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Ogma vs vis.js: which graph visualization library for your application?
Seeking an alternative to vis.js for graph visualization in JavaScript? While vis.js has long been a popular open-source JavaScript library, it is no longer maintained. Organizations are turning to Ogma by Linkurious — the high-performance and feature-rich graph visualization library, with enterprise-level support.
Whether you are developing a fraud detection tool, cyber threat analysis dashboard, or knowledge graph application, Ogma is built to accommodate modern development and business needs.
What is vis.js?
vis.js is an open-source JavaScript library that provides various visualization tools, including a network (graph) module. It’s a good starting point for small-scale applications and simple graph visualizations.
However, vis.js is no longer actively maintained, and lacks the robustness, performance, and enterprise-grade features required for modern data-intensive applications.
“What made the difference for us in choosing Ogma was the higher-level abstract, programmatic API that came out-of-the-box along with the responsiveness of the support and technical team which was a huge win.”
Why choose Ogma over vis.js?
Faster time-to-market & development speed
Vis.js has limited layout capabilities and outdated rendering support, requiring more effort to achieve modern UI/UX standards. Ogma provides out-of-the-box graph features, interaction patterns, and GPU acceleration. With Ogma, you spend less time developing from scratch and more time creating value.
TLDR;
Ogma helps you go to market faster — without reinventing the wheel.
Higher ROI & lower total cost of ownership
Ogma drastically reduces the engineering hours required for building and maintaining graph visualizations. Vis.js provides a minimal set of graph visualization features, developers need to develop in-house code to implement dynamic graph exploration capabilities. With Ogma’s stable high-level APIs, bundled 100+ graph features, and quick professional support right from our engineers, your team will be free to focus on addressing core business issues. Ogma’s commercial license offers access to free updates throughout the subscription period.
TLDR;
vis.js is free — but development time isn't.
Enterprise support & documentation
Vis.js is no longer officially maintained, leaving users reliant on community forks and outdated documentation. Ogma comes with dedicated customer support from our engineering team, SLAs guarantee response times, and optional training and consulting. No more struggling with GitHub issues or Stack Overflow for a solution, we’re here to pick up the phone.
Easily onboard new developers with clear guides, tutorials, code playground, and live examples. Our documentation is clear and exhaustive. You can speed up integration using boilerplates and examples for popular web frameworks such as React, Angular, Vue.js and more.
TLDR;
The documentation of viz.js is minimal and there is no support anymore, Ogma has hundreds of examples and professional support.
Scalability & performance
Unlike vis.js, which struggles to cope with graph datasets of more than 1,000 nodes, Ogma is engineered for high-performance rendering and GPU acceleration. It handles 100,000+ nodes like a breeze even with ancient hardware, making it ideal for production-grade apps, and can layout more than 1 million nodes on new hardware.
TLDR;
Your app gets sluggish beyond 1,000 nodes on screen? Unlock large graphs with Ogma.
From hairball to uncluttered visualization
Vis.js has no built-in features to simplify complex networks, which can quickly become visual hairballs. Ogma comes with out-of-the box aggregation and grouping features that simplify graphs interactively like node and edge grouping, sub-graph transformations, path shortening, visual clustering, level-of-detail zooming, etc.
TLDR;
Ogma helps you create value that open source libraries like vis.js cannot compete with.
Feature comparison: Ogma vs vis.js
Feature | Ogma | vis.js |
---|---|---|
Active development and maintenance | ✅ Yes – backed by Linkurious | No – not maintained since 2019 |
Scalability (>1k nodes) | ✅ Optimized (client-side GPU, state-of-the-art algorithms) | Framerate drops over 1k nodes, UI freezes over 10k |
Graph simplification | ✅ Yes (LOD aggregation, grouping, transformations) | Custom code required |
Data-driven styling, event handling and interactivity with API | ✅ Advanced styling and dynamic rules, exhaustive events | Limited styling support, basic events |
Export capabilities | PDF, PNG, SVG, Excel, CSV, JSON, GEXF, GraphML, geo background, watermarks | Basic image export |
TypeScript definitions | ✅ Yes | No |
Integration with frameworks | ✅ React, Angular, Vue | Not officially supported |
Developer learning curve | ✅ Low | Steep |
Support & SLA | ✅ 24/5 professional support, SLAs, impact on roadmap | ⚠️ Not maintained – community only |
Licensing | Commercial — includes updates & support | Open-source (Apache 2.0 and MIT, but inactive) |
Summary
Choose Ogma if you:
- Need rapid development – Projects with tight deadlines or limited engineering resources benefit from Ogma’s API and out-of-the-box capabilities.
- Require enterprise-grade support – Mission-critical applications need guaranteed SLAs, dedicated support, and regular updates.
- Scale to large datasets – With computation on GPU client-side, WebGL rendering, and LOD capabilities, Ogma keeps rendering and interactions smooth even on hundreds of thousands of nodes and edges.
- Value predictable ROI – Avoid unpredictable implementation and maintenance costs for in-house graph solutions that are built on low-level libraries.
- Want client-side graph analytics – Built-in metrics, clustering, and export features accelerate insights with just a few lines of code.
- Create mission-critical applications – In sectors like finance, cybersecurity, intelligence, or healthcare.
Choose vis.js if:
- You need a quick prototype of static visualizations for a small project.
- Your graph is small and simple (under 1,000 nodes).
- You don’t require modern visuals or performance.
Build modern graph visualizations with Ogma
Ogma is trusted by Fortune 500 companies, governments, and startups building mission-critical data-driven applications. If you're looking for a vis.js alternative that's tailored for performance, scalability, and business value, Ogma is your best choice.