23 Is plotly free & secure?

Yes! Both the R package and the underlying JavaScript library (plotly.js) are MIT licensed. That means you are free to distribute and commercialize anything you create with plotly. Optionally, you can sign up for a https://plot.ly account and use the api_create() function to upload plotly graphs to your account, but a https://plot.ly account is not required to use plotly.

Moreover, the data behind a plotly graph won’t leave the computer you’re viewing it on, unless:

  • You sign up for a plotly cloud account and use the api_create() function to upload your graph or data. This service is free for public-facing graphs, but private hosting costs money.
  • You add the ‘send data to cloud’ modebar button. By default, this button is not included, but you can add it by doing config(p, cloud = TRUE).

In other words, unless you specifically request otherwise, your graph runs entirely offline (i.e. no requests to external services are made). That means you can be confident that your data is not being shared with anyone/anything without your knowledge.