Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Leaflet VS D3.js

Compare Leaflet VS D3.js and see what are their differences

Leaflet logo Leaflet

Leaflet is a modern, lightweight open-source JavaScript library for mobile-friendly interactive maps.

D3.js logo 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.
  • Leaflet Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-13
  • D3.js Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-11

D3 allows you to bind arbitrary data to a Document Object Model (DOM), and then apply data-driven transformations to the document. For example, you can use D3 to generate an HTML table from an array of numbers. Or, use the same data to create an interactive SVG bar chart with smooth transitions and interaction.

D3 is not a monolithic framework that seeks to provide every conceivable feature. Instead, D3 solves the crux of the problem: efficient manipulation of documents based on data. This avoids proprietary representation and affords extraordinary flexibility, exposing the full capabilities of web standards such as HTML, SVG, and CSS. With minimal overhead, D3 is extremely fast, supporting large datasets and dynamic behaviors for interaction and animation. D3’s functional style allows code reuse through a diverse collection of official and community-developed modules.

Leaflet videos

leaflet review

More videos:

  • Review - Labour Party Leaflet Review
  • Demo - Liberal Democrats Party Leaflet Review

D3.js videos

Data Visualization with D3.js - Full Tutorial Course

More videos:

  • Review - Let's learn D3.js - D3 for data visualization (full course)

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Leaflet and D3.js)
Maps
100 100%
0% 0
Charting Libraries
0 0%
100% 100
Development Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Data Visualization
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Leaflet and D3.js

Leaflet Reviews

Top 15 Price Monitoring Tools For E-Commerce In 2022
Leaflet.js is the most popular open-source JavaScript library for providing mobile-friendly interactive maps. With a simple, easy-to-use interface, it is the perfect solution for all of your data management needs. It operates well right out of the box on all major platforms and devices. The platform offers the following services:
Source: adscale.com
Top 5 Open-Source Google Maps Alternatives in 2022
The Leaflet is another open source interactive maps software that comes with self-hosting capabilities. This map application is lightweight and easy to use. Above all, it is available for all desktop and mobile platforms such as Android, IOS, and web. Further, this offline maps app is highly extensible and offers a well-documented API for third-party integrations. This open...
The Best Data Visualization Tools - Top 30 BI Software
Leaflet leverages OpenStreetMap data and adds HTML5/CSS3 visualizations and interactivity on top to ensure everything is responsive and mobile ready. Its extensive plugin repository lets you add heatmaps , masks and animated markers. Leaflet is open source JavaScript library designed for creating interactive mobile-friendly maps and ships at only 33kb. This Javascript...
Source: improvado.io
Farewell, Google Maps
On a positive note we were impressed by the quality of open source code for operating maps (Leaflet). Some advanced functions which we had implement ourselves on Google side were readily available in Leaflet.
Survey of the Best Online Mapping Tools for Web Developers: The Roadmap to Roadmaps
It is safe to say that Leaflet was born as a reaction to OpenLayers’ bloat, clutter and complexity. Vladimir Agafonkin was asked to build a wrapper around OpenLayers, but he instead created a simple and lightweight OpenLayers alternative, and in May 2011 Leaflet was born. Vladimir focused on simplicity, performance and usability for this online map tool. The core library...
Source: www.toptal.com

D3.js Reviews

6 JavaScript Charting Libraries for Powerful Data Visualizations in 2023
Depending on your requirements, the best JavaScript library is D3.js, as it’s by far the most customizable. However, it’s also really complex and difficult to master. Plus, it’s not as compatible with TypeScript as it is with JavaScript, which can be off-putting for some developers. If you’d prefer a less complex library that you can use with TypeScript, ECharts, and...
Source: embeddable.com
15 JavaScript Libraries for Creating Beautiful Charts
When we think of charting today, D3.js is the first name that comes up. Being an open source project, D3.js definitely brings many powerful features that were missing in most of the existing libraries. Features like dynamic properties, Enter and Exit, powerful transitions, and syntax familiarity with jQuery make it one the best JavaScript libraries for charting. Charts in...
Top 20 Javascript Libraries
D3 stands for Data-Driven Documents. With D3, you can apply data-driven transformations to DOM objects. The keyword with D3 is ‘data-driven,’ which means documents are manipulated depending on the data received. Data can be received in any format and bound with DOM objects. D3 is very fast and supports dynamic behavior for animation and interactions. There are plenty of...
Source: hackr.io
20+ JavaScript libraries to draw your own diagrams (2022 edition)
D3.js is a JavaScript library for manipulating documents based on data. Right now, I would say is the most popular library of its kind.
15 data science tools to consider using in 2021
Another open source tool, D3.js is a JavaScript library for creating custom data visualizations in a web browser. Commonly known as D3, which stands for Data-Driven Documents, it uses web standards, such as HTML, Scalable Vector Graphics and CSS, instead of its own graphical vocabulary. D3's developers describe it as a dynamic and flexible tool that requires a minimum amount...

Social recommendations and mentions

D3.js might be a bit more popular than Leaflet. We know about 160 links to it since March 2021 and only 124 links to Leaflet. 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.

Leaflet mentions (124)

  • From leaflet popup marker to photo gallery image and back
    I display my photos on page using PhotoSwipe and I use leaflet to handle geographical maps. From technical point of view I display on map:. - Source: dev.to / 7 days ago
  • Animated traveling map with Leaflet
    Leaflet is the most famous open-source map library, with lots of plugins. 2 of them are used to animate a marker on the map:. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • 5 JavaScript mapping APIs compared
    Leaflet stands out as one of the top open source JavaScript libraries for crafting interactive maps. Optimized for both mobile and web devices, it is relatively small (around 42KB) and offers a ton of features, plugins, and a straightforward API. It works across all browsers and platforms. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • 🌲Svelte + 🍃Leaflet + 📍 Clusters
    For a personal project, I had to use Leaflet with Svelte, and I faced some problems during development. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • Embed leaflet JS maps in notion?
    Do anyone have any workaround on how to get leaflet js to work inside notion, either as an embed or as code, or widget? Https://leafletjs.com/. Source: 9 months ago
View more

D3.js mentions (160)

  • Implementing GraphRAG for Query-Focused Summarization
    Interactive User Interface: Developing an interactive UI for visualizing the graph and its communities could make the summarization process more intuitive. Tools like D3.js or Cytoscape.js can be used to create dynamic visualizations. - Source: dev.to / 13 days ago
  • A visual guide to Vision Transformer – A scroll story
    Yes this was done with a combination of GSAP Scrolltrigger https://gsap.com/docs/v3/Plugins/ScrollTrigger/ and https://d3js.org/. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 month ago
  • Full Stack Web Development Concept map
    d3 - very power visualization library enabling dynamic visualizations. docs. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • Observable 2.0, a static site generator for data apps
    Yep, Evidence is doing good work. We were most directly inspired by VitePress; we spent months rewriting both D3’s docs (https://d3js.org) and Observable Plot’s docs (https://observablehq.com/plot) in VitePress, and absolutely loved the experience. But we wanted a tool focused on data apps, dashboards, reports — observability and business intelligence use cases rather than documentation. Compared to Evidence, I’d... - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • What is the technology stack used to create these live charts?
    They are images so it could be any number of things, datawrapper, charts.js, d3.js to name a few options. Source: 6 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Leaflet and D3.js, you can also consider the following products

jQuery - The Write Less, Do More, JavaScript Library.

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

React Native - A framework for building native apps with React

Plotly - Low-Code Data Apps

Babel - Babel is a compiler for writing next generation JavaScript.

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