Hex
WebsiteThe Data Workspace for Teams. Work with data in collaborative SQL and Python notebooks. Share as interactive data apps that anyone can use.
Hex vs Observable:
a side-by-side comparison for 2024
Comparing two data science notebooks.
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.
Hex
Observable
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
Not Jupyter-compatible
Programming languages
Programming languages
Jupyter languages (e.g. Python, R)
SQL
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 to data warehouses (Google BigQuery, ClickHouse, etc.)
Connect to databases (MariaDB, SQL Server, etc.)
Provided file storage
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)
UI for building charts
JS data visualization (e.g. D3, Vega)
Reactivity
Reactivity
Full, realtime reactivity
Full, realtime reactivity
Notebook scheduling is built in
No notebook scheduling
Management
Reproducibility
Reproducibility
Environments are reproducible by default
Execution is reproducible by default
Run notebooks in containers
Environments are reproducible by default
Execution is reproducible by default
Version history is built in
Version history is built in
Multiple editors at the same time
Multiple editors at the same time
Comments
Comments
Comment on items within a notebook
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
Free trial (1 month)
Pay-per-user
That’s it, time to try Deepnote
Alternatives to Hex and Observable
Compare Hex and Observable with other data science notebook tools.
| Tool | Setup | Jupyter compatibility | Languages | Data visualization | Collaborative editing | Pricing | License |
|---|
Hex | Fully managed | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter, SQL | Visualize with code or UI | Realtime collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Observable | Fully managed | None | JS | Visualize with code | Realtime collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
Deepnote Compare with Hex, Observable | Fully managed | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter, SQL | Visualize with code or UI | Realtime collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
Amazon Sagemaker Compare with Hex, Observable | Fully managed | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter | Visualize with code | Limited collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
Jupyter Compare with Hex, Observable | Self-hosted | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter | Visualize with code | File-based or asynchronous collaboration | Free | Open source |
Google Colab Compare with Hex, Observable | Fully managed | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter | Visualize with code | Limited collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
Databricks Notebooks Compare with Hex, Observable | Self-hosted or fully managed | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter | Visualize with code or UI | Realtime collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
DataCamp Workspace Compare with Hex, Observable | Fully managed | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter, SQL | Visualize with code or UI | Realtime collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
JupyterLab Compare with Hex, Observable | Self-hosted | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter | Visualize with code | File-based or asynchronous collaboration | Free | Open source |
CoCalc Compare with Hex, Observable | Self-hosted or fully managed | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter | Visualize with code | Realtime collaboration | Free and paid options | Open source |
Hyperquery Compare with Hex, Observable | Fully managed | None | Python, SQL | Visualize with code or UI | Realtime collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
Jetbrains Datalore Compare with Hex, Observable | Fully managed | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter | Visualize with code or UI | Realtime collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
Kaggle Compare with Hex, Observable | Fully managed | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter | Visualize with code | Limited collaboration | Free | Proprietary |
Nextjournal Compare with Hex, Observable | Fully managed | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter | Visualize with code | Realtime collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
Noteable Compare with Hex, Observable | Self-hosted or fully managed | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter, SQL | Visualize with code or UI | Realtime collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
nteract Compare with Hex, Observable | Self-hosted | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter | Visualize with code | File-based or asynchronous collaboration | Free | Open source |
Query.me Compare with Hex, Observable | Fully managed | None | SQL | Visualization UI builder | File-based or asynchronous collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
VS Code Compare with Hex, Observable | Self-hosted | Jupyter-compatible | Jupyter | Visualize with code | File-based or asynchronous collaboration | Free | Open source |
Mode Notebooks Compare with Hex, Observable | Fully managed | None | SQL, R, Python | Visualization UI builder | File-based or asynchronous collaboration | Unknown | Proprietary |
Querybook Compare with Hex, Observable | Self-hosted | None | Python | Visualization UI builder | Realtime collaboration | Free | Open source |
Zeppelin Compare with Hex, Observable | Self-hosted | None | Python, SQL, Spark | Unknown | File-based or asynchronous collaboration | Free | Open source |
Count Compare with Hex, Observable | Fully managed | None | SQL | Visualization UI builder | Realtime collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
Husprey Compare with Hex, Observable | Fully managed | None | SQL | Visualization UI builder | File-based or asynchronous collaboration | Free and paid options | Proprietary |
Pluto.jl Compare with Hex, Observable | Self-hosted | None | Julia | Unknown | File-based or asynchronous collaboration | Free | Open source |
Polynote Compare with Hex, Observable | Self-hosted | None | Scala, Python | Unknown | File-based or asynchronous collaboration | Free | Open source |
Zepl Compare with Hex, Observable | Fully managed | Unknown | Python, R | Unknown | Realtime collaboration | Unknown | Proprietary |