Software Alternatives & Startups

DataTables VS Plotly

Compare DataTables VS Plotly 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.

Plotly logo Plotly

Low-Code Data Apps
  • DataTables Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-12-29
  • Plotly Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-31

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.

Plotly features and specs

  • Interactivity
    Plotly offers highly interactive plots that allow users to pan, zoom, and hover over data points for more information. This enhances the user experience and provides deeper insights.
  • High-quality visualizations
    It provides aesthetically pleasing and highly customizable charts, making it suitable for publication-quality visuals.
  • Versatility
    Plotly supports multiple chart types including line charts, scatter plots, bar charts, and 3D plots, making it suitable for a wide range of applications.
  • Python integration
    Plotly is well-integrated with Python and works seamlessly with other popular data science libraries like Pandas, NumPy, and Scikit-learn.
  • Web-based
    The plots can be easily embedded in web applications or dashboards, making it ideal for sharing insights over the internet.
  • Open-source
    Plotly offers an open-source version, which allows users to create and share visualizations without any cost.

Possible disadvantages of Plotly

  • Performance
    Rendering very large datasets can sometimes be slow, which may not be suitable for real-time data visualization requirements.
  • Learning curve
    Even though the library is well-documented, the extensive range of features can have a steep learning curve for beginners.
  • Cost for advanced features
    While the basic functionality is free, more advanced features, such as export to certain formats and additional customizable options, require a paid subscription.
  • Dependency management
    Plotly has a number of dependencies that need to be managed properly, which can sometimes complicate the setup process.
  • Complexity
    For simple visualizations, Plotly might be overkill and simpler libraries like Matplotlib or Seaborn could be more appropriate.

Analysis of DataTables

Overall verdict

  • DataTables is generally considered a good library for handling interactive tables in web applications. It is well-suited for projects that require robust table manipulation features and can accommodate a variety of needs through its extensive customization options.

Why this product is good

  • DataTables is a popular jQuery plugin that is widely known for its ability to enhance HTML tables with advanced interaction controls. It offers features like pagination, instant search/filtering, multi-column ordering, and responsive table design. Its extensibility with various plugins and themes, along with a comprehensive documentation, makes it a versatile choice for many web development projects.

Recommended for

  • Developers looking for an out-of-the-box solution for interactive and feature-rich tables.
  • Projects that require quick integration of data manipulation features in tables.
  • Applications that need extensive customization and scalability of table data handling.

Analysis of Plotly

Overall verdict

  • Overall, Plotly is a strong choice for those looking to create dynamic and interactive data visualizations, thanks to its range of features and ease of integration with web technologies.

Why this product is good

  • Plotly is considered good because it offers a comprehensive suite of tools for creating interactive visualizations that can be used in web applications, reports, and dashboards. It supports many different types of plots, is easy to use for both beginners and experienced developers, and integrates well with popular programming languages like Python, R, and JavaScript.

Recommended for

    Plotly is recommended for data scientists, analysts, and developers who need to create interactive and visually appealing data visualizations. It's particularly useful for those who work with Python or R and want the ability to embed their visualizations in web applications or dashboards.

DataTables videos

No DataTables videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Plotly videos

Create Real-time Chart with Javascript | Plotly.js Tutorial

More videos:

  • Review - Introducing plotly.py 3.0
  • Review - Is Plotly The Better Matplotlib?
  • Tutorial - Plotly Tutorial 2021
  • Review - Data Visualization as The First and Last Mile of Data Science Plotly Express and Dash | SciPy 2021

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to DataTables and Plotly)
Development Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Data Visualization
0 0%
100% 100
Javascript UI Libraries
84 84%
16% 16
Charting Libraries
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 Plotly

DataTables Reviews

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Plotly Reviews

Best 8 Redash Alternatives in 2023 [In Depth Guide]
Plotly is specifically designed for companies who want to build and deploy analytic applications like dashboards using Python, Julia, or R without needing DevOps or Javascript developers.
Source: www.datapad.io
5 Best Python Libraries For Data Visualization in 2023
Plotly is a web-based data visualization toolkit that comes with unique functionalities such as dendrograms, 3D charts, and also contour plots, which is not very common in other libraries. It has a great API offering scatter plots, line charts, bar charts, error bars, box plots, and other visualizations. Plotly can even be accessed from a Python Notebook.
Top 8 Python Libraries for Data Visualization
Plotly is a free open-source graphing library that can be used to form data visualizations. Plotly (plotly.py) is built on top of the Plotly JavaScript library (plotly.js) and can be used to create web-based data visualizations that can be displayed in Jupyter notebooks or web applications using Dash or saved as individual HTML files. Plotly provides more than 40 unique...
5 top picks for JavaScript chart libraries
Plotly is a graphing library that’s available for various runtime environments, including the browser. It supports many kinds of charts and graphs that we can configure with a variety of options.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, DataTables should be more popular than Plotly. It has been mentiond 74 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 (74)

  • UX DataTables in 2026: typed columns, server-side processing, API Platform, Mercure and inline editing
    A while ago I wrote a first post introducing UX DataTables, a Symfony bundle that integrates the DataTables.net library into Symfony applications. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • 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 / over 1 year 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 / almost 2 years 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 / almost 2 years ago
  • New Programming Languages of 2024
    The good parts provided by: https://datatables.net/. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 years ago
View more

Plotly mentions (34)

  • How to Analyze 47 Million Hacker News Posts: A Data Scientist's Dream Dataset Just Got Better
    Let's dive into some practical examples. First, you'll need to set up your environment with the right tools. I recommend using pandas for data manipulation and plotly for visualization. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Python for Data Visualization: Best Tools and Practices
    Plotly is perfect for interactive visualizations. You can create interactive charts and graphs that allow users to hover, click, and zoom in. Plotly is also great for web-based visuals, making it easy to share your findings online. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Generative AI Powered QnA & Visualization Chatbot
    Front End: A React application that leverages React-Chatbotify library to easily integrate a chatbot GUI. It also uses the Plotly library to display the charts/visualizations. The generative AI implementation and details are entirely abstracted from the front end. The front-end application depends on a single REST endpoint of the backend application. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Build a Stock Dashboard in less than 40 lines of Python code!🤓
    In this tutorial, Mariya Sha will guide you through building a stock value dashboard using Taipy, Plotly, and a dataset from Kaggle. - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
  • Essential Deep Learning Checklist: Best Practices Unveiled
    How to Accomplish: Utilize visualization libraries like Matplotlib, Seaborn, or Plotly in Python to create histograms, scatter plots, and bar charts. For image data, use tools that visualize images alongside their labels to check for labeling accuracy. For structured data, correlation matrices and pair plots can be highly informative. - Source: dev.to / about 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

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

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

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.

React Native - A framework for building native apps with React

RAWGraphs - RAWGraphs is an open source app built with the goal of making the visualization of complex data...

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

Tableau - Tableau can help anyone see and understand their data. Connect to almost any database, drag and drop to create visualizations, and share with a click.