Plotly (Python)
What it is: Python library for interactive charts. Hover tooltips, zoom, pan built-in. Exports to HTML.
What It Does Best
Interactive by default. Every chart gets zoom, pan, hover. No extra code needed.
Export to HTML. Share visualizations as standalone files. Recipients don't need Python installed.
Dash framework. Build web dashboards entirely in Python. No JavaScript required.
Pricing
Open source: Free for all features
Dash Enterprise: $950+/month (commercial deployment)
When to Use It
✅ Need to share interactive charts with non-technical users
✅ Want interactivity without learning D3.js
✅ Building data apps in Python only
✅ Jupyter notebooks that need interactivity
When NOT to Use It
❌ Publication-quality static images (Matplotlib better)
❌ Extreme customization needs (D3.js better)
❌ Very large datasets (performance degrades above 100k points)
Bottom line: Perfect middle ground between static Matplotlib and complex D3.js. Interactive, shareable, and Python-native.