Partytown vs uPlot
Which should you use? A side-by-side look at what each one does, who it suits, what it costs, how hard it is to set up, and where each falls short.
Open source · MIT
Moves heavy third-party scripts like analytics off the main thread into a web worker.
Open source · MIT
A small, fast JavaScript chart library for time series, lines, areas, OHLC and bars.
The short answer
Choose Partytown if you need…
- Site owners whose pages are slowed by analytics or marketing third-party scripts
- Teams tracking Core Web Vitals or Lighthouse scores who want to reduce main-thread work
- Developers using a framework that has a Partytown integration (the README links an integrations page)
Choose uPlot if you need…
- Web developers who need a fast chart for large time series data
- Dashboards that update live with streamed data
- Apps where a small download size matters
- Projects that need zoom and cursor sync across multiple charts
Side-by-side
| Partytown | uPlot | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Library | Library |
| Price | Free and open source | Free and open source |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| GitHub stars | 13.8k | 10.6k |
| Setup difficulty | Intermediate | Intermediate |
| How you get it | Install with a package manager | Install with a package manager |
| Main language | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last code update | 8 days ago | 7 days ago |
What each one is
Partytown
Partytown is a lazy-loaded JavaScript library that relocates resource-intensive third-party scripts, such as analytics or marketing tags, into a web worker. A web worker runs in a separate background thread, so these scripts compete less with your own code for the browser's main thread. The stated goal is to keep the main thread free for your site's code and speed up page responsiveness.
uPlot
uPlot is a JavaScript library that draws charts in a web page using the browser's Canvas 2D drawing API. It is built for plotting time series data such as lines, areas, OHLC and bars. The README says it is about 50 KB minified and aims to render large datasets quickly with low memory use.
Best for
Partytown
- Site owners whose pages are slowed by analytics or marketing third-party scripts
- Teams tracking Core Web Vitals or Lighthouse scores who want to reduce main-thread work
- Developers using a framework that has a Partytown integration (the README links an integrations page)
uPlot
- Web developers who need a fast chart for large time series data
- Dashboards that update live with streamed data
- Apps where a small download size matters
- Projects that need zoom and cursor sync across multiple charts
Strengths
Partytown
- Targets a clear problem: third-party scripts blocking the main thread
- Open source under the MIT license with a large community (about 13.8k stars)
- Documented getting-started, integrations, and configuration guides
uPlot
- The README reports strong benchmark results against other chart libraries, with a small bundle size
- Supports time zones (IANA names) and daylight saving time, plus features like missing data handling and high/low bands
- Has a plugin and hooks API for extending behavior
Not ideal for
Partytown
- Sites whose third-party scripts must run on the main thread, since the README says Partytown is not guaranteed to work in every scenario
- Teams that need a guaranteed, fully supported setup without checking the FAQ and trade-offs pages first
uPlot
- People who want a ready-made chart with no coding, since the README focuses on the API and docs are described as a work in progress
- Projects needing built-in drag panning, since the README says it is not included and must be added via plugins
- Very large live views above about 100k points, which the README says may struggle
- Projects needing 3D or WebGL-style rendering, since the README points to other libraries for that
Trade-offs
Partytown
- The README explicitly says it is not guaranteed to work in every scenario, so behavior needs testing per site
- Its trade-offs are documented separately, meaning some limitations are not visible in the README itself
- Latest release is v1.0.2 and the README is truncated, so the full maturity picture is unclear from this source
uPlot
- The README says the docs are a work in progress, so some APIs need to be learned from the type definitions and demos
- Does not include data parsing, aggregation or statistics, and has no animations or built-in panning
- Axis tick labels have no collision avoidance, so spacing may need manual tuning
Getting started
Partytown
Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/QwikDev/partytownuPlot
Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/leeoniya/uPlotFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between Partytown and uPlot?
Partytown: Moves heavy third-party scripts like analytics off the main thread into a web worker. uPlot: A small, fast JavaScript chart library for time series, lines, areas, OHLC and bars. Partytown suits site owners whose pages are slowed by analytics or marketing third-party scripts, while uPlot suits web developers who need a fast chart for large time series data.
Are Partytown and uPlot free?
Partytown: Free and open source. uPlot: Free and open source.
Is Partytown or uPlot more popular?
Partytown has more GitHub stars (13.8k) than uPlot (10.6k). Popularity isn't the same as fit — check which one matches your use case above.
What are other alternatives to Partytown and uPlot?
Other options people compare them with include Chart.js, Sigma.js, Plotly.js, Keen Dashboards, Time-Series-Library.
Keep comparing
Built from our catalogue entries for both products: open-source details come from each project's README (AI-assisted, refreshed weekly) and GitHub data; AI-tool details are editorial. Spotted something wrong? Let us know from either product's page.