Graphs and charts make any data easily comprehensible. They present complex statistics quickly and effectively. A good graph can be eye-catching and elevate the look of your website.
Highcharts is a popular platform used to create interactive charts without relying on plugins. It’s so popular and versatile that we’re using it for creating charts in wpDataTables.
It is not the only option, and there are many alternatives worth considering.
Here is an overview of some of the best Highcharts alternatives available and their benefits. Keep reading more and learn how to choose the best one for you.
Looking for the Best Highcharts Alternative? Pick one of these
FusionCharts
FusionCharts is a perfect alternative to Highcharts. It boasts one of the most comprehensive JavaScript libraries available today. There are over 90 high-quality charts and 900 maps that are available for immediate use. A powerful reporting tool on the dashboard provides an overview of the stats across all business functions.
FusionChartsis compatible with all devices, including PCs, Macs, iPhones, and Android tablets. It is also compatible with IE6.
A range of formats is available with both JSON and XML data formats accepted. Rendering can be via HTML5/SVG or VML and charts can be exported in PNG, JPG, or PDF format. FusionCharts extensions allow easy integration with any technology, including jQuery, AngularJS, PHP, and Rails.
Chart.js
Chart.js is perfect for projects that require flat, clean, elegant JavaScript charts. It is a tiny open-source library that is 11kb when minified and zipped. It provides the 6 core chart types (line, bar, radar, polar, pie, and doughnut). These are each in their own modules so that you only need to load the ones that are specific to your project. This makes your footprint even smaller.
Because of its size, loading time and page impact are low. The charts are fully responsive, causing them to resize based on the viewport width. The Chart.js documentation is well organized and provides a detailed guide for the use of each feature.
Epoch
Built on d3.js, Epoch is a tool that allows developers to use real-time charts on their apps or web pages. Epoch isfree,open-source, and very neatly documented.
Despite having only 5 chart types available,Epoch excels at representing real-time data in a simple and accessible way.
JSCharting
JSCharting has a chart library that includes a large number of chart types. Maps, Gantt, stock, and others are available. There is also a suite of standalone micro charts that can render in any chart labels or in any div element on a page.
UI controls (UiItems) are also included, creating richer and more interactive charts. This makes it simple to control data or visualization variables in real-time. Charts can be exported to SVG, PNG, PDF, and JPG formats.
The gallery is categorized according to chart type and feature samples. Chart styling yields clean charts that create a smart, professional impression.
Dygraphs
Dygraphs is an open-source JavaScript Charting library that is best suited for large data sets. It is interactive and features pinch and zoom support on mobile devices.
The program is compatible with most modern browsers and backward compatible up to IE8. As an added advantage, options and custom callbacks also make it highly configurable.
D3.js
D3.js is a versatile Highcharts alternative, which boasts an active community, providing many learning resources and fast responses to questions.
D3 emphasizes web standards. It gives the full capabilities of modern browsers without being tied to a proprietary framework. Data manipulation and binding can generate complex visualizations for large amounts of data.
D3.js supports IE9 and above, along with all other modern browsers.IE8 can be used via an additional library.
Recharts
Recharts is a composable charting library.It builds charts with decoupled, reusable React components. It is built on top of SVG elements with a lightweight dependency on D3.js submodules.
Use Recharts to customize charts by tweaking component props and adding in custom components.
Chartist.js
Chartist is a library that can create simple responsive charts. It provides easy, intuitive use. This also means that Chartist is lightweight at only 10KB, resulting in very little impact on load time.
Chartist offers a responsive configuration with media queries. This is beneficial not only in resizing charts but also provides different texts and shapes.
Sigma
Sigma is dedicated specifically to graph drawing. It is built on Canvas and WebGL but has a public API. As a result, there is a range of plugins accessible on GitHub.
Sigma’s functionality is fully responsive and touch interactive. It allows developers to add their own functions directly to scripts and thereby render nodes and edges exactly to specifications. This makes Sigma a great alternative to Highcharts.
KOOLCHART
While KoolChart is an HTML 5 Canvas-based JavaScript Charting library, a mapping and grid product is also available.
The v5 release includes a more interactive feature set and updated styling. This gives a cleaner and more modern presentation. The use of Canvas offers better performance but comes at the expense of being raster-based.
The samples use a string-based XML to apply chart options, which seems to be less practical than alternative approaches. These options look like HTML5 but are set through a JavaScript string.
The API is well documented with example charts for each property.
amCharts
amCharts is an aesthetically pleasing charting library. It offers both charts and geographical maps (Map Chart) that you can use to create amazing maps.
The Map Chart package can create a range of interactive maps with only a few lines of code. Some great product features include map projections, coordinate shifting, and heat maps. Although there are a variety of bundled maps available, it’s possible to make your own as well.
amCharts uses SVG to render charts that work in all modern browsers. It can be integrated with TypeScript, Angular, React, Vue, and plain JavaScript apps.
Google Charts
Google Charts is yet another library that we’re using to build charts in wpDataTables, the #1 WordPress plugin for building tables and charts.
The vast library of information available on Google Charts makes it a great starting point for beginners. The documentation has a great deal of commented code and step-by-step instructions on how to embed HTML5 / SVG charts into web pages.
Google Charts provides a wide range of charts for almost any kind of data visualization. The charts are based on HTML5/SVG and VML for older IE versions. While all charts are interactive, some also allow you to pan and zoom in/out.
