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

React charting libraries provide developers with tools to create interactive and visually appealing data visualizations within React applications. These libraries simplify the process of integrating charts and graphs, allowing for dynamic data representation and enhancing user engagement. Each library has its unique features, strengths, and design philosophies, catering to different use cases and developer preferences.

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recharts3,288,03524,7064.64 MB449a month agoMIT
react-chartjs-21,572,3636,74255.9 kB1022 months agoMIT
react-apexcharts482,086-18.8 kB-3 months agoMIT
react-highcharts15,4971,253-635 years ago-
Feature Comparison: recharts vs react-chartjs-2 vs react-apexcharts vs react-highcharts

Chart Variety

  • recharts:

    Recharts focuses on a limited set of chart types, primarily line, bar, and area charts. However, it excels in creating responsive and customizable charts, making it suitable for projects that prioritize ease of use over an extensive variety.

  • react-chartjs-2:

    React-Chartjs-2 provides a solid selection of standard chart types such as line, bar, and doughnut charts. While it may not have as many options as some other libraries, it covers the essentials for most applications, making it a great choice for straightforward visualizations.

  • react-apexcharts:

    React-ApexCharts offers a comprehensive range of chart types, including line, bar, area, pie, radar, and more. This variety allows developers to choose the best representation for their data, making it suitable for diverse applications from simple dashboards to complex analytical tools.

  • react-highcharts:

    React-Highcharts supports a wide array of chart types, including advanced options like heatmaps, treemaps, and more. This extensive variety makes it ideal for applications that require detailed data analysis and sophisticated visualizations.

Customization

  • recharts:

    Recharts is designed with a composable approach, allowing developers to easily customize charts by composing components. This makes it simple to adjust styles and behaviors, although it may not offer as many built-in customization options as some other libraries.

  • react-chartjs-2:

    Customization in React-Chartjs-2 is straightforward, leveraging the underlying Chart.js configuration. While it allows for basic customization, it may require more effort for advanced styling compared to other libraries.

  • react-apexcharts:

    React-ApexCharts provides extensive customization options, allowing developers to modify almost every aspect of the charts, including colors, tooltips, legends, and animations. This flexibility is beneficial for creating visually appealing and branded data visualizations.

  • react-highcharts:

    React-Highcharts offers deep customization capabilities, enabling developers to fine-tune chart elements extensively. This is particularly useful for applications that require specific branding or detailed data representation.

Performance

  • recharts:

    Recharts is lightweight and performs well with moderate datasets. However, for very large datasets, performance may degrade, and developers might need to consider optimizations such as data aggregation.

  • react-chartjs-2:

    Performance in React-Chartjs-2 is generally good for standard charting needs. However, as the dataset grows, developers may need to implement optimizations to maintain responsiveness, especially with complex charts.

  • react-apexcharts:

    React-ApexCharts is optimized for performance, handling large datasets efficiently without significant lag. It employs virtual rendering techniques to ensure smooth interactions, making it suitable for real-time data applications.

  • react-highcharts:

    React-Highcharts is built for high performance, capable of rendering large datasets with minimal impact on responsiveness. Its architecture is designed to handle complex visualizations without sacrificing speed.

Ease of Use

  • recharts:

    Recharts is designed with React in mind, making it intuitive for React developers. Its composable nature allows for easy integration and quick iterations, making it a favorite for projects that require fast development.

  • react-chartjs-2:

    React-Chartjs-2 is very easy to use, especially for developers familiar with Chart.js. Its simplicity allows for quick implementation of basic charts, making it ideal for rapid prototyping.

  • react-apexcharts:

    React-ApexCharts is known for its user-friendly API and straightforward integration process. Developers can quickly set up charts with minimal configuration, making it accessible for those new to charting libraries.

  • react-highcharts:

    React-Highcharts has a steeper learning curve due to its extensive features and options. While powerful, it may take more time for developers to fully leverage its capabilities compared to simpler libraries.

Community and Support

  • recharts:

    Recharts has a dedicated community and is well-documented, providing a good support structure for developers. Its focus on React ensures that resources are relevant and up-to-date.

  • react-chartjs-2:

    React-Chartjs-2 benefits from the large Chart.js community, ensuring a wealth of resources, examples, and plugins. This strong backing makes it easier for developers to find support and solutions to common issues.

  • react-apexcharts:

    React-ApexCharts has a growing community and good documentation, providing ample resources for developers. However, it may not be as widely adopted as some other libraries, which could impact the availability of third-party plugins or extensions.

  • react-highcharts:

    React-Highcharts has a robust community and extensive documentation, making it easier for developers to find help and examples. Its popularity in enterprise applications contributes to its strong support network.

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

    Choose Recharts if you are looking for a library that is specifically designed for React and follows a composable approach. It is great for building responsive charts with a focus on simplicity and ease of use, particularly for projects that require quick iterations and a clean API.

  • react-chartjs-2:

    Select React-Chartjs-2 if you prefer a library that is built on top of Chart.js, known for its simplicity and ease of use. It is ideal for developers who want to create basic charts quickly without extensive configuration and appreciate the flexibility of Chart.js.

  • react-apexcharts:

    Choose React-ApexCharts if you need a library that offers a wide variety of chart types and is easy to integrate with existing React applications. It is particularly useful for dashboards and data-heavy applications due to its responsive design and customization options.

  • react-highcharts:

    Opt for React-Highcharts if you require advanced charting capabilities and a rich set of features. It is suitable for complex data visualizations and offers extensive customization options, making it a good choice for enterprise-level applications that demand high performance and detailed analytics.

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.