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Plotly VS ThingSpeak

Compare Plotly VS ThingSpeak and see what are their differences

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Contents:
  1. ยป Base Details
  2. ยป Videos
  3. ยป Reviews
  4. ยป Alternatives

Plotly logo Plotly

Low-Code Data Apps

ThingSpeak logo ThingSpeak

Open source data platform for the Internet of Things. ThingSpeak Features
  • Plotly Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-31
  • ThingSpeak Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-07-26

Plotly features and specs

  • Interactivity
    Plotly offers highly interactive plots that allow users to pan, zoom, and hover over data points for more information. This enhances the user experience and provides deeper insights.
  • High-quality visualizations
    It provides aesthetically pleasing and highly customizable charts, making it suitable for publication-quality visuals.
  • Versatility
    Plotly supports multiple chart types including line charts, scatter plots, bar charts, and 3D plots, making it suitable for a wide range of applications.
  • Python integration
    Plotly is well-integrated with Python and works seamlessly with other popular data science libraries like Pandas, NumPy, and Scikit-learn.
  • Web-based
    The plots can be easily embedded in web applications or dashboards, making it ideal for sharing insights over the internet.
  • Open-source
    Plotly offers an open-source version, which allows users to create and share visualizations without any cost.

Possible disadvantages of Plotly

  • Performance
    Rendering very large datasets can sometimes be slow, which may not be suitable for real-time data visualization requirements.
  • Learning curve
    Even though the library is well-documented, the extensive range of features can have a steep learning curve for beginners.
  • Cost for advanced features
    While the basic functionality is free, more advanced features, such as export to certain formats and additional customizable options, require a paid subscription.
  • Dependency management
    Plotly has a number of dependencies that need to be managed properly, which can sometimes complicate the setup process.
  • Complexity
    For simple visualizations, Plotly might be overkill and simpler libraries like Matplotlib or Seaborn could be more appropriate.

ThingSpeak features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    ThingSpeak provides a user-friendly interface and extensive documentation, making it suitable for users with varying levels of technical expertise.
  • Real-time Data Processing
    It allows real-time data collection, analysis, and visualization, which can be beneficial for applications that require immediate feedback.
  • Integration with MATLAB
    Seamless integration with MATLAB allows users to leverage MATLAB's powerful data analysis and visualization tools for more advanced analysis.
  • API Support
    ThingSpeak provides RESTful APIs, making it easier to collect, store, and retrieve data from IoT devices and other sources.
  • Free Tier
    Offers a free tier for users to start with basic usage, which is useful for small projects or initial experimentation.
  • Community Support
    A broad community of users means more available resources such as tutorials, forums, and shared projects for learning and troubleshooting.

Possible disadvantages of ThingSpeak

  • Limited Free Tier
    The free version has limitations on the number of channels and data storage, which might not be sufficient for larger projects.
  • Dependence on Internet
    Requires a constant internet connection to transmit data to the cloud, which could be a drawback in remote or unstable network environments.
  • Data Privacy
    As a cloud-based service, data control and privacy can be concerns, especially for sensitive or proprietary information.
  • Limited Advanced Features
    Advanced data analytics features are relatively basic compared to more comprehensive IoT platforms, which might limit its use for more complex requirements.
  • Cost for Pro Features
    To access more advanced features and larger data capacities, a paid plan is required, which may not be cost-effective for all users.
  • Latency
    For applications requiring ultra-low latency, using a cloud service can introduce delays that might be unacceptable.

Analysis of Plotly

Overall verdict

  • Overall, Plotly is a strong choice for those looking to create dynamic and interactive data visualizations, thanks to its range of features and ease of integration with web technologies.

Why this product is good

  • Plotly is considered good because it offers a comprehensive suite of tools for creating interactive visualizations that can be used in web applications, reports, and dashboards. It supports many different types of plots, is easy to use for both beginners and experienced developers, and integrates well with popular programming languages like Python, R, and JavaScript.

Recommended for

    Plotly is recommended for data scientists, analysts, and developers who need to create interactive and visually appealing data visualizations. It's particularly useful for those who work with Python or R and want the ability to embed their visualizations in web applications or dashboards.

Analysis of ThingSpeak

Overall verdict

  • Whether ThingSpeak is 'good' largely depends on user needs and project requirements. It is considered a good choice for those who require a straightforward, robust platform for IoT projects and appreciate its integration with MATLAB. However, users with very advanced or custom requirements might find its features limiting compared to other more extensive IoT platforms.

Why this product is good

  • ThingSpeak is a popular IoT (Internet of Things) platform that allows users to collect, visualize, and analyze live data streams from devices or sensors over the internet. It is favored for its ease of use, integration capabilities, and support for MATLAB analytics, which provides advanced data analysis and visualization tools. It is also compatible with various hardware platforms like Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and more, making it accessible for both hobbyists and professionals.

Recommended for

  • Students and educators looking to learn and teach IoT concepts
  • Hobbyists interested in creating simple IoT projects
  • Developers seeking an easy-to-use platform for quick prototyping
  • Professionals who require MATLAB's analytical features for data analysis
  • Organizations looking for reliable data logging and visualization solutions

Plotly videos

+ Add

Create Real-time Chart with Javascript | Plotly.js Tutorial

More videos:

  • Review - Introducing plotly.py 3.0
  • Review - Is Plotly The Better Matplotlib?
  • Tutorial - Plotly Tutorial 2021
  • Review - Data Visualization as The First and Last Mile of Data Science Plotly Express and Dash | SciPy 2021

ThingSpeak videos

+ Add

How to Analyze IoT Data in ThingSpeak

More videos:

  • Review - Review Higrow Board ESP32 and Aplication on Thingspeak #IoT #ESP32
  • Tutorial - How to Use ThingSpeak with Arduino

