According to the State of JS 2023 survey, React continues its dominance in frontend development, primarily due to its component-based architecture, efficient rendering mechanism, and inherent flexibility. Unlike full-fledged frameworks, React's library-based nature provides developers with greater architectural freedom and customization potential.
Today, we have a large (and growing) ecosystem of libraries that address specific development challenges, such as data management and visualization. Data grids, in particular, play a crucial role in web applications by allowing developers to efficiently display, sort, filter, and manipulate large datasets. At least, they still provide a solid solution for data-heavy interfaces.
In this article, I'll focus on data grid libraries for React that are free to use and provide comprehensive features extending the basic data table functionality. Here is the list of the most advanced open-source React data grids that help developers build smarter and faster:
SVAR React DataGrid
SVAR React DataGrid is an open source solution for handling big datasets. It is a new and promising data grid component designed to provide fast rendering speed and all necessary basic functionalities for comfortable work with data. It's free to use under MIT license.
In addition to the standard feature set, SVAR DataGrid offers quite a some advanced functionality. Key features include:
- in-cell editing,
- sorting (including multi-column),
- multiple row selection,
- virtual scrolling, paging,
- keyboard navigation,
- tree data view,
- context menu,
- support for CRUD operations
- nested, collapsible columns, frozen columns,
- responsive data grid layout,
- dynamic loading of data for better performance.
Is the library suitable for real world projects? In the case of SVAR DataGrid it is a definite "yes". The grid is feature-packed and optimized for big data, so it can be a good option for apps dealing with data sets of any size.
AG Grid
AG Grid is a popular and widely used solution designed primarily for building enterprise applications. The grid is a customizable, extensible and high-performance component that provides tons of features out of the box.
AG Grid has two versions: AG Grid Community, which is free and open-source, and AG Grid Enterprise, which is available under a commercial license ($999 per developer).
Here are the key features of the library, free and paid ones:
Core features (free community version):
- sorting, filtering, pagination,
- column grouping,
- row and column pinning and spanning,
- multi-row selection,
- cell editing, etc.
Advanced features (paid Enterprise version):
- row grouping,
- aggregation,
- pivoting,
- tree data,
- side bar and tool panels,
- server-side row model (lazy loading),
- data export and import, etc.
AG Grid Enterprise also offers sparklines (fully customizable small charts for cells to show trends) and integrated Charts (built-in charting).
Let’s sum it up. Although most of the advanced features of AG Grid are paid, the Community version still provides users with a wide variety of functionalities under the MIT license allowing building complex solutions for big data.
MUI X Grid
MUI X Data Grid – a datagrid built with React and TypeScript by the developers of MUI component library. The component efficiently manages large data sets providing convenient UIs for positive user experience with big data.
The list of the functionalities offered by MUI X Data Grid is really extensive. But let’s see which of them are free.
Here is the overview of the main features:
Basic features (free):
- in-cell/inline editing,
- sorting and filtering (incl. server-side filter),
- column grouping and spanning,
- pagination, row selection, etc.
Advanced features (available under paid plans):
- tree data support,
- column and row reordering,
- column pinning,
- cell selection,
- advanced filtering (multi and header filters),
- aggregation functions,
- export to Excel,
- virtualization for big data, etc.
MUI X Data Grid is an excellent free option for small to mid-size projects. For larger datasets or advanced functionality, a paid plan might be necessary.
PrimeReact DataTable
PrimeReact DataTable is a customizable, feature-rich React component that provides a vast number of basic table functionalities and implements lazy mode for loading data in small chunks from the server. It's a part of comprehensive PrimeReact components library available under MIT license.
To be more exact, the following basic and advanced features are part of the PrimeReact DataTable:
- pagination, filtering, sorting,
- advanced filtering capabilities that are available via popups (multiple constraints and advanced templates are supported);
- row and cell selection,
- column grouping and toggling,
- virtual scroll,
- conditional style that allows setting styles for particular rows and cells based on a specific condition.
PrimeReact DataTable is a versatile component suitable for projects of all sizes.
Mantine React Table
Mantine React Table is a data table component built with Mantine library and headless TanStack Table (which will also mentioned below in our list).
It allows you to integrate a pre-built data grid component into your React app and works best in projects already using Mantine components, although it is not a requirement.
Mantine React Table is built in TypeScript and available under a MIT license. The component supports all basic and advanced features for handling data:
- filtering, sorting, editing,
- pagination,
- column resizing and reordering,
- row selection and expansion,
- virtualization,
- aggregation,
- grouping,
- column pinning, etc.
Let’s look at some functionalities that can be of interest for those who are searching for a well-suited table component for their app:
- wide customization opportunities: the component allows to combine its pre-built components with the custom ones designed by the users;
- fuzzy search, which is a built-in global filtering based on a fuzzy algorithm that allows to sort search results depending on how closely they match the query;
- modes for row numbers, which means that row numbers can be just a part of a table (i.e. static) or be associated with the data;
- advanced filtering: different filters (text, select and multi-select, autocomplete, date, checkbox, etc. ) for more precise filtering results.
As you can see, Mantine React Table provides quite a wide set of features for successful interaction with data and can easily be customized to meet the requirements of advanced user cases.
Revogrid
Revogrid is a data grid built with StencilJS that does a good job of managing big data, maintaining a high level of performance. It provides a wrapper for React that makes it possible to use the grid as a part of a React project. For React, Revogrid provides a way to render native components inside of cells or as cell editor.
Although Revogrid is a free, MIT-licensed component, some advanced features are available only in its paid Pro version.
Basic features (free):
- in-cell editing,
- sorting and filtering,
- column resizing, reordering, grouping, and pinning,
- virtual scrolling for efficient handling of large datasets,
- CRUD operations support,
- clipboard support for easy data copying.
Advanced features (Pro version):
- cell validation, input validation,
- paging,
- complex formula (Excel like),
- tree data view,
- master details/expandable rows,
- row grouping and drag-and-drop,
- context menu,
- export to Excel,
- advanced filtering, etc.
The grid is well-suited for working with big amounts of data, provides basic functionalities together with some advanced ones, although users may need a Pro version for dealing with complex cases.
TanStack Table
TanStack Table is a powerful headless, framework-independent library for building tables and data grids. It allows you to filter, sort, group, aggregate, paginate and display tabular data, offering complete control over the table’s design.
Core features include:
- sorting, filtering, grouping,
- aggregation,
- row grouping, selection, expansion,
- column resizing, ordering, visibility,
- virtual scrolling for handling large datasets,
- customizable cell rendering and hooks for complete control over the UI.
TanStack Table is particularly appealing for advanced use cases where developers need the flexibility to craft unique table experiences rather than relying on pre-built designs.
Conclusion
I hope that this review will help you have a clearer understanding of the functionalities offered by modern data grids. All the solutions introduced in this article have their advantages, moreover, all of the libraries give you the opportunity to use most of their features for free.
Explore the options, evaluate your project requirements, and choose the one that best meets your needs!
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