Google Colab
WebsiteColab notebooks allow you to combine executable code and rich text in a single document, along with images, HTML, LaTeX and more.
Google Colab vs Hex:
a side-by-side comparison for 2024
Comparing two data science notebooks.
Hex
WebsiteThe Data Workspace for Teams. Work with data in collaborative SQL and Python notebooks. Share as interactive data apps that anyone can use.
Google Colab
Hex
Setup
Fully managed (setup in minutes)
Fully managed (setup in minutes)
Can you self-host?
Can you self-host?
No, you must use a managed offering
No, you must use a managed offering
Features
Is it Jupyter compatible?
Is it Jupyter compatible?
Jupyter-compatible
Jupyter-compatible
Programming languages
Programming languages
Jupyter languages (e.g. Python, R)
Jupyter languages (e.g. Python, R)
SQL
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)
Google Drive
Connect with Jupyter libraries (e.g. SQLAlchemy, psycopg2)
Connect to data warehouses (Google BigQuery, ClickHouse, etc.)
Connect to databases (MariaDB, SQL Server, etc.)
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)
Jupyter data visualization (e.g. Matplotlib, Altair, Plotly)
UI for building charts
Reactivity
Reactivity
No reactivity, you decide the execution order
Full, realtime reactivity
No notebook scheduling
Notebook scheduling is built in
Management
Reproducibility
Reproducibility
There is no support for reproducibility
Environments are reproducible by default
Execution is reproducible by default
Run notebooks in containers
No version history
Version history is built in
No support for collaborative editors
Multiple editors at the same time
Comments
Comments
No support for comments
Comment on items within a notebook
Notebook organization
Notebook organization
View notebooks in a list
View notebooks in a list
Licensing
License
License
Proprietary
Proprietary
Price
Price
Free tier
Pay-per-user
Pay for compute
Free tier
Pay-per-user
Pay for compute
That’s it, time to try Deepnote
Alternatives to Google Colab and Hex
Compare Google Colab and Hex with other data science notebook tools.
| Tool | Setup | Jupyter compatibility | Languages | Data visualization | Collaborative editing | Pricing | License |
|---|
Google Colab | Fully managed | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter | Visualize with code | Limited collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hex | Fully managed | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter, SQL | Visualize with code or UI | Realtime collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
Deepnote Compare with Google Colab, Hex | Fully managed | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter, SQL | Visualize with code or UI | Realtime collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
Amazon Sagemaker Compare with Google Colab, Hex | Fully managed | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter | Visualize with code | Limited collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
Jupyter Compare with Google Colab, Hex | Self-hosted | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter | Visualize with code | File-based or asynchronous collaboration | Free | Open source |
Databricks Notebooks Compare with Google Colab, Hex | Self-hosted or fully managed | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter | Visualize with code or UI | Realtime collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
DataCamp Workspace Compare with Google Colab, Hex | Fully managed | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter, SQL | Visualize with code or UI | Realtime collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
JupyterLab Compare with Google Colab, Hex | Self-hosted | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter | Visualize with code | File-based or asynchronous collaboration | Free | Open source |
CoCalc Compare with Google Colab, Hex | Self-hosted or fully managed | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter | Visualize with code | Realtime collaboration | Free and paid options | Open source |
Hyperquery Compare with Google Colab, Hex | Fully managed | None | Python, SQL | Visualize with code or UI | Realtime collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
Jetbrains Datalore Compare with Google Colab, Hex | Fully managed | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter | Visualize with code or UI | Realtime collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
Kaggle Compare with Google Colab, Hex | Fully managed | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter | Visualize with code | Limited collaboration | Free | Proprietary |
Nextjournal Compare with Google Colab, Hex | Fully managed | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter | Visualize with code | Realtime collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
Noteable Compare with Google Colab, Hex | Self-hosted or fully managed | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter, SQL | Visualize with code or UI | Realtime collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
nteract Compare with Google Colab, Hex | Self-hosted | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter | Visualize with code | File-based or asynchronous collaboration | Free | Open source |
Observable Compare with Google Colab, Hex | Fully managed | None | JS | Visualize with code | Realtime collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
Query.me Compare with Google Colab, Hex | Fully managed | None | SQL | Visualization UI builder | File-based or asynchronous collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
VS Code Compare with Google Colab, Hex | Self-hosted | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter | Visualize with code | File-based or asynchronous collaboration | Free | Open source |
Mode Notebooks Compare with Google Colab, Hex | Fully managed | None | SQL, R, Python | Visualization UI builder | File-based or asynchronous collaboration | Unknown | Proprietary |
Querybook Compare with Google Colab, Hex | Self-hosted | None | Python | Visualization UI builder | Realtime collaboration | Free | Open source |
Zeppelin Compare with Google Colab, Hex | Self-hosted | None | Python, SQL, Spark | Unknown | File-based or asynchronous collaboration | Free | Open source |
Count Compare with Google Colab, Hex | Fully managed | None | SQL | Visualization UI builder | Realtime collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
Husprey Compare with Google Colab, Hex | Fully managed | None | SQL | Visualization UI builder | File-based or asynchronous collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
Pluto.jl Compare with Google Colab, Hex | Self-hosted | None | Julia | Unknown | File-based or asynchronous collaboration | Free | Open source |
Polynote Compare with Google Colab, Hex | Self-hosted | None | Scala, Python | Unknown | File-based or asynchronous collaboration | Free | Open source |
Zepl Compare with Google Colab, Hex | Fully managed | Unknown | Python, R | Unknown | Realtime collaboration | Unknown | Proprietary |