Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Apache Velocity VS Handlebars

Compare Apache Velocity VS Handlebars and see what are their differences

Apache Velocity logo Apache Velocity

Velocity is a Java-based template engine.

Handlebars logo Handlebars

Handlebars is a JavaScript template library that is, more or less, based on ...
  • Apache Velocity Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-04-21
  • Handlebars Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-06-28

Apache Velocity features and specs

  • Simplicity
    Apache Velocity is known for its simple syntax, making it easy for developers to create templates and generate dynamic web content without a steep learning curve.
  • Separation of Concerns
    Velocity promotes a clear separation between the presentation layer and business logic, allowing developers to maintain cleaner and more organized code.
  • Java Integration
    Velocity is written in Java and integrates well with Java applications, making it a suitable choice for projects that are already using the Java ecosystem.
  • Customizable
    Developers can extend and customize Apache Velocity to match specific needs, offering flexibility in template design and rendering.
  • Lightweight
    Velocity is a lightweight framework, with minimal overhead, which can lead to better performance and faster template rendering times.

Possible disadvantages of Apache Velocity

  • Limited Features
    Compared to more modern templating engines, Apache Velocity lacks some advanced features and functionality, which may limit its use in more complex scenarios.
  • Legacy Status
    Velocity has not seen as much active development in recent years, meaning it may not benefit from newer web technologies, improvements, or active community support.
  • Verbose Syntax
    For some developers, the Velocity template syntax can be seen as verbose and cumbersome compared to other templating systems, potentially making code harder to maintain.
  • Performance Overhead
    While lightweight, in specific scenarios, the way Velocity processes templates might introduce a minor performance overhead, especially in very large and complex templates.
  • Security Concerns
    As with many templating systems, improper use of Velocity could expose an application to security risks, such as template injection, if not handled correctly.

Handlebars features and specs

  • Simplicity
    Handlebars provides a straightforward and easy-to-learn syntax for templating, making it accessible for developers with varying levels of experience.
  • Logic-less Templates
    Encourages the separation of logic and design by only allowing minimal logic in templates. This promotes a cleaner code base and separation of concerns.
  • Extensibility
    Handlebars allows for custom helpers and partials which enable extending the templating functionality as needed.
  • Precompilation
    Templates can be precompiled, improving performance by reducing client-side parsing and rendering time.
  • Wide Adoption and Community Support
    As a popular templating engine, Handlebars has a large community of users and contributors, which provides abundant resources, plugins, and support.

Possible disadvantages of Handlebars

  • Limited Logic
    The logic-less nature of Handlebars means it supports only very basic conditionals and loops, which can be limiting for complex scenarios.
  • Verbosity
    Handlebars templates can become verbose, especially when using custom helpers or partials extensively.
  • Initial Learning Curve
    For developers coming from more logic-oriented templating engines, adjusting to Handlebars' logic-less paradigm can take some effort.
  • Dependency Management
    In larger projects, managing dependencies between templates, partials, and helpers can become complex and cumbersome.
  • Lack of Reactivity
    Handlebars does not include built-in support for data reactivity, making it less suitable for dynamic, real-time updates compared to modern frameworks like React or Vue.

Apache Velocity videos

Apache Velocity Template Tutorial | Build Web Application

More videos:

  • Review - Using Apache Velocity For Generating Xojo Code From An Existing Database

Handlebars videos

MTB Handlebars: Our Top 5 Picks for 2018!

More videos:

  • Review - Roland Sands Handlebars Review at RevZilla.com
  • Review - KST Kustoms Handlebars Review

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Apache Velocity and Handlebars)
Javascript UI Libraries
14 14%
86% 86
Development
17 17%
83% 83
Tool
21 21%
79% 79
Document Management
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Handlebars seems to be a lot more popular than Apache Velocity. While we know about 65 links to Handlebars, we've tracked only 1 mention of Apache Velocity. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Apache Velocity mentions (1)

  • Where can I learn to automate ?
    Create a template that can generate source code (like one of these systems: https://freemarker.sourceforge.io/ http://velocity.apache.org/ https://www.stringtemplate.org/ http://www.telosys.org/). Source: about 4 years ago

Handlebars mentions (65)

  • Chapter 7: HTML part two
    For a more robust approach, we'd probably need to install a templating language of some kind, such as Twig, EJS, Handlebars, Pug or Mustache (this is not a complete list!). Reading the documentation for posthtml-modules, you'll notice it doesn't mention package.json or any of the approaches we've used in this guide. Instead, the examples are in JavaScript and we've advised to add this to our Node application. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • How to send emails using Express and NodeJS
    As suggested by a teammate, I found out that I'll need to create the template in a different file and then replace the variables in it using some utility. So, again after searching for some packages, I figured that Handlebars would be the best solution for our problem. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • The Features of Front-end UI Components
    In dynamic web pages, especially when using template engines such as Mustache and Handlebars or libraries/frameworks such as React and Vue, the final content structure is basically generated by JS, which strengthens JS and weakens the control of HTML over the content structure. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Make Custom Handlebar Helpers in Ghost!
    In this variable, we have the response from the Ghost instance as the full HTML of the page. Imagine that this response is the homepage of your Ghost instance. The HTML content will also include our plain text {{hello_world}}, which is displayed as plain text. If our custom helper is in this form, we can compile it using Handlebars.js (https://handlebarsjs.com/) in our middleware. Remember to install the library... - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • htmx and ExpressJS
    It is a novel experience to say the least for me. I mean yes I have been using Handlebars, pug, and other templating engines but this is novel in how it changed my perspective about HTML (Just read their motivation in htmx.org). - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Apache Velocity and Handlebars, you can also consider the following products

Jinja2 - Jinja2 is a template engine written in Python.

mustache - Mustache is a simple web template system with implementations available for ActionScript, C++...

EJS - An open source JavaScript Template library.

Pug - Pug is a robust, elegant, feature rich template engine for Node.js

Docsmore - Docsmore is a cloud-based solution that helps organizations with data driven and smart docs. #workflow #esign #documentgeneration #digitaltransformation

jquery-template - A template plugin for jQuery. Allows templating without cluttering JavaScript code with markup.