The best charting libraries, according to hackers
19 charting libraries recommended in Hacker News comments over the past year, ranked by how many separate people recommend each one.
All charting libraries
- ChartGPUFast WebGPU charting library that renders a million points smoothly in the browser. Critics say sampling can hide peaks and that sliders and zoom controls misbehave.35recommend
- ggplot2People recommend it for a consistent grammar-of-graphics approach that makes almost any chart, but critics find extensive customization hairy.29recommend
- plotnineA Python port of ggplot2's grammar of graphics, liked by people who know ggplot. One critic objects to using the '+' operator to build plots.22recommend
- ggsqlLets you plot charts directly from SQL using a ggplot-style layered grammar. Main caveat: critics say the docs are thin and it adds little beyond R or Python.19recommend
- MatplotlibFree Python plotting library that people rely on for charts and data visualization; critics find its API verbose and slow with large data.17recommend
- Flint visualization languageFree language that compiles compact chart definitions, praised for cutting formatting boilerplate; critics say it adds little over existing JSON chart specs.15recommend
- XY charting libraryRust-backed charting library that reduces large datasets before rendering them with WebGL, praised for speed; critics find its companion language hard to grasp.12recommend
- VegaDeclarative charting language with a rich ecosystem of components and good documentation; critics say the project appears stalled and somewhat inflexible.11recommend
- AltairA Python library for building charts from the grammar of graphics, valued for composing charts and interactive graphs. One critic finds it restrictive for some use cases.11recommend
- Flint visualization language by MicrosoftRecommended as a simple, compact JSON spec that lets AI agents and people generate polished charts from short specs. Critics question its JSON-based design and whether it is better than existing chart APIs.11recommend
- Charts built for ChatRecommended for readable, maintainable charts that reproduce the same dashboard consistently and cut context switching. Critics say it overstates how innovative it is.11recommend
- PlotlyFree, open-source library for interactive charts in Python and the web, covering nearly every chart type. Critics say it is not the prettiest.10recommend
- Vega-LiteRecommended for editable, flexible charts written as JSON that AI models handle well; one caveat raised is that models generate Flint specs better than Vega-Lite.10recommend
- dbt ChartsLets data analysts declare charts in simple YAML alongside dbt SQL, keeping logic in SQL that is easy to test and trace.10recommend
- GnuplotFree plotting program people use for plots, charts and graphs, often from Emacs or the terminal. The most common caveat is that its license is criticized as conflicting with the GPL.8recommend
- Apache EChartsFree charting library praised for performance, chart variety, and interactive and 3D WebGL charts.8recommend
- RerunAn open-source viewer and database for logging and visualizing multimodal, time-series data, used by people debugging robotics and simulation systems.5recommend
- GribouilleA free grammar of graphics library for Typst, recommended as a cool Typst project and for its constructor, which helps document and validate.5recommend
- uPlotFree, fast charting library that people say avoids performance loss and extra dependencies, and is praised as an inspiration for browser charts.5recommend