Seaborn — Statistical Plots

Overview

Seaborn is a Python library for statistical data visualization built on top of matplotlib. It works directly with pandas DataFrames, automatically handles grouping by categorical variables, computes confidence intervals and kernel density estimates, and produces attractive publication-ready figures with minimal configuration. Seaborn separates axes-level functions (embeddable in custom layouts) from figure-level functions (with built-in faceting), enabling both quick exploratory analysis and structured multi-panel figures.

When to Use

• Comparing gene expression, protein abundance, or measurement distributions across experimental conditions (treatment vs. control, cell lines, time points)
• Generating grouped box plots, violin plots, or strip plots to show both summary statistics and individual data points simultaneously
• Visualizing pairwise correlations in multi-gene or multi-feature datasets as annotated heatmaps
• Plotting regression fits with confidence bands between continuous variables (e.g., cell viability vs. drug concentration)
• Faceting a single plot type across multiple sample subsets, tissue types, or experimental batches in one call
• Rapid exploratory analysis of a new dataset using pairplot to survey all pairwise relationships at once
• Use matplotlib directly when you need pixel-level control over figure elements, complex mixed-type layouts, or non-statistical custom plots
• Use plotly when the output must be interactive (hover tooltips, zoom, pan) or embedded in a web application

Prerequisites

• Python packages: seaborn>=0.13, matplotlib, pandas, numpy
• Data requirements: Pandas DataFrame in long-form (tidy) format; each observation is a row, each variable is a column
• Environment: Standard Python environment; no GPU or special hardware required

pip install "seaborn>=0.13" matplotlib pandas numpy scipy

Quick Start

import seaborn as sns
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import pandas as pd
import numpy as np

# Simulate gene expression across conditions
rng = np.random.default_rng(42)
df = pd.DataFrame({
    "gene":      ["BRCA1"] * 60 + ["TP53"] * 60,
    "condition": ["control", "treated"] * 60,
    "log2_expr": np.concatenate([
        rng.normal(5.2, 0.8, 60),
        rng.normal(6.1, 0.9, 60),
    ])
})

sns.set_theme(style="ticks", context="notebook")
sns.boxplot(data=df, x="gene", y="log2_expr", hue="condition", palette="Set2")
plt.ylabel("log2 Expression")
plt.title("Gene Expression by Condition")
plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig("quickstart_boxplot.png", dpi=150)
print("Saved quickstart_boxplot.png")

Core API

1. Distribution Plots

Visualize univariate distributions and compare them across groups. histplot bins data; kdeplot fits a smooth density estimate; displot is the figure-level wrapper that adds faceting.

import seaborn as sns
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd

rng = np.random.default_rng(0)
n = 200
df = pd.DataFrame({
    "log2_tpm":  np.concatenate([rng.normal(4.5, 1.1, n), rng.normal(6.0, 1.3, n)]),
    "sample":    ["tumor"] * n + ["normal"] * n,
})

fig, axes = plt.subplots(1, 3, figsize=(15, 4))

# Histogram with density normalization and stacked hue groups
sns.histplot(data=df, x="log2_tpm", hue="sample", stat="density",
             multiple="stack", bins=30, ax=axes[0])
axes[0].set_title("Histogram (stacked)")

# KDE with fill — bandwidth controlled by bw_adjust
sns.kdeplot(data=df, x="log2_tpm", hue="sample", fill=True,
            bw_adjust=0.8, alpha=0.4, ax=axes[1])
axes[1].set_title("KDE (filled)")

# ECDF — useful for comparing cumulative distributions
sns.ecdfplot(data=df, x="log2_tpm", hue="sample", ax=axes[2])
axes[2].set_title("ECDF")

plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig("distributions.png", dpi=150)
print("Saved distributions.png")

