CanvasJS VS C3.js

Compare CanvasJS VS C3.js and see what are their differences

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CanvasJS

HTML5 JavaScript, jQuery, Angular, React Charts for Data Visualization

C3.js

D3-based reusable chart library that enables deeper integration of charts into web applications

Landing page //
2021-09-20

CanvasJS is an easy to use HTML5 and Javascript Charting library which supports 30+ chart types including line, column, bar, area, pie, financial and much more. It runs across devices including iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows Phone, Microsoft Surface, Desktops, etc. This allows you to create rich dashboards that work on all the devices without compromising on maintainability or functionality of your web application.

Landing page //
2019-01-08

CanvasJS

Website: canvasjs.com
Pricing URL: Official CanvasJS Pricing
$ Details: freemium $149.0 / Annually
Platforms: Web
Release Date: 2013 March

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C3.js

Website: c3js.org
Pricing URL: -
$ Details
Platforms: -
Release Date: -

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CanvasJS features and specs

Easy to Use
CanvasJS offers a straightforward API and extensive documentation, making it easy for developers to quickly integrate charts into their applications.
Performance
CanvasJS uses HTML5 Canvas for rendering, which provides excellent performance, especially for large datasets or real-time updates.
Cross-Browser Compatibility
Charts rendered with CanvasJS work across all modern web browsers, ensuring a consistent experience for users.
Variety of Chart Types
CanvasJS supports a wide range of chart types including line, bar, pie, and more, offering flexibility for different data visualization needs.
Responsive Design
Charts created with CanvasJS are responsive and adjust well to different screen sizes, which is crucial for mobile and tablet support.

Possible disadvantages of CanvasJS

Licensing Cost
While CanvasJS offers a free version, the full-featured version requires a commercial license, which may be costly for small projects or individual developers.
Limited Customization
Although CanvasJS provides several customization options, it may not be as flexible as other libraries when it comes to highly specific or complex customizations.
Dependency on JavaScript
Being a JavaScript library, CanvasJS requires a working knowledge of JavaScript, which could be a barrier for beginners or developers coming from other programming languages.
Learning Curve for Complex Features
Although basic usage is simple, mastering all of the advanced features and customization options may take some time and effort.

C3.js features and specs

Easy to Use
C3.js provides a simple and convenient way to create charts. Its API is designed to be easy to understand, making it accessible for both novice and experienced developers.
Customization
The library offers a high degree of customization options, allowing developers to tweak the appearance and behavior of charts to meet specific requirements.
Integration with D3.js
C3.js is built on top of D3.js, enabling it to leverage the extensive capabilities of D3.js while providing a more user-friendly API.
Responsiveness
C3.js charts are responsive by default, meaning they automatically adjust to different screen sizes, which is essential for modern web applications.
Documentation
Comprehensive documentation and a variety of examples make it easier for developers to get started and effectively use the library.
Open Source
Being an open-source project, C3.js is freely available, and the community can contribute to its development, ensuring continuous improvements and updates.

Possible disadvantages of C3.js

Performance
For complex visualizations and large datasets, C3.js may not perform as fast as other specialized charting libraries.
Limited Advanced Features
While offering a good range of basic chart types, C3.js lacks some of the advanced features and chart types found in more comprehensive charting libraries.
Dependency on D3.js
As C3.js is built on top of D3.js, it inherits some of D3.js's complexity. Developers sometimes need to understand D3.js to fully utilize C3.js's capabilities.
Maintenance and Updates
The pace of updates and new releases is slower compared to some other libraries, which can be an issue for projects requiring the latest features and bug fixes.
Size
C3.js, along with its dependency D3.js, can add significant size to the project, which may impact the performance of web applications, especially on slower networks.

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to CanvasJS and C3.js)

CanvasJS

C3.js

Charting Libraries

74 74%

Charting Libraries

26% 26

Data Dashboard

72 72%

Data Dashboard

28% 28

Data Visualization

64 64%

Data Visualization

36% 36

Development

100 100%

Development

0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using CanvasJS and C3.js. For example, how are they different and which one is better?

Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare CanvasJS and C3.js

CanvasJS Reviews

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C3.js Reviews

5 top picks for JavaScript chart libraries

C3.js is another easy-to-use JavaScript library for creating charts. It uses the D3 graphics library, so to create a chart with it, we’ll need both D3 and the C3 library itself.

Source: blog.logrocket.com

Social recommendations and mentions

C3.js might be a bit more popular than CanvasJS. We know about 11 links to it since March 2021 and only 11 links to CanvasJS. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

CanvasJS mentions (11)

Smarter Axis Label Formatting Based on Zoom Level in CanvasJS
When building time-series charts, how you format axis labels can make or break readability — especially when users zoom across seconds to years. CanvasJS provides excellent out-of-the-box support for time-based axis labels, but when working with sub-minute or sub-hour data (e.g., sensor readings, real-time dashboards), the default behavior might not always deliver the best readability. This guide shows how to... - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
Dynamic Highlighting of Weekends in CanvasJS Charts
Visualizing time-series data - such as financial charts, project timelines, or event trackers - often requires contextual markers like weekends or holidays to improve insights. CanvasJS charts offer the flexibility to dynamically highlight specific date ranges using stripLines. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
Integrating CanvasJS Charts in Salesforce Lightning Aura Component
Visualizing data within Salesforce enhances user engagement and decision-making. A recent study showed that dashboards with interactive charts increase user adoption by 70%. This article guides you through seamlessly integrating CanvasJS charts into your Lightning Aura components for impactful data representation. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
Display Chart in Express.js App using CanvasJS
Download the CanvasJS library from CanvasJS's official website. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
Integrating WebDataRocks and CanvasJS for Interactive Data Visualization
In modern web applications, data analysis and visualization play a crucial role in delivering insights. While pivot tables allow users to explore and manipulate data interactively, charts make it easier to understand trends and patterns at a glance. WebDataRocks, a JavaScript pivot table library, and CanvasJS, a versatile charting library, can be seamlessly integrated to combine the best of data exploration and... - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago

C3.js mentions (11)

Tracking Real-time GitHub Dashboard Commits
The dashboard is a mashup of GitHub, the PubNub Data Stream Network, and D3 chart visualizations powered by C3.js. When a commit is pushed to GitHub, the commit metadata is posted to a small Heroku instance which publishes it to the PubNub network. We’re hosting on dashboard page on GitHub pages. - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
Graph libraries
I've been using https://c3js.org/ forever with vue. Works with v3 just fine. However, I'm very interested to see what others are using. Source: almost 3 years ago
Teclis – Non-commercial web search
Yes! I found https://c3js.org/ which is exactly what I want for my personal project. - Source: Hacker News / about 3 years ago
[OC] I spent the last 18 months of lockdown pouring my soul into a website that allows you to visualize virtually every U.S. company's international supply chain. E.g. What products, how much, which factories and where does Walmart import from? (Just type a company in the search box)
C3.js is actually something that I like to use on top of D3, specifically for POC's and things like that. It wraps the D3 code in something a little more semantic, provides an API for updating the chart/data, and makes the UI easier to style after the chart is generated. Purely a preference thing, but might be useful in some cases. Source: over 3 years ago
[C3.js][TypeScript] Draw line charts 1
C3.js | D3-based reusable chart library. - Source: dev.to / over 3 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing CanvasJS and C3.js, you can also consider the following products

Chart.js - Easy, object oriented client side graphs for designers and developers.

UMLGraph - UMLGraph is a professional automated drawing tool that allows the designers the declarative specification and drawing of UML class and sequence diagram.

D3.js - D3.js is a JavaScript library for manipulating documents based on data. D3 helps you bring data to life using HTML, SVG, and CSS.

Dia - Dia is a GTK+ based diagram creation program for GNU/Linux, MacOS X, Unix, and Windows, and is released under the GPL license.

Plotly - Low-Code Data Apps

yEd - yEd is a free desktop application to quickly create, import, edit, and automatically arrange diagrams. It runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and Unix/Linux.