This article was originally published at: https://www.blog.duomly.com/javascript-data-visualization-libraries/
Data visualization is the process of transforming data into a graphical representation. This allows data to be better understood at a glance and can help to uncover trends or patterns that might not be apparent from looking at data in tabular form.
There are many different ways to visualize data, and choosing the right approach can be tricky. In this post, we'll take a look at some of the best JavaScript data visualization libraries currently available and see how they compare.
D3.js
D3.js is one of the most popular data visualization libraries available today. It's used by many large organizations, including Google, Facebook, and The New York Times.
D3.js is unique because it allows you to create custom visualizations using SVG, HTML, and CSS. This means that you have a lot of flexibility regarding displaying your data. D3.js also has a large community of users who constantly develop new ways to use the library.
Overall, D3.js is a powerful tool for data visualization, and it's likely to remain popular for many years to come.
Chart.js
Chart.js is a simpler data visualization library that makes it easier to create standard visualizations, such as line charts and bar graphs. It's used by organizations like Google and The New York Times in their data-heavy interactive infographics. Chart.js only supports HTML5 Canvas, but this means that it can be displayed on any platform or Internet browser without requiring Flash or other plugins.
As the name implies, Chart.js was designed to make data visualization simpler for developers who don't have a deep understanding of data science techniques such as D3's SVG drawing model. This targeted approach allows you to get great results quickly with relatively little effort for many projects.
ApexCharts
ApexCharts is a data visualization library that aims to be easy to use while still providing advanced customization options for more experienced developers. It's used by websites like Business Insider and Kiplinger.
ApexCharts works in all modern web browsers, including Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera, IE8+, and iOS. Plans are underway for adding support for Android as well.
The library has built-in support for data labels, tooltips, annotations, data plots, maps, drawing tools (e.g., lines or polygons), and other data visualizations.
Highcharts
Highcharts is a data visualization library that has been around for several years. Highcharts works in all modern web browsers, including Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera, IE7+, and iOS. Plans are underway for adding support for Android as well.
Using Highchart, you can create much more than just simple graphs. It easily allows creating Gantt charts, map-based charts, or stock charts.
DataTables
DataTables is a library designed to help developers present data as HTML tables in jQuery projects. Tables can be easily enriched with options like sorting, pagination, filtering.
DataVizJS
https://github.com/keen/keen-dataviz.js/
DataVizJS is a free, open-source data visualization web framework built for modern browsers (desktop and mobile) with HTML5 canvas support. Its custom data-driven DOM elements can be used alone or integrated into existing frameworks.
jQuery Visualize
https://plugins.jquery.com/visualize/
jQuery Visualize is a data visualization plugin that creates charts with data either from an existing element on the page or without the need for HTML.
Recharts
Recharts is a data visualization library built with React and D3. It provides similar functionality to other data visualization frameworks but was designed specifically for use in the context of web-based data applications.
It supports data labels, data plots, data callouts, data ranges, rendering objects (e.g., bar charts), multiple panes of information on the same chart, crosshairs to track values on mouse movements over data plots, etc.
Flexmonster
Flexmonster is a data visualization tool that works in your browser. It allows data to be viewed or edited directly in the user interface or loaded from data sets in external data sources. It can connect to multiple data sources at once. It's compatible with Google Datastore, Amazon Redshift, PostgreSQL, MySQL databases (and others).
It provides over 50 data visualization components such as charts, tables, maps, and dashboards that users can add to their web applications and work with data.
Google Charts
https://developers.google.com/chart/
Google's data visualization library offers a wide range of visual data representations, including bar charts, pie charts, line graphs, and geographic maps, to name a few. It includes no data visualization components, but the data can be easily displayed in these formats with minimal coding efforts.
Dygraphs
Dygraphs is a javascript charting library offering an extensive range of customizable data display options for its data series. Data can be displayed inline graph format or as a scatter plot, and trend lines can be added to identify patterns within the data.
Plotly.js
Plotly is an online data visualization platform that can be used free through its JavaScript library. The library allows data to be submitted to the Plotly servers, which will be rendered on a data-specific web interface. Data can then be manipulated further and exported as graphics files (PNG, SVG, or PDF) for use elsewhere.
Vega-Lite
https://vega.github.io/vega-lite/
Vega is a visualization grammar - a declarative format for creating, saving, and sharing interactive visualization designs. Vega has been integrated into other data visualization tools such as D3 and (to some extent) Tensorboard. Still, Vega-Lite is specifically designed to function without an external data processing library like D3 or Protovis.
