Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Underscore Templates VS Mustache.js

Compare Underscore Templates VS Mustache.js and see what are their differences

Underscore Templates logo Underscore Templates

Underscore.js template function for micro templating.

Mustache.js logo Mustache.js

Minimal templating with {{mustaches}} in JavaScript - janl/mustache.js
  • Underscore Templates Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-12-18
  • Mustache.js Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-22

Underscore Templates features and specs

  • Simplicity
    Underscore templates offer a simple and straightforward syntax for embedding JavaScript logic within HTML templates, making it easier for developers to create templates without a steep learning curve.
  • Server-Side and Client-Side Rendering
    These templates can be easily used for both client-side and server-side rendering, which provides flexibility in where and how logic and templates can be executed.
  • Lightweight
    Since Underscore.js is a utility library, it is relatively lightweight compared to larger frameworks, making template rendering faster for simple projects.
  • JavaScript Expressions
    Allows the use of any JavaScript expressions, providing the flexibility to include complex logic directly within the templates without additional processing.

Possible disadvantages of Underscore Templates

  • Limited Features
    Compared to full-fledged templating engines like Handlebars or Mustache, Underscore templates are limited in features, lacking built-in helpers and partials, which can make complex templating harder.
  • HTML Escaping
    By default, Underscore templates do not escape HTML, which requires developers to manually handle HTML escaping to prevent security vulnerabilities like XSS (Cross-Site Scripting).
  • Performance
    For very large templates or numerous updates, the performance might not be as efficient as specialized React/Vue components or virtual DOM implementations due to lack of optimizations.
  • Maintenance Difficulty
    Embedding logic directly within templates can lead to maintenance difficulties, as templates can become cluttered with JavaScript code, reducing the separation of concerns.

Mustache.js features and specs

  • Logic-less Templates
    Mustache.js enforces a logic-less approach to templating, which helps in maintaining separation of concerns by ensuring that templates only concern themselves with presentation and not business logic.
  • Cross-platform Support
    Mustache.js is a JavaScript implementation of the Mustache templating language, which is supported across multiple platforms and languages, making it highly versatile and easy to integrate with various projects.
  • Lightweight
    Mustache.js is a lightweight library with a small footprint, which leads to faster loading times and reduced performance overhead compared to heavier templating engines.
  • Easy to Learn
    The syntax of Mustache is minimalistic and resembles regular HTML, making it easy to learn and adopt, especially for developers familiar with HTML.
  • Prevents Complexity
    By being logic-less, Mustache.js discourages embedding complex logic in templates, which can lead to cleaner and more maintainable codebases.

Possible disadvantages of Mustache.js

  • Limited Logic Handling
    While the logic-less nature of Mustache.js encourages separation of concerns, it can be limiting for developers who need to embed complex logic in their templates, requiring workarounds or supplementary handling in JavaScript.
  • Performance Issues with Large Data
    Mustache.js may encounter performance bottlenecks when rendering large data sets, as the library processes templates and data at runtime.
  • No Built-in Helpers
    Unlike some other templating engines, Mustache.js does not support helpers or custom logic extensions, which can make common tasks cumbersome or require additional code.
  • Lack of Advanced Features
    Mustache.js lacks some advanced features found in other templating engines, such as conditionals and loops within templates, which can limit its functionality for complex applications.
  • Dependency on External Logic
    Because Mustache.js relies heavily on external data processing, it may lead to scattered business logic across the application that might be difficult to manage as the project grows.

Underscore Templates videos

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Mustache.js videos

Getting started with Mustache.js

More videos:

  • Tutorial - JavaScript and JSON tutorial: JavaScript templating with mustache.js | lynda.com

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Underscore Templates and Mustache.js)
Development
36 36%
64% 64
Javascript UI Libraries
22 22%
78% 78
Localization
100 100%
0% 0
Website Localization
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Mustache.js seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 12 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.

Underscore Templates mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Underscore Templates yet. Tracking of Underscore Templates recommendations started around Mar 2021.

Mustache.js mentions (12)

  • Documenting my pin collection with Segment Anything: Part 3
    Mustache.js: This is a templating engine used for rendering templates on the web. In your application, Mustache.js is used to dynamically create HTML forms based on the data received from the server, such as image cutouts and identifiers. - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • NakedJSX - Use JSX without React
    JSX just a templating language in this case, right? No reactivity at all? What's the benefit against using something like https://github.com/janl/mustache.js/ ? Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Im not sure if im asking the right question here, but how do you create separate pages on a website?
    Nonetheless, I made ridiculous simple MRE(minimal reproducible example) for you: Https://codesandbox.io/s/distracted-gauss-gqfiue You might quickly realize the annoyance of html as strings, move to some template then, e.g: https://handlebarsjs.com/guide/ Also this example uses a library for the routing matching. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Managing application cache with react-query, and code generation.
    Mustache.js is a template engine for creating js templates. Cosmiconfig is a tool to make it convenient to work with the configuration. - Source: dev.to / almost 3 years ago
  • After an eternity, java.com has updated its homepage
    For a small page like that, they are using Oracle content management, knockoutjs, RedwoodJs, MarkedJs, MustacheJs, JQuery and Bootstrap. There's like 10+ layers or div, header and nav elements just to display the logo. They can't even properly anchor the footer at the bottom... Source: almost 3 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Underscore Templates and Mustache.js, you can also consider the following products

Vash - Vash is a template engine that offers a swift flow between code and content using Razor Syntax

EJS - An open source JavaScript Template library.

FLAVE - Flave was created to bring ASP.

XSLT in-browser implementation - XSLT is a cross-browser API for converting XML data into string or virtual DOM implemented natively with multithreaded streaming processing.

Handlebars - Handlebars is a JavaScript template library that is, more or less, based on ...

Vue.js - Reactive Components for Modern Web Interfaces