What is Highcharts and what are its top alternatives?
Highcharts is a popular JavaScript charting library that offers a wide range of interactive charts and features for visualizing data on the web. Its key features include a variety of chart types, extensive customization options, responsive design, and support for real-time updates. However, a limitation of Highcharts is that it can be expensive for commercial use and may not be budget-friendly for all users.
- Chart.js: Chart.js is a simple yet flexible JavaScript charting library that offers responsive and interactive charts. It is easy to use and customize, making it a popular choice for web developers. Key features include support for multiple chart types, animations, and tooltips. Pros: Lightweight library, good documentation. Cons: Limited customization options compared to Highcharts.
- D3.js: D3.js is a powerful data visualization library that allows you to create custom, interactive data-driven visualizations. It provides great flexibility and control over the design of the charts. Key features include data binding, DOM manipulation, and transitions. Pros: Highly customizable, supports complex visualizations. Cons: Steeper learning curve compared to Highcharts.
- Google Charts: Google Charts is a free charting library by Google that offers a variety of interactive charts and maps. It is easy to use and integrates seamlessly with other Google products. Key features include a wide range of chart types, responsive design, and support for dynamic data. Pros: Free to use, good documentation. Cons: Limited customization options compared to Highcharts.
- amCharts: amCharts is a feature-rich JavaScript charting library that offers a wide range of charts and mapping solutions. It provides extensive customization options and support for real-time data updates. Key features include interactive charts, animations, and export capabilities. Pros: Rich set of features, good performance. Cons: Some advanced features may require a paid license.
- Plotly: Plotly is a collaborative, browser-based data visualization library built on D3.js. It supports a wide range of chart types and comes with interactive features like hover, zoom, and pan. Key features include support for Python, R, and SQL, offline usage, and cloud-based chart editing. Pros: Easy to use, supports multiple programming languages. Cons: Limited customization compared to Highcharts.
- FusionCharts: FusionCharts is a comprehensive JavaScript charting library that offers a wide range of charts and maps for data visualization. It provides extensive customization options, exporting capabilities, and support for real-time data updates. Key features include support for over 90 chart types, custom themes, and integrations with popular frameworks. Pros: Rich set of features, good documentation. Cons: Paid licensing model may be expensive for some users.
- ApexCharts: ApexCharts is an open-source JavaScript charting library that offers responsive and interactive charts for data visualization. It is easy to use and provides a modern design with animations and tooltips. Key features include a wide range of chart types, customization options, and support for real-time data. Pros: Open-source, modern design. Cons: Limited support for older browsers.
- NVD3: NVD3 is a reusable charting library built on D3.js that offers a set of composable charts and components for data visualization. It provides predefined chart types and easy-to-use options for customization. Key features include responsive design, interactive charts, and support for complex data structures. Pros: Built on D3.js, easy to use. Cons: Limited chart types compared to Highcharts.
- ZingChart: ZingChart is a JavaScript charting library that offers responsive and interactive charts for data visualization. It provides extensive customization options, including annotations, drilldowns, and real-time data updates. Key features include a wide range of chart types, exporting capabilities, and support for popular frameworks. Pros: Extensive customization options, good performance. Cons: Paid licensing model may be expensive for some users.
- Chartist.js: Chartist.js is a simple, responsive charting library that offers beautiful and lightweight charts. It is built using SVG, which ensures crisp visuals on any device. Key features include real-time updates, animations, and support for plugins. Pros: Lightweight library, easy to implement. Cons: Limited chart types and customization options compared to Highcharts.
Top Alternatives to Highcharts
- D3.js
It is a JavaScript library for manipulating documents based on data. Emphasises on web standards gives you the full capabilities of modern browsers without tying yourself to a proprietary framework. ...
- amCharts
amCharts is an advanced charting library that will suit any data visualization need. Our charting solution include Column, Bar, Line, Area, Step, Step without risers, Smoothed line, Candlestick, OHLC, Pie/Donut, Radar/ Polar, XY/Scatter/Bubble, Bullet, Funnel/Pyramid charts as well as Gauges. ...
- Tableau
Tableau can help anyone see and understand their data. Connect to almost any database, drag and drop to create visualizations, and share with a click. ...
- Google Charts
It is an interactive Web service that creates graphical charts from user-supplied information. The user supplies data and a formatting specification expressed in JavaScript embedded in a Web page; in response the service sends an image of the chart. ...
- ECharts
It is an open source visualization library implemented in JavaScript, runs smoothly on PCs and mobile devices, and is compatible with most current browsers. ...
- Plotly.js
It is a standalone Javascript data visualization library, and it also powers the Python and R modules named plotly in those respective ecosystems (referred to as Plotly.py and Plotly.R). It can be used to produce dozens of chart types and visualizations, including statistical charts, 3D graphs, scientific charts, SVG and tile maps, financial charts and more. ...
