head to head · open source
echarts vs lets-plot
echarts has 67,348 GitHub stars, 19,819 forks, 1,501 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. lets-plot has 1,782 stars, 60 forks, 145 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. echarts leads on adoption by 3,679% (67,348 vs 1,782 stars). echarts is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; lets-plot is written in Kotlin under MIT. echarts has attracted 29% as many forks as stars, lets-plot 3%. echarts was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (data-visualization), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| echarts | lets-plot | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 67K | ★ 1.8K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Kotlin |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-07-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 20K | ⑂ 60 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick echarts if
- You weight community size — 67K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick lets-plot if
- You want the lets-plot feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Kotlin
- You evaluated both and lets-plot fits your workflow better
About echarts
Apache ECharts is a free, interactive charting and data visualization library that runs in the browser. It is written in pure JavaScript and built on top of zrender, a lightweight canvas library that handles rendering and interaction under the hood. The project lives in the JavaScript and TypeScript ecosystem, is distributed through npm as the echarts package, and is developed under the Apache Software Foundation with an Apache 2.0 license. Its source is written in TypeScript, and the repository has been maintained for more than a decade.
read the full echarts overview →
About lets-plot
Lets Plot is a multiplatform plotting library built on the principles of the Grammar of Graphics, maintained as an official JetBrains open source project for Python, Kotlin and JVM developers who need composable statistical graphics inside notebooks, IDEs and desktop applications.
read the full lets-plot overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is echarts or lets-plot more popular?
echarts has 67,348 GitHub stars and lets-plot has 1,782. echarts has the larger community by that measure.
Are echarts and lets-plot free?
Both are open source. echarts is licensed under Apache-2.0 and lets-plot under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between echarts and lets-plot?
echarts is written in TypeScript and lets-plot in Kotlin. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, echarts or lets-plot?
Choose echarts if you want the larger community (67,348 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose lets-plot if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.