C3.js vs Plotly

Overview

C3.js

Stacks398

Followers163

Votes4

Plotly.js

Stacks399

Followers694

Votes69

GitHub Stars17.9K

Forks1.9K

C3.js vs Plotly: What are the differences?

Introduction:

C3.js and Plotly are two popular JavaScript libraries used for creating interactive and visually appealing charts and graphs on websites. While both libraries offer similar functionalities, there are key differences that set them apart.

Architecture: C3.js follows a more traditional approach of using predefined methods and configurations to create charts. It is built on top of D3.js, another powerful data visualization library. On the other hand, Plotly is a more modular library that allows for greater customization and flexibility. It offers an exhaustive set of options and features to create complex charts and dashboards.
Ease of Use: C3.js provides a simpler API that abstracts the complexity of D3.js, making it easier for beginners to create charts quickly. It offers a more intuitive syntax and a wide range of predefined chart types. Plotly, on the other hand, has a steeper learning curve but allows for more fine-grained control over chart elements and interactions. It is suitable for advanced users or those who require highly customized visualizations.
Interactivity: C3.js focuses more on interactive features out-of-the-box, providing options like tooltips, zooming, panning, and chart interactions. It also offers seamless data integration with features like CSV and JSON parsing. Plotly, on the other hand, offers extensive support for interactivity with built-in features like hover effects, click events, annotations, and even the ability to add sliders, dropdowns, and filters to enhance user experience.
Integrations and Platforms: C3.js is predominantly a client-side library and is well-suited for browser-based applications. It can be easily integrated into any webpage or web application. Plotly, on the other hand, offers more flexibility in terms of platform and environment support. It can be used both on the client-side and the server-side, providing functionalities like exporting charts as static images, embedding in Jupyter notebooks, and even support for Python, R, and MATLAB.
Community and Documentation: C3.js has a smaller community compared to Plotly, but it still enjoys a decent level of community support and active development. It has comprehensive documentation with examples and a dedicated website. Plotly, on the other hand, has a larger community and is widely adopted by data scientists, researchers, and developers. It offers extensive documentation, a user-friendly website with interactive examples, and frequent updates with new features and improvements.
Pricing: C3.js is an open-source library released under the MIT license, making it completely free for commercial and non-commercial use. Plotly, on the other hand, offers both open-source and commercial versions. The open-source version of Plotly is also free to use, but the commercial version comes with additional features, support, and dedicated hosting options that require a subscription.

In Summary, C3.js and Plotly differ in terms of architecture, ease of use, interactivity, integrations, community support, and pricing. Both libraries have their unique strengths and suitability based on the specific requirements of a project.

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Manual

Advice on C3.js, Plotly.js

Steve

Lead Software Tools Engineer at Leonardo UK

Oct 30, 2020

Review

I would specifically recommend basing your application on Pandas which will handle the vast majority of the work for you. You will be amazed at what you will be able to get done with only a few lines of code.

Pandas can load the data from either Excel xslx files or csv files (and a lot of other places)

If you structure your code well you can have a cross platform command line program, a GUI desktop program, a Jupyter Notebook and a web service all with the vast majority of the code in common.

A jupyter notebook is a great place to start developing your code and may be all that you need.

Some plug-ins & resources that can help:

pandas-summary (for a rapid overview of the data): https://github.com/mouradmourafiq/pandas-summary
pandasgui (for exploring what you would like to do): https://github.com/adamerose/pandasgui
Pandas-Bokeh (plotting): https://github.com/PatrikHlobil/Pandas-Bokeh
plot.ly (plotting): https://plotly.com/python/pandas-backend/
wxPython (for a desktop GUI): https://wxpython.org/

8.81k views8.81k

Comments

Sudhan

Dec 23, 2019

Needs advice

I'm developing angular 8 application, I need to create a dynamic, custom charts based on the data, Charts options will be configured with a user input form. at any time users can edit and modify the chart options. even I dont know how many charts I have to create everything is dynamic. ( based on the user configuration chart counts will vary ). I need some suggestions on which chart will give these kinds of flexible options.

