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Matplotlib VS Julia

Compare Matplotlib VS Julia and see what are their differences

Matplotlib logo Matplotlib

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

Julia logo Julia

Julia is a sophisticated programming language designed especially for numerical computing with specializations in analysis and computational science. It is also efficient for web use, general programming, and can be used as a specification language.
  • Matplotlib Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-14
  • Julia Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-15

We recommend LibHunt Julia for discovery and comparisons of trending Julia projects.

Matplotlib features and specs

  • Versatility
    Matplotlib can generate a wide variety of plots, ranging from simple line plots to complex 3D plots. This versatility makes it a go-to library for many scientific and technical visualizations.
  • Customization
    It offers extensive customization options for virtually every element of a plot, including colors, labels, line styles, and more, allowing users to tailor plots to meet specific needs.
  • Integrations
    Matplotlib integrates well with other Python libraries such as NumPy, Pandas, and SciPy, making it easier to plot data directly from these sources.
  • Community and Documentation
    It has a large, active community and comprehensive documentation that includes tutorials, examples, and detailed references, which can help users solve problems and improve their plot-making skills.
  • Interactivity
    Matplotlib supports interactive plots, which can be embedded in Jupyter notebooks and GUIs, allowing for dynamic data exploration and presentation.
  • Publication-Quality
    The library is capable of producing high-quality, publication-ready graphics that meet the stringent requirements of academic journals and professional presentations.

Possible disadvantages of Matplotlib

  • Complexity
    While Matplotlib offers extensive customization, it can be complex and sometimes unintuitive for beginners, requiring a steep learning curve to master all its functionality.
  • Performance
    Rendering a large number of plots or handling very large datasets can be slow, making Matplotlib less suitable for real-time data visualization.
  • Modern Aesthetics
    Out-of-the-box plots from Matplotlib can look somewhat dated compared to those from newer plotting libraries like Seaborn or Plotly, requiring additional customization to achieve a modern look.
  • 3D Plots
    Although Matplotlib supports 3D plotting, its capabilities are relatively limited and less sophisticated compared to specialized 3D plotting libraries.
  • Size and Structure
    The package is relatively large and can be slow to import. Its extensive structure can make finding specific functions and understanding the overall architecture challenging.

Julia features and specs

  • High Performance
    Julia uses Just-In-Time (JIT) compilation which allows it to run at speeds close to those of statically compiled languages like C and Fortran.
  • Ease of Use
    Juliaโ€™s syntax is simple and intuitive, similar to that of Python, making it accessible for newcomers and convenient for rapid development.
  • Strong Support for Mathematical Computing
    Designed with numerical and scientific computing in mind, Julia includes powerful mathematical functions and supports arbitrary precision arithmetic.
  • Multiple Dispatch
    Julia's multiple dispatch feature allows functions to be defined across many combinations of argument types which can lead to more flexible and extensible code.
  • Rich Ecosystem
    Julia has a growing ecosystem of libraries and tools, supported by an active community, catering to a wide range of applications including data science, machine learning, and more.
  • Interoperability
    Julia can easily call C and Fortran libraries directly without the need for wrappers, and it can also interact with Python, R, and MATLAB code.
  • First-Class Support for Parallelism
    Julia natively supports parallel and distributed computing, enabling efficient handling of large-scale computations.

Possible disadvantages of Julia

  • Immature Ecosystem
    Despite rapid growth, Julia's ecosystem is still not as mature or extensive as those of older, more established languages like Python or R.
  • Long Compilation Time
    The JIT compilation can lead to longer initial startup times for scripts, which might be a drawback for users accustomed to instantaneous execution.
  • Breaking Changes
    The language is still evolving, and updates sometimes include breaking changes that can disrupt existing codebases.
  • Limited Learning Resources
    Compared to other popular languages, there are fewer tutorials, books, and community resources for learning Julia.
  • Smaller Community
    While growing, the Julia community is smaller compared to well-established languages, which might limit the availability of peer support and community-driven development.
  • Package Management Issues
    Users sometimes experience difficulties with package management and dependency issues, especially when using older packages or packages with many dependencies.
  • Less Enterprise Adoption
    Julia has not been widely adopted in the enterprise sector, which can affect its perceived stability and support for mission-critical applications.

