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

Databricks Notebooks vs Polynote

Comparing two data science notebooks.

Databricks Notebooks

Polynote

A screenshot of Databricks Notebooks

Collaborate across engineering, data science, and machine learning teams with support for multiple languages, built-in data visualizations, automatic versioning, and operationalization with jobs.

WebsiteAlternativesExamples
A screenshot of Polynote

Polynote is a different kind of notebook. It supports mixing multiple languages in one notebook, and sharing data between them seamlessly. It encourages reproducible notebooks with its immutable data model.

Setup

Is it managed?

Fully managed (setup in minutes)

Is it managed?

No, you must host it yourself

Can you self-host?

You can self-host (setup in hours)

Can you self-host?

You can self-host (setup in hours)

Features

Is it Jupyter compatible?

Jupyter-compatible

Is it Jupyter compatible?

Not Jupyter-compatible

Programming languages

Jupyter languages (e.g. Python, R)

Programming languages

Scala
Python

What kind of data sources can you connect to?

Connect with Jupyter libraries (e.g. SQLAlchemy, psycopg2)
Connect to data warehouses (Databricks)

What kind of data sources can you connect to?

Unknown

What kind of data visualization can you do?

Jupyter data visualization (e.g. Matplotlib, Altair, Plotly)
UI for building charts

What kind of data visualization can you do?

Unknown

Reactivity

No reactivity, you decide the execution order

Reactivity

No reactivity, you decide the execution order

Notebook scheduling

Notebook scheduling is built in

Notebook scheduling

Notebook scheduling with additional tools

Management

Reproducibility

Environments are reproducible by default

Reproducibility

With effort, you can make reproducible environments

Version history

Version history is built in

Version history

File-based (use Git)

Collaborative editing

Multiple editors at the same time

Collaborative editing

File-based (use Git)

Comments

Comment on items within a notebook

Comments

File-based (use GitHub)

Notebook organization

View notebooks in a list

Notebook organization

File-based

Licensing

License

Proprietary

License

Open-source (Apache 2.0)

Price

Free tier
Pay for compute

Price

Free

Alternatives to Databricks Notebooks and Polynote

Compare Databricks Notebooks and Polynote with other data science notebook tools.

ToolSetupJupyter compatibilityProgramming languagesData visualizationCollaborative editingPricingLicense
Databricks Notebooks
Self-hosted or fully managedJupyter-compatibleJupyterVisualize with code or UIRealtime collaborationFree and paid optionsProprietary
Polynote
Self-hostedNoneScala, PythonUnknownFile-based or asynchronous collaborationFreeOpen source
Jupyter
Compare with
Databricks Notebooks, Polynote
Self-hostedJupyter-compatibleJupyterVisualize with codeFile-based or asynchronous collaborationFreeOpen source
Amazon Sagemaker
Fully managedJupyter-compatibleJupyterVisualize with codeLimited collaborationFree and paid optionsProprietary
Google Colab
Fully managedJupyter-compatibleJupyterVisualize with codeLimited collaborationFree and paid optionsProprietary
Deepnote
Fully managedJupyter-compatibleJupyter, SQLVisualize with code or UIRealtime collaborationFree and paid optionsProprietary
Hex
Fully managedJupyter-compatibleJupyter, SQLVisualize with code or UIRealtime collaborationFree and paid optionsProprietary
DataCamp Workspace
Fully managedJupyter-compatibleJupyter, SQLVisualize with code or UIRealtime collaborationFree and paid optionsProprietary
JupyterLab
Self-hostedJupyter-compatibleJupyterVisualize with codeFile-based or asynchronous collaborationFreeOpen source
CoCalc
Self-hosted or fully managedJupyter-compatibleJupyterVisualize with codeRealtime collaborationFree and paid optionsOpen source
Hyperquery
Fully managedNonePython, SQLVisualize with code or UIRealtime collaborationFree and paid optionsProprietary
Jetbrains Datalore
Fully managedJupyter-compatibleJupyterVisualize with code or UIRealtime collaborationFree and paid optionsProprietary
Kaggle
Fully managedJupyter-compatibleJupyterVisualize with codeLimited collaborationFreeProprietary
Nextjournal
Fully managedJupyter-compatibleJupyterVisualize with codeRealtime collaborationFree and paid optionsProprietary
Noteable
Self-hosted or fully managedJupyter-compatibleJupyter, SQLVisualize with code or UIRealtime collaborationFree and paid optionsProprietary
nteract
Self-hostedJupyter-compatibleJupyterVisualize with codeFile-based or asynchronous collaborationFreeOpen source
Observable
Fully managedNoneJSVisualize with codeRealtime collaborationFree and paid optionsProprietary
Query.me
Fully managedNoneSQLVisualization UI builderFile-based or asynchronous collaborationFree and paid optionsProprietary
VS Code
Self-hostedJupyter-compatibleJupyterVisualize with codeFile-based or asynchronous collaborationFreeOpen source
Mode Notebooks
Fully managedNoneSQL, R, PythonVisualization UI builderFile-based or asynchronous collaborationUnknownProprietary
Querybook
Self-hostedNonePythonVisualization UI builderRealtime collaborationFreeOpen source
Zeppelin
Self-hostedNonePython, SQL, SparkUnknownFile-based or asynchronous collaborationFreeOpen source
Count
Fully managedNoneSQLVisualization UI builderRealtime collaborationFree and paid optionsProprietary
Husprey
Fully managedNoneSQLVisualization UI builderFile-based or asynchronous collaborationFree and paid optionsProprietary
Pluto.jl
Self-hostedNoneJuliaUnknownFile-based or asynchronous collaborationFreeOpen source
Zepl
Fully managedUnknownPython, RUnknownRealtime collaborationUnknownProprietary

Data Science Notebooks

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