Highcharts vs Plotly

Overview

Highcharts

Stacks1.5K

Followers1.1K

Votes92

Plotly.js

Stacks399

Followers694

Votes69

GitHub Stars17.9K

Forks1.9K

Highcharts vs Plotly: What are the differences?

Differences between Highcharts and Plotly

Highcharts and Plotly are both popular data visualization libraries used for creating interactive charts and graphs in websites. While they share some similarities, there are several key differences between the two:

Data Visualization Options: Highcharts offers a wide range of chart types, including line, bar, column, pie, scatter, area, and more. It also provides options for combining different chart types in a single graph. On the other hand, Plotly provides an extensive collection of interactive chart types, including 3D charts, maps, box plots, candlestick charts, and more. Plotly's focus on interactivity allows users to explore and manipulate data directly within the charts.
Accessibility and Compatibility: Highcharts is compatible with older versions of browsers, including Internet Explorer 6 and onwards. It supports both desktop and mobile devices, making it suitable for a wide range of users. Plotly, on the other hand, requires modern web browsers and might not be fully compatible with older versions. It focuses on delivering a more dynamic and interactive experience, which may rely on newer browser capabilities.
Ease of Use and Learning Curve: Highcharts has a relatively straightforward API and a comprehensive documentation, making it easier for developers to get started quickly. It provides various customization options through simple configuration settings. Plotly, on the other hand, has a more complex API and requires a steeper learning curve. It offers more advanced features and interactions, allowing users to create highly tailored visualizations with extensive control.
Integration and Embedding: Highcharts allows easy integration with other JavaScript frameworks such as Angular, React, and Vue. It also provides options for exporting charts as images or PDF files. Plotly, on the other hand, provides seamless integration with Python, R, and Julia, making it popular in the scientific and data analysis community. It offers APIs for creating visualizations in different programming languages and supports embedding charts in Jupyter Notebook for interactive data exploration.
Pricing and Licensing: Highcharts is available for free for personal and non-commercial use, but a commercial license is required for commercial projects. The license cost varies based on factors such as project type, number of developers, and intended use. Plotly follows a freemium model, where a basic version is available for free, but advanced features and additional support require a paid subscription. It offers different pricing plans for individuals, teams, and enterprises.
Community and Support: Highcharts has a large and active community with extensive online resources, forums, and Stack Overflow discussions. It also provides official support through its forum and email. Plotly has a growing community with active contributions from the data visualization and data science communities. It offers support through its forum, GitHub repository, and dedicated customer support for paid users.

In summary, Highcharts is suitable for developers who seek a wide range of chart types and integration options with older browsers, while Plotly focuses on interactivity, advanced features, and integration with scientific computing languages.

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CLI (Node.js)

Manual

Advice on Highcharts, 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

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

246k views246k

Comments

Detailed Comparison

Highcharts	Plotly.js
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 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.
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.	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 1.5K	Stacks 399
Followers 1.1K	Followers 694
Votes 92	Votes 69
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	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
No integrations available	Python React MATLAB Jupyter Julia

What are some alternatives to Highcharts, 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.

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.

Bokeh

Bokeh is an interactive visualization library for modern web browsers. It provides elegant, concise construction of versatile graphics, and affords high-performance interactivity over large or streaming datasets.

Related Comparisons

Highcharts vs Plotly: What are the differences?

Differences between Highcharts and Plotly

Data Visualization Options: Highcharts offers a wide range of chart types, including line, bar, column, pie, scatter, area, and more. It also provides options for combining different chart types in a single graph. On the other hand, Plotly provides an extensive collection of interactive chart types, including 3D charts, maps, box plots, candlestick charts, and more. Plotly's focus on interactivity allows users to explore and manipulate data directly within the charts.
Accessibility and Compatibility: Highcharts is compatible with older versions of browsers, including Internet Explorer 6 and onwards. It supports both desktop and mobile devices, making it suitable for a wide range of users. Plotly, on the other hand, requires modern web browsers and might not be fully compatible with older versions. It focuses on delivering a more dynamic and interactive experience, which may rely on newer browser capabilities.
Ease of Use and Learning Curve: Highcharts has a relatively straightforward API and a comprehensive documentation, making it easier for developers to get started quickly. It provides various customization options through simple configuration settings. Plotly, on the other hand, has a more complex API and requires a steeper learning curve. It offers more advanced features and interactions, allowing users to create highly tailored visualizations with extensive control.
Integration and Embedding: Highcharts allows easy integration with other JavaScript frameworks such as Angular, React, and Vue. It also provides options for exporting charts as images or PDF files. Plotly, on the other hand, provides seamless integration with Python, R, and Julia, making it popular in the scientific and data analysis community. It offers APIs for creating visualizations in different programming languages and supports embedding charts in Jupyter Notebook for interactive data exploration.
Pricing and Licensing: Highcharts is available for free for personal and non-commercial use, but a commercial license is required for commercial projects. The license cost varies based on factors such as project type, number of developers, and intended use. Plotly follows a freemium model, where a basic version is available for free, but advanced features and additional support require a paid subscription. It offers different pricing plans for individuals, teams, and enterprises.
Community and Support: Highcharts has a large and active community with extensive online resources, forums, and Stack Overflow discussions. It also provides official support through its forum and email. Plotly has a growing community with active contributions from the data visualization and data science communities. It offers support through its forum, GitHub repository, and dedicated customer support for paid users.

Highcharts vs Plotly

Overview

Highcharts vs Plotly: What are the differences?