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Lightweight Charts vs TechanJS

A data-driven comparison of two JavaScript financial charting libraries: popularity, development activity, licensing and installation. Updated .

Lightweight Charts

Performant HTML5 canvas financial charts, from TradingView.

TechanJS

Stock and financial charts.

Key differences

  • Lightweight Charts has 7.2× as many GitHub stars as TechanJS (17.5K vs 2.4K).
  • Lightweight Charts had more development activity over the last 12 months: 331 commits vs 0.
  • Lightweight Charts is downloaded 18487× as often on npm (1.4M vs 74 per week).
  • Lightweight Charts is licensed under Apache-2.0; TechanJS under MIT.
  • Lightweight Charts is written primarily in TypeScript, TechanJS in JavaScript.
  • TechanJS is the older project: its repository was created in 2014, Lightweight Charts's in 2019.
  • TechanJS has had no commits since Oct 10, 2016.

By the numbers

  • Lightweight Charts
  • TechanJS
GitHub stars
17.5K 2.4K
npm downloads / week
1.4M 74
Commits, last 12 months
331 0
Contributors
58 7
Forks
2.6K 522
Show data as a table
MetricLightweight ChartsTechanJS
GitHub stars17,4762,436
npm downloads / week1,368,01474
Commits, last 12 months3310
Contributors587
Forks2,632522

Development activity

Commits per month to each default branch, last 12 complete months.

  • Lightweight Charts
  • TechanJS
0100200300 Oct 2025 Nov Dec Jan 2026 Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug SepLightweight…TechanJS
0100200300 Oct 2025 Jan 2026 Apr Jul Lightweight…TechanJS
Show data as a table
MonthLightweight ChartsTechanJS
Oct 2025130
Nov 202580
Dec 2025170
Jan 202680
Feb 2026160
Mar 202620
Apr 2026210
May 2026120
Jun 2026130
Jul 202660
Aug 2026110
Sep 20262040

Side by side

Lightweight ChartsTechanJS
DescriptionPerformant HTML5 canvas financial charts, from TradingView.Stock and financial charts.
CategoryJavaScript financial charting librariesJavaScript financial charting libraries
LicenseApache-2.0MIT
LanguageTypeScriptJavaScript
StatusActiveInactive
Latest releasev5.2.1 ()0.8.0 ()
Last commit
Repository created
Open issues11296
Install
npm install lightweight-charts
npm install techan

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.

  • Lightweight Charts

    Performant HTML5 canvas financial charts, from TradingView.

    17.5K starsTypeScriptApache-2.0

  • TechanJS

    Stock and financial charts.

    2.4K starsJavaScriptMIT

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