# Bivariate KDE: joint distribution of two continuous variables
rng = np.random.default_rng(1)
df2 = pd.DataFrame({
    "log2_rna": rng.normal(5.5, 1.2, 300),
    "log2_prot": rng.normal(4.8, 1.0, 300) + 0.6 * rng.normal(5.5, 1.2, 300),
})
sns.kdeplot(data=df2, x="log2_rna", y="log2_prot",
            fill=True, levels=8, thresh=0.05, cmap="Blues")
plt.xlabel("log2 RNA (TPM)")
plt.ylabel("log2 Protein (iBAQ)")
plt.title("RNA–Protein Correlation Density")
plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig("bivariate_kde.png", dpi=150)
print("Saved bivariate_kde.png")

2. Categorical Plots

Compare distributions or aggregated statistics across categorical groups. Axes-level functions (boxplot, violinplot, stripplot, swarmplot, barplot) accept an ax= parameter for embedding in custom layouts.

import seaborn as sns
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd

rng = np.random.default_rng(2)
conditions = ["DMSO", "Drug A 1uM", "Drug A 10uM", "Drug B 1uM", "Drug B 10uM"]
df = pd.DataFrame({
    "condition": np.repeat(conditions, 30),
    "viability": np.concatenate([
        rng.normal(100, 5, 30),
        rng.normal(92, 7, 30),
        rng.normal(65, 10, 30),
        rng.normal(88, 8, 30),
        rng.normal(45, 12, 30),
    ])
})

fig, axes = plt.subplots(1, 3, figsize=(18, 5))

# Box plot — shows quartiles and outliers
sns.boxplot(data=df, x="condition", y="viability",
            palette="husl", width=0.5, ax=axes[0])
axes[0].set_xticklabels(axes[0].get_xticklabels(), rotation=30, ha="right")
axes[0].set_title("Box Plot")

# Violin — KDE shape + inner quartile lines
sns.violinplot(data=df, x="condition", y="viability",
               inner="quart", palette="muted", ax=axes[1])
axes[1].set_xticklabels(axes[1].get_xticklabels(), rotation=30, ha="right")
axes[1].set_title("Violin Plot")

# Strip plot overlaid on box — shows all individual points
sns.boxplot(data=df, x="condition", y="viability",
            palette="pastel", width=0.5, ax=axes[2])
sns.stripplot(data=df, x="condition", y="viability",
              color="black", alpha=0.4, size=3, jitter=True, ax=axes[2])
axes[2].set_xticklabels(axes[2].get_xticklabels(), rotation=30, ha="right")
axes[2].set_title("Box + Strip")

plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig("categorical.png", dpi=150)
print("Saved categorical.png")

# Bar plot with mean ± 95% CI and individual points (swarm)
fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(8, 5))
sns.barplot(data=df, x="condition", y="viability",
            estimator="mean", errorbar="ci", palette="Set3", ax=ax)
sns.swarmplot(data=df, x="condition", y="viability",
              color="black", size=3, alpha=0.5, ax=ax)
ax.set_ylabel("Cell Viability (%)")
ax.set_xticklabels(ax.get_xticklabels(), rotation=30, ha="right")
plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig("barswarm.png", dpi=150)
print("Saved barswarm.png")

3. Relational Plots

Visualize relationships between continuous variables. scatterplot and lineplot are axes-level; relplot is the figure-level wrapper that supports col and row faceting.

import seaborn as sns
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd

rng = np.random.default_rng(3)
n = 150
df = pd.DataFrame({
    "molecular_weight": rng.uniform(200, 800, n),
    "logP":             rng.uniform(-2, 6, n),
    "pIC50":            rng.normal(6.5, 1.2, n),
    "target_class":     rng.choice(["kinase", "GPCR", "protease"], n),
    "pass_lipinski":    rng.choice(["yes", "no"], n, p=[0.7, 0.3]),
})

# Scatter with hue (categorical color) + size (continuous) + style (marker)
sns.scatterplot(data=df, x="molecular_weight", y="pIC50",
                hue="target_class", size="logP", style="pass_lipinski",
                sizes=(30, 120), alpha=0.7)
plt.xlabel("Molecular Weight (Da)")
plt.ylabel("pIC50")
plt.title("Compound Bioactivity by Target Class")
plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig("relational_scatter.png", dpi=150)
print("Saved relational_scatter.png")

