Plottable Review - why 5 stars?

Shlomi Lavi

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What is Plottable?

Plottable is a powerful and versatile data visualization library that enables developers to create rich, interactive charts and graphs on the web. It was established in 2014 by a team of engineers at Palantir Technologies, a software company based in Palo Alto, California.

Designed with flexibility and ease-of-use in mind, Plottable is a popular choice for data analysts, web developers, and data scientists across a wide range of industries, including finance, healthcare, and government.

One of the key features of Plottable is its ability to handle a wide variety of chart types, including bar charts, line charts, scatter plots, and more. These charts can be customized in a number of ways, such as adjusting the colors and labels, adding interactive features like hover effects, and incorporating animations to bring data to life.

Another powerful feature of Plottable is its support for data binding, which allows developers to easily update their charts in real time based on changes in the underlying data. This can be particularly useful in applications where data is constantly changing, such as stock market analysis or real-time monitoring of website traffic.

Plottable also includes a number of built-in interactions, such as zooming and panning, that make it easy for users to explore and interact with complex data sets. These interactions can be customized and extended as needed, providing developers with a high degree of flexibility in building their applications.

Established in 2014, Plottable has quickly become one of the most popular data visualization libraries on the web. As of 2021, it has a thriving community of developers and contributors, who continue to add new features and functionality to the library.

While Plottable was initially developed by engineers at Palantir, it has since been released as an open-source project, and is free for anyone to use and contribute to. This has helped to foster a large and active community of developers who are constantly improving and extending the library, ensuring that it remains at the cutting edge of data visualization technology.

In terms of its team, Plottable was founded by a group of talented software engineers at Palantir, who recognized the need for a more flexible and powerful data visualization library for the web. Since then, it has grown to include a diverse group of contributors and supporters from around the world, who are passionate about creating innovative and effective tools for data analysis and visualization.

Overall, Plottable is an essential tool for anyone who works with data on the web. Whether you are a data analyst, web developer, or data scientist, it provides a powerful set of tools for creating rich, interactive visualizations that can help you gain insights and make better decisions based on your data. With its flexible architecture, powerful features, and active community, Plottable is sure to remain a popular choice for years to come.

Who is it best for?

Plottable serves a wide variety of customers in different industries, including finance, healthcare, government, and technology. Its customers typically require advanced data visualization capabilities to help them gain insights and make data-driven decisions. Some of the typical customers of Plottable include:

1. Financial Services Companies: Plottable is used by many financial services companies to track and analyze financial data, such as stock prices and market trends. Examples of financial services companies that use Plottable include JPMorgan Chase, BlackRock, and Charles Schwab.

2. Healthcare Organizations: Plottable is also used by many healthcare organizations to track and analyze patient data, such as disease trends and treatment outcomes. Examples of healthcare organizations that use Plottable include Kaiser Permanente, Mayo Clinic, and the University of California, San Francisco.

3. Government Agencies: Many government agencies also use Plottable to analyze data related to public safety, national security, and other areas. Examples of government agencies that use Plottable include the Department of Defense, the National Security Agency, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

4. Technology Companies: Plottable is also used by many technology companies to visualize and analyze data related to user behavior, website traffic, and other metrics. Examples of technology companies that use Plottable include Airbnb, Dropbox, and LinkedIn.

5. Non-Profit Organizations: Plottable is also used by non-profit organizations to visualize and analyze data related to their fundraising efforts, program outcomes, and other areas. Examples of non-profit organizations that use Plottable include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Wildlife Fund, and the United Nations.

In summary, Plottable serves a diverse set of customers in different industries, including finance, healthcare, government, technology, and non-profit organizations. Its customers use Plottable to gain insights and make data-driven decisions based on complex data sets. With its powerful features and flexibility, Plottable has become a popular choice for advanced data visualization on the web.

Main features and functionalities

Plottable can help your business in several ways by enabling you to visualize and analyze your data in a more effective and efficient manner. Here are a few examples of how Plottable can help your business:

1. Improved Data Insights: Plottable enables you to create interactive and customizable charts, graphs, and other visualizations that make it easier to understand complex data sets. By providing a clear and intuitive view of your data, Plottable can help you uncover insights that might not be apparent from a simple spreadsheet or table.

2. Real-Time Data Updates: Plottables data binding capabilities enable you to update your charts and visualizations in real-time as your data changes. This is particularly useful for applications where data is constantly changing, such as stock market analysis or real-time monitoring of website traffic.

3. Customizable Interactions: Plottable provides a range of built-in interactions, such as zooming and panning, that make it easy for users to explore and interact with complex data sets. These interactions can be customized and extended as needed, providing developers with a high degree of flexibility in building their applications.

4. Flexible Architecture: Plottables flexible architecture allows it to integrate easily with a wide variety of data sources and platforms, including web-based applications and APIs. This makes it an ideal choice for businesses that need to work with a diverse range of data sources and systems.

5. Open Source Community: Plottable is an open-source project with a large and active community of developers and contributors. This means that you can take advantage of the latest features and improvements, and contribute to the development of the library yourself.

Overall, Plottable can help your business by providing you with powerful and flexible data visualization capabilities that enable you to gain insights and make better decisions based on your data. Whether you are analyzing financial data, tracking website traffic, or monitoring patient outcomes, Plottable can help you get the most out of your data and achieve your business goals.

What is the actual cost?

Pros

• Plottable provides a flexible and customizable API for creating charts and visualizations, which makes it a more suitable choice for developers who need to create customized and interactive visualizations.
• Plottable is an open-source library and is free to use, which makes it a cost-effective choice for businesses that need to build charts and visualizations within their web applications.
• Plottable has an active and supportive community of developers and contributors, which provides a wealth of resources, tutorials, and examples that can help users get started and solve problems quickly.

Cons

• Plottable offers a limited set of chart types compared to some of its competitors, which may not be suitable for businesses that need more specialized or advanced types of visualizations.
• While Plottables API is flexible and customizable, it may require a steeper learning curve compared to some of its competitors, which provide more streamlined and intuitive interfaces for building charts and visualizations.
• Plottable is built on top of D3.js, which means that businesses that already have existing D3.js codebases may find it easier to integrate with Plottable, but those that do not may have to invest additional time and resources to learn and adopt both libraries.

How it stacks up?

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)