Analysis of Matplotlib

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Matplotlib is a good library for data visualization, particularly for users who require a versatile and powerful plotting solution in Python.

Why this product is good

  • Matplotlib is highly regarded due to its extensive customization options, versatility in creating a wide range of static, animated, and interactive plots, and its large user community and support. It integrates well with other scientific libraries in Python, making it a staple for data visualization. The library is also open-source and frequently updated, ensuring it remains a reliable choice for users.

Recommended for

  • Data scientists and analysts needing to create detailed, customized visual representations of their data.
  • Researchers and engineers looking for a comprehensive plotting library that supports scientific and engineering formats.
  • Python developers who require integration with other scientific computing libraries like NumPy and Pandas.

Analysis of Julia

Overall verdict

  • Julia is considered a good programming language, especially for specific applications.

Why this product is good

  • Ecosystem
    Julia has a growing ecosystem of packages and is used increasingly in research and academia.
  • Easy syntax
    Its syntax is easy to learn, especially for those familiar with other high-level programming languages.
  • Performance
    Julia is designed for high-performance numerical and scientific computing. It combines the ease of use of Python with the speed of C.
  • Interoperability
    It can interoperate with other languages like Python, C, and R, allowing users to leverage existing libraries.
  • Multiple dispatch
    It features multiple dispatch, which enables a more expressive style of programming.

Recommended for

    {"data_science" => "Data scientists who require a fast and flexible language for data manipulation and analysis.", "machine_learning" => "Developers looking to implement machine learning models that benefit from Julia's performance.", "numerical_analysis" => "Engineers and analysts conducting numerical analysis that demands high computational efficiency.", "scientific_computing" => "Researchers and scientists working on mathematical, statistical, and computational problems."}

Matplotlib videos

Learn Matplotlib in 6 minutes | Matplotlib Python Tutorial

Julia videos

Julie & Julia Movie Review: Beyond The Trailer

More videos:

  • Review - 'Julie & Julia' review by Michael Phillips
  • Review - Julie & Julia movie review by Kenneth Turan

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Matplotlib and Julia)
Technical Computing
68 68%
32% 32
Programming Language
0 0%
100% 100
Data Science And Machine Learning
Data Visualization
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 Matplotlib and Julia

Matplotlib Reviews

25 Python Frameworks to Master
Matplotlib is a widely used tool for data visualization in Python. It provides an object-oriented API for embedding plots into applications.
Source: kinsta.com
5 Best Python Libraries For Data Visualization in 2023
You can use this library for multiple purposes such as generating plots, bar charts, histograms, power spectra, stemplots, pie charts, and more. The best thing about Matplotlib is you just have to write a few lines of code and it handles the rest by itself. Metaplotilib focuses on static images for publication along with interactive figures using toolkits like Qt and GTK.
15 data science tools to consider using in 2021
Matplotlib is an open source Python plotting library that's used to read, import and visualize data in analytics applications. Data scientists and other users can create static, animated and interactive data visualizations with Matplotlib, using it in Python scripts, the Python and IPython shells, Jupyter Notebook, web application servers and various GUI toolkits.
Top Python Libraries For Image Processing In 2021
Matplotlib is primarily used for 2D visualizations such as scatter plots, bar graphs, histograms, and many more, but we can also use it for image processing. It is effective to get information out of an image. It doesnโ€™t support all file formats.
Top 8 Python Libraries for Data Visualization
Matplotlib is a data visualization library and 2-D plotting library of Python It was initially released in 2003 and it is the most popular and widely-used plotting library in the Python community. It comes with an interactive environment across multiple platforms. Matplotlib can be used in Python scripts, the Python and IPython shells, the Jupyter notebook, web application...

