Highcharts vs go-chart: What are the differences?
Introduction
Highcharts and go-chart are both charting libraries used for creating interactive and visually appealing charts on websites. While they serve the same purpose, there are several key differences between the two.
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Rendering and Compatibility: Highcharts is a JavaScript-based charting library that uses SVG to render charts. It is compatible with all modern browsers and offers extensive support for interactivity and animation. On the other hand, go-chart is a Go-based charting library that renders charts as PNG or SVG images. It is primarily used for server-side chart generation and has limited interactivity and animation capabilities.
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Ease of Use and Flexibility: Highcharts provides a simple and intuitive API that allows users to quickly create charts with minimal coding. It offers a wide range of pre-built chart types and customization options. In contrast, go-chart has a more complex API with a steeper learning curve. It provides a smaller set of chart types compared to Highcharts but offers more flexibility for advanced customization and data manipulation.
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Community and Documentation: Highcharts has a large and active community of developers, resulting in extensive documentation, tutorials, and community support. It also has a wide range of third-party plugins and integrations available. On the other hand, go-chart has a smaller community and a less extensive documentation, which may make it harder to find resources and get support.
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Performance and Scalability: Highcharts is optimized for performance and can handle large datasets efficiently. It supports features like lazy loading, data streaming, and asynchronous rendering. Go-chart, being server-side focused, can also handle large datasets but lacks some of the performance optimization techniques provided by Highcharts.
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Platform Compatibility: Highcharts can be used in web applications developed in any programming language that supports JavaScript. It provides wrappers for popular frameworks like React, Angular, and Vue.js. Go-chart, being a Go library, can only be used in Go-based web applications, limiting its compatibility across multiple programming languages.
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Licensing and Cost: Highcharts is available under both commercial and non-commercial licenses. While the non-commercial license is free, the commercial license requires a purchase. Go-chart, on the other hand, is an open-source library released under the MIT license, making it completely free to use for both commercial and non-commercial purposes.
In summary, Highcharts offers a widely-used, JavaScript-based charting solution with extensive features, ease of use, and a large community support, while go-chart is a Go-based charting library suitable for server-side chart generation with a focus on flexibility and customization options.