Mustache vs Handlebars.js | All-time-dev

Mustache vs Handlebars.js | All-time-dev

Introduction

Today we are going to discuss and compare the two biggest competitors in the world of template engines, Mustache and Handlebars.js in terms of pros and cons, uses, and which will be best for which type of audience. So, if you are interested and want to read more posts like this then share our post with your developer friends. So, we keep getting motivated to bring more posts like this.  

What is Mustache, its history, and more?

Mustache is a logicless template engine as it lacks any explicit control flow statements. It is used for creating dynamic content like HTML, configuration files among other things, and more. It is considered the base of JavaScript templating.

Its first version was Mustache-1 which was inspired by template and etc and it was started as a distribution at Github at the end of 2009 if you wondered what is a distribution? then it is a toolkit to pack, ship, store, and deliver container content its developers gave its name Mustache because of heavy use of braces which seems as a Mustache and there are more than 1272 companies in the world that use Mustache for serving dynamic content including Twitter, LinkedIn, and more popular companies.

Another fact about its first version is that it was implemented with Ruby, by running simple YAML texts and it is not only available for Node JS/JavaScript but its implementations are available for several other languages like ActionScript, C++, Clojure, CoffeeScript, ColdFusion, Common Lisp, Crystal, D, Dart, Delphi, Elixir, Erlang, Fantom, Go, Haskell, Go, Java, JavaScript, Julia, Lua, etc.

Mustache is used mainly for mobile and web applications, it has a very big community as its the most popular JavaScript template engine means that if you face any error on Mustache then its solutions are easily available and along with that it is Open source its Github repository name is https://github.com/Mustache/Mustache

What is Handlebars.js, its history, and more?

HandleBars JS is also a template engine like Mustache it is very powerful, simple to use, and has all features like Mustache with a big community which will help you solve the errors you may find. 

It is based on the Mustache template language only but has some different features as well like you can separate the generation of HTML from the rest of your JavaScript and write cleaner code, it provides logic-less templates which do a great job of forcing you to separate presentation from logic, Clean syntax leads to templates that are easy to build, read, and maintain, Compiled rather than interpreted templates, Better support for paths than mustache (ie, reaching deep into a context object), Better support for global helpers than a mustache, and more.

It is an extension to the Mustache templating language which was created by a developer named Chris Wanstrath.

Some similar things between both of them are that both Mustache and HandleBars JS provides a logicless template and both of them are open-source. 

Its Github Repository link https://github.com/handlebars-lang/handlebars.js/ The only con that I don't like about it is that it Requires server-side JavaScript to render on the server and many different companies in the world are using HandleBars JS for their projects like Slack, Alibaba Travels, MasterCard, Fiverr, Hulu, Sap, Starbucks, GoDaddy, Zools and many more. It is integrated with Mustache and Squidoo.

Pros and cons

Mustache

There are many pros of Mustache which will help you in future like -

1. A very popular choice with an outsized, active community. 
2. Server-side support in many languages, including Java. 
3. logic-less templates do an excellent job of forcing you to separate presentation from logic. 
4. Clean syntax results in templates that are easy to make, read, and maintain.
5. Trusted and used by many popular companies.
6. Open-Source.
7. Free.

But along with pros now let's also see its cons like -

1. A little too logic-less: basic tasks (e.g. label alternate rows with different CSS classes) are difficult. 
2. View logic is usually pushed back to the server or implemented as a "lambda" (callable function). 
3. For lambdas to figure on client and server, you need to write them in JavaScript.
4. Documentation is quite bad.

Handlebars.js

1. logic-less templates do an excellent job of forcing you to separate presentation from logic.
2. The clean syntax ends up in templates that are easy to make, read, and maintain.
3. Compiled instead of interpreted templates.
4. Better support for paths than mustache (ie, reaching deep into a context object). 
5. Better support for global helpers than a mustache.

Now let's see its cons -

1. Not much editor support.
2. Handlebars.js has two documentation the first one is better than the mustache one but the second is also not so good.
3. Requires server-side JavaScript for rendering.
4. Doesn't works well with Angular.js

Differences between Handlebars.js and Mustache?

Mustache (Documentation)

Mustache doesn't provide good documentation they use their own syntax to explain what things you do with mustache and how it works. The documentation also doesn't provide any interesting example and even they also don't give a good demo.

Handlebars (Documentation)

Handlebars have two documentation the first one isn't so good but better than the second one and mustache and you can find it on their official website. It is easier to read and its installation guide is also find and clear for users and rest of them are fine but some examples are not well described, the second documentation is available on their GitHub repository which provide technical details and information to use it and in both of them I found that Handlebars is better than Mustache in terms of documentation.

Mustache (Partials) 

It is very easy to use partials in Mustache. You don't have to declare, register, and more. Simply, it doesn't provide helpers but Handlebars.js does.

Handlebars,js (Partials)

Partials are pretty more complex in Handlebars.js than Mustache. You have to use pretty confusing syntax for registering a partial and you can't have partials in a sub-folder etc and more things are there in Handlebars which makes it complex than Mustache.

Mustache (Logic) 

Mustache always aims to be simple and fast and that's why it is 5 times faster than Handlebars.js it is also very simple to learn, use and understand the syntax of Mustache and due to which we can use only a few things in mustache like - arrays, if/else and display vars.

Handlebars.js(Logic)

Handlebars.js is not better than mustache in this aspect. Here, it allows you to do as much logic you want. In this handlebars' helps will help you. Handlebars helpers are simply used to implement functionality that is not part of the Handlebars language itself which quite good and awesome in our opinion.

So, these aspects also we want to declare winner HandleBars.js and this are some differences between them and there are some more differences between Mustache and Handlebars.js like -

1. Handlebars adds #if, #unless, #with, and #each. 
2. Handlebars templates are compiled (Mustache is too).
3. Handlebars support paths 
4. Allows use of } in blocks (which outputs this item's string value)
5. Handlebars.SafeString() (and maybe another method) 
6. Handlebars are 2 to 7 times faster Mustache supports inverted sections 

Conclusion

Which of them will be best for your project? 

According to Handlebars.js features, pros, and cons, performance and according to different surveys like a slant.co voting it is found that Handlebars.js will be the best if you want to create a complex and bit harder, unique and featureful project, it's documentation and community both will also help you for further problems but remember that you should use handlebars' helpers carefully because don't add any logic that you will not be able to control, but Mustache is best for those who want to create a simple project like a small web app. Mustache is easy to use and Mustache in speed is also 2 to 7 times faster than HandleBars.js.