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Matplotlib VS Seaborn

Compare Matplotlib VS Seaborn and see what are their differences

Matplotlib logo Matplotlib

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

Seaborn logo Seaborn

Seaborn is a Python data visualization library that uses Matplotlib to make statistical graphics.
  • Matplotlib Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-14
  • Seaborn Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-20

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.

Seaborn features and specs

  • High-Level Interface
    Seaborn provides a high-level interface for drawing attractive statistical graphics, simplifying the process of creating complex plots with just a few lines of code.
  • Integration with Pandas
    Seaborn automatically works well with Pandas data structures, making it easy to visualize data directly from DataFrames without additional data manipulation.
  • Built-in Themes
    Seaborn offers built-in themes and color palettes that allow users to quickly improve the aesthetics of their plots, making them more appealing and informative.
  • Statistical Plotting
    Seaborn includes a wide array of statistical plots like heatmaps, violin plots, and box plots, which help in understanding data distribution and relationships.
  • Customization
    It provides extensive options for customizing plots, giving users the flexibility to tailor their visualizations to specific needs and preferences.

Possible disadvantages of Seaborn

  • Dependence on Matplotlib
    Seaborn is built on top of Matplotlib, and users may need to understand Matplotlib to handle more intricate customizations that Seaborn does not directly support.
  • Learning Curve
    While Seaborn simplifies plotting, there is still a learning curve involved, especially for users unfamiliar with statistical data visualization.
  • Limited Interactivity
    Seaborn primarily generates static plots, which may not provide the level of interactivity required for dynamic data exploration compared to other tools such as Plotly or Bokeh.
  • Performance
    For very large datasets, Seaborn may become slow, and performance can be an issue compared to more optimized visualization libraries.
  • 3D Plotting Support
    Seaborn does not natively support 3D plotting, limiting its use for visualizations that require three-dimensional data representation.

Matplotlib videos

Learn Matplotlib in 6 minutes | Matplotlib Python Tutorial

Seaborn videos

Seaborn Review

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Matplotlib and Seaborn)
Technical Computing
78 78%
22% 22
Data Science And Machine Learning
Development
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 Seaborn

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...

Seaborn Reviews

5 Best Python Libraries For Data Visualization in 2023
Seaborn is working hard to make visualization a central part of understanding and exploring data. Its dataset-oriented plotting functions run on data frames carrying whole datasets. Seaborn internally performs the necessary semantic mapping and statistical aggregation to provide informative plots. Lastly, Seaborn is fully integrated with the PyData stack including support...
Top 8 Python Libraries for Data Visualization
Seaborn is a Python data visualization library that is based on Matplotlib and closely integrated with the NumPy and pandas data structures. Seaborn has various dataset-oriented plotting functions that operate on data frames and arrays that have whole datasets within them. Then it internally performs the necessary statistical aggregation and mapping functions to create...

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Matplotlib should be more popular than Seaborn. It has been mentiond 107 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 / about 1 month 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 / 5 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 / 8 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 / 9 months ago
  • Something is strange with CrowdStrike timeline
    It looks like matplotlib to me: https://matplotlib.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 9 months ago
View more

Seaborn mentions (37)

  • How I Hacked Uber’s Hidden API to Download 4379 Rides
    Below are the key insights. If you want to see the Python code I used to do this analysis and generate the charts using Seaborn, you can find my full analysis Jupyter notebook on my Github repo here: Tip Analysis.ipynb. - Source: dev.to / 25 days ago
  • Scientific Visualization: Python and Matplotlib, by Nicolas Rougier
    Additionally, Seaborn (https://seaborn.pydata.org/) is a great mention for people that want to use Matplotlib with better default aesthetics, amongst other conveniences: "Seaborn is a Python data visualization library based on matplotlib. It provides a high-level interface for drawing attractive and informative statistical graphics.". - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
  • Data Visualisation Basics
    Seaborn: built on top of matplotlib, adds a number of functions to make common statistical visualizations easier to generate. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • Useful Python Libraries for AI/ML
    Pandas - The standard data analysis and manipulation tool Numpy - scientific computing library Seaborn - statistical data visualization Sklearn - basic machine learning and predictive analysis CausalML - a suite of uplift modeling and causal inference methods PyTorch - professional deep learning framework PivotTablejs - Drag’n’drop Pivot Tables and Charts for Jupyter/IPython Notebook LazyPredict - build... - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • Essential Deep Learning Checklist: Best Practices Unveiled
    How to Accomplish: Utilize visualization libraries like Matplotlib, Seaborn, or Plotly in Python to create histograms, scatter plots, and bar charts. For image data, use tools that visualize images alongside their labels to check for labeling accuracy. For structured data, correlation matrices and pair plots can be highly informative. - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Matplotlib and Seaborn, 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.

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

Quantopian - Your algorithmic investing platform

Plotly - Low-Code Data Apps

quantra - A public API for quantitative finance made with Quantlib

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