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Plotly and ThingSpeak)

Plotly

ThingSpeak

Data Visualization
100 100%
Data Visualization
0% 0
IoT Platform
0 0%
IoT Platform
100% 100
Charting Libraries
100 100%
Charting Libraries
0% 0
Data Dashboard
53 53%
Data Dashboard
47% 47

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Plotly and ThingSpeak

Plotly Reviews

Best 8 Redash Alternatives in 2023 [In Depth Guide]
Plotly is specifically designed for companies who want to build and deploy analytic applications like dashboards using Python, Julia, or R without needing DevOps or Javascript developers.
Source: www.datapad.io
5 Best Python Libraries For Data Visualization in 2023
Plotly is a web-based data visualization toolkit that comes with unique functionalities such as dendrograms, 3D charts, and also contour plots, which is not very common in other libraries. It has a great API offering scatter plots, line charts, bar charts, error bars, box plots, and other visualizations. Plotly can even be accessed from a Python Notebook.
Source: www.technotification.com
Top 8 Python Libraries for Data Visualization
Plotly is a free open-source graphing library that can be used to form data visualizations. Plotly (plotly.py) is built on top of the Plotly JavaScript library (plotly.js) and can be used to create web-based data visualizations that can be displayed in Jupyter notebooks or web applications using Dash or saved as individual HTML files. Plotly provides more than 40 unique...
Source: www.geeksforgeeks.org
5 top picks for JavaScript chart libraries
Plotly is a graphing library thatโ€™s available for various runtime environments, including the browser. It supports many kinds of charts and graphs that we can configure with a variety of options.
Source: blog.logrocket.com

ThingSpeak Reviews

Best IoT Platforms in 2022 for Small Business
ThingSpeak is an IoT platform that uses channels to store data sent from apps or devices. A special feature of ThingSpeak is that you can create your own channel to collect the analyzed data hence giving a great level of flexibility to the users. You can also collect the data from the public (for example, ThingSpeak channel 12397 โ€“ Weather Station) and configure to write...
Source: www.fogwing.io
Open Source Internet of Things (IoT) Platforms
Known as the cloud IoT platform with MATLAB analytics, ThingSpeak allows you to aggregate, analyze, and visualize live data streams. IoT devices send their live data directly to ThingSpeak. From there, you create instant visualizations and can send alerts using web services. Essentially, however, you write and execute MATLAB code to do your data preparation, visualization...
Source: jansutris10.medium.com
14 of the Best IoT Platforms to Watch in 2021
ThingSpeak is a 100% analytics platform which supports advanced developer applications in environmental monitoring, energy, and smart farming. All the analysis is done on Matlab, and you can utilize the data insights for really cool stuff. For example, connecting an IoT device to Twitter and sending alerts. The best part is that using data for a certain interval is free....
Source: www.iottechtrends.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Plotly should be more popular than ThingSpeak. It has been mentiond 34 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.

Plotly mentions (34)

  • How to Analyze 47 Million Hacker News Posts: A Data Scientist's Dream Dataset Just Got Better
    Let's dive into some practical examples. First, you'll need to set up your environment with the right tools. I recommend using pandas for data manipulation and plotly for visualization. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Python for Data Visualization: Best Tools and Practices
    Plotly is perfect for interactive visualizations. You can create interactive charts and graphs that allow users to hover, click, and zoom in. Plotly is also great for web-based visuals, making it easy to share your findings online. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Generative AI Powered QnA & Visualization Chatbot
    Front End: A React application that leverages React-Chatbotify library to easily integrate a chatbot GUI. It also uses the Plotly library to display the charts/visualizations. The generative AI implementation and details are entirely abstracted from the front end. The front-end application depends on a single REST endpoint of the backend application. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Build a Stock Dashboard in less than 40 lines of Python code!๐Ÿค“
    In this tutorial, Mariya Sha will guide you through building a stock value dashboard using Taipy, Plotly, and a dataset from Kaggle. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year 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 / about 2 years ago
View more

ThingSpeak mentions (9)

  • Kotlin/ Thingspeak Interfacing.
    First of all, you need to ask yourself how familiar you are with MatLab. Then from a dev point of view, could you use an API to reference cloud data then apply analytics. Great intro to IoT. I can see that company going far in 5-10 and may invest based on trajectory. Https://thingspeak.com. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • Google sheets and esp32
    You can use solutions like thingspeak https://thingspeak.com/. Source: over 3 years ago
  • Help me check my circuit for my self-sustaining water meter
    I'm not sure yet. Maybe something custom, but probably not. I was thinking about Thingspeak before. Source: over 3 years ago
  • Displaying readings to website?
    I haven't got around to MQTT yet, but as an easy interim solution I recommend ThingSpeak https://thingspeak.com/ as you can set up an account for free and getting an ESP to send data to it is trivial. Plus you can access it via the web, or embed their graphs and dials into a webpage. The graphics are a bit meh though. Source: over 3 years ago
  • i have an idea for a database+arduino+matlab, i need some help plz
    ThingSpeak for IoT Projects Data collection in the cloud with advanced data analysis using MATLAB Https://thingspeak.com/. Source: over 3 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Plotly and ThingSpeak, you can also consider the following products

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.

AWS IoT - Easily and securely connect devices to the cloud.

RAWGraphs - RAWGraphs is an open source app built with the goal of making the visualization of complex data...

Countly - Product Analytics and Innovation. Build better customer journeys.

Tableau - Tableau can help anyone see and understand their data. Connect to almost any database, drag and drop to create visualizations, and share with a click.

Particle.io - Particle is an IoT platform enabling businesses to build, connect and manage their connected solutions.

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