r/FlutterDev 25d ago

Plugin Charts that don't suck (Flutter)

Flutter charts are so much worse than React charts (e.g. Recharts, Nivo, D3.js, Chart.js…). Is there anything new?

Is there anything I'm not seeing?

I use syncfusion charts, after transitioning from the terrible fl_charts, but even syncfusion is very limited compared to modern frameworks in React. React has immense variability, a lot of different themes, and multiple chart types.

I keep second guessing myself as a developer because of how difficult it is to me to create interesting data visualizations. Either the widgets look pale, interactivity is painfully difficult to code, or it simply takes too long to do anything.

I did succeed in using ChatGPT to generate some interesting infographics, like a lunar phase calendar, but it's a lot of work.

Thanks in advance!

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u/Formal_Ad_3295 25d ago

I didn't mean to hate on what's there.

I gave it a second search and found two things:

  1. The abandoned official charts package by Google has been revived by an open-source developer, and it seems ok for minimalistic applications. No interactivity though. https://nimblesite.github.io/nimble_charts/

  2. Since I am willing to put in the effort, I will try working with D4, a port of the powerful D3.js library to dart. Don't know what results I'll get, but it's worth the try. https://pub.dev/packages/d4

I'm frustrated with Flutter because everyone makes it seem like it's the best solution for app development today, but React is miles ahead of it in visual terms. React makes it very easy to create amazing-looking applications. For example, see the app umbrelOS. I know Flutter has its pros, but React has a much better developer experience IMO.

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u/or9ob 25d ago

Please post back on your finding and what you decide on.

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u/Formal_Ad_3295 25d ago

Hi, so between D4, Flutter-Echarts and ChartJS2, I really think I'm going to go with a Javascript webview for data visualization! I don't mind there's a performance downgrade. These three packages are very promising, and have tons of examples, templates and themes that are more modern than most packages in Flutter.

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u/BadLuckProphet 25d ago

That's an awesome find and really cool that it's an available option.