12 Best Open Source Data Visualization Tools [Free & Paid]

Data visualization tools are widely used for data presentation and in-depth analysis through charts, graphs, maps, tables and other illustrations. Open source visualization tools are quite popular among organizations, as it helps them analyze and represent data in the way they want with access to its source code. We have listed best open source data visualization tools along with their features. 

What is the Importance of Data Visualization Tools?

Data visualization is becoming increasingly important as we deal with larger and more complex data sets. The ability to visualize data quickly and easily can help us gain insights that would otherwise be hidden in the unstructured data. Data visualization tools can also help communicate your findings to others, whether they are clients, business partners, or colleagues.

How Does Data Visualization Tools Help?

Here’re some of the ways in which open source visualization tools can help us.

• Visualize complex data for better analytics
• Concise large and complex data sets to know the gist
• Enables to communicate data findings to others
• Determine correlation, effects and nature in data

How Do We Select the Best Open-Source Data Visualization Tools?

Data visualization tools can help in properly visualizing complex data sets. With it you can easily identify patterns in these data sets and gain actionable insights. In case you are planning to buy one for your organization, then this article will help you.

To help you choose the right tool, we have done a detailed comparison of best data visualization tools in terms of features, pros and cons, compatible operating systems and pricing

A detailed comparison is made based on features like XYZ. In this article, we have mostly included open-source data visualization software therefore, you can use all the features for free. However, many of them do have a paid version for premium features.

Therefore, you can buy its subscription to use the advanced functionalities for data representation. Here are some of the best open-source data visualization tools you can consider for this purpose

12 Best Open-Source Data Visualization Tools (Paid and Free)

Data Visualization Tools	Language Supported	Best Used To
Candela	JavaScript, Python, and R.	Visualize components in resonant platform of Kitware
Charted	JavaScript	See results with quick visualization of data
Chartist.js	JavaScript and CSS	Easily embed analytical charts on UI and admin dashboards
D3.js	HTML, CSS and JavaScript	Attach data driven charts and graphs to documents
dygaphs	JavaScript	Interpret and explore dense datasets
Google Charts	JavaScript	Data visualization on your website or app
Google Data Studio	GDS, JavaScript and CSS	Low-code data visualization and customization
Grafana Labs	Go Programming Language and Node.js LTS	Multi-platform interactive visualization and analytics
Leaflet	JavaScript, CSS and HTML	Build interactive webpage mapping applications
Redash	Javascript, Python (3) and Typescript.	Query based data visualization
RapidMiner	Java	Create the entire data analytics life cycle
Weave	ActionScript and Adobe Flex	Visualize tables, maps and graphs that are interrelated

Here are the best open source visualization tools in the market that you can customize and use as per your need.

• Candela: Visualize Components in Resonant Platform of Kitware

Candela is one of the best open-source data visualization tools with dozens of interoperable web visualization components that let users and data analysts easily create insightful, interactive data patterns, complex infographics, dashboards, and maps.

Candela has more than a dozen visual components including unique LineUp and OnSet components by Harvard University. It supports three different programming languages like JavaScript, Python, and R, making it one of the most versatile open-source data visualization tools.

Candela Key Features

1. 16+ Visual Components
2. Multi-Language Support
3. Detailed Documentation
4. Community Support

Supporting Languages: JavaScript, Python, and R.

Candela Specifications

• Free Trial: Free to use
• Free Version: Free data visualization software
• Supported Operating System: Linux, Windows, Os X

Pros and Cons of Candela

Pricing of Candela: Candela is a completely free open-source data visualization tool. You can simply download the source code from its official website or GitHub and start editing.

Suggested Read: Best Free Statistical Software for Data Analysis

• Charted: See Results with Quick Visualization of Data

Charted is a simple, open-source data visualizing tool for visualizing data created by Medium. It is quite easy to visualize data using chartered, as you must feed links to the data to create informational, colorful, and interactive charts.

The tool mainly focuses on providing core visualization features like quick update, separate chart data series, multi-size screen display, etc.

Charted Key Features

1. Renders data and chart on all screen sizes
2. Quick data feed with CSV file or shareable google sheets link.
3. Entirely visualization focused
4. GeoJS geospatial and Vega visualizations

Supported Languages: JavaScript

Charted Specifications

• Free Trial: Free data visualization software
• Free Version: Free to use
• Supported Operating System: Web-based and works on all major platforms

Pros and Cons of Charted

Charted Pricing: It is an open source data visualization software. You can modify its code to fit your needs.

