Scatter plots

Seaborn basics

1 min read

Published Oct 7 2025

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seaborn.scatterplot() is used to create scatter plots in Python. Scatter plots are great for visualising the relationship between two numerical variables, optionally with additional categorical information using colour, size, or style.

Syntax:

sns.scatterplot(

data=None,

x=None,

y=None,

hue=None,

style=None,

size=None,

palette=None,

markers=True,

sizes=None,

**kwargs

)

Parameters:

data → DataFrame containing the data.
x, y → Columns to plot on X and Y axes.
hue → Column name for colour encoding (categorical or numeric).
style → Column for marker shapes.
size → Column to scale marker sizes.
palette → Colours for hue categories.
markers → Whether to use different marker shapes.
sizes → Range of sizes for markers.

Basic example

import seaborn as sns

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Sample data

data = sns.load_dataset("iris")

# Simple scatter plot

sns.scatterplot(data=data, x="sepal_length", y="sepal_width")

plt.show()

This will plot sepal length vs. sepal width for all iris flowers.

Using `hue` (colour)

import seaborn as sns

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

data = sns.load_dataset("iris")

sns.scatterplot(data=data, x="sepal_length", y="sepal_width", hue="species")

plt.show()

Points are coloured by species.

Using `style` and `size`

import seaborn as sns

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

data = sns.load_dataset("iris")

sns.scatterplot(

data=data,

x="sepal_length",

y="sepal_width",

hue="species",

style="species",

size="petal_length",

sizes=(20, 200)

)

plt.show()

Style: different marker shapes for species.
Size: marker sizes proportional to petal length.

Customising appearance

import seaborn as sns

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

data = sns.load_dataset("iris")

sns.scatterplot(

data=data,

x="sepal_length",

y="sepal_width",

hue="species",

palette="bright",

s=100,

edgecolor="black"

)

plt.show()

palette="bright" → colorful markers
s=100 → marker size
edgecolor="black" → black border around markers

seaborn scatter plot customising example

Scatter plots

Seaborn basics

1 min read