pgfplots

PGFPlots is a TeX package for creating plots in LaTeX documents. It sits on top of PGF/TikZ and provides a high-level interface for generating publication-quality two- and three-dimensional figures with a consistent LaTeX appearance.

The package supports many plot types and data sources. Users can draw lines, points, area fills, bars, and step plots from mathematical functions, coordinate lists, or data files using the \addplot and \addplot3 commands inside axis environments. 2D plots are produced with axis, and 3D plots with axis together with \addplot3 and related options. Automatic axis labeling, legends, ticks, grids, and color cycles are built in, along with support for shading, transparency, and custom colormaps.

Customization is extensive. Global and per-plot options control figure size, aspect ratio, axis ranges, tick formatting, log scales (xmode=log, ymode=log, zmode=log), grid style, and legend placement. Multiple plots can share axes, and many styles enable fast, consistent figure construction across documents. The package also supports advanced features such as stacked plots, grouped plots, surface and mesh plots, contour plots, and external data import via the table input driver.

PGFPlots integrates tightly with LaTeX: fonts, math formatting, and citation macros match the surrounding document. It is designed to work with standard TeX distributions and requires PGF/TikZ. The user interface emphasizes concise commands, with styling controlled via pgfplotsset and axis options. PGFPlots is widely used in academia for producing figures that need precise typographic integration and reproducibility.