Pathfinding Visualizer — A*, BFS, Dijkstra, DFS, JPS | Free Tool

Pathfinding Visualizer — 7 Algorithms, Free & Interactive

Watch A*, BFS, Dijkstra, DFS, Greedy Best-First, Bidirectional BFS, and Jump Point Search (JPS) find paths through a grid in real time. Draw walls, set terrain with movement costs, adjust speed, and export as PNG or animated GIF. Runs entirely in your browser.

Algorithms

A* (A-Star) — Industry standard. Optimal and efficient thanks to heuristic guidance. Used in game AI, GPS, and robotics.
BFS — Explores layer by layer. Guarantees shortest path in unweighted graphs.
Dijkstra — Handles terrain weights. Optimal for any weighted grid.
DFS — Explores deep paths first. Not optimal but demonstrates backtracking clearly.
Greedy Best-First — Uses only the heuristic. Very fast, but may miss the optimal path.
Bidirectional BFS — Simultaneous search from start and end, meeting in the middle.
Jump Point Search (JPS) — A* optimization for uniform grids. Skips redundant nodes by jumping, dramatically reducing visited cells on open grids.

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FAQ

What is Jump Point Search?

JPS is an optimization of A* for uniform-cost grids. It prunes symmetrically redundant paths and jumps to key nodes, reducing nodes explored by orders of magnitude on open grids.

Which algorithm is best for games?

A* is most common. JPS is faster than A* on large open grids. For weighted terrain use Dijkstra or A*. For simple unweighted levels, BFS is plenty.

How do terrain costs work?

In Terrain mode: grass=2, water=5, mountain=10. Dijkstra and A* pick the cheapest path even if it’s longer in cell count. DFS and BFS ignore costs.

How to export a GIF?

Click ⏺ GIF to start recording, then run your algorithm. When done, click ⏺ GIF again to stop and download the animated GIF.

1. Set Start & End

2. Draw Obstacles

3. Algorithms

4. Export

Keyboard

JPS Note

Pathfinding Visualizer — 7 Algorithms, Free & Interactive

Algorithms

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FAQ