Observable
WebsiteMake 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.
Observable vs Vertex AI:
a side-by-side comparison for 2024
Comparing two data science notebooks.
Vertex AI
WebsiteVertex AI is Google Cloud's comprehensive machine learning platform that enables businesses to build, deploy, and scale AI models effortlessly.
Observable
Vertex AI
Setup
Fully managed (setup in minutes)
Fully managed (setup in hours)
Can you self-host?
Can you self-host?
No, you must use a managed offering
You can self-host (setup in hours)
Features
Is it Jupyter compatible?
Is it Jupyter compatible?
Not Jupyter-compatible
Jupyter-compatible
Programming languages
Programming languages
JS
SQL
JS
Julia
R
Python
What kind of data sources can you connect to?
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
Provided file storage
What kind of data visualization can you do?
What kind of data visualization can you do?
JS data visualization (e.g. D3, Vega)
UI for building charts
Reactivity
Reactivity
Full, realtime reactivity
Reactivity with caveats
No notebook scheduling
Notebook scheduling is built in
Management
Reproducibility
Reproducibility
Environments are reproducible by default
Execution is reproducible by default
Unknown
Version history is built in
No version history
Multiple editors at the same time
Multiple editors at the same time
Comments
Comments
Comment on items within a notebook
No support for comments
Notebook organization
Notebook organization
View notebooks in a list
View notebooks in a list
Licensing
License
License
Proprietary
Proprietary
Price
Price
Free tier
Free trial (1 month)
Pay-per-user
Free tier
Pay for compute