Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Chart.js VS Anime.js

Compare Chart.js VS Anime.js and see what are their differences

Chart.js logo Chart.js

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

Anime.js logo Anime.js

Lightweight JavaScript animation library
  • Chart.js Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-13
  • Anime.js Homepage
    Homepage //
    2024-07-18

Chart.js features and specs

  • Open Source
    Chart.js is open source and free to use, which makes it accessible for both personal and commercial projects without any licensing costs.
  • Ease of Use
    Chart.js is known for its simple and easy-to-use API. Developers can quickly create charts by just including the library and writing minimal JavaScript.
  • Lightweight
    The library is relatively lightweight compared to other charting libraries, which helps in maintaining the performance of web applications.
  • Responsive Design
    Charts created with Chart.js are responsive by default, ensuring that they look good on all devices, including desktops, tablets, and mobile phones.
  • Variety of Chart Types
    Chart.js supports a variety of chart types including line, bar, radar, pie, doughnut, and polar area charts, providing flexibility for different data visualization needs.
  • Customization
    Developers can customize the appearance of charts extensively through Chart.js options such as colors, labels, and tooltips.
  • Active Community
    Chart.js has an active community and a strong support base, which means that developers can easily find help, tutorials, and plugins to enhance functionality.

Possible disadvantages of Chart.js

  • Limited Advanced Features
    While Chart.js is good for basic and intermediate charting needs, it may lack some advanced features and customizations offered by more complex charting libraries like D3.js.
  • Performance Issues with Large Datasets
    Chart.js can struggle with performance when dealing with very large datasets or complex visualizations, which can result in slower rendering times.
  • Learning Curve for Customization
    Although the basic usage is straightforward, achieving deeper customizations can involve a steeper learning curve as it requires understanding the underlying JavaScript and options.
  • Limited Interactivity
    Interactivity options with Chart.js are somewhat limited compared to other libraries that offer more advanced interactive features.
  • Dependency on Canvas
    Charts are rendered using the HTML5 canvas element, which may not be as flexible as SVG-based rendering used by some other libraries.

Anime.js features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    Anime.js has a clear and concise API which makes it easy to use for both beginners and experienced developers.
  • Lightweight
    With a small file size, Anime.js doesn't add much overhead to your project, helping to maintain fast load times.
  • Versatility
    Anime.js provides a wide range of animation options including CSS properties, DOM attributes, SVG, and more, making it versatile for various types of projects.
  • Performance
    Anime.js is optimized for high performance, ensuring smooth animations even with complex sequences.
  • Modular Design
    Its modular nature allows developers to import only what they need, improving efficiency and reducing bloat.
  • Comprehensive Documentation
    The official documentation is extensive and includes examples, which helps developers quickly understand and implement animations.
  • Community Support
    There is a growing community around Anime.js, providing forums, tutorials, and resources for additional support.

Possible disadvantages of Anime.js

  • Limited Built-in Easing Functions
    While Anime.js does support custom easing functions, the range of built-in easing functions is limited compared to some other animation libraries.
  • No Official Plugin System
    Anime.js does not have an official plugin system, which could limit extensibility and integration with other tools.
  • Learning Curve for Complex Animations
    For very complex animations or sequences, the learning curve can be steep, and the code may become hard to manage.
  • Lack of Native Support for 3D Animations
    Anime.js does not natively support 3D animations, which might require integrating other libraries for such requirements.
  • Dependency Management
    For projects already using other animation libraries, integrating Anime.js can add complexity to dependency management.

