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EJS vs Mustache: What are the differences?

Key Differences between EJS and Mustache

EJS (Embedded JavaScript) and Mustache are both popular template engines used for rendering dynamic content in web applications. However, there are several key differences between the two:

  1. Syntax: EJS uses JavaScript syntax, allowing for more advanced functionality such as conditional statements and loops directly in the template itself. On the other hand, Mustache has a simpler syntax with limited functionality, primarily focused on variable substitution.

  2. Partials: EJS supports partials, which are reusable template sections that can be included within other templates. This allows for code reusability and modularization. Mustache, on the other hand, does not have built-in support for partials, although you can achieve similar functionality through external means.

  3. Escaping HTML: EJS automatically escapes any HTML content by default, preventing potential security vulnerabilities such as cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks. You can still choose to output unescaped HTML in EJS templates when necessary. Mustache, however, does not perform any automatic HTML escaping. It is the responsibility of the developer to ensure that any user-generated content is properly escaped.

  4. Template Inheritance: EJS supports template inheritance, which allows for creating a base template with common layout elements that can be extended by child templates. This helps to maintain consistency across multiple pages while reducing code duplication. Mustache does not have native support for template inheritance, although it can be achieved through custom implementations.

  5. Custom Logic: With EJS, you can include custom JavaScript logic directly within the template, allowing for more flexibility and control over the rendering process. Mustache, on the other hand, follows a strict separation of concerns principle and encourages moving any logic outside of templates, keeping them purely declarative.

  6. Community and Popularity: EJS is a more popular and widely used template engine compared to Mustache, with a larger community and more resources available. Mustache is simpler and more lightweight, making it a good choice for simple projects or when extensibility and advanced functionality are not required.

In Summary, EJS and Mustache differ in their syntax, support for partials and template inheritance, handling of HTML escaping, inclusion of custom logic within templates, and overall popularity within the developer community.

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Pros of EJS
Pros of Mustache
  • 6
    For a beginner it's just plain javascript code
  • 6
    It'a easy to understand the concept behind it
  • 3
    You almost know how to use it from start
  • 3
    Quick for templating UI project
  • 29
    Dead simple templating
  • 12
    Open source
  • 8
    Small
  • 1
    Support in lots of languages

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What is EJS?

It is a simple templating language that lets you generate HTML markup with plain JavaScript. No religiousness about how to organize things. No reinvention of iteration and control-flow. It's just plain JavaScript.

What is Mustache?

Mustache is a logic-less template syntax. It can be used for HTML, config files, source code - anything. It works by expanding tags in a template using values provided in a hash or object. We call it "logic-less" because there are no if statements, else clauses, or for loops. Instead there are only tags. Some tags are replaced with a value, some nothing, and others a series of values.

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What companies use EJS?
What companies use Mustache?
See which teams inside your own company are using EJS or Mustache.
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What tools integrate with EJS?
What tools integrate with Mustache?
What are some alternatives to EJS and Mustache?
Handlebars.js
Handlebars.js is an extension to the Mustache templating language created by Chris Wanstrath. Handlebars.js and Mustache are both logicless templating languages that keep the view and the code separated like we all know they should be.
React
Lots of people use React as the V in MVC. Since React makes no assumptions about the rest of your technology stack, it's easy to try it out on a small feature in an existing project.
Pug
This project was formerly known as "Jade." Pug is a high performance template engine heavily influenced by Haml and implemented with JavaScript for Node.js and browsers.
JSX
It is designed to run on modern web browsers. It performs optimization while compiling the source code to JavaScript. The generated code runs faster than an equivalent code written directly in JavaScript.
TypeScript
TypeScript is a language for application-scale JavaScript development. It's a typed superset of JavaScript that compiles to plain JavaScript.
See all alternatives