About this research
- What is this?
- Public research done by cody lindley in late 2014 to define criteria and results for a comparative quality analysis of jQuery widget toolkits.
- Why don't you compare total number of widgets or type?
- Pointless because each framework is not consistent about what is a widget and what is a category of widgets. Additionally, naming conventions are all over the board.
- Why do you only consider official aspects of a toolkit?
- Only official aspects (from the source, no third-party dependencies) of toolkit remain updated, relevant, and properly supported. Therefore my research draws a line between official and unofficial parts of a toolkit. Unofficial parts are not considered in this research.
- How JQuery and JSON can be used together?
- jQuery can be used to load JSON-encoded data from a remote source using the $. getJSON() method. This method requires a URL parameter and can include optional parameters for data to send to the server and a callback function for a successful response. What is JSON?
| DevExtreme | Ignite UI | jQuery EasyUI | jQuery UI | jQWidgets | Kendo UI | Syncfusion JS | ShieldUI | w2ui | Webix | Wijmo | ZinoUI | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Browser Support & Hard Dependencies Comparison | ||||||||||||
| Firefox | two latest | 3.6+ | ? | (Current − 1) or Current | 2.0+ | Latest and Extended Support Release (ESR) | 2.0+ | latest | 7+ | latest | 3+ | 4+ |
| IE | 8+ | 8+ | ? | 8+ | 7+ | 7+ | 8+ | 7+ | 9+ | 8+ | 6+ | 8+ |
| Safari | two latest | 3.2+ | ? | 5.1+ | 3+ | 4+ | 3+ | latest | 5+ | latest | 3+ | 5+ |
| Chrome | two latest | 2.0+ Win; 5.0+ Mac/Linux | ? | (Current − 1) or Current | latest | latest | 1+ | latest | latest | latest | latest | 12+ |
| Opera | Opera 12 and Two Latest Versions | ✗ | ? | 12.1x, (Current − 1) or Current | latest | 15+ | 9+ | latest | ✗ | latest | latest | 11+ |
| Hard Dependencies | jQuery 2.1.1 (1.11.1 for IE 8), Globalize | jQuery 1.9.1, jQuery UI 1.10.3 | jQuery 1.7.2 | jQuery 1.6+, Globalize | jQuery 1.7.0–2.0.2, Globalize | jQuery 1.9.1 | jQuery 1.7.1+ (rec. v1.10.2), Globalize, JS Render, jQuery Easing | jQuery 1.10.2, Globalize | jQuery 2.0.2 | optional | jQuery 1.11.1, jQuery UI 1.11.0, Globalize | jQuery 1.10.1 |
| Soft Dependencies — Angular Directives | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Soft Dependencies — Knockout | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ~ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| General Comparison | ||||||||||||
| Lowest Commercial Cost Per Developer, Per Site (updates typically good for a year) | $499 | $849.00 | $449 (Up to 5 developers) | free | $199 | $699 | $599 | $299 | free | $469 | $495 | $59 (Up to 5 developers) |
| 100% Open Source for any type of use | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Partially Open Source for any type of use | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ details | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ details | ✗ |
| Open Source for non-commercial use (typically non-profit) | ✗ | ✗ | GNU GPL | MIT | Creative Commons | ✓ Apache License V2 (only applies to Kendo UI core) | ✗ | ✓ ? | MIT | GNU GPL | GNU GPL | GNU GPL |
| Hobbyist license (commercial usage of entire solution by a single individual, not a company) | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ $1 hobbyist license | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Licenses Available | Commercial | Commercial | Commercial, GNU GPL | MIT | Commercial, Creative Commons | Commercial, Apache License V2 (only applies to Kendo UI core) | Commercial, Open Source Project License, Academic Pricing, Microsoft MVP License, Hobbyist license | Commercial | MIT | Commercial, GNU GPL | Commercial, GNU GPL, MIT | Commercial, GNU GPL |
| Official Commercial Support | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Localization | Uses globalize | English, Japanese, Russian, Bulgarian, German, French, Spanish details |
af, bg, ca, cs, cz, da, de, en, es, fr, nl, tr, zh_CN, zh_TW | i18n moving to globalize | Uses globalize | ✓ details | Uses globalize | Uses globalize | ? | i18n (details) | Uses globalize | ✗ |
| Accessibility / WAI-ARIA | ? | ~ details | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ? | ? | ✓ | ✓ |
| Official Server Side Wrappers | ASP.NET MVC | ASP.NET MVC | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ASP.NET MVC, JSP, PHP | ASP.NET MVC | JAVA DataViz, ASP.NET DataViz, ASP.NET MVC DataViz | ✗ | ✗ | ASP.NET MVC | PHP |
