Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

JS Bin VS Observable

Compare JS Bin VS Observable 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.

JS Bin logo JS Bin

Sample of the bin:

Observable logo Observable

Interactive code examples/posts
  • JS Bin Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-10-09
  • Observable Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-09

JS Bin features and specs

  • Real-time Collaboration
    JS Bin allows multiple users to work on the same code simultaneously, making it easy for teams to collaborate on front-end projects in real-time.
  • Instant Preview
    Changes to HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code are previewed instantly, allowing users to see the results of their work without manual refreshing or deploying.
  • Embed Feature
    Users can easily embed their bins into other web pages, making it convenient to share examples or demonstrate code snippets in blogs or documentation.
  • Debugging Tools
    JS Bin includes built-in debugging tools such as console log inspection, making it easier to identify and fix issues directly within the platform.
  • Customizable Environments
    Users can set up their preferred coding environment with various settings, including templates, libraries, and preprocessors, to enhance productivity.

Possible disadvantages of JS Bin

  • Limited Offline Use
    As a web-based application, JS Bin requires an internet connection to access and use, limiting its functionality in offline scenarios.
  • Performance Constraints
    Complex or heavy projects may experience performance issues as the platform is designed for smaller snippets and quick testing rather than large-scale applications.
  • Security Concerns
    Public sharing of bins can lead to exposure of sensitive code or data. Users need to be cautious about publicly sharing any code with proprietary or confidential information.
  • Limited Backend Capabilities
    JS Bin is focused on front-end development, so it offers minimal support for backend technologies, which may limit its use for full-stack development.
  • Subscription Cost for Premium Features
    Advanced features and additional functionalities often require a paid subscription, which may not be suitable for all users, especially hobbyists or students.

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.

JS Bin videos

JS Bin saving - a quick explanation

More videos:

  • Review - Customising JS Bin's editor
  • Review - JS Bin - shortcut urls

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 JS Bin and Observable)
Programming
100 100%
0% 0
Data Visualization
0 0%
100% 100
Text Editors
100 100%
0% 0
Data Dashboard
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using JS Bin and Observable. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

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

JS Bin Reviews

8 Best Replit Alternatives & Competitors in 2022 (Free & Paid) - Software Discover
A live pastebin for HTML, CSS & javascript and a range of processors, including scss, coffeescript, jade and more. JS bin – collaborative javascript debugging.
6 Coding Playgrounds For Web Developers
What sets it apart from the previous playgrounds is that JS Bin allows you to download files to your computer, a nifty feature that may prove useful to developers, especially when fiddling around with code while offline. You can also create private “bins” on JS Bin but you will have to pay for this feature. Unfortunately, at this point, JS Bin doesn’t have a collaboration...

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 JS Bin. While we know about 312 links to Observable, we've tracked only 25 mentions of JS Bin. 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.

JS Bin mentions (25)

  • Ask HN: How can I get my 7-year-old started with web development?
    I don't understand why all these comments are against web dev. Creating an html file is quick, easy, and most importantly for kids, you instantly get visual results! You don't even need to open ugly terminal consoles, you could just use something like JS Bin (https://jsbin.com/) or JSFiddle or CodePen. I used to volunteer with CoderDojo, a non-profit that hosted intro to coding workshops for kids of all ages... - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • 100+ Must-Have Web Development Resources
    JS Bin: Allows you to save edited code locally or share a URL for collaborative debugging. Supports HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Markdown, Jade, and Sass. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • A list of SaaS, PaaS and IaaS offerings that have free tiers of interest to devops and infradev
    Jsbin.com — JS Bin is another playground and code-sharing site of front-end web (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It Also supports Markdown, Jade, and Sass). - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • 10 best Javascript debugging tools
    JS Bin is one of the useful JavaScript debugging tools designed for developers working with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It gives them the opportunity to test and debug their code snippets in a real-world setting. The fact that this tool is open-source is fantastic. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • <code> + linebreak breaks code segment. <code> without linebreak doesn't.
    If I paste both in jsbin.com, the both show all content on 1 line. Source: about 2 years ago
View more

Observable mentions (312)

  • 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 1 month 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 / 2 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
  • WebGL Fluid Simulation
    I have a fork of this that inverts the light model from additive to subtractive and suddenly its like ink in water https://observablehq.com/@tomlarkworthy/ink. - Source: Hacker News / 5 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

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

CodePen - A front end web development playground.

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.

JSFiddle - Test your JavaScript, CSS, HTML or CoffeeScript online with JSFiddle code editor.

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

Pastebin.com - Pastebin.com is a website where you can store text for a certain period of time.

Vega-Lite - High-level grammar of interactive graphics