repeat the process every week with new data. At a certain point, the manual work just gets in the way of finding actual insights. This is exactly why we built Graphed. You can connect your data sources - like Google Analytics, Google Ads, and Shopify - in a couple of clicks and then simply ask it to create reports in plain English. Instead of fiddling with chart editors, you can just say, "build a dashboard showing website sessions, conversion rate, and ad spend by week for this quarter," and get a live, automated dashboard in seconds.

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