| Data Attribute Initialization / Declarative Initialization | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Official Front-end Framework/Application Tool Offerings | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Contains Specific Data Visualization Widgets (charts, graphs, etc.) | ✓ SVG > VML | ✓ Canvas | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ SVG > Canvas > VML | ✓ SVG > Canvas > VML | ✓ SVG > VML | ✓ SVG > VML | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ SVG > VML | ✓ SVG > Canvas |
| AMD Compatible (not shimming actual AMD modules) | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Official Developer Browser Extension | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ Kendo UI Chrome Inspector | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Official Live Code Editor | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ Dojo | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Official Public CDN | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Individual Src Files | ? | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ? | ✓ | ✓ |
| Custom Build Tools | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Official Bower.io Package | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ details | ✗ | ✓ details | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ details | ✗ | ✗ |
| Official Nuget Package | ✓ | ✓ | ? | ? | ? | ✓ | ✓ | ? | ? | ✓ | ✓ | ? |
| Official Bootstrap Theme (not just compatibility — official theme) | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Source on Github & Accepts Contributions | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ~ Applies to core | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Build Tools (tools to build from source or create a custom version) | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ Build tools included with core. Custom Download Builder for Professional | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Toolkit provides a widget factory/pattern for adding custom widgets | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ? | ✓ | ✗ |
| Source Mappings | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ? | ✗ | ✗ |
| # of posts in official forums | ? | 2,699 | 5,707 | 22,146 | 31,349 | 49,938 | 135 | ✗ | ✗ | 725 | 10,385 | ✗ |
| Stack Overflow followers / tagged questions | 3 followers, 29 questions | 7 followers, 61 questions(tag: ignite-ui, 0 other tags) | 29 followers, 229 questions(tag: jquery-easyui, 0 other tags) | 5.7k followers, 28.9k questions(tag: jquery-ui, 27 other tags) | 4 followers, 46 questions(tag: jqwidget, 0 other tags) | 650 followers, 6.6k questions(tag: kendo-ui, 35 other tags) | 27 followers, 134 questions(tag: syncfusion, 0 other tags — for all products, not just UI widget toolkit) | 16 followers, 86 questions(tag: shieldui, 0 other tags) | 0 followers, 13 questions(tag: w2ui, 0 other tags) | 0 followers, 5 questions(tag: webix, 0 other tags) | 30 followers, 103 questions(tag: wijmo, 2 other tags) | ✗ |
| Widgets (not just mobile-specific) compatible with touch devices (phones and tablets) | Android 2.3+ (4+ in dx.chartjs.js), iOS 6+, Windows Phone 8, Tizen 2.2 | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ Chrome Latest, Firefox latest, Opera 15+, Safari 5+, IE 10+ | ? | ✓ | ? | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Mobile / Tablet Comparison | ||||||||||||
| Offers Mobile Widgets (must be phone/tablet specific/first) | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ~ via jQuery Mobile | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Mobile Widgets Support the Following Devices/Platforms | Android 2.3+, iOS 6+, Windows Phone 8, Tizen 2.2 | Android Stock 2.3+, Safari on iOS 5+ | ✗ | jQuery Mobile 1.4 Supported Platforms | Mobile Safari, Android, IE Mobile, Opera Mobile | iOS 6.0+, Android 2.3+ (dataviz widgets support only Canvas rendering mode in Android 2.3), BlackBerry OS 10+, Windows Phone 8+, Chrome for Android latest | iOS7, Android, Windows, Flat (versions ?) | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | iOS, Android 4+, Windows Phone | ✗ |
| Mobile Widgets Support for Desktop/Laptop (mobile-centric widgets work on non-mobile platforms) | IE 9+, Safari 2 Latest Versions, Firefox 2 Latest Versions, Google Chrome 2 Latest Versions, Opera 12 and 2 Latest Versions | ✓ | ? | ? | ? | Chrome Latest, Opera 15+, Safari 5+, IE 10+ | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |