plotly.js
Open-source JavaScript charting library behind Plotly and Dash
Plotly.js is an open-source JavaScript library for interactive charts, 3D graphs, maps, financial charts, statistical plots, where users can hover, zoom, and pan out of the box with no extra code.
Plotly.js is an open-source JavaScript library for creating interactive data visualizations in web browsers. It can produce dozens of chart types including statistical charts, 3D graphs, maps, financial charts, scientific plots, and more. Charts created with Plotly.js are interactive by default: users can hover to see data values, zoom in and out, pan around, and toggle data series on and off, all without writing additional code.
The library is also the engine behind the Python and R packages named Plotly, so familiarity with it carries across programming languages. It can be loaded into a webpage either as a script tag from a content delivery network, as a module in a Node.js project, or bundled into custom builds that include only the chart types you need (reducing file size). Basic usage requires only JSON-like configuration objects describing the data and layout — no deep JavaScript knowledge is needed to get started.
Plotly.js is maintained by Plotly and is available under the MIT license. It supports current versions of major browsers. Consulting, dashboard development, and custom feature work is available commercially from Plotly. The project also powers Dash, a framework for building data applications in Python.
Where it fits
- Add an interactive chart to a webpage using a JSON config and a single CDN script tag, with no build tools or JavaScript expertise needed.
- Build a Python or R data dashboard that uses Plotly.js under the hood for browser-native interactive visualizations.
- Create a custom Plotly.js build that includes only the chart types your app needs to keep the bundle size small.