Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Chart.js VS ApexCharts

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

Chart.js logo Chart.js

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

ApexCharts logo ApexCharts

Open-source modern charting library 📊
  • Chart.js Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-13
  • ApexCharts Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-08

ApexCharts is a modern charting library that helps developers to create beautiful and interactive visualizations for web pages.

ApexCharts

$ Details
Platforms
Web Browser JavaScript
Release Date
2018 July

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.

ApexCharts features and specs

  • Interactive Charts
    ApexCharts provides visually appealing and interactive charts that enhance user experience through intuitive data visualization.
  • Wide Range of Chart Types
    It supports an extensive variety of chart types including line, bar, area, pie, and radar, allowing developers to choose the best representation for their data.
  • Customization Options
    ApexCharts offers extensive customization options enabling developers to adjust colors, labels, grids, and other chart elements to fit their needs.
  • Responsive Design
    Charts created with ApexCharts are responsive, which means they adjust elegantly to different screen sizes and devices.
  • Easy Integration
    ApexCharts can be easily integrated with popular front-end frameworks like React, Vue, and Angular, making it a versatile solution.
  • Detailed Documentation
    Comprehensive documentation is available to help developers quickly get up to speed and utilize all features effectively.
  • Performance
    ApexCharts is optimized for performance, ensuring that charts load efficiently even with large datasets.

Possible disadvantages of ApexCharts

  • Licensing Cost
    While ApexCharts offers a free version, advanced features and additional support come under a paid licensing model, which might be a constraint for some users.
  • Limited Free Feature Set
    The free tier offers a limited set of features compared to the paid plans, which could restrict functionality for organizations not looking to invest.
  • Learning Curve
    Despite good documentation, leveraging advanced features and customizations can have a steep learning curve for new users.
  • Dependency
    ApexCharts requires dependency on JavaScript and frameworks which might be a limitation if your project has restrictions against external libraries.
  • Community Support
    While there is community support available, it may not be as extensive or active compared to some other charting libraries.
  • Browser Compatibility
    Although generally compatible with modern browsers, some features may not perform consistently across all older browser versions.

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

ApexCharts videos

This week on Github Filament, Taskbook, Docz, Apexcharts, Mint Lang | #CodingPhase

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Chart.js and ApexCharts)
Charting Libraries
78 78%
22% 22
Data Dashboard
73 73%
27% 27
Data Visualization
78 78%
22% 22
Javascript UI Libraries
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 ApexCharts

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

ApexCharts Reviews

6 JavaScript Charting Libraries for Powerful Data Visualizations in 2023
ApexCharts was first released in 2018. It’s one of the least “mature” and yet most easy to use options on the list. Thanks to being open source and exceptionally user-friendly, ApexCharts has boomed in popularity in recent years and gets far more weekly downloads than more established tools like Plotly or FusionCharts.
Source: embeddable.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, ApexCharts seems to be a lot more popular than Chart.js. While we know about 13 links to ApexCharts, 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

ApexCharts mentions (13)

  • Building a financial dashboard with HTML5, TailwindCSS v4, and Vanilla JavaScript
    This is a basic HTML structure that includes Google Fonts, ApexCharts (for placeholder charts), and links to your compiled CSS and JavaScript files. The body includes classes for light and dark modes. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Optimizing Line Chart Performance with LTTB Algorithm
    When working with large datasets, rendering all points in a line chart can cause significant performance issues. For example, plotting 50,000 data points directly can overwhelm the browser and make the chart unresponsive. Tools like amCharts and ApexCharts struggle with such datasets, while ECharts performs better but still isn't optimized for extremely large datasets. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Level Up Your Web App with Stunning React Charts: Introducing the Top 10 React Charts Libraries
    ApexCharts is a modern charting library that helps developers to create beautiful and interactive visualizations for web pages. It is an open-source project licensed under MIT and is free to use in commercial applications. - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
  • Selling OTM 0DTE is Free Money?
    Tradingview.com for the chart... But also apexcharts.com is a decent open source library whereas TV is not open source. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • [AskJS] React libs with charts
    We're using https://apexcharts.com/ in production and are reasonably satisfied with it. Source: over 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Chart.js and ApexCharts, 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.

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

Google Charts - Interactive charts for browsers and mobile devices.

Plotly - Low-Code Data Apps

AnyChart - Award-winning JavaScript charting library & Qlik Sense extensions from a global leader in data visualization! Loved by thousands of happy customers, including over 75% of Fortune 500 companies & over half of the top 1000 software vendors worldwide.

amCharts - Advanced javascript charting library that will suit any data visualization need