I Tried Free JavaScript Charts So You Don’t Have To

I make lots of tiny dashboards. Some for work notes. Some for home stuff, like tracking snack costs for my kid’s soccer team. Charts help me see what’s going on fast. If you’re curious about even more nitty-gritty details, I logged the whole saga in this separate deep-dive on free JavaScript chart libraries.

But which free chart tool actually feels good to use?

Here’s what I learned, with real examples you can copy.

My quick setup (so you know the vibe)

Data size: small arrays up to a few thousand points
Devices: old ThinkPad, an iPhone SE, and a cheap Android
Needs: fast start, tooltips, labels, and easy colors
Bonus: I like nice defaults. I don’t want to fuss all day

While we’re on the topic of quick, low-overhead tools, students collaborating on class dashboards often need an equally friction-free space to discuss their findings in real time. For that, consider InstantChat for College—it gives campus groups free, private chat rooms, file sharing, and instant notifications so your project team can iterate on charts without endless email threads.

Simple, right? Now the charts.

Chart.js — the easy friend

Chart.js (official site) feels friendly. It looks good out of the box. The docs are clear. I can make a clean bar chart in minutes. Chart.js also placed near the very top when I tried seven different JavaScript chart libraries side-by-side.

What I like:

Good defaults and legends
Smooth hover and tooltips
Plugins for stuff like data labels

What bugged me:

Custom shapes take extra work
The config can feel deep once you get fancy

Tiny example (a bar chart for monthly snacks):

<canvas id="snackBar"></canvas>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/chart.js"></script>
<script>
const ctx = document.getElementById('snackBar');
new Chart(ctx, {
  type: 'bar',
  data: {
    labels: ['Jan','Feb','Mar','Apr'],
    datasets: [{
      label: 'Snack Spend ($)',
      data: [42, 31, 58, 36],
      backgroundColor: '#4e79a7'
    }]
  },
  options: { responsive: true, plugins: { legend: { display: true } } }
});
</script>

It just works. And sometimes that’s all you need.

Apache ECharts — flashy and loaded with stuff

ECharts (official docs) has range. Maps, heatmaps, gauges—lots. It runs smooth, even with many points. Great for “wow” charts. I first appreciated how flexible ECharts can be when I tested a bunch of open-source chart tools.

What I like:

Big feature set
Themes look sharp
Handles big data better than most

What bugged me:

The config object gets long
I still peek at docs a lot

One pleasant surprise: ECharts can even power project-timeline visuals like Gantt bars, which I unpack in this look at free Gantt chart libraries.

Line chart with a subtle gradient:

<div id="lineChart" style="height:300px"></div>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/echarts/dist/echarts.min.js"></script>
<script>
const chart = echarts.init(document.getElementById('lineChart'));
chart.setOption({
  title: { text: 'Daily Steps' },
  xAxis: { type: 'category', data: ['Mon','Tue','Wed','Thu','Fri','Sat','Sun'] },
  yAxis: { type: 'value' },
  series: [{
    type: 'line',
    data: [5200, 6100, 6800, 7200, 4900, 8000, 7600],
    areaStyle: {}
  }],
  tooltip: { trigger: 'axis' }
});
</script>

It feels fast and glossy. Like a power suit, but for charts.

D3.js — total control, but you’ll work for it

D3 is a toolbox, not a chart kit. You get control over every mark. Every scale. Every tick. But it takes time. I use it when I need a custom look. My full field report on where D3 shines (and where it trips you up) lives over here: building charts with D3.js—what actually worked.

What I like:

Full control
Smart helpers (scales, axes)
Great for special charts

What bugged me:

More code for simple stuff
You handle layout and labels yourself

Simple bar chart:

<svg id="d3bar" width="400" height="220"></svg>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/d3@7"></script>
<script>
const data = [42, 31, 58, 36];
const labels = ['Jan','Feb','Mar','Apr'];
const w=400, h=220, p=30;
const x = d3.scaleBand().domain(labels).range([p, w-p]).padding(0.2);
const y = d3.scaleLinear().domain([0, d3.max(data)]).nice().range([h-p, p]);

const svg = d3.select('#d3bar');
svg.append('g').attr('transform', `translate(0,${h-p})`).call(d3.axisBottom(x));
svg.append('g').attr('transform', `translate(${p},0)`).call(d3.axisLeft(y));

svg.selectAll('rect')
  .data(data).enter().append('rect')
  .attr('x', (_,i)=>x(labels[i]))
  .attr('y', d=>y(d))
  .attr('width', x.bandwidth())
  .attr('height', d=>h-p - y(d))
  .attr('fill', '#f28e2b');
</script>

If you want total freedom, this is it. Just bring patience. And if your data calls for shiny bubble visuals, here’s how that went for me in a real project—building bubble charts in JavaScript.

Recharts (for React folks) — props, props, props

If you live in React, Recharts feels natural. You pass props and get charts. It’s simple to read and easy to tweak.

What I like:

Composable parts
Clear props for common needs
Good for dashboards in React

What bugged me:

You’ll need React
Custom shapes still take time

Quick area chart:

import { AreaChart, Area, XAxis, YAxis, Tooltip, ResponsiveContainer } from 'recharts';

const data = [
  { month: 'Jan', sales: 12 },
  { month: 'Feb', sales: 18 },
  { month: 'Mar', sales: 25 },
  { month: 'Apr', sales: 20 }
];

export default function SalesArea() {
  return (
    <ResponsiveContainer width="100%" height={250}>
      <AreaChart data={data}>
        <XAxis dataKey="month" />
        <YAxis />
        <Tooltip />
        <Area dataKey="sales" stroke="#59a14f" fill="#59a14f" fillOpacity={0.3} />
      </AreaChart>
    </ResponsiveContainer>
  );
}

Feels like Lego blocks for charts.

ApexCharts — business-y and fast to ship

ApexCharts gives you nice touches right away. Crosshairs, annotations, sparkline style—handy for reports. It’s also one of my go-tos when I need finance-flavored visuals like candlesticks; you can see the blow-by-blow in this test of seven JavaScript candlestick chart options.

What I like:

Pretty out of the box
Annotations and markers are simple
Good interactions

What bugged me:

Defaults look a bit “business”—you may tweak fonts
Events are good, but deep custom shapes are limited

Basic area chart:

“`html

const options = {
chart: { type: ‘area’, height: 260 },
series: [{ name: ‘Orders’, data: [15, 22, 19, 31, 28, 35] }],
xaxis: { categories: [‘Jan’,’Feb’,’Mar’,’Apr’,’May’,’Jun’] },
dataLabels: { enabled: false },
stroke: { curve: ‘