head to head · open source
Mermaid vs britecharts
Mermaid has 90,299 GitHub stars, 9,266 forks, 1,781 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. britecharts has 3,716 stars, 214 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Mermaid leads on adoption by 2,330% (90,299 vs 3,716 stars). Mermaid is written in TypeScript under MIT; britecharts is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0. Mermaid has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, britecharts 6%. Mermaid was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (javascript), 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
| Mermaid | britecharts | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 90K | ★ 3.7K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.3K | ⑂ 214 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Mermaid if
- You weight community size — 90K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick britecharts if
- You want the britecharts feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and britecharts fits your workflow better
About Mermaid
Mermaid is a JavaScript based diagramming tool that renders diagrams from Markdown like text definitions. It lives in the JavaScript/TypeScript ecosystem and operates both in the browser and in Node.js environments. The project’s core purpose is to eliminate the gap between software development and documentation by letting developers write diagrams alongside code, avoiding the rot and overhead of manual diagram maintenance.
read the full Mermaid overview →
About britecharts
Britecharts Britecharts is a client side reusable Charting Library based on [D3.js v5][1] that offers easy and intuitive use of charts and components that can be composed together to create amazing visualizations. Britecharts [components][32] have been written in ES2016 with a Test Driven methodology, so they are fully tested , and we are committed to keeping them that way. Key Features Reusability Composability Great design Usage The typical use of Britecharts involves creating a chart using its simple API, then rendering it on a container which has previously had data applied to it. The code will look like this…
read the full britecharts overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Mermaid or britecharts more popular?
Mermaid has 90,299 GitHub stars and britecharts has 3,716. Mermaid has the larger community by that measure.
Are Mermaid and britecharts free?
Both are open source. Mermaid is licensed under MIT and britecharts under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Mermaid and britecharts?
Mermaid is written in TypeScript and britecharts 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, Mermaid or britecharts?
Choose Mermaid if you want the larger community (90,299 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose britecharts if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.