42.8k views42.8k

Comments

Detailed Comparison

C3.js	Plotly.js
c3 is a D3-based reusable chart library that enables deeper integration of charts into web applications.	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.
Comfortable - C3 makes it easy to generate D3-based charts by wrapping the code required to construct the entire chart. We don't need to write D3 code any more.;Customizable - C3 gives some classes to each element when generating, so you can define a custom style by the class and it's possible to extend the structure directly by D3.;Controllable - C3 provides a variety of APIs and callbacks to access the state of the chart. By using them, you can update the chart even if after it's rendered.	Feature parity with MATLAB/matplotlib graphing; Online chart editor; Fully interactive (hover, zoom, pan); SVG and WebGL backends; Publication-quality image export
Statistics
GitHub Stars -	GitHub Stars 17.9K
GitHub Forks -	GitHub Forks 1.9K
Stacks 398	Stacks 399
Followers 163	Followers 694
Votes 4	Votes 69
Pros & Cons
Pros 2 Reusable charts 2 Easy to use Cons 1 Dependent on D3.js which is not lightweight	Pros 16 Bindings to popular languages like Python, Node, R, etc 10 Integrated zoom and filter-out tools in charts and maps 9 Great support for complex and multiple axes 8 Powerful out-of-the-box featureset 6 Beautiful visualizations Cons 18 Terrible document
Integrations
D3.js	Python React MATLAB Jupyter Julia

What are some alternatives to C3.js, Plotly.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.

Chart.js

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

Recharts

Quickly build your charts with decoupled, reusable React components. Built on top of SVG elements with a lightweight dependency on D3 submodules.

ECharts

It is an open source visualization library implemented in JavaScript, runs smoothly on PCs and mobile devices, and is compatible with most current browsers.

ZingChart

The most feature-rich, fully customizable JavaScript charting library available used by start-ups and the Fortune 100 alike.

amCharts

amCharts is an advanced charting library that will suit any data visualization need. Our charting solution include Column, Bar, Line, Area, Step, Step without risers, Smoothed line, Candlestick, OHLC, Pie/Donut, Radar/ Polar, XY/Scatter/Bubble, Bullet, Funnel/Pyramid charts as well as Gauges.

CanvasJS

Lightweight, Beautiful & Responsive Charts that make your dashboards fly even with millions of data points! Self-Hosted, Secure & Scalable charts that render across devices.

AnyChart

AnyChart is a flexible JavaScript (HTML5) based solution that allows you to create interactive and great looking charts. It is a cross-browser and cross-platform charting solution intended for everybody who deals with creation of dashboard, reporting, analytics, statistical, financial or any other data visualization solutions.

ApexCharts

A modern JavaScript charting library to build interactive charts and visualizations with simple API.

Related Comparisons

C3.js vs Plotly: What are the differences?

Introduction:

Architecture: C3.js follows a more traditional approach of using predefined methods and configurations to create charts. It is built on top of D3.js, another powerful data visualization library. On the other hand, Plotly is a more modular library that allows for greater customization and flexibility. It offers an exhaustive set of options and features to create complex charts and dashboards.
Ease of Use: C3.js provides a simpler API that abstracts the complexity of D3.js, making it easier for beginners to create charts quickly. It offers a more intuitive syntax and a wide range of predefined chart types. Plotly, on the other hand, has a steeper learning curve but allows for more fine-grained control over chart elements and interactions. It is suitable for advanced users or those who require highly customized visualizations.
Interactivity: C3.js focuses more on interactive features out-of-the-box, providing options like tooltips, zooming, panning, and chart interactions. It also offers seamless data integration with features like CSV and JSON parsing. Plotly, on the other hand, offers extensive support for interactivity with built-in features like hover effects, click events, annotations, and even the ability to add sliders, dropdowns, and filters to enhance user experience.
Integrations and Platforms: C3.js is predominantly a client-side library and is well-suited for browser-based applications. It can be easily integrated into any webpage or web application. Plotly, on the other hand, offers more flexibility in terms of platform and environment support. It can be used both on the client-side and the server-side, providing functionalities like exporting charts as static images, embedding in Jupyter notebooks, and even support for Python, R, and MATLAB.
Community and Documentation: C3.js has a smaller community compared to Plotly, but it still enjoys a decent level of community support and active development. It has comprehensive documentation with examples and a dedicated website. Plotly, on the other hand, has a larger community and is widely adopted by data scientists, researchers, and developers. It offers extensive documentation, a user-friendly website with interactive examples, and frequent updates with new features and improvements.
Pricing: C3.js is an open-source library released under the MIT license, making it completely free for commercial and non-commercial use. Plotly, on the other hand, offers both open-source and commercial versions. The open-source version of Plotly is also free to use, but the commercial version comes with additional features, support, and dedicated hosting options that require a subscription.

C3.js vs Plotly

Overview