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ApexCharts

ANALYTICS
Velocity7.5

Open-source JavaScript charting library for interactive data visualizations

apexcharts.com ↗

ApexCharts built a paid tier in three releases, then started enforcing it

open-corelicensingchart-typesrendering-performancepremium-tier
◆Current state
ApexCharts is shipping at a remarkable pace — six releases in under two weeks — and doing two things at once. It is adding chart types and interaction work at a steady clip: sunburst, a unit chart with six layouts, continuous heatmap axes, a bar chart race, cursor-anchored wheel zoom, and a performance release that cut scatter DOM nodes in half with byte-identical output. Simultaneously it has stood up commercial licensing, moving from no license check at all, to trial mode with a watermark, to a premium chart type, to requiring an entitled plan rather than any valid key.
◆Where it's heading
The library is converting from a fully open charting component into an open core with a paid tier, and it is doing so carefully — each step preserves existing configs, features keep working in trial mode, and the first paywalled item was a new chart type rather than something users already depended on. That sequencing matters: nothing was taken away, so the pressure lands on new capability rather than on installed usage.
◆Prediction
Expect further chart types to launch premium-first, and the entitlement check tightened in 6.7.0 to become the mechanism through which plan tiers are differentiated.

◆Recent moves

  1. 1d ago

    Sunburst chart lands; premium now requires an entitled plan

    A new hierarchical sunburst chart type plus rounded pie and donut slices and a parliament layout for the unit chart. The quieter change is entitlement: premium features now require a plan rather than any valid key, tightening the licensing scaffolding introduced two releases earlier.

    View source ↗
  2. 6d ago

    The first premium-only chart type ships

    ⚡ SPARK

    The unit chart is the point at which premium stops meaning optional interaction modules and starts meaning chart types, the core of what the library is. It renders in watermarked trial mode without a key, following the pattern established in 6.5.0.

    View source ↗
  3. 13d ago

    Licensing arrives for seven premium modules, in trial mode

    ⚡ SPARK

    The pivot release. Seven modules — storyboard, link, ink, measure, contextMenu, perspectives and history — come under an offline licence check, though nothing is gated and everything keeps working with a watermark. Everything premium that follows builds on the mechanism introduced here.

    View source ↗
  4. 13d ago

    Heatmaps get continuous numeric and datetime axes

    Heatmap cells are now positioned by real x value rather than tiled by column index, so gaps and irregular spacing render truthfully, with optional canvas rendering for large grids. A bar chart race animating re-ranking bars ships alongside, and three heatmap defaults change with documented restoration paths.

    View source ↗
  5. 13d ago

    Measure ruler graduates to a toolbar tool

    A small follow-up promoting the measure ruler from a held-key interaction to a pre-selectable toolbar button, plus the ability to toggle toolbar tools off. Notable mainly because measure later appears in the licensed module list.

    View source ↗
  6. 13d ago

    Scatter charts render with half the DOM nodes, up to 45% faster

    A pure performance release with no API changes and output verified byte-identical to the previous version. Collapsing per-point marker groups into one group per series removes tens of thousands of DOM nodes and event-delegation setups on large scatters, with benchmark methodology published.

    View source ↗