# Line plot with automatic mean aggregation and SD error band across replicates
timepoints = [0, 1, 2, 4, 8, 24]
groups = ["untreated", "low_dose", "high_dose"]
rows = []
for grp, base in zip(groups, [100.0, 95.0, 80.0]):
    for tp in timepoints:
        for _ in range(5):  # 5 replicates
            rows.append({"timepoint_h": tp, "group": grp,
                         "confluency": base * np.exp(-0.02 * tp * (1 + rng.normal(0, 0.1)))})
time_df = pd.DataFrame(rows)

sns.lineplot(data=time_df, x="timepoint_h", y="confluency",
             hue="group", style="group", errorbar="sd", markers=True, dashes=False)
plt.xlabel("Time (h)")
plt.ylabel("Confluency (%)")
plt.title("Cell Growth Inhibition (mean ± SD, n=5)")
plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig("lineplot.png", dpi=150)
print("Saved lineplot.png")

4. Regression Plots

Fit linear (or polynomial/lowess) models and visualize them with confidence bands. regplot is axes-level; lmplot is figure-level with faceting support.

import seaborn as sns
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd

rng = np.random.default_rng(4)
n = 120
tumor_size = rng.uniform(0.5, 6.0, n)
survival_months = 40 - 5 * tumor_size + rng.normal(0, 4, n)
grade = rng.choice(["low", "high"], n, p=[0.5, 0.5])
df = pd.DataFrame({"tumor_size_cm": tumor_size,
                   "survival_months": survival_months,
                   "grade": grade})

fig, axes = plt.subplots(1, 2, figsize=(13, 5))

# Linear regression with 95% CI band
sns.regplot(data=df, x="tumor_size_cm", y="survival_months",
            ci=95, scatter_kws={"alpha": 0.4, "s": 25}, ax=axes[0])
axes[0].set_title("Linear Regression (95% CI)")

# Residuals plot — check for homoscedasticity
sns.residplot(data=df, x="tumor_size_cm", y="survival_months",
              scatter_kws={"alpha": 0.4, "s": 25}, ax=axes[1])
axes[1].axhline(0, color="red", linestyle="--", linewidth=1)
axes[1].set_title("Residuals vs Fitted")

plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig("regression.png", dpi=150)
print("Saved regression.png")

# lmplot — figure-level: separate regression lines per grade (hue) + facets
g = sns.lmplot(data=df, x="tumor_size_cm", y="survival_months",
               hue="grade", col="grade", ci=95,
               scatter_kws={"alpha": 0.4}, height=4, aspect=1.1)
g.set_axis_labels("Tumor Size (cm)", "Survival (months)")
g.set_titles("{col_name} grade")
g.savefig("lmplot_faceted.png", dpi=150)
print("Saved lmplot_faceted.png")

5. Matrix Plots

Visualize rectangular data as color-encoded matrices. heatmap is axes-level; clustermap is figure-level and applies hierarchical clustering to rows and columns.

import seaborn as sns
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd

rng = np.random.default_rng(5)
genes = [f"GENE{i}" for i in range(1, 9)]
samples = [f"S{i}" for i in range(1, 7)]

# Simulate log2 fold-change matrix (rows=genes, cols=samples)
lfc = pd.DataFrame(
    rng.normal(0, 1.5, size=(8, 6)),
    index=genes, columns=samples
)
# Inject a pattern: first 3 genes up in samples 1-3, down in 4-6
lfc.iloc[:3, :3] += 2.5
lfc.iloc[:3, 3:] -= 2.5

# Correlation heatmap of numeric features
df_num = pd.DataFrame(
    rng.standard_normal((80, 5)),
    columns=["GeneA", "GeneB", "GeneC", "GeneD", "GeneE"]
)
df_num["GeneB"] = df_num["GeneA"] * 0.85 + rng.normal(0, 0.3, 80)
corr = df_num.corr()

fig, axes = plt.subplots(1, 2, figsize=(14, 5))

sns.heatmap(corr, annot=True, fmt=".2f", cmap="coolwarm",
            center=0, square=True, linewidths=0.5, ax=axes[0])
axes[0].set_title("Pearson Correlation Heatmap")

sns.heatmap(lfc, cmap="RdBu_r", center=0, annot=True, fmt=".1f",
            linewidths=0.3, cbar_kws={"label": "log2FC"}, ax=axes[1])
axes[1].set_title("log2 Fold Change Matrix")

plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig("heatmaps.png", dpi=150)
print("Saved heatmaps.png")

