Need advice about which tool to choose?Ask the StackShare community!

C3.js

387
161
+ 1
4
Chart.js

2K
761
+ 1
43
Add tool

C3.js vs Chart.js: What are the differences?

Comparison: C3.js vs. Chart.js

C3.js and Chart.js are both popular JavaScript libraries used for creating interactive data visualizations on websites. Although they serve a similar purpose, there are several key differences between these two libraries.

  1. Features: C3.js is built on top of D3.js and offers a higher level of abstraction, providing ready-to-use chart types and a simpler API for beginners. It includes features like automatic generation of scales and axes, more customization options for legends and tooltips, and support for more chart types out of the box. On the other hand, Chart.js is designed to be a simple and flexible library with a smaller footprint. It offers a limited set of chart types and fewer customization options, which makes it lighter and easier to integrate into projects with specific requirements.

  2. Performance: Due to its dependency on D3.js, C3.js can be slightly slower when dealing with large datasets or complex visualizations. Chart.js, being a standalone library, has a smaller overhead and performs faster in scenarios where performance is a concern. It utilizes HTML5 canvas for rendering, which allows for better efficiency and smoother animations.

  3. Community and Documentation: C3.js has a relatively smaller community compared to Chart.js. However, it still has a decent amount of user-contributed plugins and extensions available. Chart.js, on the other hand, has a large and active community, with extensive documentation, tutorials, and examples for developers to refer to. This makes Chart.js more suitable for beginners or those looking for extensive support and assistance.

  4. Flexibility and Customization: While both libraries allow some level of customization, Chart.js offers more fine-grained control over the appearance, behavior, and interactivity of the charts. It provides a rich set of options for styling elements like colors, fonts, borders, tooltips, animations, and responsiveness. C3.js, although highly customizable, is more geared towards providing a consistent and aesthetically pleasing default appearance without requiring manual tweaks.

  5. Compatibility: C3.js is primarily targeted at modern browsers and may not work as smoothly on older or less common browsers. Chart.js, on the other hand, aims to provide broad compatibility, supporting a wide range of browsers and devices without any major compatibility issues.

  6. Data Manipulation and Integration: C3.js offers more advanced data manipulation features like data aggregation, grouping, and tooltip formatting out of the box. It also supports easier integration with external data sources like CSV and JSON files. Chart.js, while not as feature-rich in terms of data manipulation, still provides basic data handling capabilities. It can be easily integrated with existing data sources and frameworks using JavaScript.

In summary, C3.js provides a higher level of abstraction, advanced data manipulation features, and a focus on aesthetics, making it ideal for beginners or projects that prioritize simplicity and ready-to-use chart types. On the other hand, Chart.js offers more flexibility, better performance, extensive documentation, and a larger community, making it suitable for experienced developers or those looking for more customization and control over their visualizations.

Advice on C3.js and Chart.js
Needs advice
on
HighchartsHighchartsChart.jsChart.js
and
RechartsRecharts

I have used highcharts and it is pretty awesome for my previous project. now as I am about to start my new project I want to use other charting libraries such as recharts, chart js, Nivo, d3 js.... my upcoming project might use react js as front end and laravel as a backend technology. the project would be of hotel management type. please suggest me the best charts to use

See more
Replies (1)
Darren Adams
Senior Developer at Burning Glass Technologies · | 2 upvotes · 135.9K views
Recommends
on
HighchartsHighcharts

I've used Highcharts with both Angular Js Reactive applications (render as ReactJs) and also a bit of D3. Personally I found Highcharts to be the easiest to use but, with still quite a good level of customisability if you need it. graphs and charts then give D3 a try.

See more
Get Advice from developers at your company using StackShare Enterprise. Sign up for StackShare Enterprise.
Learn More
Pros of C3.js
Pros of Chart.js
  • 2
    Easy to use
  • 2
    Reusable charts
  • 19
    Offers all types of charts
  • 14
    Interactive Charts
  • 10
    It's totally free

Sign up to add or upvote prosMake informed product decisions

Cons of C3.js
Cons of Chart.js
  • 1
    Dependent on D3.js which is not lightweight
  • 12
    Slow rendering
  • 2
    Bitmap quality export
  • 1
    Low quality zoom plugin
  • 0
    It's totally free

Sign up to add or upvote consMake informed product decisions

- No public GitHub repository available -

What is C3.js?

c3 is a D3-based reusable chart library that enables deeper integration of charts into web applications.

What is Chart.js?

Visualize your data in 6 different ways. Each of them animated, with a load of customisation options and interactivity extensions.

Need advice about which tool to choose?Ask the StackShare community!

What companies use C3.js?
What companies use Chart.js?
See which teams inside your own company are using C3.js or Chart.js.
Sign up for StackShare EnterpriseLearn More

Sign up to get full access to all the companiesMake informed product decisions

What tools integrate with C3.js?
What tools integrate with Chart.js?
What are some alternatives to C3.js and Chart.js?
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.
Highcharts
Highcharts currently supports line, spline, area, areaspline, column, bar, pie, scatter, angular gauges, arearange, areasplinerange, columnrange, bubble, box plot, error bars, funnel, waterfall and polar chart types.
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.
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.
Matplotlib
It is a Python 2D plotting library which produces publication quality figures in a variety of hardcopy formats and interactive environments across platforms. It can be used in Python scripts, the Python and IPython shells, the Jupyter notebook, web application servers, and four graphical user interface toolkits.
See all alternatives