Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

GnuPlot VS Plot Digitizer

Compare GnuPlot VS Plot Digitizer and see what are their differences

GnuPlot logo GnuPlot

Gnuplot is a portable command-line driven interactive data and function plotting utility.

Plot Digitizer logo Plot Digitizer

All-in-One Tool to Extract Data from Graphs, Plots & Images
  • GnuPlot Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-12-13
  • Plot Digitizer Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-17

GnuPlot features and specs

  • Highly Customizable
    GnuPlot offers extensive customization options for creating plots, allowing users to tweak almost every aspect of the graph, including colors, labels, line styles, and more.
  • Scriptable
    GnuPlot can be driven by scripts, making it convenient for automating complex plots and integrating with other software workflows.
  • Wide Range of Output Formats
    It supports many output formats such as PNG, PDF, SVG, and EPS, making it easy to generate graphics for different purposes like presentations, publications, and web content.
  • Cross-Platform
    GnuPlot runs on multiple operating systems, including Windows, macOS, and Linux, ensuring that it can be used in diverse computing environments.
  • Complex Plotting Capabilities
    GnuPlot supports a wide variety of plots, including 2D and 3D plots, histograms, heatmaps, and more, which caters to the needs of advanced visualization requirements.
  • Performance
    GnuPlot is efficient and can handle large datasets with ease, offering fast rendering times which is crucial when dealing with complex visualizations.
  • Free and Open Source
    Being free and open-source software, GnuPlot is accessible to everyone, and users can modify the source code to suit their needs.

Possible disadvantages of GnuPlot

  • Steep Learning Curve
    GnuPlot has a complex syntax and a steep learning curve, especially for beginners who may find it difficult to get started without substantial effort.
  • Limited GUI
    GnuPlot lacks a full-featured graphical user interface (GUI), making it less user-friendly for those who prefer point-and-click interactions over scripting.
  • Documentation
    While comprehensive, the documentation can be overwhelming and difficult to navigate for new users trying to find specific information quickly.
  • Date Handling
    Handling and formatting dates can be cumbersome in GnuPlot, requiring more manual setup compared to other dedicated plotting tools.
  • Interactive Features
    GnuPlot's interactive plotting capabilities are limited compared to other modern plotting tools that offer more dynamic and real-time interactivity.
  • Integration
    Integration with some modern programming environments and languages may not be as seamless as with other plotting libraries specifically designed for those ecosystems (e.g., Matplotlib in Python).

Plot Digitizer features and specs

  • User-friendly Interface
    Plot Digitizer offers a simple and intuitive interface, making it accessible for users of varying technical skill levels.
  • Supports Multiple File Formats
    The tool supports a variety of file formats, including PNG, JPEG, and PDF, offering flexibility in terms of input data.
  • Precision and Accuracy
    Plot Digitizer provides precise and accurate data extraction, ensuring reliable outputs from digitized plots.
  • Versatile Application
    It can be used for various types of graphs and charts, such as line graphs, scatter plots, and bar charts.
  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    The application is web-based, which allows it to be used across different operating systems without needing additional software installations.

Possible disadvantages of Plot Digitizer

  • Limited Free Features
    The free version may have limited features compared to the paid version, which could restrict functionality for some users.
  • Internet Dependency
    As a web-based tool, Plot Digitizer requires a stable internet connection for use, which might be a limitation in areas with poor connectivity.
  • Learning Curve
    While the interface is generally user-friendly, new users may still require time to understand all available features to use the tool efficiently.
  • Potential for Manual Errors
    Manual calibration and adjustments might introduce errors, especially when dealing with complex or high-density plots.
  • Performance Limitations
    Very large or complex datasets might impact the performance and speed of the tool, potentially leading to longer processing times.

Analysis of GnuPlot

Overall verdict

  • Gnuplot is generally considered to be a good choice for those looking for a reliable and flexible plotting tool, especially if the users need robust scriptability or work across different operating systems.

Why this product is good

  • Gnuplot is a powerful, portable, and multi-platform tool capable of producing high-quality 2D and 3D plots. It supports numerous output formats and can be used interactively or in scripts. Additionally, it has a large support community and extensive documentation, making it accessible for both beginners and advanced users.

