Overview

Handlebars.js

Stacks8.3K

Followers3.2K

Votes308

EJS

Stacks522

Followers359

Votes18

GitHub Stars8.0K

Forks859

EJS vs Handlebars.js: What are the differences?

EJS and Handlebars.js are both popular templating engines used for generating HTML markup with JavaScript. While they serve the same purpose, there are several key differences between the two.

Template Syntax: EJS uses a simple and intuitive template syntax that closely resembles traditional JavaScript syntax, making it easy for developers familiar with JavaScript to work with. Handlebars.js, on the other hand, uses a mustache-style templating syntax, which is more concise and easier to read.
Partials and Helpers: Handlebars.js has built-in support for partials and helpers, making it easier to reuse and modularize templates. EJS, on the other hand, does not have native support for these features, but they can be implemented using JavaScript functions.
Conditionals and Loops: EJS provides control flow structures like if-else statements and for loops, allowing for more complex logic within templates. Handlebars.js, on the other hand, has a more limited set of control flow structures, focusing on simplicity and readability.
Whitespace Control: Handlebars.js automatically removes unnecessary whitespace from the rendered output, resulting in cleaner and more compact HTML code. EJS, on the other hand, preserves whitespace, which can be useful for maintaining the structure and readability of the rendered HTML.
Extensibility: Handlebars.js provides a plugin system that allows developers to extend its functionality with custom helpers and decorators. EJS, on the other hand, does not have a built-in extension mechanism, but it can be easily extended using JavaScript functions.
Popularity and Community: Both EJS and Handlebars.js have active communities and are widely used in the industry. However, Handlebars.js tends to have a larger user base and more third-party plugins and integrations available.

In Summary, EJS and Handlebars.js have different approaches to templating syntax, support for features like partials and helpers, control flow structures, whitespace control, extensibility, and popularity within the developer community. As a developer, the choice between the two depends on the project requirements and personal preferences.

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Advice on Handlebars.js, EJS

Asad

Software Engineer at Lisec Automation

Jun 15, 2020

Needs adviceon

.NET

Handlebars.js

@All: I am searching for the best template engine for .NET. I started looking into several template engines, including the Dotliquid, Handlebars.js, Scriban, and Razorlight. I found handlebar a bit difficult to use when using the loops and condition because you need to register for helper first. DotLiquid and Scriban were easy to use and in Razorlight I did not find the example for loops.

Can you please suggest which template engine is best suited for the use of conditional/list and looping and why? Or if anybody could provide me a resource or link where I can compare which is best?

Thanks In Advance

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Comments

Detailed Comparison

Handlebars.js	EJS
Handlebars.js is an extension to the Mustache templating language created by Chris Wanstrath. Handlebars.js and Mustache are both logicless templating languages that keep the view and the code separated like we all know they should be.	It is a simple templating language that lets you generate HTML markup with plain JavaScript. No religiousness about how to organize things. No reinvention of iteration and control-flow. It's just plain JavaScript.
-	Template caching and partials;Intelligent error handling with line numbers
Statistics
GitHub Stars -	GitHub Stars 8.0K
GitHub Forks -	GitHub Forks 859
Stacks 8.3K	Stacks 522
Followers 3.2K	Followers 359
Votes 308	Votes 18
Pros & Cons
Pros 106 Simple 76 Great templating language 50 Open source 36 Logicless 20 Integrates well into any codebase	Pros 6 For a beginner it's just plain javascript code 6 It'a easy to understand the concept behind it 3 Quick for templating UI project 3 You almost know how to use it from start
Integrations
Mustache	No integrations available

What are some alternatives to Handlebars.js, EJS?

TypeScript

TypeScript is a language for application-scale JavaScript development. It's a typed superset of JavaScript that compiles to plain JavaScript.

Pug

This project was formerly known as "Jade." Pug is a high performance template engine heavily influenced by Haml and implemented with JavaScript for Node.js and browsers.

Mustache

Mustache is a logic-less template syntax. It can be used for HTML, config files, source code - anything. It works by expanding tags in a template using values provided in a hash or object. We call it "logic-less" because there are no if statements, else clauses, or for loops. Instead there are only tags. Some tags are replaced with a value, some nothing, and others a series of values.

Slim Lang

Slim is a template language whose goal is to reduce the view syntax to the essential parts without becoming cryptic. It started as an exercise to see how much could be removed from a standard html template (<, >, closing tags, etc...). As more people took an interest in Slim, the functionality grew and so did the flexibility of the syntax.

RactiveJS

Ractive was originally created at theguardian.com to produce news applications. Ractive takes your Mustache templates and transforms them into a lightweight representation of the DOM – then when your data changes, it intelligently updates the real DOM.

Jinja

It is a full featured template engine for Python. It has full unicode support, an optional integrated sandboxed execution environment, widely used and BSD licensed.

Twig

It is a modern template engine for PHP. It is flexible, fast, and secure. Its syntax originates from Jinja and Django templates.

Nunjucks

Rich Powerful language with block inheritance, autoescaping, macros, asynchronous control, and more. Heavily inspired by jinja2. It supports all modern browsers.

Hogan.js

Hogan.js is a 3.4k JS templating engine developed at Twitter. Use it as a part of your asset packager to compile templates ahead of time or include it in your browser to handle dynamic templates.