Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

DataTables VS Handsontable

Compare DataTables VS Handsontable and see what are their differences

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

DataTables logo DataTables

DataTables is a plug-in for the jQuery Javascript library.

Handsontable logo Handsontable

JavaScript Spreadsheet
  • DataTables Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-12-29
  • Handsontable Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-05

DataTables features and specs

  • Feature-Rich
    DataTables provides a vast array of features: pagination, filtering, sorting, and customizable buttons, which can cater to various data handling needs in web applications.
  • Easy to Use
    Its straightforward implementation and extensive documentation make it simple for developers to integrate DataTables into their projects.
  • Extensible
    DataTables supports a variety of plugins and extensions, such as Editor for rich editing capabilities and FixedColumns for better column handling, allowing for enhanced functionality.
  • Cross-platform Compatibility
    It works consistently across different browsers and devices, providing a reliable user experience regardless of the end user's environment.
  • Community and Support
    A large and active community, along with official support forums, provide assistance, plugins, and extensions, contributing to a rich ecosystem.

Possible disadvantages of DataTables

  • Performance Issues
    Handling very large datasets might lead to performance bottlenecks, requiring server-side processing or additional optimization strategies.
  • Complexity in Customization
    While customization is possible, it can sometimes be complex and time-consuming, especially for non-standard functionalities or appearances.
  • Dependencies
    DataTables rely on jQuery, which might be an additional overhead for projects not already using jQuery or those aiming to minimize dependencies.
  • Learning Curve
    To fully leverage DataTables' advanced features and customization options, developers might need to invest time in understanding the API and various options.
  • License Restrictions
    While DataTables is generally free to use under the MIT license, some advanced plugins and extensions are commercial and require purchase.

Handsontable features and specs

  • User-Friendly Interface
    Handsontable provides an Excel-like interface that many users find intuitive and easy to navigate, reducing the learning curve for new users.
  • Feature-Rich
    It offers a wide range of features, including data validation, sorting, filtering, and support for complex data operations, making it suitable for various applications.
  • Customization
    Handsontable allows for high flexibility and customization, enabling developers to adapt it to their specific project requirements.
  • Performance
    Optimized for handling large datasets efficiently, thereby improving performance in data-intensive applications.
  • Integration
    Can be easily integrated with other frameworks and libraries, such as React, Angular, and Vue.js, offering a seamless development experience.
  • Active Development
    Handsontable is continuously maintained and updated with new features and improvements, ensuring it remains relevant and up-to-date.

Possible disadvantages of Handsontable

  • Cost
    Handsontable is not free for commercial use, which may be a limitation for small projects or individual developers with limited budgets.
  • Complexity
    For very simple applications, Handsontable may be overkill, adding unnecessary complexity and overhead.
  • Performance Limitations
    While optimized for large datasets, performance can still be an issue with extremely large or complex data manipulations.
  • Documentation
    Some users have reported that the documentation, while comprehensive, can sometimes be difficult to navigate or lacks clarity in certain areas.
  • Learning Curve
    Despite its user-friendly interface, developers might still face a learning curve when integrating it with complex applications.

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to DataTables and Handsontable)
Development Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Data Grid
0 0%
100% 100
Javascript UI Libraries
100 100%
0% 0
JavaScript Tools
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 DataTables and Handsontable

DataTables Reviews

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Handsontable Reviews

Best Free and Open-Source JavaScript Data Grid Libraries and Widgets
There are a lot of plugins available to add extra functionality to your grid. This includes things like auto-fill with drag-down and copy-down functionality. You can even perform Excel-like calculations by integrating HyperFormula, which is a powerful calculation engine developed by the Handsontable team.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, DataTables should be more popular than Handsontable. It has been mentiond 73 times since March 2021. 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.

DataTables mentions (73)

  • Solidjs: Simple and performant reactivity for building user interfaces
    Not much is going to compete directly with React's ecosystem maturity. But, of course, there's the option you have when using a non-React library in React: on mount, you instantiate the library in a ref, and then you use effects to turn reactive state updates into library invocations. For example, wrapping https://datatables.net/ if there were no React adapter. - Source: Hacker News / 12 days ago
  • ASP.NET8 using DataTables.net – Part8 – Select rows
    //datatables.js /* * This combined file was created by the DataTables downloader builder: * https://datatables.net/download * * To rebuild or modify this file with the latest versions of the included * software please visit: * https://datatables.net/download/#bs5/jszip-3.10.1/pdfmake-0.2.7/dt-2.0.8/b-3.0.2/b-colvis-3.0.2/b-html5-3.0.2/b-print-3.0.2/sl-2.0.3/sr-1.4.1 * * Included libraries: * JSZip... - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Integrating CanvasJS with DataTables
    CanvasJS is a JavaScript charting library that allows you to create interactive and responsive charts, while DataTables is a jQuery plugin that enhances HTML tables with advanced interaction controls like pagination, filtering, and sorting. Combining these two tools in a dashboard enables real-time data visualization, making it easier to analyze and interpret data trends and patterns through interactive and... - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • New Programming Languages of 2024
    The good parts provided by: https://datatables.net/. - Source: Hacker News / 9 months ago
  • Ask HN: Best/Simplest Stack for Side Projects
    When you say you want to build something simple with a few pages, you might be able to get by with something minimalist like Flask and maybe DataTables: https://datatables.net/ If you don’t expect to have scalability or real-time needs, I would not really recommend Elixir/Phoenix. The core language, dev tools, docs, and OTP are best-in-class, but there’s a learning curve, and the ecosystem has less mindshare than... - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
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Handsontable mentions (9)

  • Battle of the Rows: The Limits of Data Performance
    Welcome to our recently conducted series of performance benchmarks. Data grids are becoming more popular and increasingly important as they play a vital role in managing and visualizing large datasets, especially in data-intensive applications. In this article we are going to evaluate one of the most famous data grids: AG Grid, Handsontable, and RevoGrid. Our goal was to provide you with some insight into this... - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • Recommendation on stack for a spreadsheet-like product
    Https://handsontable.com/ This is the best commercial library you can just buy and put it in your product. Source: over 2 years ago
  • [AskJS] Is there a good table js library?
    I've always liked https://handsontable.com/ but I'm not sure what the licensing is for something other than a personal project. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Ask HN: Who is hiring? (November 2022)
    Handsontable | Head of Engineering/Tech Lead | On-site/Hybrid/Remote within Poland | https://handsontable.com/ We are looking for a Head of Engineering for our portfolio of. - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago
  • Top JavaScript Spreadsheet Components for Data Management Apps
    Handsontable is primarily known as a JavaScript grid library for business apps but the decision to include it in this article is not accidental. Although this tool doesn't offer as many text formatting options as Excel, it includes quite a lot of features for manipulating data typical of spreadsheets. The list of the most widely used Handsontable features includes operations on rows & columns (moving, hiding,... - Source: dev.to / almost 3 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing DataTables and Handsontable, you can also consider the following products

jQuery - The Write Less, Do More, JavaScript Library.

AG Grid - The best HTML5 datagrid in the world

React Native - A framework for building native apps with React

ZingGrid - Built using web components, ZingGrid is a fully-featured, native solution for interactive, mobile-friendly JavaScript data grids and tables.

Babel - Babel is a compiler for writing next generation JavaScript.

jqGrid - Updated information on jqGrid.Can be used for free for personal, school or non-profit project, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 3.0 License.