Which is Better Graph Visualization Libraries?
vis-network vs react-graph-vis
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vis-networkreact-graph-vis
What's Graph Visualization Libraries?

Graph visualization libraries are essential tools for representing complex data structures in a visual format that is easy to understand and interact with. They provide developers with the ability to create dynamic and interactive graphs, allowing users to explore relationships and hierarchies within the data. These libraries often come with built-in functionalities for rendering nodes and edges, handling user interactions, and customizing visual styles, making them invaluable for applications that require data representation, such as social networks, organizational charts, and network topologies.

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vis-network117,5303,06946.7 MB329a year ago(Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
react-graph-vis15,925960-604 years agoMIT
Feature Comparison: vis-network vs react-graph-vis

Integration

  • vis-network: vis-network can be integrated into any JavaScript application, making it more versatile for developers who may not be using React. It can be used with various frameworks or even in plain HTML/JavaScript projects, offering a broader range of use cases.
  • react-graph-vis: react-graph-vis is built specifically for React applications, providing seamless integration with React's component model. It allows developers to easily manage the lifecycle of the graph component, ensuring that updates to the graph are handled efficiently through React's state management.

Customization

  • vis-network: vis-network provides extensive customization capabilities, allowing developers to define styles for nodes and edges, control physics simulations, and create custom interactions. This flexibility makes it suitable for complex visualizations where detailed customization is required.
  • react-graph-vis: react-graph-vis offers a decent level of customization through props, allowing developers to modify the appearance and behavior of the graph. However, its customization options may be somewhat limited compared to vis-network due to its focus on React integration.

Performance

  • vis-network: vis-network is designed to handle large datasets efficiently, utilizing WebGL for rendering when necessary. It provides performance optimizations such as clustering and physics-based layouts, making it suitable for visualizing large and complex networks.
  • react-graph-vis: react-graph-vis is optimized for React applications, ensuring efficient rendering and updates. However, performance can be impacted if the graph contains a large number of nodes and edges, as React's reconciliation process may introduce overhead.

Documentation and Community

  • vis-network: vis-network has extensive documentation and a larger community due to its longer presence in the ecosystem. This can be beneficial for developers seeking support, examples, and advanced use cases.
  • react-graph-vis: react-graph-vis has a growing community and provides adequate documentation, making it easier for developers to get started. However, being a wrapper around vis.js, it may not cover all advanced features available in the underlying library.

Learning Curve

  • vis-network: vis-network may have a steeper learning curve due to its extensive feature set and configuration options. Developers may need to invest more time to fully understand its capabilities and how to leverage them effectively.
  • react-graph-vis: The learning curve for react-graph-vis is relatively gentle for developers familiar with React, as it follows React conventions and patterns. This makes it easier to adopt for teams already using React.
How to Choose: vis-network vs react-graph-vis
  • vis-network: Choose vis-network if you require a more feature-rich and flexible graph visualization library that can be used across various JavaScript frameworks or even vanilla JavaScript. It offers extensive customization options and supports a wider range of graph types and layouts.
  • react-graph-vis: Choose react-graph-vis if you are developing a React application and need a straightforward way to integrate graph visualization. It is specifically designed for React and provides a simple API that leverages React's component lifecycle, making it easier to manage state and props.
Similar Npm Packages to vis-network

vis-network is a dynamic, browser-based visualization library for creating interactive network graphs. It allows developers to easily visualize complex relationships between data points, making it an excellent choice for applications that require network analysis or data representation. With features like smooth animations, customizable nodes and edges, and support for large datasets, vis-network is well-suited for building interactive visualizations in web applications.

One notable alternative to vis-network is react-graph-vis. This library is a React wrapper for the vis-network library, enabling developers to integrate network visualizations seamlessly into their React applications. react-graph-vis provides a set of React components that simplify the process of creating and managing network graphs, making it easier to work with React's component lifecycle and state management. If you are already using React and want to leverage the capabilities of vis-network, react-graph-vis is a great choice as it combines the power of vis-network with the convenience of React.

For a detailed comparison between these two libraries, check out the following link: Comparing react-graph-vis vs vis-network.

README for vis-network

vis-network

example chart

Network is a visualization to display networks and networks consisting of nodes and edges. The visualization is easy to use and supports custom shapes, styles, colors, sizes, images, and more. The network visualization works smooth on any modern browser for up to a few thousand nodes and edges. To handle a larger amount of nodes, Network has clustering support. Network uses HTML canvas for rendering.

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GitHub contributors Backers on Open Collective Sponsors on Open Collective

Install

Install via npm:

$ npm install vis-network

Example

A basic example on loading a Network is shown below. More examples can be found in the examples directory of the project.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <title>Network</title>
    <script
      type="text/javascript"
      src="https://unpkg.com/vis-network/standalone/umd/vis-network.min.js"
    ></script>
    <style type="text/css">
      #mynetwork {
        width: 600px;
        height: 400px;
        border: 1px solid lightgray;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <div id="mynetwork"></div>
    <script type="text/javascript">
      // create an array with nodes
      var nodes = new vis.DataSet([
        { id: 1, label: "Node 1" },
        { id: 2, label: "Node 2" },
        { id: 3, label: "Node 3" },
        { id: 4, label: "Node 4" },
        { id: 5, label: "Node 5" },
      ]);

      // create an array with edges
      var edges = new vis.DataSet([
        { from: 1, to: 3 },
        { from: 1, to: 2 },
        { from: 2, to: 4 },
        { from: 2, to: 5 },
        { from: 3, to: 3 },
      ]);

      // create a network
      var container = document.getElementById("mynetwork");
      var data = {
        nodes: nodes,
        edges: edges,
      };
      var options = {};
      var network = new vis.Network(container, data, options);
    </script>
  </body>
</html>

Build

To build the library from source, clone the project from github

$ git clone git://github.com/visjs/vis-network.git

The source code uses the module style of node (require and module.exports) to organize dependencies. To install all dependencies and build the library, run npm install in the root of the project.

$ cd vis-network
$ npm install

Then, the project can be build running:

$ npm run build

Test

To test the library, install the project dependencies once:

$ npm install

Then run the tests:

$ npm run test

Contribute

Contributions to the vis.js library are very welcome! We can't do this alone!

Backers

Thank you to all our backers! 🙏

Sponsors

Support this project by becoming a sponsor. Your logo will show up here with a link to your website.

License

Copyright (C) 2010-2018 Almende B.V. and Contributors Copyright (c) 2018-2021 Vis.js contributors

Vis.js is dual licensed under both

  • The Apache 2.0 License http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

and

  • The MIT License http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT

Vis.js may be distributed under either license.

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