head to head · open source
Mermaid vs jfreechart
Mermaid has 90,981 GitHub stars, 9,444 forks, 1,781 open issues and last shipped yesterday. jfreechart has 1,393 stars, 674 forks, 164 open issues and last shipped 12 months ago. Mermaid leads on adoption by 6,431% (90,981 vs 1,393 stars). Mermaid is written in TypeScript under MIT; jfreechart is written in Java under LGPL-2.1. Mermaid has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, jfreechart 48%. Mermaid was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | jfreechart | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 91K | ★ 1.4K |
| License | MIT | LGPL-2.1 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2025-11-22 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.4K | ⑂ 674 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Mermaid if
- You weight community size — 91K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick jfreechart if
- You want the jfreechart feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the LGPL-2.1 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and jfreechart fits your workflow better
About Mermaid
Mermaid Generate diagrams from Markdown like text. Live Editor! 📖 Documentation 🚀 Getting Started 🌐 CDN 🙌 Join Us 简体中文 Try Live Editor previews of future releases: Develop Next :trophy: Mermaid was nominated and won the JS Open Source Awards (2019) in the category "The most exciting use of technology"!!! Thanks to all involved, people committing pull requests, people answering questions! 🙏 Table of content Expand contents About Examples Release Related projects Contributors Security and safe diagrams Reporting vulnerabilities Appreciation About Mermaid is a JavaScript based diagramming and charting tool…
read the full Mermaid overview →
About jfreechart
JFreeChart ========== Version 2.0.0, not yet released. Overview JFreeChart is a comprehensive free chart library for the Java& 8482; platform that can be used on the client side (JavaFX and Swing) or the server side, with export to multiple formats including SVG, PNG and PDF. The home page for the project is: JFreeChart requires JDK 11 or later. For Java 8 support, check the v1.5.x branch. The library is licensed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) version 2.1 or later. JavaFX JFreeChart can be used with JavaFX via the JFreeChart FX extensions: Demos A small set of demo applications…
read the full jfreechart overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Mermaid or jfreechart more popular?
Mermaid has 90,981 GitHub stars and jfreechart has 1,393. Mermaid has the larger community by that measure.
Are Mermaid and jfreechart free?
Both are open source. Mermaid is licensed under MIT and jfreechart under LGPL-2.1. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Mermaid and jfreechart?
Mermaid is written in TypeScript and jfreechart in Java. 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 jfreechart?
Choose Mermaid if you want the larger community (90,981 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose jfreechart if its feature set, stack or LGPL-2.1 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.