EJS (Embedded JavaScript) is a simple templating language that lets you generate HTML markup with plain JavaScript. It allows you to embed JavaScript code within your HTML templates, making it easy to create dynamic content. EJS supports features like template inheritance, partials, and control flow statements, enabling you to build reusable and maintainable templates.
Handlebars is a popular templating engine that allows developers to create dynamic HTML templates with ease. It provides a simple syntax for embedding variables, expressions, and helpers into templates, making it easy to generate HTML content dynamically. Handlebars supports partials, helpers, and block expressions, enabling developers to create reusable and modular templates.
Both EJS and Handlebars are popular templating engines in the JavaScript community. While Handlebars has been around for longer and has a larger user base, EJS has gained significant popularity in recent years and is widely used in many projects.
Syntax
EJS uses embedded JavaScript as its templating syntax, allowing developers to write JavaScript code directly within their templates. Handlebars, on the other hand, uses a simpler syntax with double curly braces {{}} and utilizes expressions and helpers for more complex operations.
Ease of Use
EJS is considered to have a straightforward and intuitive syntax, especially for developers who are already familiar with JavaScript. Handlebars is also easy to use, but it may have a steeper learning curve for those who are new to templating engines.
Features
Both EJS and Handlebars offer similar core features such as variable interpolation, conditionals, loops, and partials. However, Handlebars provides a more extensive set of built-in helpers and supports custom helper functions, making it more versatile for complex templating scenarios.
Client-side Rendering
Both EJS and Handlebars can be used for server-side rendering as well as client-side rendering. However, Handlebars has better support for client-side rendering and is widely used in front-end frameworks like Ember.js.
Integration
EJS integrates seamlessly with Express.js and is often the default templating engine for the framework. Handlebars also has good integration with Express.js and is widely used in other frameworks. Both libraries have a variety of integrations and support for different build tools and frameworks.
Community and Documentation
Both EJS and Handlebars have active communities and good documentation. However, Handlebars has been around for longer and has a larger community, which translates to more resources, plugins, and community support available.
