Websites using Gridster

Okay, let s break down Gridster, a once-popular dashboarding tool, and cover the requested points:

What is Gridster?

• Description: Gridster was a jQuery plugin that allowed you to build intuitive, draggable, and resizable layouts, primarily for dashboards. It provided a grid-like interface where users could arrange widgets (individual data visualizations or controls) according to their needs.
• Key Features:
  • Drag-and-drop interface.
  • Resizable widgets.
  • Grid-based layout.
  • Support for various data visualization libraries (e.g., Chart.js, D3.js).
  • Customizable.

Status: Gridster is largely considered deprecated and no longer actively maintained. The last significant update was several years ago, and it s unlikely to receive further development.

Revenue (Estimation and Context):

• It s Highly Unlikely Gridster Generates Revenue Today: Because Gridster was a free, open-source jQuery plugin, it didn t have a direct revenue stream. There might have been some revenue indirectly through consulting services or paid support offered by developers who were skilled with Gridster, but that would have been very limited.
• Past Revenue: It s unlikely Gridster ever generated significant revenue. Open-source projects like this primarily rely on contributions and community support.

Alternatives to Gridster:

Since Gridster is no longer actively maintained, it s essential to use alternatives. Here are some popular choices, categorized for clarity:

• Modern JavaScript/React/Angular/Vue Dashboard Frameworks:
  • React-Grid-Layout (React): A well-maintained React component for building responsive, draggable, and resizable grid layouts. One of the most popular Gridster replacements in the React ecosystem.
  • ngx-gridster (Angular): An Angular component that provides similar functionality to Gridster.
  • Vue Grid Layout (Vue): A Vue.js component for creating draggable and resizable grid layouts.
  • Material UI Grid (React): Part of the Material UI component library, offers a flexible grid system for building responsive layouts.
  • Ant Design Grid (React): Similar to Material UI, provides a grid system within the Ant Design framework.
• Complete Dashboarding Platforms (SaaS): These offer much more than just layout; they include data connections, visualization tools, and collaboration features:
  • Tableau: Powerful data visualization and dashboarding tool.
  • Power BI: Microsoft s business analytics service.
  • Looker: Google s enterprise data platform.
  • Grafana: Popular for monitoring and observability dashboards. Strong focus on time-series data.
  • Kibana: Data visualization dashboard for Elasticsearch.
  • Domo: Cloud-based business intelligence platform.
  • Metabase: Open-source business intelligence tool.
• Low-Code/No-Code Dashboard Builders:
  • Retool: Build internal tools and dashboards quickly.
  • Appsmith: Open-source alternative to Retool.

Pricing (of Alternatives):

• React-Grid-Layout, ngx-gridster, Vue Grid Layout: These are generally free and open-source. You might need to pay for premium support or commercial licenses in some cases, but the core functionality is free.
• Material UI/Ant Design Grid: Part of their respective UI libraries, which are typically free and open-source, but may have commercial options for advanced features or support.
• Tableau, Power BI, Looker, Domo: These are commercial SaaS products with tiered pricing models. Pricing varies based on the number of users, features, and data volume. Expect to pay monthly or annual fees. They often offer free trials or limited free versions.
• Grafana, Kibana, Metabase: These often have open-source versions with limited features, and then paid tiers for enhanced functionality, support, and enterprise-grade features.
• Retool, Appsmith: Offer both free and paid plans. Pricing is typically based on the number of users or apps you build.

Customer Care (for Gridster and Alternatives):

• Gridster: Since Gridster is deprecated, there is no official customer care. Your only resources would be:
  • Community Forums/Stack Overflow: You might find answers to common questions on developer forums.
  • Past Documentation (if you can find it): But this may be outdated.
• Alternatives:
  • Modern JavaScript Frameworks (React-Grid-Layout, etc.): Support is typically community-based (GitHub issues, Stack Overflow, etc.). Some commercial vendors may offer paid support for their components.
  • SaaS Dashboarding Platforms (Tableau, Power BI, etc.): These companies offer comprehensive customer support, including documentation, tutorials, phone support, email support, and online knowledge bases. The level of support often depends on your pricing tier.
  • Low-Code/No-Code Platforms (Retool, Appsmith): Offer documentation, community forums, and paid support options.

Recommendation:

Given that Gridster is no longer actively maintained, you should strongly consider migrating to one of the alternatives listed above. React-Grid-Layout is a very good starting point if you need a direct replacement for Gridster within a modern React application. If you re looking for a comprehensive dashboarding solution with built-in data connectivity and visualization, evaluate Tableau, Power BI, Looker, or Grafana based on your specific needs and budget. Retool or Appsmith are good options if you want to rapidly build internal tools and dashboards without writing a lot of code.

When choosing, consider:

• Your Technology Stack: If you re already using React, Angular, or Vue, using a component specifically designed for that framework will likely be the easiest path.
• Your Data Sources: Make sure the platform can connect to your data.
• Your Visualization Needs: Does it have the chart types and customization options you need?
• Your Budget: How much are you willing to spend?
• Your Team s Skillset: Choose a platform that your team can learn and use effectively.