D3 and HighCharts: Pros, Cons and Comparisons (Part 2/2)

We have examined D3; now let's take a look at HighCharts.

HighCharts

HighCharts is a commercial Data Visualization tool that produces all (or most) known manner of charts. What's required is a HTML placeholder, a remote link to the library, and your dataset. You declare a HighCharts object and fill in all the properties required, and presto, you have a chart. If your data already comes in a format easily readable by HighCharts, there's very little coding necessary beyond that.

HighCharts takes care of the rest. The end result is your chart of choice, rendered beautifully with whatever color schemes you chose. Mouseovers, tooltips and animations are all built-in. The default settings are great - you don't have to lift a finger.

Which can sometimes be a problem in itself - HighCharts takes care of everything so you won't have to. But if you do want to customize, your options are limited to a plethora of color palettes, custom CSS stylings and other visual stuff. Anything truly out of the box is, unfortunately, also out of the question.
Thus you have a staggeringly huge number of known options, and hopefully your end goal fits into one of these pre-designed templates. As time goes by, HighCharts adds more and more different chart types to their repertoire, in the form of additional libraries. However, again, they are still pre-defined options, so getting something truly custom with HighCharts isn't going to be possible.

When it comes to hammering out a standard good-looking solution quickly with minimal fuss, HighCharts can't be beat. At least, not by D3.

HighCharts is gonna cost you.

HighCharts is free by default, though if you're using it for commercial purposes, there's a license you have to pay for. It's like SGD 200 a year if I'm not mistaken. A single license, with no frills and not inclusive of other add-ons, which also incur a cost. In other words, HighCharts is either free or hideously expensive, depending on what you're using it for.

Conclusion

HighCharts is the optimal choice if you're aiming for a quick and decent solution for a simple well-documented use case, and don't mind paying. If you require a lot of customization and don't mind starting from a painfully low level, D3 is your go-to. D3 is incredibly flexible, but that flexibility comes with a certain amount of complexity which you have to be comfortable dealing with.

My way or the high(charts) way!
T___T