Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Chart.js VS NVD3

Compare Chart.js VS NVD3 and see what are their differences

Chart.js logo Chart.js

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

NVD3 logo NVD3

This project is an attempt to build re-usable charts and chart components for d3.
  • Chart.js Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-13
  • NVD3 Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-07-31

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.

NVD3 features and specs

  • Reusable Charts
    NVD3 provides a variety of pre-built chart types that are easy to reuse and customize, saving developers time when creating standard visualization needs.
  • Based on D3.js
    Utilizing D3.js ensures a high level of flexibility and the ability to integrate complex data manipulations with aesthetic chart outputs.
  • Ease of Use
    NVD3 simplifies the process of generating complex visualizations by providing an intuitive API for interacting with D3.js charts.
  • Responsive Design
    Many of the chart components are designed with responsiveness in mind, allowing them to adjust to different screen sizes and devices.

Possible disadvantages of NVD3

  • Limited Updates
    NVD3 is not frequently updated, which may lead to compatibility issues or lack of support for newer web technologies.
  • Learning Curve
    While it simplifies some aspects of D3.js, users still need to have a solid understanding of D3.js to fully leverage NVD3's capabilities, which can be steep for new users.
  • Limited Customization
    Compared to directly using D3.js, NVD3 offers a more limited range of customization options for charts, potentially restricting designers looking for highly unique visualizations.
  • Documentation Quality
    The documentation for NVD3 can be sparse or outdated, making it harder for developers to troubleshoot issues or learn best practices.

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

NVD3 videos

No NVD3 videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

Add video

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Chart.js and NVD3)
Charting Libraries
83 83%
17% 17
Data Visualization
91 91%
9% 9
Data Dashboard
89 89%
11% 11
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 NVD3

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

NVD3 Reviews

The Best Data Visualization Tools - Top 30 BI Software
This project is an attempt to build reusable charts and chart components for d3.js without taking away the power that d3.js gives you. The goal of the project is to keep all your charts neat and customizable. NVD3 is developed by the front end engineers at Novus Partners and uses their insight in charting technology.
Source: improvado.io

Social recommendations and mentions

NVD3 might be a bit more popular than Chart.js. We know about 1 link to it since March 2021 and only 1 link to 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

NVD3 mentions (1)

  • Widely Used Data Display and Analysis Libraries
    NVD3 is also on the list of the most popular libraries. Built upon D3.js like the others above, it does have a solid technical base. - Source: dev.to / over 3 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Chart.js and NVD3, 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.

Plotly - Low-Code Data Apps

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.

ZoomCharts - Creating meaningful and aesthetically pleasing data visualizations and incorporating them into your projects is easy with the tools offered by ZoomCharts.

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.