- AnyChart
AnyChart is a flexible JavaScript (HTML5) based solution that allows you to create interactive and great looking charts. It is a cross-browser and cross-platform charting solution intended for everybody who deals with creation of dashboard, reporting, analytics, statistical, financial or any other data visualization solutions. ...
- NVD3
This project is an attempt to build re-usable charts and chart components for d3.js without taking away the power that d3.js gives you. This is a very young collection of components, with the goal of keeping these components very customizable, staying away from your standard cookie cutter solutions. ...
Highcharts alternatives & related posts
- Beautiful visualizations195
- Svg103
- Data-driven92
- Large set of examples81
- Data-driven documents61
- Visualization components24
- Transitions20
- Dynamic properties18
- Plugins16
- Transformation11
- Makes data interactive7
- Open Source4
- Enter and Exit4
- Components4
- Exhaustive3
- Backed by the new york times3
- Easy and beautiful2
- Highly customizable1
- Awesome Community Support1
- Simple elegance1
- Templates, force template1
- Angular 41
- Beginners cant understand at all11
- Complex syntax6
related D3.js posts
We use Plotly (just their open source stuff) for Zulip's user-facing and admin-facing statistics graphs because it's a reasonably well-designed JavaScript graphing library.
If you've tried using D3.js, it's a pretty poor developer experience, and that translates to spending a bunch of time getting the graphs one wants even for things that are conceptually pretty basic. Plotly isn't amazing (it's decent), but it's way better than than D3 unless you have very specialized needs.
Hi,
I am looking at integrating a charting library in my React frontend that allows me to create appealing and interactive charts. I have basic familiarity with ApexCharts with React but have also read about D3.js charts and it seems a much more involved integration. Can someone please share their experience across the two libraries on the following dimensions:
- Amount of work needed for integration
- Amount of work or ease for creating new charts in either of the libraries.
Regards
Amit
amCharts
- Mock-up tools18
- Each element can be Customized3
- Amcharts upgrade often need to rewrite all code1
related amCharts posts
- Capable of visualising billions of rows6
- Intuitive and easy to learn1
- Responsive1
- Very expensive for small companies3
related Tableau posts
Looking for the best analytics software for a medium-large-sized firm. We currently use a Microsoft SQL Server database that is analyzed in Tableau desktop/published to Tableau online for users to access dashboards. Is it worth the cost savings/time to switch over to using SSRS or Power BI? Does anyone have experience migrating from Tableau to SSRS /or Power BI? Our other option is to consider using Tableau on-premises instead of online. Using custom SQL with over 3 million rows really decreases performances and results in processing times that greatly exceed our typical experience. Thanks.
Hello everyone,
My team and I are currently in the process of selecting a Business Intelligence (BI) tool for our actively developing company, which has over 500 employees. We are considering open-source options.
We are keen to connect with a Head of Analytics or BI Analytics professional who has extensive experience working with any of these systems and is willing to share their insights. Ideally, we would like to speak with someone from companies that have transitioned from proprietary BI tools (such as PowerBI, Qlik, or Tableau) to open-source BI tools, or vice versa.
If you have any contacts or recommendations for individuals we could reach out to regarding this matter, we would greatly appreciate it. Additionally, if you are personally willing to share your experiences, please feel free to reach out to me directly. Thank you!
related Google Charts posts
- East to implement7
- Smaller learning curve6
- Free to use5
- Vue Compatible4
- Very customizable3
- Angular compatible3
- React compatible2
- Support is in chinese2
related ECharts posts
- Bindings to popular languages like Python, Node, R, etc16
- Integrated zoom and filter-out tools in charts and maps10
- Great support for complex and multiple axes9
- Powerful out-of-the-box featureset8
- Beautiful visualizations6
- Active user base4
- Impressive support for webgl 3D charts4
- Charts are easy to share with a cloud account3
- Webgl chart types are extremely performant3
- Interactive charts2
- Easy to use online editor for creating plotly.js charts2
- Publication quality image export2
- Terrible document18
related Plotly.js posts
We use Plotly (just their open source stuff) for Zulip's user-facing and admin-facing statistics graphs because it's a reasonably well-designed JavaScript graphing library.
If you've tried using D3.js, it's a pretty poor developer experience, and that translates to spending a bunch of time getting the graphs one wants even for things that are conceptually pretty basic. Plotly isn't amazing (it's decent), but it's way better than than D3 unless you have very specialized needs.
Here is my stack on #Visualization. @FusionCharts and Highcharts are easy to use but only free for non-commercial. Chart.js and Plotly are two lovely tools for commercial use under the MIT license. And D3.js would be my last choice only if a complex customized plot is needed.
AnyChart
- Easy to use and super fast10
- A lot of chart types8