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Chart.js vs D3.js: What are the differences?

  1. Key Difference 1: Purpose and Scope: Chart.js is a simple and flexible charting library that focuses on creating responsive and visually appealing charts for web applications. It provides a wide range of chart types and customization options. On the other hand, D3.js (Data-Driven Documents) is a powerful JavaScript library that allows users to manipulate documents based on data. It provides a comprehensive set of data visualization tools and enables the creation of highly interactive and complex visualizations.

  2. Key Difference 2: Approach: Chart.js follows a declarative approach, where charts can be easily created using predefined configurations and options. It provides a simple API for configuring various properties of a chart, making it beginner-friendly. In contrast, D3.js follows an imperative approach, where developers have full control over manipulating the DOM and data. It requires more coding and understanding of JavaScript and SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) to create visualizations.

  3. Key Difference 3: Learning Curve: Chart.js has a lower learning curve compared to D3.js. It provides a user-friendly and intuitive interface, making it easy for beginners to create basic charts without much coding knowledge. D3.js, on the other hand, has a steeper learning curve and requires a solid understanding of JavaScript and SVG concepts. It is more suitable for experienced developers who need extensive customization and complex data visualizations.

  4. Key Difference 4: Chart Complexity: Chart.js is best suited for creating simple to moderately complex charts. It provides a wide range of built-in chart types like line, bar, pie, etc., along with customizable options for styling and animations. D3.js, on the other hand, is capable of creating highly intricate and custom visualizations. It allows users to create complex layouts, apply advanced data transformations, and handle large datasets efficiently.

  5. Key Difference 5: Community Support and Resources: Chart.js has a large and active community, with extensive documentation, tutorials, and examples available. It has a well-maintained GitHub repository and frequent updates, ensuring ongoing support and bug fixes. D3.js also has a dedicated community, but it is relatively smaller compared to Chart.js. However, D3.js offers more flexibility due to its broader functionality, and users can find a range of examples and tutorials for specific needs.

  6. Key Difference 6: Integration with Other Libraries: Chart.js is designed to be lightweight and can be easily integrated into existing web applications. It has fewer dependencies and can work well with other JavaScript frameworks like React or Angular. D3.js, on the other hand, is a standalone library that provides comprehensive data manipulation and visualization capabilities. It is often used as a foundation for building custom data visualization applications and is less focused on integration with other libraries.

In Summary, Chart.js is a user-friendly and flexible charting library, suitable for creating visually appealing charts with moderate complexity, while D3.js is a powerful data visualization library that allows extensive customization and intricate visualizations, but with a steeper learning curve and more demanding coding requirements.

Advice on D3.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

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Darren Adams
Senior Developer at Burning Glass Technologies · | 2 upvotes · 159.9K 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.

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Pros of D3.js
Pros of Chart.js
  • 195
    Beautiful visualizations
  • 103
    Svg
  • 92
    Data-driven
  • 81
    Large set of examples
  • 61
    Data-driven documents
  • 24
    Visualization components
  • 20
    Transitions
  • 18
    Dynamic properties
  • 16
    Plugins
  • 11
    Transformation
  • 7
    Makes data interactive
  • 4
    Open Source
  • 4
    Enter and Exit
  • 4
    Components
  • 3
    Exhaustive
  • 3
    Backed by the new york times
  • 2
    Easy and beautiful
  • 1
    Highly customizable
  • 1
    Awesome Community Support
  • 1
    Simple elegance
  • 1
    Templates, force template
  • 1
    Angular 4
  • 19
    Offers all types of charts
  • 14
    Interactive Charts
  • 10
    It's totally free

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Cons of D3.js
Cons of Chart.js
  • 11
    Beginners cant understand at all
  • 6
    Complex syntax
  • 12
    Slow rendering
  • 2
    Bitmap quality export
  • 1
    Low quality zoom plugin
  • 0
    It's totally free

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What is 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.

What is Chart.js?

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

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What companies use D3.js?
What companies use Chart.js?
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Sep 8 2017 at 2:54PM

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What are some alternatives to D3.js and Chart.js?
three.js
It is a cross-browser JavaScript library and Application Programming Interface used to create and display animated 3D computer graphics in a web browser.
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.
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.
Python
Python is a general purpose programming language created by Guido Van Rossum. Python is most praised for its elegant syntax and readable code, if you are just beginning your programming career python suits you best.
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.
See all alternatives