Top 11 Tools and Libraries for Data Visualization in 2021
Top 11 Tools and Libraries for Data Visualization in 2021. In the era of cloud computing, we humans have been exposed to unprecedented amounts of data which also brings in the opportunity to improve processes and approaches by analyzing past data. To analyze that much amount of data we need to represent it graphically, filter the meaningful data and establish relationships with data visualization and business intelligence tools.
Top 11 Best Tools for Data Visualization in 2021
The article discusses the “top 11 best tools and libraries for data visualization in 2021” and the use cases where they can be used efficiently.
1. D3 js
D3 js an acronym for data-driven documents is a javascript library for creating interactive dynamic data visualization on web browsers. D3 js manipulates Document Object Model (DOM) nodes in a similar manner to jQuery hence its learning curve is quite less for those who know HTML, CSS and jQuery. The supported input data formats for D3 js are JSON, geo JSON and CSV but custom JavaScript can be written to develop support for other formats.
2. C3 js
C3 js is a reusable JavaScript library for data visualization that is based on D3 js. C3 js makes it easy to generate D3-based charts by wrapping the code and providing an abstraction over it. C3 gives some classes to each element while generating them so you can define a custom style by the class and it’s possible to extend the structures with D3 js. C3 provides a variety of APIs and callbacks to access the state of the chart and update it even after rendering.
3. Canvas js
Canvas js is a premium proprietary javascript library for data visualization that supports a wide range of charts. It is a comprehensive, easily integrable proprietary library that renders high-resolution charts with HTML, CSS, JavaScript and SVG. Although the learning curve is steep for this library, it’s worth the efforts due to its latest tech stack driven performance.
4. Recharts
Recharts is a composable charting library built upon react.js components. Although Recharts is not a descriptive library it makes integrating charts easier to react applications. ReCharts support Area Chart, Bar Chart, Line Chart, Composed Chart, Pie Chart, Radar Chart, Radial Bar Chart, Scatter Chart and Treemap.
5. Amcharts
Amcharts is also a javascript based charting library that offers financial charts, maps and so on. Amcharts offer basic charting functionality free for one application but for more features and their team’s support, you will have to buy their commercial license. The Amcharts version 4 is written in typescript which offers high compatibility with angular.
6. High Charts
Highcharts is a pure javascript library for charting. Highcharts provides charting capabilities for stocks, maps, Gantt, android, ios and many more. The company is based in Norway, Vik but their major source of income is from foreign clients. It is one of the best charting libraries that I have come across in a while.
7. Google Charts
Google Charts is a pure JavaScript based charting library meant to add data visualization capabilities into web applications. Google Charts provides a wide variety of charts such as line charts, spline charts, area charts, bar charts, pie charts and so on. The user end sends a data set to google servers and after processing the google server sends the chart as an image to the user. Google charts are free to use and offer 3 years backward compatibility hence it is worth to be considered.
8. Tableau
Tableau, a proprietary tool has been an industry leader in data analytics and visualization due to its intuitive experience. Tableau is easily integrable with AWS, SAP HANA, salesforce and some more cloud server platforms which host large amounts of enterprise data. Tableau has also featured in Gartner’s magic quadrant for best BI and data visualization tools.
9. Qlikview & QlikSense
Qlikview and QlikSense are data visualization and business analytics products of Qlik. Qlikview offers a slightly customizable dashboard with moreover static data whereas QlikSense provides the full functionality to users for analysing the data. The best part is that Qlik’s Associative Engine provides the capability to analyse big data for users where one can combine a number of data sources so that associations and connections can be formed across the data. In 2018, Qlik was named Gartner’s Customers’ Choice for Best Business Intelligence and Analytics Software.
10. Power BI
Power BI is Microsoft's proprietary business analytics and data visualization tool that was initially based on Microsoft excel. It provides a simple user interface for end-users to create their own reports and dashboards. In February 2019, Gartner confirmed Microsoft as Leader in the “2019 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Analytics and Business Intelligence Platform” because of the capabilities of the Power BI platform.
11. BIRT
Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools (BIRT) Project is an open-source technology platform used to create data visualizations and reports that can be embedded in rich client and web applications. BIRT is a top-level project by Eclipse foundation and it is based on Java and Java EE. BIRT has two main components, a visual report designer within the Eclipse IDE for creating Reports, and a runtime component for generating reports that can be deployed to any Java environment. BIRT also includes a charting engine that is fully integrated into the report designer and can be used standalone to integrate charts into an application.
Image credit: William Iven on Unsplash
