recharts vs react-chartjs-2 vs highcharts-react-official vs react-highcharts
React Charting Libraries Comparison
1 Year
rechartsreact-chartjs-2highcharts-react-officialreact-highchartsSimilar Packages:
What's React Charting Libraries?

React charting libraries provide developers with tools to create interactive and visually appealing charts and graphs in React applications. These libraries abstract the complexities of rendering charts and offer a variety of customizable options, making it easier to visualize data effectively. They cater to different needs, such as performance, ease of use, and the variety of chart types available, allowing developers to choose the best fit for their specific use cases.

Package Weekly Downloads Trend
Github Stars Ranking
Stat Detail
Package
Downloads
Stars
Size
Issues
Publish
License
recharts3,284,69024,6954.64 MB447a month agoMIT
react-chartjs-21,592,4536,73955.9 kB1022 months agoMIT
highcharts-react-official557,4561,110240 kB4a year agoMIT
react-highcharts15,3391,253-635 years ago-
Feature Comparison: recharts vs react-chartjs-2 vs highcharts-react-official vs react-highcharts

Chart Types

  • recharts:

    Recharts focuses on a smaller set of chart types, including line, bar, area, and pie charts. Its design is centered around simplicity and ease of use, making it ideal for straightforward data visualizations.

  • react-chartjs-2:

    Chart.js offers a solid selection of basic chart types such as line, bar, radar, doughnut, and polar area charts. While it may not have as many specialized options as Highcharts, it covers the most commonly used types effectively.

  • highcharts-react-official:

    Highcharts supports a vast array of chart types, including line, bar, pie, scatter, and more specialized types like heatmaps and treemaps. This extensive variety allows developers to create complex visualizations tailored to specific data representation needs.

  • react-highcharts:

    This package inherits the wide range of chart types available in Highcharts, allowing developers to utilize any of the chart types that Highcharts supports, which includes advanced visualizations for detailed data analysis.

Customization

  • recharts:

    Recharts is designed with customization in mind, allowing developers to easily style components using props and CSS. Its component-based architecture makes it straightforward to create unique visualizations while maintaining a clean codebase.

  • react-chartjs-2:

    Chart.js provides a good level of customization through options and configuration objects, allowing developers to adjust chart appearance and behavior. However, it may not be as flexible as Highcharts for complex customizations.

  • highcharts-react-official:

    Highcharts offers extensive customization options, allowing developers to modify almost every aspect of the charts, including colors, labels, tooltips, and animations. This flexibility is crucial for creating visually appealing and brand-aligned charts.

  • react-highcharts:

    Customization in react-highcharts is similar to that of Highcharts, providing a rich set of options to tailor charts to specific needs. The integration with React allows for dynamic updates based on state changes, enhancing customization capabilities.

Performance

  • recharts:

    Recharts is optimized for React's rendering model, ensuring that only the necessary components re-render when data changes. This makes it efficient for applications with dynamic data, but performance may vary with very complex charts.

  • react-chartjs-2:

    Chart.js is lightweight and performs well for most use cases, but may struggle with very large datasets or highly interactive charts due to its rendering methods. It is best suited for simpler visualizations.

  • highcharts-react-official:

    Highcharts is optimized for performance, especially with large datasets. It employs techniques like lazy loading and efficient rendering to ensure smooth user experiences, even with complex charts.

  • react-highcharts:

    Performance in react-highcharts is on par with Highcharts, benefiting from its optimizations. It handles updates efficiently, making it suitable for applications that require frequent data changes.

Ease of Use

  • recharts:

    Recharts is designed to be user-friendly, with a straightforward API that aligns well with React's component model. This makes it easy for developers to get started and create charts without extensive setup.

  • react-chartjs-2:

    This library is known for its simplicity and ease of use, making it an excellent choice for developers who want to implement charts quickly without a steep learning curve. The integration with Chart.js makes it intuitive for those familiar with that library.

  • highcharts-react-official:

    While Highcharts offers a wealth of features, it has a steeper learning curve due to its extensive API. However, once familiar, developers can leverage its full potential for complex visualizations.

  • react-highcharts:

    The learning curve for react-highcharts is moderate, especially for those already acquainted with Highcharts. It provides a familiar interface for Highcharts users while integrating well with React's state management.

Community and Support

  • recharts:

    Recharts has a growing community, and while it may not be as large as others, it offers solid documentation and examples to help developers get started and resolve issues.

  • react-chartjs-2:

    Chart.js has a strong community and good documentation, which helps developers troubleshoot issues and learn best practices. The community support is beneficial for quick resolutions.

