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