Julia Reviews

7 Best MATLAB alternatives for Linux
Julia is capable of direct calling C and Fortran libraries. You can create scripts in interactive mode (REPL) and by using its embedding API you can use Julia with other programming languages easily.
15 data science tools to consider using in 2021
Julia 1.0 became available in 2018, nine years after work began on the language; the latest version is 1.6, released in March 2021. The documentation for Julia notes that, because its compiler differs from the interpreters in data science languages like Python and R, new users "may find that Julia's performance is unintuitive at first." But, it claims, "once you understand...
10 Best MATLAB Alternatives [For Beginners and Professionals]
Talking about its capability, Julia can load multidimensional datasets and can perform various actions on them with total ease. Julia has over 13 million downloads as of today. Itโ€™s the proof of its flexibility
6 MATLAB Alternatives You Could Use
Strictly speaking, Julia is not a full โ€œalternativeโ€ to MATLAB, in the sense that itโ€™s essentially a high-level, dynamic programming language, intended for numerical computing. However, you can easily use it via the free Juno IDE. As for the language itself, it comes with a sophisticated compiler, with support for distributed parallel computing, and a large mathematical...
Source: beebom.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Julia might be a bit more popular than Matplotlib. We know about 127 links to it since March 2021 and only 110 links to Matplotlib. 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.

Matplotlib mentions (110)

  • Top 5 GitHub Repositories for Data Science in 2026
    The book introduces the core libraries essential for working with data in Python: particularly IPython, NumPy, Pandas, Matplotlib, Scikit-Learn, and related packages Familiarity with Python as a language is assumed; if you need a quick introduction to the language itself, see the free companion project, Aโ€ฆ. - Source: dev.to / 14 days ago
  • Streamlit Chart Libraries Comparison: A Frontend Developer's Guide
    Matplotlib is Python's visualization standard:. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Why Use Matplotlib for Data Visualization?
    Matplotlib is a foundational and incredibly versatile plotting library in Python, making it a go-to choice for many data scientists and analysts. While many data visualization libraries exist, Matplotlib offers some significant advantages that make it indispensable. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Python for Data Visualization: Best Tools and Practices
    Matplotlib is the backbone of Python data visualization. Itโ€™s a flexible, reliable library for creating static plots. Whether you're making simple bar charts or complex graphs, Matplotlib allows extensive customization. You can adjust nearly every aspect of a plot to suit your needs. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Build a Competitive Intelligence Tool Powered by AI
    Add data visualization to make it actionable for your business using pandas.pydata.org and matplotlib.org. - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
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Julia mentions (127)

  • Ask HN: Let's learn more about each one, shall we?
    Mine is Julia, although I don't use diary. Nowadays I like SuperCollider. https://julialang.org. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Reflections on 2 years of CPython's JIT Compiler: The good, the bad, the ugly
    > I was active in the Python community in the 200x timeframe, and I daresay the common consensus is that language didn't matter and a sufficiently smart compiler/JIT/whatever would eventually make dynamic scripting languages as fast as C, so there was no reason to learn static languages rather than just waiting for this to happen. To be very pedantic, the problem is not that these are dynamic languages _per se_,... - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Top Programming Languages for AI Development in 2025
    Julia: Exceptional Numerical Processing. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • Building a Secret Scanner in Julia: A GitLeaks Alternative
    To use Julia โ€“ one of the best programming languages, which is unfairly considered niche. Its applications go far beyond HPC. Itโ€™s perfectly suited for solving a wide range of problems. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • A data scientist's journey building a B2B data product with Julia and Pluto
    In this post, Iโ€™m exploring dev tools for data scientists, specifically Julia and Pluto.jl. I interviewed Mandar, a data scientist and software engineer, about his experience adopting Pluto, a reactive notebook environment similar to Jupyter notebooks. Whatโ€™s different about Pluto is that itโ€™s designed specifically for Julia, a programming language built for scientific computing and machine learning. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Matplotlib and Julia, you can also consider the following products

Pandas - Pandas is an open source library providing high-performance, easy-to-use data structures and data analysis tools for the Python.

Python - Python is a clear and powerful object-oriented programming language, comparable to Perl, Ruby, Scheme, or Java.

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

MATLAB - A high-level language and interactive environment for numerical computation, visualization, and programming

NumPy - NumPy is the fundamental package for scientific computing with Python

GNU Octave - GNU Octave is a programming language for scientific computing.