head to head · open source
Mermaid vs matplotplusplus
Mermaid has 90,981 GitHub stars, 9,444 forks, 1,781 open issues and last shipped yesterday. matplotplusplus has 4,944 stars, 386 forks, 82 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. Mermaid leads on adoption by 1,740% (90,981 vs 4,944 stars). Mermaid is written in TypeScript under MIT; matplotplusplus is written in C++ under MIT. Mermaid has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, matplotplusplus 8%. 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 | matplotplusplus | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 91K | ★ 4.9K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-04-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.4K | ⑂ 386 |
| 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 matplotplusplus if
- You want the matplotplusplus feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and matplotplusplus 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 matplotplusplus
Matplot++ A C++ Graphics Library for Data Visualization Data visualization can help programmers and scientists identify trends in their data and efficiently communicate these results with their peers. Modern C++ is being used for a variety of scientific applications, and this environment can benefit considerably from graphics libraries that attend the typical design goals toward scientific data visualization. Besides the option of exporting results to other environments, the customary alternatives in C++ are either non dedicated libraries that depend on existing user interfaces or bindings to other languages…
read the full matplotplusplus overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Mermaid or matplotplusplus more popular?
Mermaid has 90,981 GitHub stars and matplotplusplus has 4,944. Mermaid has the larger community by that measure.
Are Mermaid and matplotplusplus free?
Both are open source. Mermaid is licensed under MIT and matplotplusplus under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Mermaid and matplotplusplus?
Mermaid is written in TypeScript and matplotplusplus in C++. 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 matplotplusplus?
Choose Mermaid if you want the larger community (90,981 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose matplotplusplus if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.