Cladogram Maker & Phylogenetic Tree Maker
Build cladograms and phylogenetic trees from scratch or start from a template. Add organisms, customize branches, and adjust colors and line thickness for biology class or research.
Build cladograms and phylogenetic trees from scratch or start from a template. Add organisms, customize branches, and adjust colors and line thickness for biology class or research.
A cladogram is a branching diagram showing how a group of organisms are related by descent. Each branch point, a node, represents the most recent common ancestor of everything beyond it, and each branch traces a line of descent from that ancestor.
Cladograms are built from shared derived characters: traits that appeared in a common ancestor and were inherited by its descendants. A vertebral column, four limbs, an amniotic egg and hair each mark a smaller group nested inside the last, which is what produces the familiar nested pattern.
Importantly, a cladogram shows branching order only. Branch lengths are drawn for legibility and carry no meaning, they aren't time, and not amount of change. For a fuller definition see what is a cladogram, and cladogram vs phylogenetic tree for where that distinction matters.
There are three ways to start, depending on what you already have:
For the full process, including choosing an outgroup and checking your tree with parsimony, see the guide on how to make a cladogram.
Layout can be horizontal, vertical or circular, with square or angled branches, in cladogram or phylogram mode. Labels can be moved, rotated and resized individually, and clades can be coloured to highlight groups. Finished diagrams export as a high-resolution PNG or a true vector SVG that stays sharp at any size in print; trees can also be exported as Newick or NEXUS for use in other phylogenetics software.
A cladogram is the simplest kind of phylogenetic tree. If you have pairwise distances rather than traits, for example percentage differences between DNA sequences, open Table, switch to the Distance matrix tab, and build the tree with neighbour-joining or UPGMA. The result is drawn to scale in phylogram mode, with a scale bar.
You can also import an existing tree in Newick format from RAxML, IQ-TREE, MEGA, iTOL or FigTree; branch lengths and bootstrap support values are both read. See how to make a phylogenetic tree, how to read one, and the Newick format explained for the full detail.
Two organisms are more closely related when they share a more recent common ancestor. Trace back from each toward the root and see where the paths meet, the pair that meets sooner are the closer relatives.
The most common misreading is treating tips printed next to each other as close relatives. Branches rotate freely around any node, so a taxon can appear at the opposite end of the diagram without any relationship changing. How to read a cladogram covers this in more detail, along with clades and the monophyletic, paraphyletic and polyphyletic distinction.
Yes, entirely free, with no account and nothing to install. It runs in your browser.
Yes. Open Table, enter your taxa and characters as 1s and 0s, and the tree is built from the matrix. You can also paste comma-separated data directly.
Your tree is saved automatically in your browser's local storage, so it's still there when you return. It stays on your device, nothing is uploaded. You can also export a JSON file to keep a copy or move it to another device.
Yes. Diagrams you create are yours. For print, use the SVG export, it's vector, so it won't pixelate at any size.
Yes. Tap a label to edit it, drag to move it, and pinch to zoom. The toolbar collapses to icons on small screens.