JupyterLab vs Polynote

JupyterLab is a web-based environment for interactive work with notebooks, code and data. Its workspace brings notebooks, text editors, terminals and custom components together in tabs and splitters. Code consoles act as scratchpads, and kernel-backed documents can run code in files such as Markdown, Python, R and LaTeX. It supports the .ipynb format used by classic Jupyter Notebook, and can view and edit formats including Markdown, images, CSV, JSON, HTML, LaTeX and PDF. Visualization libraries include matplotlib and Plotly; interactive plots or widgets may require additional packages. Extensions can add themes, viewers, editors, output renderers and interface controls, but can execute code in the browser, server and kernel, so only trusted extensions are advised. Real-time collaboration can be enabled with jupyter_collaboration. JavaScript and HTML outputs from notebooks created elsewhere remain hidden until the notebook is trusted. JupyterLab is free, open-source software under a modified BSD license, installed with pip or via a Homebrew command for macOS and Linux. It runs on Linux, macOS, the web and self-hosted systems.

Polynote is free, open-source notebook software with first-class Scala support. One notebook can mix Scala, Python, SQL, and Vega while sharing data between languages. Its immutable data model and ordered cell semantics support reproducible work. Editing includes autocomplete, error highlighting, rich text, and LaTeX equations. The interface tracks kernel tasks and highlights the statement currently running. A plot editor and Vega support handle visualization. Polynote integrates with Apache Spark for Scala and Python; Python runs through Jep in the JVM and can share data with Scala. The software is a JVM-based server that serves a web client and is distributed for self-hosting on Linux, macOS, and other listed environments. It supports Jupyter .ipynb and Zeppelin .json formats. Runtime documentation reports successful testing with Java 8 and Java 11 and requires Python 3 with pip. Installation warns that arbitrary remote code execution makes internet-accessible deployment unsafe.