Software Alternatives & Reviews

p5.js VS D3.js

Compare p5.js VS D3.js and see what are their differences

p5.js logo p5.js

JS library for creating graphic and interactive experiences

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.
  • p5.js Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-22
  • 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.

p5.js

Categories
  • Javascript UI Libraries
  • Charting Libraries
  • Flowcharts
  • Org Charts
Website p5js.org
Details $
Platforms
-

D3.js

Categories
  • Javascript UI Libraries
  • Charting Libraries
  • Data Visualization
  • Data Dashboard
Website d3js.org
Details $
Platforms
JavaScript

p5.js videos

Processing or p5.js? My opinions

More videos:

  • Review - Q&A #1: Side-Scroller in p5.js
  • Tutorial - 17.11: Sound Visualization: Frequency Analysis with FFT - p5.js Sound Tutorial

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 p5.js and D3.js)
Javascript UI Libraries
50 50%
50% 50
Charting Libraries
29 29%
71% 71
Data Visualization
0 0%
100% 100
3D
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 p5.js and D3.js

p5.js Reviews

20+ JavaScript libraries to draw your own diagrams (2022 edition)
A JS client-side library for creating graphics and interactive experiences, based on the core principles of Processing to make coding accessible to artists, designers and educators. Beyond drawing, this project provides offers web audio functionality, collision detection and even generation of graphical user interfaces from p5.js sketches.
8 Best Free and Open-Source Drawing Libraries in JavaScript
The p5.js library is a great option for people who are looking for a library that doesn't have a steep learning curve, but which can create very complicated systems if necessary. The get started with P5.js page on the official website has a functional example that draws circles wherever you move your mouse in only a few lines of code.

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 p5.js. We know about 158 links to it since March 2021 and only 133 links to p5.js. 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.

p5.js mentions (133)

  • Turbo Pascal Turns 40
    Processing (P5) had this: you can select any string of text in its IDE anl search for it in the docs, and if it's one of the built-in functions or constants it will open the associated static html page that came installed with the software, so no internet nor server required. And despite being offline you can still navigate the docs too. This feels a lost basic skill in static site generation these days. It was... - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • My Google Play Developer account has been terminated
    I thought it could be funny to use the javascript version of it https://p5js.org/ in a web page and then wrap it in a Unity app, since Unity was and is the environment I use for making apps. - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
  • Repetition can make you loopy!: Intro to JavaScript Loops
    In this last section, I'll be creating some visual examples to show how helpful loops can be. I'll be using p5js, a JavaScript library with functionality for creative coding. That being said, I'll try to give a condensed version of the functions being utilized in the following examples. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • Ask HN: How to teach a kid of 15 Linux and programming
    > how do I get him learning programming in a fun way? Processing / P5.js can be pretty fun to learn. You use a real programming language to create art and animations. With little code you can get a circle on the screen, then making it move, then following your mouse, then adding other shapes, then changing colour depending on some event… It’s conductive to experimentation and a way to gradually introduce concepts.... - Source: Hacker News / 9 months ago
  • [OC] I created a simple, free waveform and genre visualizer for your top ten Spotify songs, a few samples below and link to the tool in the comments!
    Then I used p5js to create the 'art' itself, really user friendly coding framework with lots of resources online! If you want to get into coding, that is a really great entry point with Daniel Schiffman's coding train videos on YT! Source: 10 months ago
View more

D3.js mentions (158)

  • Full Stack Web Development Concept map
    d3 - very power visualization library enabling dynamic visualizations. docs. - Source: dev.to / 5 days 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 / about 1 month 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: 4 months ago
  • Animated map showing frequency and location of births around the world [OC]
    I made this interactive visualization that attempts to show the real-time frequency and location of births around the world. A country’s annual births (i.e. The country’s population times its birthrate) were distributed across all of the populated locations in each country, weighted by the population distribution (i.e. More populated areas got a greater fraction of the births). Data Sources and... Source: 4 months ago
  • How to use Next.js and Recharts to build an information dashboard
    Recharts is a composable charting library built on React components and D3.js. It contains API’s which allow you to easily add 11 different highly configurable chart types to your React application. Recharts is one of the most popular React.js charting libraries with over 20k likes on GitHub. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing p5.js and D3.js, you can also consider the following products

Three.js - A JavaScript 3D library which makes WebGL simpler.

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

Pixi.js - Fast lightweight 2D library that works across all devices

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

Processing - C++ and Java programming at the speed of thought.

Plotly - Low-Code Data Apps