# Jupyter notebook vs jupyter-lab vdf jupyterhub, what's the diff?

**URL:** <https://discourse.jupyter.org/t/jupyter-notebook-vs-jupyter-lab-vdf-jupyterhub-whats-the-diff/475>\
**Category:** discuss\
**Created:** [March 13, 2019, 4:45pm UTC](https://discourse.jupyter.org/t/jupyter-notebook-vs-jupyter-lab-vdf-jupyterhub-whats-the-diff/475 "2019-03-13T16:45:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jacobcullen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a4c791/32.png) [@Jacobcullen](https://discourse.jupyter.org/u/Jacobcullen)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 4:45pm UTC](https://discourse.jupyter.org/t/jupyter-notebook-vs-jupyter-lab-vdf-jupyterhub-whats-the-diff/475/1 "2019-03-13T16:45:05Z")

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Hi guys,

I’m a bit confused with the jupyter ecosystem… what are the differences between jupyter notebook, jupyter-lab and jupyterhub ?? Thanks

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**Author:** ![carreau](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/discourse.jupyter.org/carreau/32/8_2.png) [@carreau](https://discourse.jupyter.org/u/carreau)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 2:44pm UTC](https://discourse.jupyter.org/t/jupyter-notebook-vs-jupyter-lab-vdf-jupyterhub-whats-the-diff/475/2 "2019-03-14T14:44:23Z")

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Hi @Jacobcullen,

Thanks for your question, this can lead to a really long discussion but I’m going to attempt to be short.

- Jupyter notebook: This one can mean a lot of tings but usually this is the classic **interface** people are using. Cell of markdown and Code interleaved, that you can execute and share. This a re saved as “.ipynb” files.
- Jupyter-Lab: The new **interface** , that allow you to view “ipynb” files. It has more capabilities, like having a tabbed-layout, many more extensions…

Those two can perfectly be opened as the same time, like notepad, and visual studio code, or Pain and Photoshop. They are compatible, it is mostly a question of prefereence.

JupyterHub is a piece of tech you would use usually if you need to have multiple user access.

Usually you would run jupyter-notebook (or jupyter-lab) on your own machine. If you are at a univeersity, or a company, or have your own server. You might want to access jupyter notebook globally on a server at for example : [https://jupyter.mywebsite.com](https://jupyter.mywebsite.com) and have user/login.

That what JupyterHub is for. JupyterHub would work both with jupyter notebook, and lab (and other stuff as well, but let’s not dive into details for now.

Does that make some sens ?

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**Author:** ![lovelash](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/discourse.jupyter.org/lovelash/32/941_2.png) [@lovelash](https://discourse.jupyter.org/u/lovelash)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 3:07am UTC](https://discourse.jupyter.org/t/jupyter-notebook-vs-jupyter-lab-vdf-jupyterhub-whats-the-diff/475/3 "2019-07-19T03:07:07Z")

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- Jupyter notebook is only the notebooks, was the first thing that they released.
- Jupyer-lab is an evolution of Jupyter Notebook, and it has a better UI, access to a terminal, a tree visor of your files… is like its own environment.
- Jupyterhub is for servers, and let you have jupyter notebook for an entire office or classroom.

Regards,  
[9Apps](https://get-9apps.com) [Cartoon HD](https://get-cartoonhd.com)

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**Author:** ![Matt\_Wilkie](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/discourse.jupyter.org/matt_wilkie/32/11773_2.png) [@Matt\_Wilkie](https://discourse.jupyter.org/u/Matt_Wilkie)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2023, 8:03pm UTC](https://discourse.jupyter.org/t/jupyter-notebook-vs-jupyter-lab-vdf-jupyterhub-whats-the-diff/475/6 "2023-12-05T20:03:29Z")

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Is this still true, 4 years later?

(Scenario: what’s the best way to support a small workgroup, 3 to 5 users, on a Windows Server? I see the The Littlest JupyterHub requires Linux.)