Simple Table vs svelte-headless-table: Svelte Data Grid Comparison
svelte-headless-table is excellent if you want unstyled primitives and full DOM control. Simple Table for Svelte wins when you want batteries-included virtualization, pinning, grouping, and editing without writing a renderer pipeline yourself.
svelte-headless-table is the canonical headless table builder for Svelte. It gives you reactive plugins (sort, filter, group, paginate) and total markup freedom—you write the table HTML yourself. That's powerful, but you also own all the wiring: virtualization, pinning, themes, accessibility.
Simple Table for Svelte takes the opposite trade. @simple-table/svelte is batteries-included: virtualization for 1M+ rows, column pinning, row grouping with aggregations, inline editing, and themes ship in the box, all under MIT.
This comparison helps you decide which trade is right: build-from-primitives versus get-a-table-now.
Choose Simple Table for Svelte when…
- You want a working data grid in 5 minutes, not a half-day of plugin wiring.
- You need virtualization for 100k+ rows and don't want to integrate a separate virtual list library.
- You want column pinning, grouping with aggregations, and inline editing as built-in primitives.
- You ship Svelte 5 with runes and want a component that respects that reactivity model.
- You also ship React/Vue/Angular/Solid surfaces and want one shared engine.
Choose svelte-headless-table when…
- You want full control over every <table>, <tr>, and <td> element.
- You're building a custom design system where the visual appearance is bespoke.
- You're comfortable composing virtualization yourself (e.g. svelte-virtual or @tanstack/virtual-core).
- Your needs are basic enough that you don't need pinning, grouping, or editing.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Simple Table for Svelte | svelte-headless-table |
|---|---|---|
| Svelte 5 (runes) compatibility | Svelte 5 support is in progress; idiomatic patterns lag. | |
| Batteries-included rendering | Default UI ships. | Headless—write your own table markup. |
| Row + column virtualization | Built-in. | Bring your own virtualization. |
| Column pinning (left / right) | Built-in. | Build manually. |
| Row grouping with aggregations | Built-in. | addGroupedRows plugin; aggregations DIY. |
| Inline cell editing | Built-in. | Not provided; build your own. |
| Themeable via CSS variables | Bring your own CSS. | |
| TypeScript types | ||
| License | MIT. | MIT. |
Migrate to Simple Table on Svelte
Replace your existing svelte-headless-table usage with @simple-table/svelte.
npm install @simple-table/sveltesvelte-headless-table's createTable + plugin pipeline becomes Simple Table's declarative defaultHeaders + rows. You give up some plugin extensibility in exchange for a working data grid out of the box.
FAQ
- Is Simple Table compatible with Svelte 5 and runes?
- Yes. @simple-table/svelte exposes idiomatic props that work with $state, $derived, and SvelteKit's data-loading patterns.
- Can I still customize the look of Simple Table?
- Yes. Theming is via CSS variables, and you can pass Svelte components as cell, header, and footer renderers for total content control.
- Does svelte-headless-table support virtualization?
- Not built-in. You typically integrate it with svelte-virtual or @tanstack/virtual-core, which is doable but adds wiring and edge cases.
Bottom line
If you want maximum DOM control and your data grid needs are simple, svelte-headless-table is excellent. If you want a serious data grid—virtualization, pinning, grouping, editing—shipping in days instead of weeks, Simple Table for Svelte is the right MIT alternative.