# Clustermap with hierarchical clustering and row/column color annotations
rng = np.random.default_rng(6)
n_genes, n_samples = 30, 16
expr = pd.DataFrame(
    rng.lognormal(mean=2.0, sigma=1.2, size=(n_genes, n_samples)),
    index=[f"GENE{i:03d}" for i in range(n_genes)],
    columns=[f"{'T' if i < 8 else 'N'}{i:02d}" for i in range(n_samples)]
)

# Column annotation colors (tumor vs normal)
col_colors = ["#D32F2F" if c.startswith("T") else "#1976D2" for c in expr.columns]

g = sns.clustermap(
    np.log2(expr + 1),
    cmap="viridis",
    standard_scale=0,          # z-score across rows (genes)
    method="ward",
    metric="euclidean",
    col_colors=col_colors,
    figsize=(12, 10),
    linewidths=0,
    cbar_pos=(0.02, 0.8, 0.03, 0.15),
    cbar_kws={"label": "Row z-score"},
)
g.ax_heatmap.set_xlabel("Sample")
g.ax_heatmap.set_ylabel("Gene")
plt.savefig("clustermap.png", dpi=150, bbox_inches="tight")
print("Saved clustermap.png")

6. Multi-Variable Grids

Survey all pairwise relationships with pairplot or display a bivariate distribution with marginals using jointplot. For fully custom grid layouts, use FacetGrid directly.

import seaborn as sns
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd

rng = np.random.default_rng(7)
n = 60
df = pd.DataFrame({
    "cell_area":      rng.normal(350, 60, n * 3),
    "nucleus_area":   rng.normal(90, 15, n * 3),
    "mean_intensity": rng.exponential(500, n * 3),
    "aspect_ratio":   np.abs(rng.normal(1.3, 0.3, n * 3)),
    "cell_type":      (["HeLa"] * n + ["MCF7"] * n + ["A549"] * n),
})

# Pairplot — matrix of pairwise scatter + KDE on diagonal
g = sns.pairplot(df, hue="cell_type", corner=True,
                 diag_kind="kde", plot_kws={"alpha": 0.5, "s": 20})
g.savefig("pairplot.png", dpi=150)
print("Saved pairplot.png")

# Jointplot — bivariate KDE with marginal histograms
g = sns.jointplot(data=df, x="cell_area", y="nucleus_area",
                  hue="cell_type", kind="scatter",
                  marginal_kws={"fill": True, "alpha": 0.3})
g.set_axis_labels("Cell Area (µm²)", "Nucleus Area (µm²)")
g.savefig("jointplot.png", dpi=150)
print("Saved jointplot.png")

# FacetGrid — custom layout: KDE of mean_intensity per cell type
g = sns.FacetGrid(df, col="cell_type", height=3.5, aspect=1.1,
                  sharey=False)
g.map(sns.histplot, "mean_intensity", bins=20, kde=True, color="steelblue")
g.set_axis_labels("Mean Intensity (AU)", "Count")
g.set_titles("{col_name}")
g.tight_layout()
g.savefig("facetgrid_intensity.png", dpi=150)
print("Saved facetgrid_intensity.png")

Key Concepts

Figure-Level vs Axes-Level Functions

Seaborn has two tiers of functions with different return types and composability:

Feature	Axes-Level	Figure-Level
Examples	scatterplot, histplot, boxplot, heatmap, regplot	relplot, displot, catplot, lmplot
Returns	matplotlib.axes.Axes	FacetGrid / JointGrid / PairGrid
Faceting	Manual (create subplots yourself)	Built-in (col=, row= params)
Sizing	figsize= on parent figure	height= + aspect= per facet panel
Placement	ax= parameter	Cannot be placed in an existing axes
Saving	plt.savefig(...)	g.savefig(...)
Use when	Combining different plot types in one figure	Quick multi-panel exploratory views

# Axes-level: place in a pre-allocated subplot grid
fig, axes = plt.subplots(1, 2, figsize=(12, 5))
sns.violinplot(data=df, x="cell_type", y="cell_area", ax=axes[0])
sns.scatterplot(data=df, x="cell_area", y="nucleus_area", hue="cell_type", ax=axes[1])

Long-Form vs Wide-Form Data

Seaborn semantic mappings (hue, size, style) require long-form (tidy) data where each variable is a column and each observation is a row. Some functions (heatmap, clustermap, lineplot) also accept wide-form.