Recommended for

  • Scientists and engineers who need to visualize data across diverse platforms.
  • Users comfortable working with command-line interfaces.
  • Individuals or teams needing to generate plots through automated scripts.
  • Those looking for a free and open-source alternative to other graphing tools.

GnuPlot videos

Gnuplot Introduction

More videos:

  • Review - DTrace Latency Visualization in gnuplot
  • Review - Basics of Gnuplot - Make your plot look Good

Plot Digitizer videos

Plot digitizer

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to GnuPlot and Plot Digitizer)
Technical Computing
100 100%
0% 0
Data Extraction
0 0%
100% 100
Numerical Computation
100 100%
0% 0
Data Visualization
49 49%
51% 51

User comments

Share your experience with using GnuPlot and Plot Digitizer. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, GnuPlot should be more popular than Plot Digitizer. It has been mentiond 5 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.

GnuPlot mentions (5)

  • Question about Project Management
    To some extent it extends the concept of tasks which only can be reasonably executed after the completion of other ones (though results of branches eventually may join each other) and offers an additional assisting birds' eye visual of projects. So far, I'm aware about the documentation on worg interfacing org-taskjuggler and taskjuggler, as well as a video tutorial interfacing gnuplot instead. Source: about 3 years ago
  • How do I make a transparent background on .ps or .eps file imported to groff
    Gnuplot is a program to plot diagrams. The Commands issued to use it don't change regardless if it is used in Linux/Windows/MacOS and it comes with less dependencies than a Spread sheet, or a statistics program. This is why I started to Become comfortable with it, and venture out some of its features. Here, "conditional plot" referred to "the diagram only displays a Thing/uses a pixel if the value in the table... Source: over 3 years ago
  • Drawing graphs and diagrams
    Or, does drawing diagrams refers to plotting data, but neither using matplotlib, nor gnuplot (export to .svg, .pdf, .png; pstricks, tikz to mention a few options)? Source: over 3 years ago
  • Are specific softwares avialable that are suitable for converting different diagrams, graphs and mindmaps to latex codes?
    There may the occasion you actually need the data from a publication, and want to plot them altogether with data newly collected data in one diagram in common. An overlay, though possible, can become tricky (scaling, centering, alignment, etc.) and plotting all data in a diagram generated from scratch (gnuplot/octave, matplotlib, Origin, ...) exported as an illustration in the usual formats (.pdf/.png), or... Source: over 3 years ago
  • Introducing Graphs
    Have you looked at the graphing capabilities of Octave or Gnuplot? Gnuplot in particular has a lot of options, and a GUI for those who want it. Source: over 3 years ago

Plot Digitizer mentions (3)

  • [OC] Autism rates are driven by changes in policy and diagnostic criteria, not vaccinations
    Data: The CDC data estimating national autism rates only shows data every other year since 2000 (https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/data.html). I used California data from Nevison (2018) (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6223814/ ) to show a longer-term historical trend. While it doesnโ€™t completely match the national data during the overlapping years (and I wouldnโ€™t expect it to), I have no reason to... Source: about 3 years ago
  • graph website/app?
    There are several, yes. Here is one, and here is anther, and here is a third. There is a detailed comparison here. Source: about 3 years ago
  • Show HN: Data Painter โ€“ A Different Way to Interact with Your Data
    I found this... Something like what you have in mind? (not Foss) https://plotdigitizer.com/. - Source: Hacker News / over 3 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing GnuPlot and Plot Digitizer, you can also consider the following products

Matplotlib - matplotlib is a python 2D plotting library which produces publication quality figures in a variety...

WebPlotDigitizer - WebPlotDigitizer - Web based tool to extract numerical data from plots, images and maps.

GeoGebra CAS Calculator - Free online algebra calculator from GeoGebra: solve equations, expand and factor expressions, find derivatives and integrals

DigitizeIt - Sometimes it is necessary to extract data values from graphs, e.g.

GeoGebra - GeoGebra is free and multi-platform dynamic mathematics software for learning and teaching.

GraphClick - GraphClick is a graph digitizer shareware for Mac OS X which allows to automatically retrieve the original (x,y)-data from the image of a scanned graphor fom QuickTime movies.