Chart.js videos

1.3: Graphing with Chart.js - Working With Data & APIs in JavaScript

More videos:

  • Tutorial - How to Build Ionic 4 Apps with Chart.js

Anime.js videos

Intro to Anime.js - The JavaScript Animation Engine

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Chart.js and Anime.js)
Charting Libraries
72 72%
28% 28
Javascript UI Libraries
32 32%
68% 68
Data Visualization
100 100%
0% 0
Data Dashboard
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

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

Chart.js Reviews

6 JavaScript Charting Libraries for Powerful Data Visualizations in 2023
Of the free libraries on this list, ECharts has the widest range of chart types available, second only to D3. Unlike D3, ECharts also ranks highly on the user-friendliness scale, although some users find ApexCharts and Chart.js even easier to use. You can check out some examples of basic charts on ECharts.
Source: embeddable.com
5 top picks for JavaScript chart libraries
Chart.js is a chart library that is available as a client-side JavaScript package. There are also derivatives for other frontend frameworks, like React, Vue, and Angular. It displays the chart on an HTML canvas element.
Top 10 JavaScript Charting Libraries for Every Data Visualization Need
Chart.js is a simple yet quite flexible JavaScript library for data viz, popular among web designers and developers. It’s a great basic solution for those who don’t need lots of chart types and customization features but want their charts to look neat, clear and informative at a glance.
Source: hackernoon.com
A Complete Overview of the Best Data Visualization Tools
Chart.js uses HTML5 Canvas for output, so it renders charts well across all modern browsers. Charts created are also responsive, so it’s great for creating visualizations that are mobile-friendly.
Source: www.toptal.com
The Best Data Visualization Tools - Top 30 BI Software
Chart.js is better for smaller chart projects. It’s open source and small in size, supporting six different types of charts: bar, line, pie, radar, doughnut, and polar. You can also add or remove any of these 6 types to reduce your footprint. Chart.js uses HTML5 Canvas and ships with polyfills for IE6/7 support. Chart.js offers the ability to create simple charts quickly.
Source: improvado.io

Anime.js Reviews

Top 20 Javascript Libraries
One of the best animation libraries that makes staggering follow-through animations so simple, Anime.js is light-weight and comes with a clean yet powerful API. With Anime, timing plays an important role, and you can set various properties of CSS at different timings on the same element, and the element moves smoothly as per the transforms. Anime works with SVG, CSS, HTML,...
Source: hackr.io

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Anime.js seems to be a lot more popular than Chart.js. While we know about 50 links to Anime.js, we've tracked only 1 mention of Chart.js. 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.

Chart.js mentions (1)

  • Chart library for Svelte?
    Https://chartjs.org works well, but you have to call the update function yourself if you want to do some reactive updates. Source: almost 4 years ago

Anime.js mentions (50)

  • Webflow makes GSAP 100% free – plus more updates
    I keep hearing about it, but I've never used it. Why would I use it over https://animejs.com ? - Source: Hacker News / about 8 hours ago
  • ✨"Day 1 with Anime.js — Breathing Life into a Static Webpage"
    Hey Devs! 👋 Today marks Day 1 of my journey into learning Anime.js, a lightweight JavaScript animation library that makes adding animations to your web projects ridiculously fun and powerful. In this article, I’ll walk you through how I animated a simple landing page using Anime.js — from setup to final smooth transitions. - Source: dev.to / 16 days ago
  • Anime JS , a JavaScript animation library
    Documentation Link - https://animejs.com/ Package Install by using - npm I animejs Anime.js V4 works by importing ES modules like so:. - Source: dev.to / 20 days ago
  • AnimeJs v4 Is Here
    You can leave your email in the footer of the landing page > https://animejs.com/#site-footer. - Source: Hacker News / 29 days ago
  • Celebrate 50 years of Microsoft with the company's original source code
    Funny cause just today this made it to the front page of HN https://animejs.com/ It has way fancier animations and scrolls like butter. - Source: Hacker News / 29 days ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Chart.js and Anime.js, you can also consider the following products

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.

Pixi.js - Fast lightweight 2D library that works across all devices

Highcharts - A charting library written in pure JavaScript, offering an easy way of adding interactive charts to your web site or web application

p5.js - JS library for creating graphic and interactive experiences

Google Charts - Interactive charts for browsers and mobile devices.

GSAP - GSAP (GreenSock Animation Platform) is a suite of JavaScript tools for high-performance animations that work in all major browsers.