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 Jupyter:
a side-by-side comparison for 2024
Comparing two data science notebooks.
Jupyter
WebsiteProject 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.
Google Colab
Jupyter
Setup
Fully managed (setup in minutes)
No, you must host it yourself
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?
Jupyter-compatible
Jupyter-compatible
Programming languages
Programming languages
Jupyter languages (e.g. Python, R)
Jupyter languages (e.g. Python, R)
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)
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)
Reactivity
Reactivity
No reactivity, you decide the execution order
No reactivity, you decide the execution order
No notebook scheduling
Notebook scheduling with additional tools
Management
Reproducibility
Reproducibility
There is no support for reproducibility
With effort, you can make reproducible environments
No version history
File-based (use Git)
No support for collaborative editors
File-based (use Git)
Comments
Comments
No support for comments
File-based (use GitHub)
Notebook organization
Notebook organization
View notebooks in a list
File-based
Licensing
License
License
Proprietary
Open-source (BSD)
Price
Price
Free tier
Pay-per-user
Pay for compute
Free
That’s it, time to try Deepnote
Alternatives to Google Colab and Jupyter
Compare Google Colab and Jupyter 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jupyter | Self-hosted | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter | Visualize with code | File-based or asynchronous collaboration | Free | Open source |
Deepnote Compare with Google Colab, Jupyter | Fully managed | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter, SQL | Visualize with code or UI | Realtime collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
Amazon Sagemaker Compare with Google Colab, Jupyter | Fully managed | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter | Visualize with code | Limited collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
Hex Compare with Google Colab, Jupyter | Fully managed | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter, SQL | Visualize with code or UI | Realtime collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
Databricks Notebooks Compare with Google Colab, Jupyter | 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, Jupyter | Fully managed | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter, SQL | Visualize with code or UI | Realtime collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
JupyterLab Compare with Google Colab, Jupyter | Self-hosted | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter | Visualize with code | File-based or asynchronous collaboration | Free | Open source |
CoCalc Compare with Google Colab, Jupyter | Self-hosted or fully managed | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter | Visualize with code | Realtime collaboration | Free and paid options | Open source |
Hyperquery Compare with Google Colab, Jupyter | Fully managed | None | Python, SQL | Visualize with code or UI | Realtime collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
Jetbrains Datalore Compare with Google Colab, Jupyter | Fully managed | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter | Visualize with code or UI | Realtime collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
Kaggle Compare with Google Colab, Jupyter | Fully managed | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter | Visualize with code | Limited collaboration | Free | Proprietary |
Nextjournal Compare with Google Colab, Jupyter | Fully managed | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter | Visualize with code | Realtime collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
Noteable Compare with Google Colab, Jupyter | 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, Jupyter | Self-hosted | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter | Visualize with code | File-based or asynchronous collaboration | Free | Open source |
Observable Compare with Google Colab, Jupyter | Fully managed | None | JS | Visualize with code | Realtime collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
Query.me Compare with Google Colab, Jupyter | Fully managed | None | SQL | Visualization UI builder | File-based or asynchronous collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
VS Code Compare with Google Colab, Jupyter | Self-hosted | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter | Visualize with code | File-based or asynchronous collaboration | Free | Open source |
Mode Notebooks Compare with Google Colab, Jupyter | Fully managed | None | SQL, R, Python | Visualization UI builder | File-based or asynchronous collaboration | Unknown | Proprietary |
Querybook Compare with Google Colab, Jupyter | Self-hosted | None | Python | Visualization UI builder | Realtime collaboration | Free | Open source |
Zeppelin Compare with Google Colab, Jupyter | Self-hosted | None | Python, SQL, Spark | Unknown | File-based or asynchronous collaboration | Free | Open source |
Count Compare with Google Colab, Jupyter | Fully managed | None | SQL | Visualization UI builder | Realtime collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
Husprey Compare with Google Colab, Jupyter | Fully managed | None | SQL | Visualization UI builder | File-based or asynchronous collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
Pluto.jl Compare with Google Colab, Jupyter | Self-hosted | None | Julia | Unknown | File-based or asynchronous collaboration | Free | Open source |
Polynote Compare with Google Colab, Jupyter | Self-hosted | None | Scala, Python | Unknown | File-based or asynchronous collaboration | Free | Open source |
Zepl Compare with Google Colab, Jupyter | Fully managed | Unknown | Python, R | Unknown | Realtime collaboration | Unknown | Proprietary |