Bokeh vs Plotly: What are the differences?

Introduction

Bokeh and Plotly are both interactive data visualization libraries that are commonly used in web applications. While they share some similarities, there are several key differences between the two.

1. Backend Infrastructure: The major difference between Bokeh and Plotly lies in their backend infrastructure. Bokeh is a server-based library that generates JavaScript in the client-side browser to create interactive visualizations. On the other hand, Plotly is API-based and can be used with different programming languages to generate visualizations.

2. Ease of Use: Bokeh provides a simplified and concise API that allows users to create visualizations with minimal code. It emphasizes ease of use and offers a wide range of pre-built plot types. Plotly, on the other hand, has a slightly steeper learning curve and requires a deeper understanding of the API and its different components.

3. Interactivity: Bokeh is primarily designed for creating interactive visualizations, with support for interactivity such as hover tooltips, zooming, panning, and selection tools. Plotly, on the other hand, offers a more extensive set of interactivity options, including linked brushing, animations, and even 3D plotting capabilities.

4. Offline vs. Online Usage: Bokeh supports both offline and online usage, meaning that you can generate visualizations without internet connectivity. Plotly, on the other hand, is built to work primarily in an online environment and requires an internet connection to retrieve data and create visualizations.

5. Community and Documentation: Bokeh has a growing community of users and developers, and it provides comprehensive documentation and examples to help users get started. Plotly, on the other hand, has a larger and more active community, with extensive documentation and a wide range of user-contributed examples and tutorials.

6. Cost and Licensing: Bokeh is an open-source library released under the BSD-3-Clause license, making it free to use and distribute. Plotly offers both open-source and commercial versions, with additional features available in the commercial version for enterprise users.

In Summary, Bokeh and Plotly are both powerful tools for creating interactive visualizations, but they differ in terms of their backend infrastructure, ease of use, interactivity options, offline/online usage, community support, and licensing.