  • highcharts-react-official:

    Highcharts has a large and active community, along with comprehensive documentation and support options. This makes it easier to find solutions to problems and share knowledge with other developers.

  • react-highcharts:

    As a wrapper for Highcharts, it benefits from the same community and support channels as Highcharts, providing access to a wealth of resources and documentation.

How to Choose: recharts vs react-chartjs-2 vs highcharts-react-official vs react-highcharts
  • recharts:

    Choose Recharts if you are looking for a library that is built specifically for React and follows its component-based architecture. It is particularly useful for creating responsive charts and is easy to customize, making it a great choice for developers who prioritize simplicity and integration with React's ecosystem.

  • react-chartjs-2:

    Opt for this package if you prefer a lightweight library that integrates seamlessly with Chart.js. It is ideal for simpler charting needs and offers a good balance between performance and ease of use, making it suitable for projects that require quick implementation without sacrificing quality.

  • highcharts-react-official:

    Choose this package if you need a comprehensive charting solution with extensive features and support for a wide range of chart types, including complex visualizations. Highcharts is known for its high-quality graphics and is suitable for applications requiring detailed and interactive charts.

  • react-highcharts:

    Select this package if you are already familiar with Highcharts and want to leverage its capabilities within a React application. It provides a straightforward way to use Highcharts with React, making it easier to manage chart updates and state changes in a React-friendly manner.

README for recharts

Recharts

storybook Build Status Coverage Status npm version npm downloads MIT License

Introduction

Recharts is a Redefined chart library built with React and D3.

The main purpose of this library is to help you to write charts in React applications without any pain. Main principles of Recharts are:

  1. Simply deploy with React components.
  2. Native SVG support, lightweight depending only on some D3 submodules.
  3. Declarative components, components of charts are purely presentational.

Documentation at recharts.org and our storybook (WIP)

Please see the wiki for FAQ.

All development is done on the master branch. The current latest release and storybook documentation reflects what is on the release branch.

Examples

<LineChart width={400} height={400} data={data} margin={{ top: 5, right: 20, left: 10, bottom: 5 }}>
  <XAxis dataKey="name" />
  <Tooltip />
  <CartesianGrid stroke="#f5f5f5" />
  <Line type="monotone" dataKey="uv" stroke="#ff7300" yAxisId={0} />
  <Line type="monotone" dataKey="pv" stroke="#387908" yAxisId={1} />
</LineChart>

All the components of Recharts are clearly separated. The lineChart is composed of x axis, tooltip, grid, and line items, and each of them is an independent React Component. The clear separation and composition of components is one of the principle Recharts follows.

Installation

npm

NPM is the easiest and fastest way to get started using Recharts. It is also the recommended installation method when building single-page applications (SPAs). It pairs nicely with a CommonJS module bundler such as Webpack.

# latest stable
$ npm install recharts

umd

The UMD build is also available on unpkg.com:

<script src="https://unpkg.com/react/umd/react.production.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://unpkg.com/react-dom/umd/react-dom.production.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://unpkg.com/recharts/umd/Recharts.min.js"></script>

Then you can find the library on window.Recharts.

dev build

$ git clone https://github.com/recharts/recharts.git
$ cd recharts
$ npm install
$ npm run build

Demo

To examine the demos in your local build, execute:

$ npm run[-script] demo

and then browse to http://localhost:3000.

Storybook

We are in the process of unifying documentation and examples in storybook. To run it locally, execute

$ npm run[-script] storybook

and then browse to http://localhost:6006.

Releases

Releases are automated via GH Actions - when a new release is created in GH, CI will trigger that:

  1. Runs a build
  2. Runs tests
  3. Runs npm publish

Version increments and tagging are not automated at this time.

Release testing

Until we can automate more, it should be preferred to test as close to the results of npm publish as we possibly can. This ensures we don't publish unintended breaking changes. One way to do that is using yalc - npm i -g yalc.

  1. Make your changes in recharts
  2. yalc publish in recharts
  3. yalc add recharts in your test package (ex: in a vite or webpack reach app with recharts installed, imported, and your recent changes used)
  4. npm install
  5. Test a local run, a build, etc.

Module Formats

  • babel-plugin-recharts A simple transform to cherry-pick Recharts modules so you don’t have to. Note: this plugin is out of date and may not work with 2.x

Thanks

Chromatic

Thanks to Chromatic for providing the visual testing platform that helps us review UI changes and catch visual regressions.

License

MIT

Copyright (c) 2015-2023 Recharts Group.