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✨ Key Features
✅ Built-in themes
✅ Flexible API
✅ Virtualization
✅ IME support
✅ Internationalization
✅ RTL support
✅ Accessibility (targets WCAG 2.2 AA)
✅ Keyboard shortcuts
✅ Sorting data
✅ Filtering data
✅ 400 built-in formulas
✅ Configurable selection
✅ Data validation
✅ Conditional formatting
✅ Merged cells
✅ Frozen rows and columns
✅ Hiding rows and columns
✅ Right-click context menu
✅ Row pagination
✅ Server-side data
✅ Notifications
✅ Export to Excel
✅ Date and time editing
✅ Shadow DOM / Web Components support
🪄 Installation
Below, you'll find the installation guide for the JavaScript component. If you're using a specific framework, refer to its dedicated wrapper for installation instructions:
Install with npm
You can also use Yarn, NuGet or load the package from CDN.
npm install handsontable
Provide an HTML container
<!-- Set the container's ID -->
<div id="handsontable-grid"></div>
Setup
import Handsontable from 'handsontable';
const element = document.getElementById('handsontable-grid');
new Handsontable(element, {
data: [
{ company: 'Tagcat', country: 'United Kingdom', rating: 4.4 },
{ company: 'Zoomzone', country: 'Japan', rating: 4.5 },
{ company: 'Meeveo', country: 'United States', rating: 4.6 },
],
columns: [
{ data: 'company', title: 'Company', width: 100 },
{ data: 'country', title: 'Country', width: 170, type: 'dropdown', source: ['United Kingdom', 'Japan', 'United States'] },
{ data: 'rating', title: 'Rating', width: 100, type: 'numeric' },
],
rowHeaders: true,
navigableHeaders: true,
tabNavigation: true,
multiColumnSorting: true,
headerClassName: 'htLeft',
licenseKey: 'non-commercial-and-evaluation',
});
CDN-based setup
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8" />
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
<title>Handsontable DataGrid - JavaScript Example</title>
</head>
<body>
<div id="handsontable-grid"></div>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable/dist/handsontable.full.min.js"></script>
<script>
const element = document.getElementById("handsontable-grid");
new Handsontable(element, {
data: [
{ company: "Tagcat", country: "United Kingdom", rating: 4.4 },
{ company: "Zoomzone", country: "Japan", rating: 4.5 },
{ company: "Meeveo", country: "United States", rating: 4.6 },
],
columns: [
{ data: "company", title: "Company", width: 100 },
{ data: "country", title: "Country", width: 170, type: "dropdown", source: ["United Kingdom", "Japan", "United States"] },
{ data: "rating", title: "Rating", width: 100, type: "numeric" },
],
rowHeaders: true,
navigableHeaders: true,
tabNavigation: true,
multiColumnSorting: true,
headerClassName: "htLeft",
licenseKey: "non-commercial-and-evaluation",
});
</script>
</body>
</html>
🎨 Themes
Handsontable themes control how your data grid looks: colors, spacing, typography, borders, and overall visual style.
You get three built-in themes out of the box:
- main – modern, clean, default choice
- horizon – lighter, spacious feel
- classic – traditional spreadsheet look
Each theme supports:
🏗️ Custom Themes
You can style Handsontable to match your product’s visual identity by creating a custom theme. Use the Theme API to extend a built-in theme and apply your own styling while keeping support for light/dark modes and density settings.
To stay aligned with design, you can rely on the:
🚀 Resources
🤔 Is Handsontable DataGrid a data grid or a spreadsheet?
Handsontable DataGrid is a data grid component written in JavaScript, not a spreadsheet. However, it brings in many features typically found in spreadsheet software. We designed it this way because spreadsheet-like patterns are often the most user-friendly when it comes to data entry and management.
Spreadsheet-like features in Handsontable:
- Keyboard shortcuts compliant with either Google Sheets or Excel
- 400 spreadsheet formulas via native integration with HyperFormula
- Keyboard navigation across headers that can be disabled, making only cells navigable
- TAB navigation across cells that can be disabled
- Built-in undo-redo functionality
- Powerful clipboard capabilities for copy-paste operations
- Ability to scroll the grid within the container (
div) or window
- Data binding in the form of an array of objects or arrays of arrays
- Built-in cell editors like a date picker or dropdown list
At first glance, it might seem that a data table, spreadsheet, and data grid are just different names for the same thing - an interactive table displaying data. In reality, these tools serve different purposes and offer distinct functionalities, designed to meet specific needs. Handsontable sits comfortably in the data grid category while incorporating many of the best aspects of spreadsheet software.
🤖 AI & agent resources
Handsontable DataGrid and HyperFormula ship first-party resources for AI assistants and coding agents:
- Agent Skills - official skills for Claude Code, Codex, and other coding agents, covering both products. Install in Claude Code with
/plugin marketplace add handsontable/handsontable-skills.
→ github.com/handsontable/handsontable-skills · Skills for Claude Code guide
- AI Docs Assistant - ask questions in English (or any other language) and get cited answers from the live docs, right in the documentation header.
- Docs MCP server - semantic search over the full Handsontable + HyperFormula knowledge base: docs guides, API reference, code recipes, release notes, blog posts, and GitHub issues, always current with the latest release.
claude mcp add --transport http handsontable-docs https://docs-assistant.handsontable.com/mcp
- Docs written for agents - every docs page has a Markdown twin; start at handsontable.com/docs/llms.txt.
- Already using Context7? Handsontable and HyperFormula are indexed there too.
🛟 Support
We're here to help!
If you're using Handsontable with a free, non-commercial license, you can:
If you have a commercial license, feel free to contact us directly at [email protected] or use our contact form.
📖 Licenses
Handsontable DataGrid is available under two licensing options, allowing you to choose the one that best fits your needs. Each license comes with its own terms and conditions, as outlined below:
① Free license for non-commercial use, and evaluation purposes
This license is available for non-commercial purposes such as teaching, academic research, or evaluation. It allows you to use Handsontable free of charge under the terms specified in the non-commercial license agreement.
Learn more here.
② Commercial license
For commercial use, a paid license is required. This license includes support and maintenance to ensure you get the most out of Handsontable. The commercial license can be purchased directly from Handsoncode or through an authorized reseller. See the pricing page for details.
🔑 License Key
For projects covered by the free non-commercial license, simply use the phrase 'non-commercial-and-evaluation' as your license key.
If you're using Handsontable in a project that supports commercial activities, you'll need to purchase a license key at handsontable.com/pricing. You can find more details in our documentation.
🙌 Contributing
Contributions are welcome, but before you make them, please read the Contributing Guide and accept the Contributor License Agreement.
Created and maintained by the Handsontable Team 👋
© 2012 - 2026 Handsoncode
