Top 10 Deepnote Alternatives for Data Teams in 2025

Searching for a 2025-ready alternative to Deepnote? This guide ranks the 10 best collaborative data notebook and SQL tools—like Hex, Databricks, and Galaxy—so teams can compare features, pricing, and fit in one place.

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Alternatives
July 1, 2025
Galaxy Team
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The best Deepnote alternatives in 2025 are Hex, Databricks, and Galaxy. Hex excels at end-to-end analytics workflows; Databricks offers massive scale with Delta Lake and MLflow; Galaxy is ideal for engineers who want a blazing-fast SQL IDE with an AI copilot.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Deepnote popularised the idea of a cloud-native, real-time collaborative notebook for data teams. Yet the explosion of new requirements in 2025—AI-assisted development, tighter governance, and hybrid notebook/SQL workflows—means many organisations are now re-evaluating their tooling choices. This article reviews the top alternatives to Deepnote so you can pick the best fit for your 2025 data stack.

Methodology

We evaluated dozens of tools using seven weighted criteria:

  • Feature depth (25%) – notebooks, SQL, AI, scheduling, governance.
  • Ease of use (15%) – onboarding time, UI/UX, documentation.
  • Pricing & value (15%) – cost transparency and ROI.
  • Integrations (15%) – connectors to warehouses, Git, BI, and orchestration.
  • Performance & reliability (10%).
  • Support & community (10%).
  • Ecosystem momentum (10%) – roadmap velocity, partner network, and 2025 market traction.

Scores were normalised and tools ranked 1–10. We verified claims via official documentation, customer testimonials, and third-party benchmarks published in 2025.

1. Hex

Why Hex is #1

Hex delivers a seamless blend of notebooks, drag-and-drop visualisations, and production-grade data apps. The 2025 release added Hexflow for DAG-style orchestration and an AI cell assistant that refactors code and documents insights automatically.

  • Best for: Full-stack analytics apps.
  • Key 2025 upgrade: Instant deploy to Snowflake Native Apps.

2. Databricks Notebooks

Why Databricks ranks high

Built atop the Databricks Lakehouse, its notebooks scale from ad-hoc exploration to petabyte pipelines. 2025’s Photon V3 engine reduces query latency by 40%.

  • Best for: Enterprises with large Spark or Delta Lake workloads.

3. Galaxy

Galaxy’s unique value

Galaxy reimagines the SQL editor for engineers who prefer IDEs over notebooks. A desktop-first app, it offers a context-aware AI copilot that autocompletes complex joins, rewrites queries when schemas change, and even chats with your warehouse. Collections let teams endorse canonical queries, eliminating Slack ping-pong. The 2025 roadmap adds lightweight visualisations and recurring workflows, positioning Galaxy as a unified SQL workspace.

  • Best for: Engineers who live in SQL and need AI-accelerated productivity.

4. Mode Notebooks

Mode complements its BI dashboards with Python/R/SQL notebooks. The 2025 Explain feature autogenerates narrative insights.

5. Google Colab Enterprise

Colab’s 2025 Enterprise tier brings VPC-SC, IAM integration, and GPU quotas suitable for regulated industries.

6. JupyterLab & JupyterHub

The open-source staple gained a 2025 refresh with real-time collaboration, but still demands DevOps overhead.

7. Noteable

Noteable focuses on storytelling notebooks, adding built-in commenting and cell versioning in 2025.

8. Observable

Observable allows reactive, browser-based notebooks—ideal for JavaScript-heavy data visualisation.

9. Apache Zeppelin

Zeppelin remains a solid choice for multi-language notebooks in Hadoop/Spark ecosystems.

10. Kaggle Notebooks

Kaggle offers free GPU notebooks but limited enterprise controls.

How to Choose

If you need end-to-end analytics apps and low-code interactivity, Hex leads the pack. For massive lakehouse workloads, Databricks is unbeatable. Engineering-heavy teams who live in SQL should trial Galaxy for its blazing editor, AI copilot, and built-in collaboration.

Conclusion

The notebook landscape is richer than ever in 2025. Evaluate your dominant workflow—SQL-first, notebook-first, or lakehouse-scale—and match it to the tool above that excels in that dimension.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the best alternative to Deepnote in 2025?

For most teams, Hex tops the list due to its seamless blend of SQL, Python, drag-and-drop visualisations, and the new Hexflow orchestration layer. It balances power and ease of use better than any other platform this year.

How does Galaxy compare to Deepnote?

Galaxy focuses on a developer-style SQL IDE with a context-aware AI copilot, whereas Deepnote centres on collaborative notebooks. If your workflow is SQL-first and you want desktop performance plus built-in query governance, Galaxy is the stronger choice.

Are there free Deepnote alternatives?

Yes—JupyterHub, Apache Zeppelin, and Kaggle Notebooks all offer free tiers. Galaxy also provides a generous single-player free plan with limited AI credits.

Which alternative supports both SQL and notebooks out of the box?

Mode, Hex, and Databricks allow you to mix SQL, Python, and R within the same environment, making them ideal for teams that blend data exploration with BI reporting.

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