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Appsmith VS Observable

Compare Appsmith VS Observable and see what are their differences

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Appsmith logo Appsmith

Appsmith is an open source web framework for building internal tools, admin panels, dashboards, and workflows.

Observable logo Observable

Interactive code examples/posts
  • Appsmith Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-07-17

Turn any datasource into an internal app in minutes. Appsmith lets you drag-and-drop UI components to build pages, connect to any API, database or GraphQL source and write logic with JavaScript objects.

  • Observable Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-09

Appsmith features and specs

  • Open Source
    Appsmith is an open-source platform, which means it's free to use. Developers can also contribute to its development and customize the platform according to their needs.
  • Easy Integration
    Appsmith allows easy integration with a variety of data sources including REST APIs, databases, and third-party services, making it highly versatile for different applications.
  • Drag-and-Drop Interface
    The platform offers a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface for building dashboards and admin panels, which reduces the time required for development.
  • Pre-built Widgets
    Appsmith comes with a collection of pre-built widgets like tables, charts, and forms, which can be directly used in applications for rapid development.
  • Community Support
    Being an open-source project, Appsmith has a strong community that can provide support, share solutions, and contribute to the platform's growth.

Possible disadvantages of Appsmith

  • Learning Curve
    Despite its user-friendly interface, there is still a learning curve involved, especially for developers who are new to the low-code/no-code paradigm.
  • Performance
    Performance can be an issue with more complex applications or very high data loads, and it may require optimization to ensure smooth functioning.
  • Customization Limitations
    While it offers various customization options, it may not be as flexible or powerful as fully custom-built applications for highly specific requirements.
  • Limited Advanced Features
    The platform may lack some advanced features found in more mature enterprise-level tools, potentially limiting its use for very complex or specific business needs.
  • Hosting and Maintenance
    As an open-source tool, hosting and maintenance are the user's responsibility, which can be a disadvantage for those who prefer a fully managed solution.

Observable features and specs

  • Collaborative Environment
    Observable allows multiple users to collaborate in real-time, making it easier for teams to work together on data visualizations and analyses.
  • Reactive Programming
    The platform supports reactive programming, where changes in data automatically trigger updates in the visualizations, enhancing interactivity and reducing the need for manual updates.
  • Built-in Data Visualization Libraries
    Observable integrates seamlessly with popular libraries like D3, Plotly, and Leaflet, providing powerful tools for creating complex and interactive data visualizations.
  • Notebook Interface
    The notebook interface is user-friendly and allows for easy documentation and sharing. Users can combine code, visualizations, and markdown text in a single document.
  • Extensive Resources and Community Support
    Observable has a rich set of tutorials, examples, and a strong community, making it easier for new users to learn and get help.
  • Customizability
    Users have the flexibility to customize their visualizations extensively, thanks to the open-ended nature of JavaScript and the supported libraries.

Possible disadvantages of Observable

  • Steeper Learning Curve for Beginners
    New users, especially those without a background in JavaScript, might find the platform challenging to learn compared to more specialized data visualization tools.
  • Performance Issues
    For very large datasets or highly complex visualizations, performance can become an issue, potentially leading to slow rendering times.
  • Dependency on Internet Connection
    Observable notebooks currently require an internet connection to run, which can be a limitation for users needing offline access.
  • Limited Integration with Other Tools
    While Observable is powerful, its integration with other enterprise tools and platforms is somewhat limited compared to more established data analysis tools.
  • Subscription Costs
    Access to some of Observable's more advanced features requires a paid subscription, which might be a barrier for individual users or small teams with limited budgets.

Appsmith videos

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Observable videos

Observable Overview

More videos:

  • Review - observablehq.com review observable hq data analysis
  • Review - Hands-on Data Visualization with Observable Plot

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Appsmith and Observable)
No Code
100 100%
0% 0
Data Visualization
0 0%
100% 100
Developer Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Data Dashboard
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Appsmith and Observable

Appsmith Reviews

Top 9 Low-Code Tools for 2023 for low-code development
Appsmith is a low-code platform that empowers users to build business applications and workflows without writing extensive code. It offers a visual interface for designing UIs, integrating data sources, and creating custom logic. With Appsmith, users can connect to databases, APIs, and third-party services, and build dynamic and interactive applications. Its collaborative...
Appsmith vs ILLA Cloud: Comparing Two Low-Code Platforms
Deployment Options: Appsmith offers two deployment options: Appsmith Cloud and self-hosting. Appsmith Cloud is a free hosted service that lets developers start building their apps on any device without any installation or configuration. Self-hosting is a free option that lets developers host Appsmith on their own servers or cloud providers for more control and security.
Appsmith vs. Tooljet: Which Low-Code Platform is Better for You?
In this blog post, we will compare two popular LCDPs for building internal tools: Appsmith and Tooljet. We will also introduce ILLA Cloud, a new and innovative LCDP that offers a viable alternative to Appsmith and Tooljet.

