Best Alternatives to Jupyter Notebooks

There are several alternatives to Jupyter Notebooks, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Here are some popular ones:

• Visual Studio Code
• Spyder
• PyCharm
• Marimo
• Zeppelin
• Databricks Notebook
• Colaboratory
• MATLAB Live Editor
• RStudio
• R Markdown
• Emacs Org-mode
• DataCamp Light
• Trinket
• Observable
• Hydrogen

Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code (VSCode) is a general-purpose code editor that can be used for many programming languages. It has a rich ecosystem of extensions that can be used for data science tasks. VSCode also supports Markdown and provides a variety of debugging and testing tools.

See: Working with Jupyter Notebooks in Visual Studio Code

Spyder

Spyder is another IDE that is specifically designed for scientific computing with Python. It provides a variety of features, such as a code editor, a variable explorer, and a debugger. Spyder also allows for the creation of interactive plots and supports multiple kernels.

PyCharm

PyCharm is an IDE for Python that is popular among data scientists and developers. It provides a variety of features, such as a code editor, a debugger, and support for version control systems. PyCharm also supports scientific libraries and allows for the creation of interactive plots.

See: Create and edit Jupyter notebooks | PyCharm Documentation

Marimo

A promising alternative to traditional Python notebooks, offering a refreshing approach to interactive programming with its emphasis on reactivity, reproducibility, and deployment versatility.

One of Marimo's standout qualities is its deterministic execution order. Unlike traditional notebooks where execution order can be influenced by cell position, Marimo organizes code execution based on variable references, enhancing clarity and predictability. Additionally, Marimo synchronizes UI elements such as sliders and dropdowns with corresponding code cells, facilitating interactive data exploration without cumbersome callbacks.

Moreover, Marimo prioritizes reproducibility and shareability, storing notebooks as .py files, which are friendly to version control systems like Git. This approach not only fosters collaboration but also streamlines the deployment of notebooks as pipelines or interactive web applications, extending their utility beyond mere experimentation.

Marimo's inspiration draws from a collective desire to reinvent Python notebooks into robust, interactive, and shareable programming environments. With influences from projects like Pluto.jl and ObservableHQ, Marimo contributes to the ongoing evolution towards reactive dataflow programming, promising a better ecosystem for research, collaboration, and computational exploration.

Zeppelin

Zeppelin is an open-source web-based notebook that supports multiple programming languages, including Scala, Python, and R. It provides a variety of visualization tools and supports the integration of external data sources.

Databricks Notebook

Databricks Notebook is a web-based notebook that supports multiple languages, including Python, R, and SQL. It provides a variety of visualization and collaboration tools and is optimized for use with Apache Spark.

Colaboratory

Colaboratory (also known as Colab) is a web-based notebook that is hosted by Google. It supports Python and provides a variety of libraries and tools for data analysis and machine learning.

MATLAB Live Editor

MATLAB Live Editor is an interactive development environment for MATLAB that allows for the creation of live scripts. It provides a variety of tools for data analysis, visualization, and modeling.

RStudio

RStudio is a popular integrated development environment (IDE) for the R programming language. It has a user-friendly interface and provides a variety of tools for data analysis, visualization, and statistical modeling. RStudio also supports Markdown and allows for the creation of interactive documents.

See: Using Python with the RStudio IDE – Posit Support

R Markdown

R Markdown is a document format that allows for the creation of reproducible reports and documents that combine R code, text, and graphics. It provides a variety of output formats, including PDF, HTML, and Word.

Emacs Org-mode

Emacs Org-mode is a markup language that allows for the creation of structured documents that combine code, text, and images. It provides a variety of tools for data analysis and presentation.

DataCamp Light

DataCamp Light is a browser-based tool that allows for the creation of interactive code tutorials. It supports multiple languages, including Python and R. With DataCamp Light, anyone can create an interactive learning platform for data science. Data Camp Light helps to convert any website or blog to an interactive learning platform.

Trinket

Trinket is a web-based code editor that allows for the creation of interactive code snippets and tutorials. It supports multiple languages, including Python, JavaScript, and Ruby.

Observable

Observable is a web-based notebook that allows for the creation of interactive visualizations and data-driven documents. It supports JavaScript and provides a variety of libraries and tools for data analysis and visualization.

Hydrogen

Hydrogen is an Atom package that allows for the execution of code within a code editor. It supports multiple kernels, including Python, R, and Julia.

NOTE: As of December 15, 2022 all Atom repositories are archived.

Edits: 2024-03-25 - Added marimo 2024-03-25 - Added links, changed order of the tools