• Chartist.js: Easily Embed Analytical Charts on UI and Admin Dashboards

Chartist.js is a lightweight and easy-to-use JavaScript library for creating beautiful charting interfaces, making it perfect for embedding into your web applications. Chartist.js supports a wide range of chart types, including bar, line, area, and scatter plots that you can input into your dashboard or admin UI.

It also supports several advanced features such as animation, touch support, and styling. Chartist.js is free to use under the MIT license and is available for download at GitHub.

Chartist.js Features

1. Advanced CSS Animation and multi-line label
2. Cross-browser support
3. Responsive override options
4. (Dot Per Inch) DPI independent
5. Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) usage

Supported Language: JavaScript for control/coding and CSS for styling

Chartist.js Specifications

• Free Trial: Free to use
• Free Version: Free and open-source data visualization software
• Supported Operating System: Linux, Windows, MacOS

Pros and Cons of Chartist.js

Chartist Pricing: It is a free opensource data visualization program.

• Data-Driven Documents (D3.js): Attach Data Driven Charts and Graphs to Documents

Data-Driven Documents (D3.js) is one of the most popular JavaScript libraries for creating custom data visualizations. D3.js gives you the freedom to use HTML, CSS, and SVG to create interactive and dynamic visualizations that can be used on web pages, apps, and presentations.

This open-source data visualization software mainly focuses on web metrics and gives users all the capabilities of modern browsers without any restriction to a framework. It helps users with DOM (Document Object Model) manipulation by combining a data-driven approach and powerful visualization components.

D3.js Key Features

1. Bind data to DOM elements
2. Application of data driven transformation on Documents
3. HTML, CSS, and SVG to create visualizations
4. Supports large datasets and dynamic behavior
5. Reusable codes along with large collection of community and official modules

Supported Languages: HTML, CSS and JavaScript

D3.js Specifications

• Free Trial: Free to use
• Free Version: Free to use
• Supported Operating System: Firefox, Safari, Chrome, Opera, IE9+, Android, iOS

Pros and Cons of Data-Driven Documents (D3.js)

D3.js Pricing: Available for Free on GitHub

Suggested Read: Best GIS Software for Analyzing Geospatial Data

• dygraphs: Interpret and Explore Dense Data Sets

dygraphs is an interactive JavaScript based opensource data visualization tool that produces zoomable line and bar charts from CSV, URL, array, function or data table. It has a feature-rich JavaScript charting library and is widely used in creating interactive dashboards and data visuals, like in Stock Screener

The open source data visualization tool also create interactive charts and graphs based on user defined values. Users can shift, drag and mouseover above the chart to zoom, zoom-out and to highlight individual values.

dygraphs Features

1. Supports large datasets of complex semi- structured data
2. Customizable Animations and interactivity
3. Crosshairs and annotations
4. Mouseover and pan interactions
5. Highly customizable with custom callbacks and options
6. Supports all browsers, even smartphone/tablet

Supported Language: JavaScript.

dygraphs Specifications

• Free Trial: Free software
• Free Version: It is free to use
• Supported Operating System: Web-based and supports all major operating systems

Pros and Cons of dygraphs

dygraphs Pricing: Users can download the entire code for free from its official website. It is a free open-source dashboard tool for visualizing data.

• Google Charts: User Friendly Data Visualization on Your Website or App

Google Charts is a open source charting software that lets you create a wide variety of charts and graphs for your web pages and applications. It offers a wide range of charts, including bar, line, area, and scatter charts, where you can input your data and customize every detail.

It also supports features such as animation, touch support, and styling. Google Charts is free to use and is available for download at the Google Developers website.

This open-source data visualization software offers a wide range of tools and charts along with detailed customization options. It also supports real-time data connection using a variety of protocols and data connection tools.

Google Charts Key Features

1. Easy to use and simple to input data
2. A wide variety of chart types
3. Supports animation and touch support
4. Realtime data connection tools
5. Cross-browser operability
6. Cross-platform Portability

Supported Language: JavaScript

Google Charts Specifications

• Free Trial: Free to use
• Free Version: Free tool for data visualization
• Supported Operating System: Works on all major operating systems

Pros and Cons of Google Charts

Google Charts Pricing: It a free open-source visualisation tool by Google.