Observable Reviews

Top 10 Grafana Alternatives in 2024
Observable is a Grafana alternative that enables users to visualize data via charts and dashboards using code.
Source: middleware.io
Embedded analytics in B2B SaaS: A comparison
A few options were disregarded from the start due to a hefty price tag, these were Looker, Tableau, Power BI, GoodData. A few options like Trevor.io, Preset, Observable were disregarded as they did not seem to fit our criteria (based on the evaluation matrix).
Source: medium.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Observable seems to be a lot more popular than Appsmith. While we know about 313 links to Observable, we've tracked only 6 mentions of Appsmith. 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.

Appsmith mentions (6)

  • Airplane acquired by Airtable and is shutting down
    Founder of Appsmith (https://appsmith.com) here. This is very unfortunate news. I have a lot of respect for the founders & the product. In fact I even used Airplane for a few side projects in the past. It's sad to see the product die. IMO, most folks alluding to them running out money is incorrect. I think they simply ran out of energy or the will to go on. This is very common among early stage companies. But, as... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Web no-code/low-code tool recommendation? Backend+frontend+analytics and simple to learn
    As well as Appsmith & Retool. They all have generous free tiers, in my opinion. Each can be self-hosted too. Source: over 2 years ago
  • No code platform that can be self-hosted on AWS
    Hello, you can check out Appsmith. It's an open-source platform with all the features you mentioned and it's great for building business apps! Source: over 2 years ago
  • Affordable low code platform for internal tools?
    Appsmith is self hosted right now. It’s as customizable as Retool, easy as Internal, and less glitchy than Budibase. Tooljet also offers a self hosted version, but Appsmiths dev team updates improvements so much faster. Source: over 2 years ago
  • February Round-up: New Helm Charts, Product Updates, and Collabs
    If you’ve followed Appsmith for a while, you know that we can do a lot in 30 days! In the second month of 2022, we cleared a few bugs and created an all-new event called How Do I Do X, where many frequently asked questions live. Source: about 3 years ago
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Observable mentions (313)

  • Using elliptic curves to solve a math meme
    Using other constants in place of the ‘4’ can lead to some _really_ gigantic smallest solutions: https://observablehq.com/@robinhouston/a-remarkable-diophantine-equation. - Source: Hacker News / 3 days ago
  • Apache ECharts
    "Observable is obnoxious if you want to add a D3 pie chart to your Vue application and have to untangle calls to D3’s API from reactive cell values, which look like ordinary JavaScript, but are not, and will cause compilation and runtime errors when copied." Yep - as I wrote: "If you want to just blindly copy and paste d3 code, you may have issues with the docs being hosted on observable." If instead you learn the... - Source: Hacker News / about 2 months ago
  • Natural occurring molecule rivals Ozempic in weight loss, sidesteps side effects
    I'd imagine many nested named capturing groups may trip even the best automated system! I do like the solution though. I would've probably approached it differently, trying to first get the 'inverted' match (i.e. Not matching anything that isn't a currency like pattern) and refine from there. A bit like this one I did a while back, to parse garbled strings that may occur after OCR [0]. I imagine the approach does... - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Visualizing Data Is an Art – We Should Treat It Like One
    Was looking for some mention of Mike Bostock and his epic odyssey into this space. For those who aren't familiar https://observablehq.com/@mbostock. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Ohm: A user-friendly parsing toolkit for JavaScript and TypeScript
    I experimented with an Ohm/CodeMirror bridge that would map an Ohm grammar to CodeMirror classes for marks and syntax highlighting. It might be an interesting starting point for you: https://observablehq.com/@ajbouh/editor. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Appsmith and Observable, you can also consider the following products

Retool - Build custom internal tools in minutes.

D3.js - D3.js is a JavaScript library for manipulating documents based on data. D3 helps you bring data to life using HTML, SVG, and CSS.

ToolJet - Open-source alternative for Retool

RunKit - RunKit notebooks are interactive javascript playgrounds connected to a complete node environment right in your browser. Every npm module pre-installed.

Budibase - What Wordpress is to websites, Budibase is to web apps. Budibase is a free and open source web app builder for creating, launching and growing web applications. Budibase eliminates repetition and dramatically reduces development time. Check it out.

Vega-Lite - High-level grammar of interactive graphics