Chart.js 38,651 (github.com/chartjs/Chart.js (https://github.com/chartjs/Chart.js 67,722 ), npm 2,036 install chart.js) draws eight chart types on a canvas from one { type, data, options } object. Apache ECharts 129 (github.com/apache/echarts (https://github.com/apache/echarts 67,404 ), npm install echarts), begun at Baidu, adds dozens of series types, maps, large-data modes and linked views, drawn by its ZRender engine to canvas or SVG:
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/chart.js@4.5.1/dist/chart.umd.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/echarts@6.1.0/dist/echarts.min.js"></script>
<script src="booknest-sales.js"></script><script src="booknest-totals.js"></script>
<div style="display:flex;gap:16px"><canvas id="cj" width="310" height="180"></canvas>
<div id="ec"></div></div>
<script>
const titles = TOTALS.map(r => r.title), colors = TOTALS.map(r => r.color);
Chart.defaults.font.size = 11;
new Chart(document.getElementById('cj'), { type: 'bar',
data: { labels: titles,
datasets: [{ data: TOTALS.map(r => r.units), backgroundColor: colors }] },
options: { indexAxis: 'y', responsive: false, animation: false,
plugins: { legend: { display: false } } } });
echarts.init(document.getElementById('ec'), null,
{ renderer: 'svg', width: 310, height: 180 })
.setOption({ animation: false, grid: { left: 145, right: 15, top: 5, bottom: 25 },
xAxis: { type: 'value', splitNumber: 3 },
yAxis: { type: 'category', inverse: true, data: titles },
series: [{ type: 'bar', data: TOTALS.map(r => ({ value: r.units,
itemStyle: { color: r.color } })) }] });
window.__done = true;
</script>
ECharts puts its first category at the bottom unless the axis sets inverse: true. Neither library needs a scale, an axis or a join; the price is that a dodged label or a custom mark needs a Chart.js plugin or an ECharts custom series. Chart.js is 209 KB minified; the full ECharts bundle is 1.1 MB (tree-shake it by importing from echarts/core).
<!doctype html>
<style>
body { margin: 0; padding: 8px; background: #fafaf7; font: 11px system-ui, sans-serif; color: #263238; }
.row { display: flex; gap: 10px; flex-wrap: wrap; }
h4 { margin: 0 0 2px; font-size: 12px; }
</style>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/d3@7.9.0/dist/d3.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/chart.js@4.5.1/dist/chart.umd.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/echarts@6.1.0/dist/echarts.min.js"></script>
<div class="row">
<div><h4>Chart.js 4.5.1 (canvas)</h4><canvas id="cj" width="290" height="200"></canvas></div>
<div><h4>Apache ECharts 6.1.0 (SVG renderer)</h4><div id="ec"></div></div>
</div>
<script>
// BookNest sample data, invented for these examples (not real sales)
const SALES = (() => {
const books = [
{ id: 1, key: 'harbor', title: 'The Quiet Harbor', author: 'Elena Marsh', genre: 'Fiction', color: '#1f5f8b', price: 18.99, rating: 4.6 },
{ id: 2, key: 'deepweb', title: 'Patterns of the Deep Web', author: 'Ravi Menon', genre: 'Technology', color: '#5b3f99', price: 39.5, rating: 4.3 },
{ id: 3, key: 'saffron', title: 'Salt and Saffron', author: 'Leila Haddad', genre: 'Cooking', color: '#e09a10', price: 24, rating: 4.8 },
{ id: 4, key: 'summit', title: 'Small Steps to Big Summits', author: 'Tom Okafor', genre: 'Self-Help', color: '#3f7d3a', price: 14.99, rating: 4.1 },
{ id: 5, key: 'clock', title: "The Clockmaker's Paradox", author: 'Iris Vale', genre: 'Science Fiction', color: '#b5452f', price: 16.2, rating: 4.5 },
{ id: 6, key: 'glass', title: 'Gardens in Glass', author: 'June Park', genre: 'Gardening', color: '#2a9d8f', price: 22.5, rating: 4.4 },
];
const units = { // units sold per month, January 2025 to August 2026
1: [40, 47, 46, 47, 57, 51, 46, 54, 60, 60, 71, 111, 52, 42, 49, 56, 59, 48, 53, 51],
2: [40, 37, 35, 41, 48, 43, 40, 42, 50, 53, 53, 84, 42, 35, 38, 41, 45, 41, 46, 46],
3: [46, 45, 41, 46, 53, 49, 46, 45, 60, 51, 63, 100, 48, 48, 49, 48, 53, 49, 48, 52],
4: [100, 80, 72, 70, 66, 66], // released March 2026
5: [48, 47, 54, 52, 65, 55, 57, 58, 64, 66, 75, 124, 58, 49, 59, 56, 63, 57, 54, 57],
6: [31, 30, 28, 35, 31, 32, 29, 30, 41, 36, 45, 64, 31, 30, 30, 38, 40, 38, 36, 38],
};
const months = d3.utcMonths(new Date('2025-01-01'), new Date('2026-09-01')).map(d3.utcFormat('%Y-%m'));
const sales = books.flatMap(b => units[b.id].map((n, i) =>
({ month: months[i + months.length - units[b.id].length], book: b.id, units: n })));
const ratings = [[4, 8, 20, 87, 293], [6, 10, 22, 95, 147], [2, 3, 8, 45, 342], [2, 3, 8, 24, 28],
[4, 8, 20, 90, 228], [4, 7, 20, 82, 147]].map((counts, i) => ({ book: i + 1, counts })); // 1 to 5 stars
const regions = [{ id: '826', name: 'United Kingdom', units: 1480 }, { id: '276', name: 'Germany', units: 1120 },
{ id: '250', name: 'France', units: 760 }, { id: '372', name: 'Ireland', units: 540 },
{ id: '528', name: 'Netherlands', units: 410 }, { id: '724', name: 'Spain', units: 320 }];
const links = [[5, 1, 38], [1, 3, 24], [2, 5, 18], [3, 6, 21], [4, 1, 12], [2, 6, 9], [4, 3, 15], [5, 6, 14]]
.map(([source, target, value]) => ({ source, target, value })); // customers who bought both
return { books, sales, ratings, regions, links };
})();
// Totals per book, best seller first (d3-array does the data work; the charts need no scales or axes)
const TOTALS = d3.sort(SALES.books.map(b => ({ title: b.title, color: b.color,
units: d3.sum(SALES.sales, s => s.book === b.id ? s.units : 0) })), r => -r.units);
const titles = TOTALS.map(r => r.title.replace(/^The /, '')), colors = TOTALS.map(r => r.color);
Chart.defaults.font.size = 10;
new Chart(document.getElementById('cj'), { type: 'bar',
data: { labels: titles, datasets: [{ data: TOTALS.map(r => r.units), backgroundColor: colors }] },
options: { indexAxis: 'y', responsive: false, animation: false, plugins: { legend: { display: false } } } });
echarts.init(document.getElementById('ec'), null, { renderer: 'svg', width: 290, height: 200 })
.setOption({ animation: false, grid: { left: 130, right: 15, top: 5, bottom: 25 },
xAxis: { type: 'value', splitNumber: 3 },
yAxis: { type: 'category', inverse: true, data: titles }, // else the first category is at the bottom
tooltip: {},
series: [{ type: 'bar', data: TOTALS.map(r => ({ value: r.units, itemStyle: { color: r.color } })) }] });
</script>