This is a short, selective, and opinionated overview written for our own project context. It is NOT an exhaustive benchmark, not vendor guidance, and not a performance shoot‑out. Details (features, licensing, pricing, APIs) can change; always confirm with official documentation before making decisions.
We recently needed a data grid for internal + eventual user‑facing tooling (moderate data size, interactive filtering, and extension hooks—without heavy enterprise complexity). Below is a distilled snapshot of what we looked at and how each felt for our needs at the time of review.
Context & Criteria (Project‑Specific)
Our lightweight evaluation emphasized:
- Low friction for common basics: sorting, filtering UI that normal users understand, pagination or virtual scroll.
- Clarity of documentation with runnable demos (prefer examples over prose).
- Extension surface: ability to inject custom renderers / cells / actions without rewriting core.
- Reasonable styling adaptability (CSS variables / class hooks) without rewriting themes.
- License & cost suitability for an early‑stage project (preferring strong free / community edition where possible).
- Not over‑engineering: we don’t need pivot tables, BI dashboards, or Excel macro emulation today.
Anything not aligned with our immediate scope (complex multi‑sheet editing, deep spreadsheet math engines, server aggregation frameworks) was weighted lower.
Category 1: “Excel‑Like” Grids
These aim to feel like a spreadsheet first, application component second.
Jspreadsheet (https://jspreadsheet.com/)
- Immediate Excel‑style interaction pattern.
- Licensing required for many realistic use cases; we’d need to validate long‑term cost.
- Documentation is concise but (at review time) felt minimal—few illustrative screenshots / richer tutorials.
- Strong if you truly want end‑users to think “spreadsheet.” Slightly heavier than we need.
Overgrid (https://overgrid.overcode.hu/)
- Vanilla JS flavored API; integration into a Vue project would require some wrapping.
- Excel metaphor present but API surface felt lower‑level for our workflow.
- Potentially flexible, but added integration glue not justified for us.
Category 2: Grids Inside General UI Libraries
These are table/data components bundled within broader UI kits. Advantage: visual consistency. Trade‑off: sometimes less depth or ergonomics specifically for grid scenarios.
Naive UI (https://www.naiveui.com/)
- Polished component library overall.
- Data table feels geared more toward basic usage; filtering UI (in our snapshot) not implemented.
- Exposes many APIs for customization, but the out-of-the-box UI is not enough for end users.
- Fine for uniform UI surfaces; less compelling for a feature‑heavy data grid.
Vuetify (https://vuetifyjs.com/)
- Mature ecosystem; multiple table / data variants including virtual scrolling.
- Built‑in filtering UX was essentially a search input default—adequate, not fitted for our needs.
- Great if fully adopting Vuetify design system. For standalone embed, adds weight.
Category 3: Standalone / Specialized Data Grids
Focused components whose primary purpose is tabular data handling.
Data Grid Vue (https://datagridvue.com/)
- Core basics present: sort, filter, pagination.
- Visual styling felt less refined; theming would require extra polish effort.
- Extension hooks seemed limited for deeper custom behaviors.
- Works for very simple admin lists; might cap out early.
RevoGrid (https://rv-grid.com/)
- Ambition: high‑performance, large data sets.
- Vue integration documentation (at time of reading) felt less linear—required cross‑referencing generic docs.
- Filtering UX came across as more complex / less intuitive for casual users.
- Possibly powerful once mastered; onboarding cost too high for our immediate scope.
DevExtreme Vue (https://js.devexpress.com/Vue/)
- Extremely feature rich: grouping, exporting, advanced filtering, more.
- Documentation quality strong; many demos.
- Overkill for our current “moderate complexity” stage; introduces cognitive & configuration surface.
- A future candidate if our requirements expand toward enterprise reporting.
AG Grid (https://www.ag-grid.com/)
- Broad, well‑documented feature set with clear live examples.
- Community (free) edition already covers most of our short‑ to mid‑term needs.
- Filtering UI is straightforward and usable by non‑power users (simple menus, clear operations).
- Provides a reasonable extension surface (custom cell renderers, value formatters, events) without forcing full framework adoption.
- Balance of capability vs. complexity aligned best with our present goals.
Very Brief Comparative Snapshot
| Component | Docs Clarity | Feature Breadth (for us) | Filter UX Approach | Extension Ease | Styling Effort | Fit Score (Subjective) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jspreadsheet | Medium | High (spreadsheet heavy) | Spreadsheet paradigm | Medium | Medium | Low‑Medium |
| Overgrid | Low‑Medium | Medium | Spreadsheet lite | Low (needs wrapping) | Medium | Low |
| Naive UI Table | Medium | Basic‑Medium | Minimal / generic | Medium | Low | Medium (if using Naive UI) |
| Vuetify Data Table | Medium | Medium | Search box default | Medium | Medium | Medium (if using Vuetify) |
| Data Grid Vue | Low | Basic | Basic controls | Low | Medium | Low |
| RevoGrid | Medium | Medium‑High | Complex menus | Medium | Medium | Low‑Medium |
| DevExtreme | High | Very High | Advanced / dense | Medium | Medium‑High | Medium (overkill now) |
| AG Grid | High | High | Clear menus | High | Medium | High |
Fit Score is a loose, qualitative impression purely for our project stage; not a standardized metric.
Why We Lean Toward AG Grid (Now)
- Sufficient features without purchasing a license immediately.
- Predictable upgrade path if we later need enterprise features (but we’re not committing yet).
- Clear demos accelerate onboarding; fewer “guess & trial” cycles.
- Acceptable bundle & complexity cost relative to value.
We may still prototype with another lighter option for very small views, but AG Grid currently feels like the pragmatic default.
Disclaimer & Next Steps
This overview will age; libraries evolve quickly. Treat everything here as a timestamped subjective note (dated above). Always re‑check official sites for updates on:
- Licensing / pricing changes
- API shifts or deprecations
- New built‑in filter / virtualization strategies
If our requirements shift (e.g., need spreadsheet formulas, deep pivoting, offline editing), the ranking changes.
We’ll likely:
- Implement an initial AG Grid‑based table for internal tooling.
- Document any custom renderer patterns we adopt.
- Re‑evaluate quarterly or when a major library release drops.
Again: This is a brief, opinionated snapshot—not a formal benchmark.