Sankey chart

Use Sankey charts to visualize flows between categories, showing how values move from sources to targets.

This feature is in Early Access. We’d love your feedback as we continue to improve it.

Sankey diagrams visualize flows between categories — how values move from a source to a target, weighted by a metric. They’re ideal for understanding movement, distribution, or conversion across stages.

Sankey charts are useful when:

• You want to show how values flow between categories (e.g., marketing channels → conversions)
• You’re visualizing multi-step processes or funnels
• You need to understand distribution across interconnected stages
• You have cyclical flows that loop back (e.g., retargeting → conversion → retargeting)

Data requirements

Sankey charts require three columns in your data:

Column type	Description	Example
Source dimension	Where the flow originates	channel, referrer, stage_from
Target dimension	Where the flow goes	conversion_type, destination, stage_to
Weight metric	The size of the flow	count, revenue, users

Each row in your data represents a flow from one node to another, with the weight determining the thickness of the connection.

Creating a Sankey chart

1. Run a query with your source dimension, target dimension, and weight metric
2. Select Sankey from the chart type picker
3. In the configuration panel, assign:
   • Source — the dimension representing flow origins
   • Target — the dimension representing flow destinations
   • Value — the metric determining flow size

Features

Multi-step flows

Sankey charts automatically handle nodes that appear as both sources and targets, creating multi-level visualizations. For example, if “Email” appears as a target from “Ad Click” and as a source to “Purchase”, the chart will show the full flow path.

Cyclical flows

Unlike traditional Sankey implementations, Lightdash supports cyclical data where flows can loop back. For example, in a retargeting funnel:

• Awareness → Consideration
• Consideration → Conversion
• Conversion → Retargeting
• Retargeting → Conversion (loop)

The chart handles these cycles by creating step-suffixed node instances (e.g., “Conversion - Step 2”).

Display options

• Orientation — Display flows horizontally (left to right) or vertically (top to bottom)
• Node alignment — Align nodes to the left, right, or justify across the chart