Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Chart.js VS Snap.svg

Compare Chart.js VS Snap.svg and see what are their differences

Chart.js logo Chart.js

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

Snap.svg logo Snap.svg

Snap.svg is a javascript SVG library for the modern web.
  • Chart.js Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-13
  • Snap.svg Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-06-27

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.

Snap.svg features and specs

  • Modern SVG Support
    Snap.svg is specifically designed for modern web standards and provides extensive support for SVG graphics, making it easier to create, modify, and animate SVG content.
  • Ease of Use
    The library offers a straightforward and user-friendly API, which simplifies the process of creating complex SVG graphics and animations even for developers with limited experience in SVG.
  • Extensive Documentation
    Snap.svg comes with comprehensive documentation and examples, which help developers quickly understand its capabilities and implement them efficiently.
  • Interactivity
    The library supports interactivity features, enabling developers to create rich, interactive SVG content by easily attaching event listeners to SVG elements.
  • Cross-Browser Compatibility
    Snap.svg is built to work well on all modern browsers, ensuring that your SVG content is accessible to a wide audience without compatibility issues.

Possible disadvantages of Snap.svg

  • Lack of Active Development
    As of now, Snap.svg is not actively maintained, which might lead to difficulties in finding support for new issues or updates that ensure compatibility with the latest web standards.
  • Performance Limitations
    While Snap.svg works well for many projects, it might not perform as efficiently as native solutions for highly demanding or resource-intensive applications.
  • Limited Community Support
    Compared to larger, more widely used libraries, Snap.svg has a smaller community, which may result in fewer resources, tutorials, and third-party plugins being available.
  • Not Suitable for All Use Cases
    Although suitable for a wide range of SVG manipulations, Snap.svg might not cover very specific or advanced use cases, requiring developers to seek alternatives or custom solutions.

Analysis of Chart.js

Overall verdict

  • Chart.js is a good choice for developers looking for a straightforward solution to incorporate charts into their web projects. Its ease of use, comprehensive documentation, and active community support make it an excellent option for both beginners and experienced developers.

Why this product is good

  • Chart.js is a popular open-source library for creating charts and graphs in web applications. It is valued for its simplicity, ease of use, and ability to create responsive, interactive charts with minimal effort. The library supports a wide range of chart types, including line, bar, radar, doughnut, pie, polar area, bubble, and scatter charts. Chart.js also provides customization options, allowing developers to tailor the look and behavior of their charts to fit their specific needs.

Recommended for

  • Web developers who need to quickly implement charts in their applications.
  • Teams looking for a lightweight and performant charting library.
  • Projects where customization and responsiveness of charts are important.
  • Beginner developers who want to learn and implement basic data visualization techniques.

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

Snap.svg videos

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

Add video

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Chart.js and Snap.svg)
Charting Libraries
89 89%
11% 11
Javascript UI Libraries
62 62%
38% 38
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 Snap.svg

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

Snap.svg Reviews

8 Best Free and Open-Source Drawing Libraries in JavaScript
You can see how it performs with respect to Vanilla JS and Snap.svg on the homepage of the website. It is possible to create basic shapes and add them to the DOM using built-in functions. The library comes with all kinds of functions to manipulate the appearance of anything you draw on the screen. There is also support for event listeners so that you can implement...

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Snap.svg should be more popular than Chart.js. It has been mentiond 9 times since March 2021. 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: about 4 years ago

Snap.svg mentions (9)

View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Chart.js and Snap.svg, 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.

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

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

Paper.js - Open source vector graphics scripting framework that runs on top of the HTML5 Canvas.

Plotly - Low-Code Data Apps

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