13 Best JavaScript Charting Libraries (2024)
As businesses continue to grow and expand, data visualization becomes more important.
JavaScript charting libraries have become essential tools for developers to help them create beautiful and interactive charts and graphs that display complex data in an easy-to-understand manner.
In this guide, you will learn:
- The importance of JS chart libraries
- Top 13 JavaScript charting libraries
- Github recent stats for each library
Let's get started.
Importance of JS chart libraries
JS chart libraries help you with data visualization.
Data visualization is the process of turning numbers and data into graphics and charts. It helps people understand complex information easily by showing it visually, like a picture or a graph.
Imagine you have a dataset of the best vscode themes with data like download count, GitHub contributors, and users.
If you want to show which theme is most popular, you can draw a picture (like a chart) instead of giving numbers, which is easier to understand than using many numbers.
These libraries help you make those pictures without drawing everything by hand.
- Data visualization helps developers present complex data in an easily understandable visual format.
- Interactive charting libraries offer features such as zooming, panning, tooltips, and clickable elements, which enhance engagement and user experience.
- Developers can customize charts to match their application or website design and branding, maintaining consistency in the user interface.
- Cross-browser and device compatibility is ensured by JS charting libraries, making charts look and function well across platforms.
- Pre-built chart elements save time and effort compared to creating from scratch.
- You can integrate real-time data sources to display live feeds, which is crucial for dashboards and monitoring systems.
- Integration with analytical tools allows for advanced data analysis and manipulation within charts.
Top 13 JavaScript Charting Libraries:
Here are some of the latest JavaScript charting libraries that could be considered popular or emerging.
Chart.js:
It ****is a go-to library for many developers due to its simplicity and ease of use, providing a wide range of chart types with a simple API.
Key Features:
- Simple and easy-to-use API
- Supports 8 chart types (line, bar, pie, radar, etc.)
- Customizable chart styles, colors, and animations
- Responsive and mobile-friendly
- Plugin system for extending functionality
- 846k+ users with over 478 Contributors on GitHub
Victory:
A React.js library that has a modular approach, allowing developers to create custom and reusable charts with a modern component-based architecture.
Key Features:
- React-based library with modular components
- Customizable and reusable chart components
- Responsive and mobile-friendly
- Advanced label positioning and formatting options
- Animation support for smooth transitions
- 21.5k+ users with over 181 Contributors on GitHub
D3.js:
D3.js continues to be one of the most powerful and flexible libraries for creating complex, data-driven visualizations due to its comprehensive API.
Key Features:
- Powerful library for creating custom, data-driven visualizations
- Supports a wide range of data formats and chart types
- Fine-grained control over every aspect of the visualization
- Advanced features like data binding, transitions, and interactions
- Large community and extensive documentation
- 332k+ users with over 131 Contributors on GitHub
Recharts:
Built on top of React and D3, Recharts combines the power of D3 with the simplicity of React for an optimized development experience.
Key Features:
- React-based charting library built on top of D3 and SVG
- The declarative syntax for creating charts with React components
- Responsive and customizable charts with animation support
- Supports various chart types and data formats
- Well-documented API and examples
- 190k+ users with over 284 Contributors on GitHub
ApexCharts:
A modern charting library that offers a rich set of features and works well with various frameworks, providing developers with interactive and responsive charts.
Key Features:
- Interactive and responsive charts with a modern design.
- It supports various chart types, including line, area, bar, column, and scatter.
- ApexCharts Provides extensive customization options for colors, labels, tooltips, and animations.
- It has wrappers for Vue, React, Angular, and Stencil.
- 156 Contributors on GitHub
ECharts:
Developed by Baidu, ECharts is known for its powerful rendering and wide array of chart types, making it a strong choice for complex data visualizations.
Key Features:
- Powerful rendering engine for creating highly interactive and visually appealing charts.
- It offers various chart types, including line, bar, scatter, pie, radar, and more.
- It supports large-scale data visualization with smooth animations and interactions.
- Data zooming, data filtering, and visual map components.
- Extensible and customizable through its rich API.
- 237k+ users with over 217 Contributors on GitHub
Nivo:
Nivo provides a rich set of dataviz components built on top of D3 and React, known for its beautiful designs and ease of integration into React applications.
Key Features:
- Chart types, including bar, line, pie, and more.
- Beautiful designs and animations out-of-the-box.
- Responsive and interactive charts with advanced features like legends and annotations.
- Highly customizable with comprehensive documentation and examples.
- 1.8k+ users with over 186 Contributors on GitHub
AmCharts:
Not only does it offer a wide array of chart types, but it also provides geo-data visualization capabilities with robust map integration.
Key Features:
- Extensive collection of charts, maps, and stock charts
- Interactive and feature-rich visualizations
- Support for real-time data updates
- Advanced customization options with themes and templates
- Integration with popular frameworks like Angular, React, Vue, etc.
- 2.2k+ users with over 2 Contributors on GitHub
VX:
Combines the power of D3 to generate your visualization with the benefits of React for updating the DOM, perfect for creating complex visualizations with reusable components.
Key Features:
- Set of reusable low-level visualization components.
- Allows developers to create custom charts using a declarative API.
- It has features like animations, transitions, and interactions.
- 2.3k+ users with over 149 Contributors on GitHub
Billboard.js:
Billboard is a chart library based on D3, featuring an intuitive interface and customizable options.
Key Features:
- Chart types like line charts, bar charts, scatter plots, and more.
- Rich configuration options for colors, labels, axes, and interaction behaviors.
- It provides interactive features like tooltips and zooming.
- Suitable for both small and large datasets.
- 1.3k+ users with over 149 Contributors on GitHub
Plotly.js:
Known for its advanced statistical charts and used extensively in scientific computing, Plotly.js can handle large datasets and complex transformations.
Key Features:
- Known for its advanced statistical charts and 3D visualizations.
- Chart types include scatter plots, bar charts, and box plots.
- Offers interactivity features like hover effects, zooming, and selection tools.
- Well-documented library with active community support.
- 20k+ users with over 218 Contributors on GitHub
FusionCharts:
Offers a comprehensive suite of charts that are interactive and feature-rich, suitable for enterprise-level applications.
Key Features:
- A comprehensive suite of charts and maps
- Interactive and feature-rich visualizations
- Supports a wide range of chart types (Column, Snakey, Chord, and more)
- Real-time and streaming data support
- Integration with popular frameworks like React, Angular, etc.
Highcharts:
Highcharts is a popular, interactive charting library that allows web developers to create various dynamic charts and graphs for web pages and applications.
Key Features:
- Robust and interactive API for creating real-time charts
- Supports a wide array of chart types (line, spline, area, area spline, column, bar, pie, scatter, etc.)
- Advanced chart functionalities like drill down, exporting, 3D charts, and more
- Customizable with themes and allows detailed control over the appearance of charts
- Responsive design that works across multiple devices and screen sizes
- Extensive documentation and a broad community for support
- 175 contributors on GitHub
Final Words:
Data plays an important role for businesses. As a developer, you can use these libraries to help such businesses with data visualization.