head to head · open source
echarts vs plot
echarts has 67,666 GitHub stars, 19,970 forks, 1,501 open issues and last shipped 21 days ago. plot has 5,418 stars, 251 forks, 349 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. echarts leads on adoption by 1,149% (67,666 vs 5,418 stars). echarts is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; plot is written in HTML under ISC. echarts has attracted 30% as many forks as stars, plot 5%. plot was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (charts, data-visualization, svg, 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 | plot | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 68K | ★ 5.4K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | ISC |
| Written in | TypeScript | HTML |
| Last push | 2026-10-13 | 2026-10-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 20K | ⑂ 251 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick echarts if
- You weight community size — 68K 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 plot if
- You want the plot feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the ISC license terms
- Your stack matches HTML
- You evaluated both and plot fits your workflow better
About echarts
Apache ECharts Apache ECharts is a free, powerful charting and visualization library offering easy ways to add intuitive, interactive, and highly customizable charts to your commercial products. It is written in pure JavaScript and based on zrender , which is a whole new lightweight canvas library. 中文官网 ENGLISH HOMEPAGE Get Apache ECharts You may choose one of the following methods: + Download from the official website + npm install echarts save + CDN: jsDelivr CDN Docs + Get Started + API + Option Manual + Examples Get Help + GitHub Issues for bug report and feature requests + Email dev@echarts.apache.org for…
read the full echarts overview →
About plot
Observable Plot Observable Plot is a free, open source, JavaScript library for visualizing tabular data, focused on accelerating exploratory data analysis. It has a concise, memorable, yet expressive API, featuring scales and layered marks in the grammar of graphics style. Daily downloads of Observable Plot · oss analytics Documentation 📚 Examples 🖼️ Releases 🚀 See our CHANGELOG and summary release notes. Getting help 🏠 See our community guide. Contributing 🙏 See CONTRIBUTING.md.
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Frequently asked questions
Is echarts or plot more popular?
echarts has 67,666 GitHub stars and plot has 5,418. echarts has the larger community by that measure.
Are echarts and plot free?
Both are open source. echarts is licensed under Apache-2.0 and plot under ISC. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between echarts and plot?
echarts is written in TypeScript and plot in HTML. 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 plot?
Choose echarts if you want the larger community (67,666 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose plot if its feature set, stack or ISC licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.