blessed-contrib vs Vega
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.
VegaVega is a visualization grammar, a declarative format for creating, saving, and sharing interactive visualization designs.
Key differences
- blessed-contrib has 1.3× as many GitHub stars as Vega (15.8K vs 12K).
- Vega had more development activity over the last 12 months: 148 commits vs 1.
- Vega is downloaded 7× as often on npm (1.4M vs 199.7K per week).
- blessed-contrib is licensed under MIT; Vega under BSD-3-Clause.
- Vega is the older project: its repository was created in 2013, blessed-contrib's in 2015.
By the numbers
- blessed-contrib
- Vega
Show data as a table
| Metric | blessed-contrib | Vega |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | 15,775 | 12,008 |
| npm downloads / week | 199,660 | 1,394,249 |
| Commits, last 12 months | 1 | 148 |
| Contributors | 45 | 150 |
| Forks | 835 | 1,582 |
Development activity
Commits per month to each default branch, last 12 complete months.
- blessed-contrib
- Vega
Show data as a table
| Month | blessed-contrib | Vega |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 2025 | 0 | 9 |
| Nov 2025 | 0 | 18 |
| Dec 2025 | 0 | 16 |
| Jan 2026 | 0 | 9 |
| Feb 2026 | 0 | 9 |
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 9 |
| Apr 2026 | 0 | 15 |
| May 2026 | 1 | 3 |
| Jun 2026 | 0 | 2 |
| Jul 2026 | 0 | 32 |
| Aug 2026 | 0 | 19 |
| Sep 2026 | 0 | 7 |
Side by side
| Attribute | blessed-contrib | Vega |
|---|---|---|
| Description | Terminal dashboards with charts, maps, gauges and tables, built with Node.js and ASCII/ANSI art. | Vega is a visualization grammar, a declarative format for creating, saving, and sharing interactive visualization designs. |
| Category | More JavaScript visualization libraries | More JavaScript visualization libraries |
| License | MIT | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | JavaScript | JavaScript |
| Status | Maintained | Active |
| Latest release | – | v6.4.0 () |
| Last commit | ||
| Repository created | ||
| Open issues | 83 | 450 |
| Install | npm install blessed-contrib | npm install vega |
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.
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Vega
Vega is a visualization grammar, a declarative format for creating, saving, and sharing interactive visualization designs.