What is Apache Zeppelin used for?

Apache Zeppelin is a web-based notebook for interactive data analytics, with real-time collaboration, many language interpreters, visualizations and scheduling. It is a good fit for interactive Spark and Flink analysis, collaborative data exploration, and scheduled analytics notebooks.

Is Apache Zeppelin open source?

Yes. Apache Zeppelin is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at apache/zeppelin and is written mainly in Java.

Is Apache Zeppelin free?

Yes. Apache Zeppelin is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

Can I self-host Apache Zeppelin?

Yes. Apache Zeppelin can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is Apache Zeppelin an alternative to?

Apache Zeppelin is an open-source alternative to Hex, Databricks, Mode and Observable. Other open-source alternatives to Hex include Briefer, Evidence and Redash.

Is Apache Zeppelin actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Apache Zeppelin was on 1 October 2026. The project has 6.7k stars on GitHub.

Apache Zeppelin: open-source alternative to Hex, Databricks

About Apache Zeppelin

Apache Zeppelin is a web-based notebook for interactive data analytics. You build data-driven, collaborative documents using SQL, Scala and other languages, and the notebook-style editor supports real-time collaboration between users.

Core features include support for many languages through a pluggable interpreter architecture with process isolation, including Spark, Flink, Python, SQL and Shell and more than 20 interpreters, built-in visualization and dynamic forms, and notebook scheduling with cron. Flexible deployment options are local, Docker, Kubernetes and YARN. Topics place it in the big data ecosystem alongside Spark, Flink, NoSQL and databases.

Zeppelin is an Apache Software Foundation project written in Java and JavaScript and licensed under Apache-2.0. You install it from a binary package or build from source, with user guides, mailing lists and a Jira issue tracker. It suits data engineers and analysts who work on cluster-based data platforms and want shareable, scheduled notebooks.

Key features

Web notebook with real-time collaboration
20+ interpreters including Spark and Flink
Process isolation per interpreter
Built-in visualizations and dynamic forms
Cron scheduling of notebooks
Local, Docker, Kubernetes and YARN deployment

Good fit for

→Interactive Spark and Flink analysis
→Collaborative data exploration
→Scheduled analytics notebooks

Built with: Java; JavaScript
Tags: notebook; data-analytics; spark; flink; big-data; visualization; apache; sql; java

Apache Zeppelin: questions and answers

What is Apache Zeppelin used for?: Apache Zeppelin is a web-based notebook for interactive data analytics, with real-time collaboration, many language interpreters, visualizations and scheduling. It is a good fit for interactive Spark and Flink analysis, collaborative data exploration, and scheduled analytics notebooks.
Is Apache Zeppelin open source?: Yes. Apache Zeppelin is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at apache/zeppelin and is written mainly in Java.
Is Apache Zeppelin free?: Yes. Apache Zeppelin is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
Can I self-host Apache Zeppelin?: Yes. Apache Zeppelin can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is Apache Zeppelin an alternative to?: Apache Zeppelin is an open-source alternative to Hex, Databricks, Mode and Observable. Other open-source alternatives to Hex include Briefer, Evidence and Redash.
Is Apache Zeppelin actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Apache Zeppelin was on 1 October 2026. The project has 6.7k stars on GitHub.