Overview

Highcharts

Stacks1.3K

Followers1.1K

Votes92

ggplot2

Stacks105

Followers70

Votes0

GitHub Stars6.8K

Forks2.1K

Highcharts vs ggplot2: What are the differences?

Introduction: Both Highcharts and ggplot2 are popular data visualization libraries used by developers and data scientists for creating interactive and visually appealing charts and plots. While they serve the same purpose, there are several key differences between the two.

Ease of Use: Highcharts is known for its intuitive and user-friendly interface, allowing users to quickly create charts without deep knowledge of programming. On the other hand, ggplot2 requires a deeper understanding of the R programming language and may require more code to achieve the desired chart.
Flexibility: Highcharts offers a wide range of customization options, allowing users to easily modify the appearance and behavior of charts. It provides a rich set of APIs and options to control every aspect of the chart. In contrast, ggplot2 follows a layered approach where users can sequentially add layers to create a plot. While it offers flexibility, it may not be as extensive as Highcharts.
Interactivity and Animation: Highcharts excels in creating interactive and animated charts, providing features such as tooltips, zooming, panning, and dynamic updates. It offers smooth transitions and animations, enhancing the user experience. On the other hand, ggplot2 focuses more on static visuals and may not have the same level of interactivity and animation capabilities.
Integration with Web Applications: Highcharts is built specifically for JavaScript and can be easily integrated into web applications, making it a preferred choice for web developers. It seamlessly integrates with various frameworks and libraries, simplifying the process of embedding charts in web pages. In contrast, ggplot2 is primarily used in R programming and may not have the same level of integration with web applications, requiring additional steps for embedding in web pages.
Availability of Chart Types: Highcharts provides a vast range of chart types, including line charts, bar charts, pie charts, scatter plots, heatmaps, and more. It focuses on providing a comprehensive set of visualization options. On the other hand, ggplot2 is known for its layered grammar of graphics approach, allowing users to create complex plots by combining different layers and aesthetics. While ggplot2 offers a wide range of possibilities, it may not have the same variety of pre-built chart types as Highcharts.
Community and Support: Highcharts has a large and active community, with extensive documentation, forums, and support resources available. It has been widely adopted and has a strong presence in the industry. On the other hand, ggplot2 is part of the larger R community, which also offers a wealth of resources and support. Both Highcharts and ggplot2 have thriving communities, making it easier to find help and solutions to problems.

**In Summary, Highcharts and ggplot2 differ in terms of ease of use, flexibility, interactivity, integration with web applications, availability of chart types, and community support.

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Advice on Highcharts, ggplot2

Shaik

Feb 18, 2020

Needs advice

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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Comments

Detailed Comparison

Highcharts	ggplot2
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.	It is a general scheme for data visualization which breaks up graphs into semantic components such as scales and layers.
It works in all modern mobile and desktop browsers including the iPhone/iPad and Internet Explorer from version 6;Free for non-commercial;One of the key features of Highcharts is that under any of the licenses, free or not, you are allowed to download the source code and make your own edits;Pure Javascript - Highcharts is solely based on native browser technologies and doesn't require client side plugins like Flash or Java.	Axis titles; Tickmarks; Margins and points in ggplot2 look cooler
Statistics
GitHub Stars -	GitHub Stars 6.8K
GitHub Forks -	GitHub Forks 2.1K
Stacks 1.3K	Stacks 105
Followers 1.1K	Followers 70
Votes 92	Votes 0
Pros & Cons
Pros 34 Low learning curve and powerful 17 Multiple chart types such as pie, bar, line and others 13 Responsive charts 9 Handles everything you throw at it 8 Extremely easy-to-parse documentation Cons 9 Expensive	No community feedback yet
Integrations
No integrations available	MATLAB React Python SageMath Jupyter

What are some alternatives to Highcharts, ggplot2?

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.

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.

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.