# Wide-form: unsuitable for hue/style mappings
#   sample_A  sample_B  sample_C
# 0      5.1       6.2       4.8

# Long-form (preferred): melt wide → long
wide = pd.DataFrame({"sampleA": [5.1, 4.3], "sampleB": [6.2, 5.9]})
long = wide.melt(var_name="sample", value_name="log2_expr")
# → columns: sample, log2_expr

Common Workflows

Workflow 1: Differential Expression Scatter with Significance Thresholds

Goal: Visualize log2 fold-change vs -log10 p-value (volcano-style) with significance annotations, colored by regulation status, and labeled top hits.

import seaborn as sns
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd

rng = np.random.default_rng(42)
n = 500
lfc   = rng.normal(0, 1.5, n)
pvals = 10 ** (-rng.exponential(1.5, n))        # skewed toward low significance
pvals = np.clip(pvals, 1e-20, 1.0)
genes = [f"GENE{i:04d}" for i in range(n)]

df_de = pd.DataFrame({"gene": genes, "log2fc": lfc, "pvalue": pvals})
df_de["neg_log10_p"] = -np.log10(df_de["pvalue"])

# Classify regulation status
lfc_thresh = 1.0
padj_thresh = 0.05
df_de["sig"] = "NS"
df_de.loc[(df_de["log2fc"] >  lfc_thresh) & (df_de["pvalue"] < padj_thresh), "sig"] = "Up"
df_de.loc[(df_de["log2fc"] < -lfc_thresh) & (df_de["pvalue"] < padj_thresh), "sig"] = "Down"

palette = {"NS": "#AAAAAA", "Up": "#D32F2F", "Down": "#1976D2"}

sns.set_theme(style="ticks", context="paper", font_scale=1.1)
fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(8, 6))

sns.scatterplot(data=df_de, x="log2fc", y="neg_log10_p",
                hue="sig", palette=palette,
                alpha=0.6, s=18, linewidth=0, ax=ax)

# Threshold lines
ax.axhline(-np.log10(padj_thresh), color="black", linestyle="--", linewidth=0.8)
ax.axvline( lfc_thresh,            color="black", linestyle="--", linewidth=0.8)
ax.axvline(-lfc_thresh,            color="black", linestyle="--", linewidth=0.8)

# Label top 5 most significant genes per direction
for direction in ["Up", "Down"]:
    top = df_de[df_de["sig"] == direction].nlargest(5, "neg_log10_p")
    for _, row in top.iterrows():
        ax.text(row["log2fc"], row["neg_log10_p"] + 0.3, row["gene"],
                fontsize=6, ha="center", va="bottom",
                color=palette[direction])

# Annotation counts
n_up   = (df_de["sig"] == "Up").sum()
n_down = (df_de["sig"] == "Down").sum()
ax.set_title(f"Volcano Plot  |  Up: {n_up}  Down: {n_down}")
ax.set_xlabel("log2 Fold Change")
ax.set_ylabel("-log10 p-value")
sns.despine(trim=True)
plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig("volcano_plot.png", dpi=300, bbox_inches="tight")
print(f"Volcano: {n_up} up, {n_down} down — saved volcano_plot.png")

Workflow 2: Multi-Condition Comparison with Grouped Violin + Strip Plots

Goal: Compare gene expression (or any continuous measurement) across multiple treatments and time points, showing full distributions plus individual replicates.

