Apache ECharts

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Overall reception and capabilities

  • Many commenters say ECharts is “best in class” among open‑source JS charting libs: powerful, visually polished, stable across versions, and with an enormous examples gallery.
  • Praised for broad chart coverage (incl. Sankey, 3D via echarts‑gl, violin plots coming), strong interactivity, and good defaults that often avoid custom extensions.

Comparison with other charting libraries

  • Versus Chart.js: ECharts is heavier but more powerful and flexible; better for complex dashboards and very large datasets. Chart.js is easier for simple charts but not designed for 100k+ points without decimation.
  • Versus D3: ECharts is a high‑level charting library vs D3’s low‑level rendering model. Several people avoid D3 now due to its Observable‑centric examples and steeper learning curve; they find ECharts more maintainable for non‑viz specialists.
  • Versus Vega/Vega‑Lite: Vega seen as more “everything in JSON” and powerful for backend‑driven specs, but harder for typical web dev workflows; Vega also has had security concerns. ECharts feels simpler and more approachable.
  • Versus Plotly/others: Plotly criticized for confusing, inconsistent docs and brittle upgrades. ECharts and libraries like visx are seen as cleaner choices. Lightweight CSS‑based libs (charts.css, pancake‑charts) are praised for simple cases but considered nowhere near ECharts for complex/large‑scale analytics.

Performance, rendering, and bundle size

  • Canvas‑first design is repeatedly credited for excellent performance on large and streaming datasets; SVG is available for smaller charts and SSR/print use.
  • Some demos can be heavy on FPS, but overall performance is widely praised, including for GraphGL and real‑time telemetry.
  • Library is modular; importing only needed chart types/components significantly reduces bundle size, though it’s still non‑trivial.

Integration, ecosystem, and real‑world use

  • Used heavily in Apache Superset, AWS QuickSight, Sentry, and many SaaS products and dashboards; people report years of trouble‑free production use.
  • Works well with React, Vue (2 and 3), HTMX, Hotwire/Stimulus, Alpine, SSR, and even purely server‑side setups (rendering SVG on the server, lightweight client interactivity).
  • Bindings exist for Go, Python (pyecharts), and R (echarts4r).

Animation, UX, and “chartjunk” debate

  • The “line race” demo triggers a long discussion: some call it chartjunk that adds no informational value; others argue animation communicates temporal experience and engages users, especially for demos and non‑work contexts.

Accessibility, responsiveness, and theming

  • Theming is reported as strong, with a theme builder and extensive visual config.
  • Accessibility is a known weak spot: canvas rendering and lack of robust keyboard navigation raise concerns; open GitHub issues acknowledge this.
  • Responsive behavior is generally good, though some site pages and examples have mobile/layout quirks.

Governance, origin, and trust

  • Originates from a Chinese team (linked to Baidu); some praise growing Chinese OSS contributions, others raise supply‑chain and geopolitical worries.
  • Apache branding splits opinion: some see it as a maintenance‑and‑stewardship quality signal; others associate “Apache X” with older, legacy projects, though ECharts itself is seen as very active.