CanvasJS
CanvasJS is a data visualization library offering data-driven visualizations in HTML5 canvas elements. CanvasJS data visualization components include bar charts, pie charts, spider charts, heat maps, chord diagrams, and more.
amCharts
amCharts data visualization tools include dynamically adjustable bar, line, and pie charts, gauges, maps (world, USA, Europe), data tables, timelines, dashboards, and more. It can be used on both front-end web pages (embedded in the HTML) or server-side data rendering on Node.js servers.
FusionCharts
One of the most popular data visualization libraries on the web, FusionCharts is a powerful JavaScript data visualization library with an impressive range of features. Charts are rendered using HTML5 canvas and SVG by default. Still, they can be exported to Flash if you want to support older browsers or have data that requires Actionscript3 for manipulation.
The visualizations created with this data visualization library can include animation, interaction, and drill-down effects. It opens up a massive range of possible applications for data visualization – from dashboards built for executives to real-time monitoring for metrics data. There's no limit on how many charts or datasets can be manipulated as there is with some other data visualization libraries, making it a great value.
JS Charts
JS Charts is a data visualization plugin for javascript that can be used with several different data processing frameworks (D3, jQuery, Node.js, etc.). It has a wide array of data plotting options that supports many types of data visualizations (histograms, scatter plots, bubble charts). It allows users to easily add captions and crosshairs to their data plots. It works with Android and iPhone.
ZoomCharts
ZoomCharts data visualization tools are data-agnostic, meaning they can be used to visualize data from any data source. ZoomCharts supports various data visualizations, including basic charts (bar, line, pie), geographical maps, data presentation widgets, data tables, and more. Users interact with data plots through zooming and scrolling gestures.
NVD3
NVD3 is a project from the team behind datamodel.io. It serves as an easy way for developers to make use of high-quality data-driven charting components in their web applications. The aim of NVD3 is to create reusable charts and chart components that can be easily integrated into data visualizations and dashboards.
Flot
Flot is a pure javascript plotting library for jQuery. It produces graphical plots of arbitrary data and allows users to interact with data plots by dragging data points and zooming in on particular data ranges.
dc.js
https://github.com/dc-js/dc.js
Dimensional charting built to work natively with cross filter rendered on top of d3, highchairs, and other JavaScript libraries. Powered by a cross filter, dc.js brings data manipulation down to the browser for fast data crunching, exploration, and visualization.
React-vis
https://uber.github.io/react-vis/
Based on the Vega-lite specification, visual data exploration and data visualization library built on top of React. React-vis is a data-centric, declarative, componentized, and interactive data visualization framework. It allows you to declaratively generate data visualizations from array data sources. It is powered by a custom virtual dom implementation that enables efficient component updates for significant data processing across modern browsers without stuttering or jank.
Many Eyes
http://www-958.ibm.com/software/analytics/manyeyes
The data visualization tool created by IBM allows users to upload data sets for data analysis and data visualization. Many Eyes features embeddable data visualizations that can be shared across social networks (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn), blogs, and websites via the site's URL shortening service. The data visualization is responsive, meaning it adjusts itself based on the browser window's size to fit well regardless of how much horizontal space is available.
CanvasXpress
https://canvasxpress.org/index.html
A javascript library used in conjunction with D3js to make real-time data exploration and production-ready data visualization easy to build and deploy.
The raw data visualization library for the web, based on D3js, allows data to be easily connected to DOM nodes. CanvasXpress requires only a data source (CSV or JSON), the canvas element, some CSS stylesheet rules, and javascript file containing custom data visualizations written using CSS HTML 5, JavaScript libraries like D3.js, so you can focus on data instead of syntax. This is possible because CanvasXpress provides flexible configuration options.
SigmaJS
Sigma is a javascript library for plotting graphs of numeric data. Thanks to the great Sigma.js rendering engine, it works well both server-side and client-side, thanks to the great Sigma.js rendering engine. The data can be easily exported in multiple graphical formats (e.g., PNG, PDF) or further processed with other tools. It is also possible to use it in conjunction with D3js data-driven libraries.
If you need help with data visualization, don't hesitate to contact us. We have a team of experts who can help you get the most out of your data.
Thank you for reading,
Radek from Duomly
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