Google Charts is free to use. To clarify, the license is free, but not open-source. Google’s licensing does not allow users to host their JS files on their servers.
Toast UI Chart
Toast UI Chart charts are visually appealing and display an array of colors and styles. The animations are perfectly smooth.Because of these features, their charts guarantee an elegant look to any data visualization project.
With Toast UI Chart, users can create both simple and complex visualizations. The available API will assist in implementing the custom logic. Furthermore, once created, the charts can be exported as both JPG and PNG images.
Ember Charts
Ember Charts is a great open-source library built with D3.js and Ember.js. It offers time series, bar, pie, and scatter charts that are all customizable. SVG is used to render the charts.
Some key features include:
- Highly customizable and extensible
- Rich with features: legends, labels, tooltips, and mouseover effects can be added
- Robust and polished: obscure data will not affect the breakdown of the charts
- Own charts can be rolled by extending the Chart Component class: labels, automatic resizing, and reasonable defaults for margins, padding, etc.
dc.js
This Highcharts alternative is an open-source dimensional charting JavaScript library. It is perfect for creating interactive dashboards. These charts have a relational effect. Interact with one section of the dashboard and the rest of the chart reacts to drill down to that particular data point.
dc.js focuses on its USP, the exploration of large multidimensional datasets, with excellence.
Hey, did you know data can be beautiful too?
wpDataTables can make it that way. There’s a good reason why it’s the #1 WordPress plugin for creating responsive tables and charts.
And it’s really easy to do something like this:
- You provide the table data
- Configure and customize it
- Publish it in a post or page
And it’s not just pretty, but also practical. You can make large tables with up to millions of rows, or you can use advanced filters and search, or you can go wild and make it editable.
“Yeah, but I just like Excel too much and there’s nothing like that on websites”. Yeah, there is. You can use conditional formatting like in Excel or Google Sheets.
Did I tell you you can create charts too with your data? And that’s only a small part. There are lots of other features for you.
FAQs about Highcharts alternatives
1. What are some alternative libraries to Highcharts for data visualization?
For data visualization, some alternatives to Highcharts are D3.js, Chart.js, Google Charts, amCharts, FusionCharts, and ZingChart.
2. Which alternative to Highcharts offers the most flexibility in customization?
Chart.js is renowned for its customizable versatility, enabling simple changes to colors, labels, and styles. Moreover, it has a simpler API than Highcharts, making it simpler for newcomers to understand and use.
3. Are there any open-source alternatives to Highcharts that are just as effective?
Absolutely, there are a lot of open-source Highcharts equivalents, such as Chart.js, D3.js, and Google Charts. These libraries include a selection of chart types, flexible customization features, and assistance with numerous data sources.
4. Which alternative to Highcharts is the easiest to learn and implement?
Due to its simplicity and simple API, chart.js is frequently regarded as the easiest to understand and implement. It is also simple to get started with because to its comprehensive documentation and vibrant community.
5. Can I find an alternative to Highcharts that offers more advanced chart types?
Heat maps, tree maps, and chord diagrams are just a few of the more sophisticated chart kinds that D3.js is recognized for offering, making it an excellent alternative for individuals that require more specialized visualizations.
6. What are the main differences between Highcharts and its alternatives in terms of performance and rendering speed?
Depending on the particular library and the quantity of the data set being visualized, performance and rendering speed can change. However, both Google Charts and Chart.js are renowned for their quick rendering times and enhanced performance.
7. Can I find an alternative to Highcharts that has a better support community and more resources available?
Both D3.js and Chart.js have sizable and vibrant support communities, and both have a wealth of online guides and tutorials. Both amCharts and ZingChart provide extensive support and resources, making it simple to receive assistance and find solutions to common problems.
8. Which alternative to Highcharts offers the best compatibility with different web frameworks and technologies?
The ability of Google Charts to operate with a variety of web frameworks and technologies, such as Angular, React, and Vue.js, is well known. The majority of web frameworks and libraries may be combined with D3.js, which is also very flexible.
9. Are there any paid alternatives to Highcharts that are more cost-effective or offer more features?
AmCharts, FusionCharts, and ZingChart are a few paid, feature-rich competitors to Highcharts that are both affordable and cost-effective. For smaller projects, these libraries provide free versions. They also have a variety of pricing options.
10. How do the licensing options of Highcharts alternatives compare to Highcharts itself?
Several Highcharts alternatives may offer different licensing options, such as open-source licenses or commercial licenses. To make sure that the licensing conditions of each library comply with your particular use case, it is crucial to thoroughly review them.
Ending thoughts on the best Highcharts alternatives
Data visualization and analysis is a necessary part of business processes. Regardless of their size, firms need clear, effective, and interactive ways to interpret data. So it is important to choose the JavaScript Charting library that is best suited to your needs.
JavaScript Charting libraries are a powerful tool in meeting this need. They display data in the form of visually pleasing, easy-to-understand, interactive charts. They make it easier to extract and convey key patterns and insights that are often not clear with static charts.
This article listed 15 alternatives to the Highchart Charting library. Based on your own needs, try a few of the options until you find the one that works best for you.
If you enjoyed reading this article on Highcharts alternative, you should check out this one about Chart.js examples.
We also wrote about a few related subjects like types of charts, chart designs and how to create great WordPress charts.