import seaborn as sns
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd

rng = np.random.default_rng(99)
genes    = ["BRCA1", "TP53", "EGFR"]
treats   = ["DMSO", "Drug A", "Drug B"]
timepoints = ["6h", "24h", "48h"]
rows = []
for gene in genes:
    base_expr = {"BRCA1": 7.5, "TP53": 6.2, "EGFR": 8.1}[gene]
    for treat in treats:
        treat_shift = {"DMSO": 0.0, "Drug A": -0.8, "Drug B": 0.6}[treat]
        for tp in timepoints:
            tp_shift = {"6h": 0.0, "24h": 0.3, "48h": 0.6}[tp]
            for _ in range(12):
                rows.append({
                    "gene":      gene,
                    "treatment": treat,
                    "timepoint": tp,
                    "log2_expr": base_expr + treat_shift + tp_shift + rng.normal(0, 0.5),
                })
df_mc = pd.DataFrame(rows)

sns.set_theme(style="whitegrid", context="paper", font_scale=1.0)
g = sns.catplot(
    data=df_mc,
    x="timepoint", y="log2_expr",
    hue="treatment",
    col="gene",
    kind="violin",
    inner="quart",
    dodge=True,
    palette="Set2",
    height=4, aspect=0.9,
    col_order=genes,
    order=timepoints,
)

# Overlay individual points
for ax in g.axes.flat:
    gene_label = ax.get_title()
    gene_name  = gene_label.split(" = ")[-1] if " = " in gene_label else gene_label
    subset = df_mc[df_mc["gene"] == gene_name]
    sns.stripplot(
        data=subset,
        x="timepoint", y="log2_expr",
        hue="treatment",
        dodge=True,
        jitter=True,
        size=2.5,
        alpha=0.4,
        palette="dark:black",
        order=timepoints,
        legend=False,
        ax=ax,
    )

g.set_axis_labels("Timepoint", "log2 Expression")
g.set_titles("{col_name}")
g.add_legend(title="Treatment")
sns.despine(trim=True)
g.tight_layout()
g.savefig("multigroup_violin.png", dpi=300, bbox_inches="tight")
print("Saved multigroup_violin.png")

Workflow 3: Pairwise Feature Exploration for Cell Morphology

Goal: Quickly survey pairwise relationships in a multi-feature cell morphology dataset using pairplot, then examine one key pair with a jointplot.

import seaborn as sns
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd

rng = np.random.default_rng(12)
n_per_type = 80
df_morph = pd.DataFrame({
    "cell_area_um2":    np.concatenate([rng.normal(320, 50, n_per_type),
                                        rng.normal(420, 70, n_per_type),
                                        rng.normal(280, 40, n_per_type)]),
    "nucleus_area_um2": np.concatenate([rng.normal(85, 12, n_per_type),
                                        rng.normal(110, 18, n_per_type),
                                        rng.normal(75, 10, n_per_type)]),
    "eccentricity":     np.abs(np.concatenate([rng.normal(0.6, 0.12, n_per_type),
                                               rng.normal(0.8, 0.10, n_per_type),
                                               rng.normal(0.5, 0.09, n_per_type)])),
    "mean_dapi":        np.concatenate([rng.exponential(400, n_per_type),
                                        rng.exponential(600, n_per_type),
                                        rng.exponential(350, n_per_type)]),
    "cell_line":        ["HeLa"] * n_per_type + ["MCF7"] * n_per_type + ["U2OS"] * n_per_type,
})

# 1. Pairplot survey
g = sns.pairplot(df_morph, hue="cell_line", corner=True,
                 diag_kind="kde", plot_kws={"alpha": 0.5, "s": 15},
                 palette="Dark2")
g.savefig("morphology_pairplot.png", dpi=150)
print("Saved morphology_pairplot.png")

# 2. Focused jointplot for the most informative pair
g2 = sns.jointplot(data=df_morph, x="cell_area_um2", y="nucleus_area_um2",
                   hue="cell_line", kind="scatter",
                   marginal_kws={"fill": True, "alpha": 0.25},
                   palette="Dark2", alpha=0.6)
g2.set_axis_labels("Cell Area (µm²)", "Nucleus Area (µm²)")
g2.savefig("morphology_jointplot.png", dpi=150)
print("Saved morphology_jointplot.png")

Key Parameters