Free Waterfall Plot Generator
Create an oncology tumor-response waterfall plot from plain text
Describe each patient's best percentage change from baseline in tumor size, the RECIST reference lines, and how you want bars colored, and AI draws a clean, publication-ready waterfall plot — ready for clinical-trial reports, oncology posters, and manuscripts.
Waterfall plot examples
Click any example to load its prompt, or use it as a starting point for your own waterfall plot.
What is a waterfall plot?
In oncology and clinical research, a waterfall plot shows how each patient responded to treatment as a single vertical bar. Each bar is one patient's best percentage change from baseline in tumor size (typically the sum of target-lesion diameters under RECIST), and the bars are sorted from the largest increase on the left to the largest decrease on the right, forming a descending 'waterfall'. Bars above the zero line mean tumor growth, bars below it mean shrinkage, and reference lines at +20% and -30% mark the RECIST thresholds for progressive disease and partial response. This clinical waterfall plot is different from a generic business 'waterfall chart' of running totals — it is one of the standard ways to summarize antitumor activity across a trial. SciDraw AI turns your description into a clean, labeled waterfall plot so you do not have to script it by hand.
Why use a waterfall plot generator?
- Show the response of every patient in a trial in a single, at-a-glance figure.
- Get RECIST reference lines at +20% and -30% placed correctly without fiddling with plotting code.
- Color bars by response category, treatment arm, or biomarker to reveal who benefited.
- Produce a publication-ready oncology response plot without R, Python, or GraphPad.
- Draft figures fast for clinical-trial reports, conference posters, and manuscripts.
How to make a waterfall plot
Describe your data in plain language: that each bar is a patient's best percentage change from baseline in tumor size, sorted from the largest increase to the largest decrease. Say which RECIST lines you want (+20% and -30%) and how to color the bars — by response category, treatment arm, or biomarker status. Generate, and SciDraw AI draws a clean waterfall plot with a zero baseline, sorted bars, reference lines, and a legend. You supply your own per-patient values, then refine the prompt and regenerate until the figure looks exactly right.
What a waterfall plot shows
- X-axis: individual patients, one vertical bar per patient (usually unlabeled or anonymized)
- Y-axis: best percentage change from baseline in tumor size (target-lesion sum)
- Bars sorted from the largest increase on the left to the largest decrease on the right
- A +20% RECIST reference line marking progressive disease
- A -30% RECIST reference line marking partial response
- The 0% baseline line, plus bars colored by response, arm, or biomarker with a legend
Waterfall plot FAQ
What is a waterfall plot in oncology?
A waterfall plot is a clinical-trial figure in which each patient is shown as one vertical bar representing their best percentage change from baseline in tumor size. The bars are sorted from the largest increase on the left to the largest decrease on the right, so the chart descends like a waterfall. Bars above zero indicate tumor growth and bars below zero indicate shrinkage, giving a single picture of how an entire study population responded to treatment.
What do the +20% and -30% lines mean (RECIST)?
They are the RECIST response thresholds. A bar reaching at least +20% indicates progressive disease (the tumor grew enough to count as progression), and a bar reaching at least -30% indicates a partial response (the target lesions shrank by 30% or more). Patients between these two lines fall into stable disease. Drawing both reference lines lets readers immediately see how many patients crossed into response or progression.
How is a waterfall plot different from a spider plot or a business waterfall chart?
A waterfall plot shows each patient's single best percentage change as one sorted bar — a snapshot of response across the trial. A spider plot instead shows each patient's tumor change over time as a line, so it captures the trajectory rather than a single value. Both differ entirely from a business 'waterfall chart', which uses floating bars to show how sequential increases and decreases build up a running total; the oncology waterfall plot is not about running totals at all.
How are the bars ordered?
Bars are sorted by value, from the largest increase in tumor size on the far left to the largest decrease on the far right. There is no patient ordering on the x-axis beyond this — each position simply reflects rank by best percentage change. This sorting is what produces the characteristic descending waterfall shape and makes it easy to read off how many patients shrank versus grew.
Is the waterfall plot generator free?
Yes, you can start for free. Create an account and you receive free credits to generate waterfall plots right away, with paid plans available if you need to make many oncology figures and clinical-trial plots on a regular basis.
Is it suitable for research or publication?
Yes. SciDraw AI draws clean, publication-style waterfall plots with sorted bars, RECIST reference lines, a zero baseline, and a legend on a white background. You supply your own real per-patient percentage-change values — the tool renders the figure, it does not invent data — so the plot accurately reflects your trial and is ready for reports, posters, and manuscripts.
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Try it freeDraw your waterfall plot now
Describe your per-patient tumor response and RECIST lines and get a clean, publication-ready waterfall plot in seconds. Start free with SciDraw AI.
