Data Science Notebooks

Data science gets done in notebooks. This website exists to compare the features in different data science notebook tools.

Robert Lacok
About the author

My name is Robert Lacok, and I’m a data notebook enthusiast. Because I keep on top of the latest developments in the space, I wanted to share it with the world.

I’m also a product manager at Deepnote. I try to be unbiased — if you believe any tools are missing or misrepresented, please email me or open a pull request on GitHub.

Need help?

If you need help picking a data notebook for your next project, feel free to reach out to me at my personal email address. I’d be happy to chat about the pros and cons of each solution.

View all notebooks

Google Colab vs Observable

Comparing two data science notebooks.

Google Colab

Observable

A screenshot of Google Colab

Colab notebooks allow you to combine executable code and rich text in a single document, along with images, HTML, LaTeX and more.

WebsiteAlternativesExamples
A screenshot of Observable

Make sense of the world with data, together. Explore, visualize, and analyze data. Collaborate with the community. Learn and be inspired. Share insights with the world.

Setup

Is it managed?

Fully managed (setup in minutes)

Is it managed?

Fully managed (setup in minutes)

Can you self-host?

No, you must use a managed offering

Can you self-host?

No, you must use a managed offering

Features

Is it Jupyter compatible?

Jupyter-compatible

Is it Jupyter compatible?

Not Jupyter-compatible

Programming languages

Jupyter languages (e.g. Python, R)

Programming languages

JS

What kind of data sources can you connect to?

Connect with Jupyter libraries (e.g. SQLAlchemy, psycopg2)
Google Drive

What kind of data sources can you connect to?

Connect with JS libraries (e.g. REST APIs)
Connect to databases (MySQL, Postgres)
Connect to data warehouses (BigQuery, Snowflake)
Provided file storage

What kind of data visualization can you do?

Jupyter data visualization (e.g. Matplotlib, Altair, Plotly)

What kind of data visualization can you do?

JS data visualization (e.g. D3, Vega)

Reactivity

No reactivity, you decide the execution order

Reactivity

Full, realtime reactivity

Notebook scheduling

No notebook scheduling

Notebook scheduling

No notebook scheduling

Management

Reproducibility

There is no support for reproducibility

Reproducibility

Environments are reproducible by default
Execution is reproducible by default

Version history

No version history

Version history

Version history is built in

Collaborative editing

No support for collaborative editors

Collaborative editing

Multiple editors at the same time

Comments

No support for comments

Comments

Comment on items within a notebook

Notebook organization

View notebooks in a list

Notebook organization

View notebooks in a list

Licensing

License

Proprietary

License

Proprietary

Price

Free tier
Pay-per-user
Pay for compute

Price

Free tier
Free trial (1 month)
Pay-per-user

Alternatives to Google Colab and Observable

Compare Google Colab and Observable with other data science notebook tools.

ToolSetupJupyter compatibilityProgramming languagesData visualizationCollaborative editingPricingLicense
Google Colab
Fully managedJupyter-compatibleJupyterVisualize with codeLimited collaborationFree and paid optionsProprietary
Observable
Fully managedNoneJSVisualize with codeRealtime collaborationFree and paid optionsProprietary
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Data Science Notebooks

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