Sign inGet started

Jupyter vs Observable:
a side-by-side comparison for 2024

Comparing two data science notebooks.

A screenshot of Jupyter
Jupyter logo

Jupyter

Project Jupyter exists to develop open-source software, open-standards, and services for interactive computing across dozens of programming languages. There's a number of vendors offering Jupyter notebooks as a managed service.
Background gradient
A screenshot of Observable
Observable logo

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.
Background gradient

Jupyter

Observable

Setup

Is it managed?

Is it managed?

No, you must host it yourself
Fully managed (setup in minutes)

Can you self-host?

Can you self-host?

You can self-host (setup in hours)
No, you must use a managed offering

Features

Is it Jupyter compatible?

Is it Jupyter compatible?

Jupyter-compatible
Not Jupyter-compatible

Programming languages

Programming languages

Jupyter languages (e.g. Python, R)
JS

What kind of data sources can you connect to?

What kind of data sources can you connect to?

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

What kind of data visualization can you do?

Jupyter data visualization (e.g. Matplotlib, Altair, Plotly)
JS data visualization (e.g. D3, Vega)

Reactivity

Reactivity

No reactivity, you decide the execution order
Full, realtime reactivity

Notebook scheduling

Notebook scheduling

Notebook scheduling with additional tools
No notebook scheduling

Management

Reproducibility

Reproducibility

With effort, you can make reproducible environments
Environments are reproducible by default
Execution is reproducible by default

Version history

Version history

File-based (use Git)
Version history is built in

Collaborative editing

Collaborative editing

File-based (use Git)
Multiple editors at the same time

Comments

Comments

File-based (use GitHub)
Comment on items within a notebook

Notebook organization

Notebook organization

File-based
View notebooks in a list

Licensing

License

License

Open-source (BSD)
Proprietary

Price

Price

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

That’s it, time to try Deepnote

Get started – it’s free
Book a demo

Footer

Solutions

  • Notebook
  • Data apps
  • Machine learning
  • Data teams

Product

Company

Comparisons

Resources

  • Privacy
  • Terms

© Deepnote