Chart.js vs Highcharts: What are the differences?

Chart.js and Highcharts are both popular JavaScript libraries for creating interactive and visually appealing charts and graphs on the web. Let's explore the key differences between them.

1. Features and Customizations: Chart.js provides limited customization options and features compared to Highcharts. While both libraries offer various chart types, Highcharts offers more advanced features such as export options, drilldown functionality, and data aggregation. Highcharts also allows developers to create custom chart types and combine multiple charts, providing more flexibility in visualization.

2. Pricing and Licensing: Chart.js is open-source and released under the MIT license, making it free to use for both personal and commercial projects. On the other hand, Highcharts offers both free and commercial licenses. The free license has limited functionality and requires the display of a Highcharts logo, while the commercial license provides full features and removes the logo requirement.

3. Community and Documentation: Chart.js has a comparatively smaller community and documentation base compared to Highcharts. Highcharts has been around for a longer time and has a larger user community, providing extensive documentation, sample codes, and community-driven support forums. This can be beneficial for developers seeking assistance, tutorials, and examples for implementing complex charting solutions.

4. Performance and Rendering: Highcharts is known for its superior performance and smooth rendering of charts, even with larger datasets. It utilizes a fully optimized SVG rendering engine that ensures fast and efficient chart generation. Chart.js, although capable of handling moderate datasets, may experience performance issues and rendering lag when dealing with more complex visualizations or larger datasets.

5. Compatibility and Integration: Chart.js offers better compatibility with modern web development frameworks and libraries, with seamless integration with React, Angular, and Vue.js. It provides dedicated components and plugins for these frameworks, simplifying the implementation process. Highcharts, on the other hand, may require additional effort or third-party libraries for integration with certain frameworks.

6. Accessibility and Responsiveness: Highcharts places a strong emphasis on accessibility and responsive design. It provides built-in features like keyboard navigation support, screen reader compatibility, and responsive resizing of charts for optimal viewing across different devices. While Chart.js does offer some level of responsiveness, it may require more manual configuration and customization to achieve the same level of accessibility and responsiveness as Highcharts.

In summary, Chart.js is a lightweight, open-source library with limited features, while Highcharts offers a wider range of advanced features, better performance, and extensive documentation and support.