head to head · open source
echarts vs plotly.js
echarts has 67,345 GitHub stars, 19,820 forks, 1,501 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. plotly.js has 18,337 stars, 2,031 forks, 769 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. echarts leads on adoption by 267% (67,345 vs 18,337 stars). echarts is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; plotly.js is written in JavaScript under MIT. echarts has attracted 29% as many forks as stars, plotly.js 11%. plotly.js was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (charting-library, charts, data-visualization, 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 | plotly.js | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 67K | ★ 18K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 20K | ⑂ 2.0K |
| 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 plotly.js if
- You want the plotly.js feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and plotly.js 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 plotly.js
Plotly.js is an open source JavaScript charting library that renders interactive figures in the browser and also powers the Python and R packages named plotly in those ecosystems.
read the full plotly.js overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is echarts or plotly.js more popular?
echarts has 67,345 GitHub stars and plotly.js has 18,337. echarts has the larger community by that measure.
Are echarts and plotly.js free?
Both are open source. echarts is licensed under Apache-2.0 and plotly.js under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between echarts and plotly.js?
echarts is written in TypeScript and plotly.js in JavaScript. 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 plotly.js?
Choose echarts if you want the larger community (67,345 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose plotly.js if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.