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Matplotlib vs Plotly: What are the differences?
Developers describe Matplotlib as "A plotting library for the Python programming language". 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. On the other hand, Plotly is detailed as "The Web's fastest growing charting libraries". Plotly.js is the only open-source JavaScript library for data visualization in the sciences and engineering. Open-source interfaces to Plotly.js are available for Python, R, MATLAB, and React.
Matplotlib and Plotly can be primarily classified as "Charting Libraries" tools.
Plotly is an open source tool with 10.6K GitHub stars and 1.23K GitHub forks. Here's a link to Plotly's open source repository on GitHub.
Wellzesta, Algo Edge Technologies, and ADEXT are some of the popular companies that use Plotly, whereas Matplotlib is used by Opportunity Network, King's Digital Lab, and Quezx.com. Plotly has a broader approval, being mentioned in 15 company stacks & 67 developers stacks; compared to Matplotlib, which is listed in 10 company stacks and 19 developer stacks.
Pros of Matplotlib
- The standard Swiss Army Knife of plotting9
Pros of Plotly.js
- 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
- Webgl chart types are extremely performant3
- Charts are easy to share with a cloud account3
- Publication quality image export2
- Easy to use online editor for creating plotly.js charts2
- Interactive charts2
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Cons of Matplotlib
- Lots of code5
Cons of Plotly.js
- Terrible document16