# Lightweight Charts vs Plotly.js

## Key differences

- Plotly.js and Lightweight Charts have a similar number of GitHub stars (18.4K vs 17.5K).
- Plotly.js had more development activity over the last 12 months: 1,549 commits vs 329.
- Lightweight Charts is downloaded 1.5× as often on npm (1.4M vs 873K per week).
- Lightweight Charts is licensed under Apache-2.0; Plotly.js under MIT.
- Lightweight Charts is written primarily in TypeScript, Plotly.js in JavaScript.
- Plotly.js is the older project: its repository was created in 2015, Lightweight Charts's in 2019.

| | Lightweight Charts | Plotly.js |
|---|---|---|
| Description | Performant HTML5 canvas financial charts, from TradingView. | Powerful declarative library with support for 20 chart types. |
| GitHub stars | 17,473 | 18,355 |
| Commits (12 months) | 329 | 1,549 |
| Contributors | 58 | 263 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Status | Active | Active |
| Install | `npm install lightweight-charts` | `npm install plotly.js` |

Source: https://awesomedataviz.com/compare/lightweight-charts-vs-plotly-js/ · Data updated 2026-10-04 · Content: CC BY 4.0, Awesome Dataviz (https://awesomedataviz.com).