blessed-contrib vs Perspective
A data-driven comparison of two JavaScript visualization libraries: popularity, development activity, licensing and installation. Updated .
blessed-contribTerminal dashboards with charts, maps, gauges and tables, built with Node.js and ASCII/ANSI art.
PerspectiveInteractive analytics and visualization component for large and streaming datasets, built on WebAssembly.
Key differences
- blessed-contrib has 1.4× as many GitHub stars as Perspective (15.8K vs 11.3K).
- Perspective had more development activity over the last 12 months: 337 commits vs 1.
- blessed-contrib is downloaded 10× as often on npm (199.7K vs 19.1K per week).
- blessed-contrib is licensed under MIT; Perspective under Apache-2.0.
- blessed-contrib is written primarily in JavaScript, Perspective in Rust.
- blessed-contrib is the older project: its repository was created in 2015, Perspective's in 2017.
By the numbers
- blessed-contrib
- Perspective
Show data as a table
| Metric | blessed-contrib | Perspective |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | 15,775 | 11,270 |
| npm downloads / week | 199,660 | 19,052 |
| Commits, last 12 months | 1 | 337 |
| Contributors | 45 | 89 |
| Forks | 835 | 1,344 |
Development activity
Commits per month to each default branch, last 12 complete months.
- blessed-contrib
- Perspective
Show data as a table
| Month | blessed-contrib | Perspective |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 2025 | 0 | 23 |
| Nov 2025 | 0 | 10 |
| Dec 2025 | 0 | 17 |
| Jan 2026 | 0 | 22 |
| Feb 2026 | 0 | 22 |
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 40 |
| Apr 2026 | 0 | 36 |
| May 2026 | 1 | 29 |
| Jun 2026 | 0 | 14 |
| Jul 2026 | 0 | 25 |
| Aug 2026 | 0 | 47 |
| Sep 2026 | 0 | 52 |
Side by side
| Attribute | blessed-contrib | Perspective |
|---|---|---|
| Description | Terminal dashboards with charts, maps, gauges and tables, built with Node.js and ASCII/ANSI art. | Interactive analytics and visualization component for large and streaming datasets, built on WebAssembly. |
| Category | More JavaScript visualization libraries | More JavaScript visualization libraries |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | Rust |
| Status | Maintained | Active |
| Latest release | – | v5.5.1 () |
| Last commit | ||
| Repository created | ||
| Open issues | 83 | 37 |
| Install | npm install blessed-contrib | npm install @finos/perspective |
Which should you choose?
Popularity and activity are only part of the story. Consider which ecosystem you work in, the chart types and interactions you need, how much data you render, and whether the license fits your project. Both tool pages list alternatives if neither is quite right.
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blessed-contrib
Terminal dashboards with charts, maps, gauges and tables, built with Node.js and ASCII/ANSI art.
-
Perspective
Interactive analytics and visualization component for large and streaming datasets, built on WebAssembly.