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Matplotlib VS Jupyter

Compare Matplotlib VS Jupyter and see what are their differences

Matplotlib logo Matplotlib

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

Jupyter logo Jupyter

Project Jupyter exists to develop open-source software, open-standards, and services for interactive computing across dozens of programming languages. Ready to get started? Try it in your browser Install the Notebook.
  • Matplotlib Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-14
  • Jupyter Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-22

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.

Jupyter features and specs

  • Interactive Computing
    Jupyter allows real-time interaction with the data and code, providing immediate feedback and making it easier to experiment and iterate.
  • Rich Media Output
    It supports output in various formats including HTML, images, videos, LaTeX, and more, enhancing the ability to visualize and interpret results.
  • Language Agnostic
    Jupyter supports multiple programming languages through its kernel system (e.g., Python, R, Julia), allowing flexibility in the choice of tools.
  • Collaborative Features
    It enables collaboration through shared notebooks, version control, and platform integrations like GitHub.
  • Educational Tool
    Jupyter is widely used for teaching, thanks to its easy-to-use interface and ability to combine narrative text with code, making it ideal for assignments and tutorials.
  • Extensibility
    Jupyter is highly extensible with a large ecosystem of plugins and extensions available for various functionalities.

Possible disadvantages of Jupyter

  • Performance Issues
    For larger datasets and more complex computations, Jupyter can be slower compared to running scripts directly in a dedicated IDE.
  • Version Control Challenges
    Managing version control for Jupyter notebooks can be cumbersome, as they are not plain text files and include metadata that can make diffing and merging complex.
  • Resource Intensive
    Running Jupyter notebooks can be resource-intensive, especially when working with multiple large notebooks simultaneously.
  • Security Concerns
    Because Jupyter allows code execution in the browser, it can be a potential security risk if notebooks from untrusted sources are run without restrictions.
  • Dependency Management
    Managing dependencies and ensuring that the notebook runs consistently across different environments can be challenging.
  • Less Suitable for Production
    Jupyter is often considered more as a research and educational tool rather than a production environment; transitioning from a notebook to production code can require significant refactoring.

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.

Matplotlib videos

Learn Matplotlib in 6 minutes | Matplotlib Python Tutorial

Jupyter videos

What is Jupyter Notebook?

More videos:

  • Tutorial - Jupyter Notebook Tutorial: Introduction, Setup, and Walkthrough
  • Review - JupyterLab: The Next Generation Jupyter Web Interface

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Matplotlib and Jupyter)
Technical Computing
100 100%
0% 0
Data Science And Machine Learning
Data Dashboard
0 0%
100% 100
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 Jupyter

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 doesn’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...

Jupyter Reviews

Jupyter Notebook & 10 Alternatives: Data Notebook Review [2023]
Once you install nteract, you can open your notebook without having to launch the Jupyter Notebook or visit the Jupyter Lab. The nteract environment is similar to Jupyter Notebook but with more control and the possibility of extension via libraries like Papermill (notebook parameterization), Scrapbook (saving your notebook’s data and photos), and Bookstore (versioning).
Source: lakefs.io
7 best Colab alternatives in 2023
JupyterLab is the next-generation user interface for Project Jupyter. Like Colab, it's an interactive development environment for working with notebooks, code, and data. However, JupyterLab offers more flexibility as it can be self-hosted, enabling users to use their own hardware resources. It also supports extensions for integrating other services, making it a highly...
Source: deepnote.com
12 Best Jupyter Notebook Alternatives [2023] – Features, pros & cons, pricing
Jupyter Notebook is a widely popular tool for data scientists to work on data science projects. This article reviews the top 12 alternatives to Jupyter Notebook that offer additional features and capabilities.
Source: noteable.io
15 data science tools to consider using in 2021
Jupyter Notebook's roots are in the programming language Python -- it originally was part of the IPython interactive toolkit open source project before being split off in 2014. The loose combination of Julia, Python and R gave Jupyter its name; along with supporting those three languages, Jupyter has modular kernels for dozens of others.
Top 4 Python and Data Science IDEs for 2021 and Beyond
Yep — it’s the most popular IDE among data scientists. Jupyter Notebooks made interactivity a thing, and Jupyter Lab took the user experience to the next level. It’s a minimalistic IDE that does the essentials out of the box and provides options and hacks for more advanced use.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Jupyter should be more popular than Matplotlib. It has been mentiond 216 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.

Matplotlib mentions (107)

  • Python for Data Visualization: Best Tools and Practices
    Matplotlib is the backbone of Python data visualization. It’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 / 3 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 / 7 months ago
  • Data Visualisation Basics
    Matplotlib: a versatile library for visualizations, but it can take some code effort to put together common visualizations. - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
  • Creating a CSV to Graph Generator App Using ToolJet and Python Libraries
    In this tutorial, we'll create a CSV to Graph Generator app using ToolJet and Python code. This app enables users to upload a CSV file and generate various types of graphs, including line, scatter, bar, histogram, and box plots. Since ToolJet supports Python (and JavaScript) code out of the box, we'll incorporate Python code and the matplotlib library to handle the graph generation. Additionally, we'll use... - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • Something is strange with CrowdStrike timeline
    It looks like matplotlib to me: https://matplotlib.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
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Jupyter mentions (216)

  • The 3 Best Python Frameworks To Build UIs for AI Apps
    Showcase and share: Easily embed UIs in Jupyter Notebook, Google Colab or share them on Hugging Face using a public link. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • LangChain: From Chains to Threads
    LangChain wasn’t designed in isolation — it was built in the data pipeline world, where every data engineer’s tool of choice was Jupyter Notebooks. Jupyter was an innovative tool, making pipeline programming easy to experiment with, iterate on, and debug. It was a perfect fit for machine learning workflows, where you preprocess data, train models, analyze outputs, and fine-tune parameters — all in a structured,... - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Applied Artificial Intelligence & its role in an AGI World
    Leverage versatile resources to prototype and refine your ideas, such as Jupyter Notebooks for rapid iterations, Google Colabs for cloud-based experimentation, OpenAI’s API Playground for testing and fine-tuning prompts, and Anthropic's Prompt Engineering Library for inspiration and guidance on advanced prompting techniques. For frontend experimentation, tools like v0 are invaluable, providing a seamless way to... - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • Jupyter Notebook for Java
    Lately I've been working on Langgraph4J which is a Java implementation of the more famous Langgraph.js which is a Javascript library used to create agent and multi-agent workflows by Langchain. Interesting note is that [Langchain.js] uses Javascript Jupyter notebooks powered by a DENO Jupiter Kernel to implement and document How-Tos. So, I faced a dilemma on how to use (or possibly simulate) the same approach in... - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • JIRA Analytics with Pandas
    One of the most convenient ways to play with datasets is to utilize Jupyter. If you are not familiar with this tool, do not worry. I will show how to use it to solve our problem. For local experiments, I like to use DataSpell by JetBrains, but there are services available online and for free. One of the most well-known services among data scientists is Kaggle. However, their notebooks don't allow you to make... - Source: dev.to / 12 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Matplotlib and Jupyter, 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.

Looker - Looker makes it easy for analysts to create and curate custom data experiences—so everyone in the business can explore the data that matters to them, in the context that makes it truly meaningful.

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

Databricks - Databricks provides a Unified Analytics Platform that accelerates innovation by unifying data science, engineering and business.‎What is Apache Spark?

Plotly - Low-Code Data Apps

Google BigQuery - A fully managed data warehouse for large-scale data analytics.