Chart.js

⏱️ 8 sec read 📊 Data Visualization

What it is: Simple JavaScript charting library. Canvas-based, responsive, animated charts.

What It Does Best

Easy to start. Import one file, 10 lines of code, you have a working chart.

Responsive by default. Charts resize automatically. Mobile-friendly out of the box.

Smooth animations. Entrance animations, hover effects built-in. Looks modern without effort.

8 chart types: Line, bar, radar, doughnut, pie, polar, bubble, scatter

Canvas rendering: Fast, smooth performance with HTML5 Canvas

Responsive design: Auto-resize for any screen size

Built-in animations: Smooth transitions and hover effects

Plugin system: Extend functionality with community plugins

Free. Open source, MIT license.

✅ Web apps need standard charts (bar, line, pie)

✅ Want something working in minutes

✅ Team doesn't know D3.js

✅ Dashboards with common chart types

✅ Need responsive, mobile-friendly charts

❌ Need custom, unique visualizations (D3.js better)

❌ Complex interactions beyond basic hover (D3.js better)

❌ Very large datasets (canvas performance limits)

❌ Require advanced statistical charts

❌ Need server-side rendering (no native support)

Website dashboards: Simple analytics and metrics displays

Admin panels: User stats, sales data, activity charts

Mobile apps: Responsive charts in web-based mobile apps

Marketing reports: Campaign performance, conversion funnels

SaaS applications: Customer usage stats, growth metrics

vs D3.js: Chart.js easier to learn, faster setup; D3.js infinitely customizable

vs Highcharts: Chart.js free and open source; Highcharts more features, commercial

vs Plotly: Chart.js lighter weight; Plotly more chart types, better 3D

Simplicity: Minimal code for professional-looking charts

Small size: ~60KB, fast page loads

Community: Huge ecosystem of plugins and examples

Framework agnostic: Works with React, Vue, Angular, vanilla JS

Bottom line: D3.js without the learning curve. Perfect for 80% of web charting needs. Quick, pretty, and simple.