Suggested Read: Best Free and Open Source ETL Tools for Data Integration

• Google Data Studio: Low – Code Data Visualization and Customization

Google Data Studio is a free data visualization tool that lets you create beautiful and informative reports from your data. It connects to a variety of data sources, including Google Sheets, BigQuery, Cloud SQL, etc. and lets you transform your data into visually appealing and insightful reports. It also offers a wide range of customization options so that you get specific analytic reports.

Google Data Studio is free to use and modify on Google Data Studio website. Further, it is quite easy to use and offers a wide range of customization options.

Google Data Studio Key Features

1. Easy to use
2. A wide range of built-in charts and reports
3. Support for a dozen data sources
4. Completely free to use

Supported Language: GDS, JavaScript and CSS

Google Data Studio Specifications

• Free Trial: Free to use
• Free Version: It is a free and open-source data visualization tool
• Supported Operating System: Web-based and supports all major OS

Pros and Cons of Google Data Studio

Google Data Studio Pricing: As of now, it is offered completely free as a part of Google Cloud Platform.

Suggested Read: Best Statistical Analysis Software Solution for Business

• Grafana Labs: Multi-platform interactive visualization and analytics

Grafana is an open-source data visualization tool that lets you create beautiful graphs and dashboards from your data. It supports a wide range of data sources, including Prometheus, InfluxDB, Elasticsearch, and MySQL.

The free visualization software offers one of the most advanced data visualization tools like IOT visibility, On-call management, multi-tenant log aggregation, and much more. It also has a wide range of built-in graphs and dashboards that you can use to get started with your data visualization.

Grafana Labs Key Features

1. Prometheus Metrics (10K series)
2. 50 GB logs and 50 GB Traces
3. Both cloud and on-premises deployment
4. K8s Monitoring
5. Graphite, Mimir, and Prometheus Metrics
6. Azure Monitor Plugins

Supported Language: Go Programming Language and Node.js LTS

Grafana Labs Specifications

• Free Trial: Available
• Free Version: Available
• Supported Operating System: Ubuntu, Fedora, macOS, Windows.

Pros and Cons of Grafana Labs

Grafana Pricing: Grafana is a premium visualization software. It offers a free plan for upto 3 users. The premium plan starts ₹640/month.

• Leaflet: Build interactive Webpage Mapping Applications

Leaflet is a free data visualization library for interactive maps that are used on websites and mobile applications. It offers a wide range of features, including markers, Popups, polygons, and much more. It also supports a variety of data formats, including GeoJSON, TopoJSON, etc.

Leaflet is a JavaScript library designed for interactive maps. It provides map rendering, interaction, animations, events, markers, overlays, panes, popups, drag-and-drop, and a lot more.

This open-source data visualization tool offers multiple interaction options like click, mouseover, pinch, marker dragging, scrolling, etc. It is extremely lightweight and has no external dependencies.

Leaflet Key Features

1. OpenStreetMap data
2. Easy embedding code to mobile apps
3. Interactive web map
4. GeoJSON data support
5. Multi-browser opera
6. Modular build system

Supported Language: JavaScript, CSSand HTML

Leaflet Specifications

• Free Trial: You can use it for free
• Free Version: It is an open-source visualization tool
• Supported Operating System: Web-based and supports all major platforms

Pros and Cons of Leaflet

Leaflet Pricing: It is a free open source data visualization tool.

• Redash: Query based Data Visualization tool

Redash is another premium data visualization programme that allows users to create and embed their own custom dashboards with any type of data, and even connect to multiple data sources.

Users can connect their UI to a variety of data sources, including MySQL, Amazon Redshift, Google BigQuery, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and more. This open source data visualization tool also offers a wide range of features, including a SQL editor, multiple visualization types, collaboration features, etc. 

Redash Key Features

1. Robust web-based SQL editor
2. Reusable snippet creator
3. Drag and drop resizer
4. Public and privately shareable dashboards
5. Click-to-insert and browser schema

Supported Language: Javascript, Python (3) and Typescript.

Pros and Cons of Redash

Redash Pricing: It is open source data visualization tool.

• RapidMiner: Create the entire Data Analytics Life Cycle

RapidMiner is platform for data science teams that makes it easy to prepare data, build models, and deploy them into production. It supports a wide variety of data sources, including relational databases, Hadoop, NoSQL databases, Amazon S3, and more. Data Visualization is just a part of, the RapidMiner data engineering suite. 

This free data visualization tool also offers a wide range of features, including a visual model builder, an Auto Modeler, and an interactive data exploration tool. RapidMiner is available in both a free and a paid version. You can buy and modify the source code as you need it.

RapidMiner Key Features

1. Data Preparation and Model Building
2. Project-based Framework
3. Drag-and-drop dashboard building
4. Operators for further Customization
5. Visual Analytics workflow

Supported Language: Java

RapidMiner Specifications

• Free Trial: Available for 30 days
• Free Version: Available
• Supported Operating System: Windows, Linux, MacOS

Pros and Cons of RapidMiner

RapidMiner Pricing: RapidMiner has custom pricing model spending on the requirement of users.

• Weave: Visualize Table, Maps and Graphs that are Interrelated

The weave is a publicly shared data visualization program with a wide range of features, including interactive visualizations, a data query language, and support for multiple data sources.

Its flexible architecture enables users to create their own visualizations or reuse existing ones from the web. It can further connect data from multiple sources and integrate them into a single unified dashboard.

Weave Features

1. Serverless model deployment
2. Binary version available
3. Highly scalable
4. Machine learning model server
5. Data query language

Supported Language: ActionScript and Adobe Flex

Weave Specifications

• Free Trial: Available
• Free Version: Free to use
• Supported Operating System: Web-based and supports all major platforms

Pros and Cons of Weave

Weave Pricing: It is an opensource visualization tool available for free.

Suggested Read: Open Source and Free Bioinformatics Tools List for Genomic Testing

Data Visualization Types

There are several types of data visualizations available to visualize data. Some of the most common data visualizations include:

• Pie Chart: The pie chart is the circular statistical graph that is divided into slices for illustrating numerical proportion. In the pie chart, the slice’s arc length is directly proportional to quantity it highlights.
• Bar Graph: A bar graph is the pictorial data representation in the form of vertical and horizontal rectangular bars. In a bar graph, the bar length is proportional to the measured data.
• Histogram: The histogram is a kind of graph for illustrating the frequency distribution of various data points for a single variable. These histograms classify any data into several “bins” or the “range groups and count how many data points come under every bin.
• Scatter Plot: These are a kind of graphs used to represent the relationships in between two variables in a specific data set. It illustrates the data points on a Cartesian plane. The independent variable is plotted over the X- axis and the dependent variable is plotted over the Y-axis. The pattern formed by the two variables helps in identifying and understanding the relationship between the two.
• Heat Map: The heat map is used to represent the data in a map or diagram where all the data values are illustrated by different colors. These maps are important in identifying what is working and what is not working on a webpage or a website.

In addition to these, Line chart, Tree Map, Area Chart, Vienn diagram, and bubble chart are some other ways to represent data.

Why Should You Use an Open-Source Data Visualization Tool?

Open-source data visualization tools can help you unlock a new level of data visualization, interpretation, and analysis.

Selecting open source data visualization tools imply selecting a platform that provides flexibility, a supportive community, and future capabilities. Some other reasons to use free software for data visualization include:

• These tools are free to use without paying any license and maintenance fees.
• You can modify the functionalities of the software by tweaking its code as per your requirements.
• It offers a community where you can get help from other data analysts to get familiar with the features of the software.
• It helps you avoid vendor lock in situations because you do not rely on any vendor for support and improvements. Instead, you can modify the code as per your requirements.

Conclusion

Proper data visualization is essential for accurate and precise data analysis. With the right open source data visualization tools at your fingertips, you can quickly summarize and describe the complicated data to your employees and stakeholders.

There are ample options available for data visualization tools that you can use for data representation and analysis. In terms of features like data preparation, data sourcing, and data representation, Google Charts, Charted, and Candela are some of the best open-source data visualizations.

Frequently Asked Questions Related to Data Visualization Tools

Related Categories: Data Visualization Tools | Database Management Software | Data Science Platforms