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Ninja Tables Free vs Pro
The free Ninja Tables plugin covers what you need to build, style and publish tables. Ninja Tables Pro is an add-on that adds live data sources, more column options, extra design controls and tools such as custom filters and frontend editing. This page lists what is in each, so you can tell at a glance whether a feature needs Pro.
To upgrade, see Upgrade and activate your Pro license.
How Pro features look in the free version
The top bar shows a Free pill and a Get Pro button. Pro features are not hidden; they show up in different ways, depending on the feature:
- Pro badge on a tile or option. On the Create Table screen, Pro tiles carry a PRO badge. Locked options in the editor, such as Custom colors, carry one too.
- A note with Upgrade to Pro. The panel opens, but it shows a lock box instead of its form. For example, the WP Posts/CPTs panel says "WP Posts tables are a Pro feature" with an Upgrade to Pro button, and there is no form to fill in.
- A full-tab upsell. Custom Filter, Frontend Editing and the JavaScript part of Custom CSS/JS show a short description and an unlock button (for example Unlock Custom Filters) instead of their settings.
- A pop-up. Clicking some locked controls, such as Sort manually, opens Unlock the Ninja Tables Pro features with Not now and Get Ninja Tables Pro buttons.
- A toast or hover note. A locked Drag & Drop template on the Create screen shows a toast, "This is a Pro feature.", and opens the upgrade page. A locked element or setting in the builder shows the same message in a small hover note with a Get Pro button.
The same rules apply in the WordPress menu, where Get Pro appears under Ninja Tables until Pro is active.
Ways to create a table
| Feature | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Default table (type your own rows) | ✅ | ✅ |
| Upload a file: CSV, Excel (.xlsx) or JSON | ✅ | ✅ |
| Import from the Import screen, Ninja Tables JSON, TablePress or Supsystic | ✅ | ✅ |
| Drag & Drop table: from scratch, from a CSV or JSON file, or from a free template | ✅ | ✅ |
| Drag & Drop Pro templates (Pricing Two to Four, Comparison Two to Five, Employee Two and Three, Product Specs, Stats Dashboard) | ✅ | |
| Drag & Drop: import from a URL | ✅ | |
| Fluent Forms entries table | ✅ | ✅ |
| FluentCart products table, including bulk add to cart and compare | ✅ | ✅ |
| WP Posts/CPTs table | ✅ | |
| WooCommerce products table, including bulk add to cart and compare | ✅ | |
| WooCommerce reviews table | ✅ | |
| Google Sheets table | ✅ | |
| Remote CSV table | ✅ | |
| Custom SQL query table, including a remote database | ✅ |
See All table types at a glance.
Columns
| Feature | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Single line text, Text area, HTML field, Numeric value and Date field columns | ✅ | ✅ |
| Numeric value Separator style (US or European decimals) | ✅ | |
| Date field with a standard format, Show time and First day of the week | ✅ | ✅ |
| Date field with a Custom format | ✅ | |
| Select field, Image/File/Lightbox and Button/Link columns | See below | ✅ |
| Advanced tab: header and content text alignment, Click to copy | ✅ | ✅ |
| Advanced tab: column width, extra classes, colors, Sortable, Searchable, HTML header content | ✅ | |
| Conditions (conditional formatting) | ✅ | |
| Transform, including Excel formula support | ✅ |
In the free version you can pick the Select field, Image/File/Lightbox and Button/Link types, but they don't do their job. A note appears in the column dialog: Select columns work as plain text, and image and button columns need Pro to work. A new Image or Button/Link column is saved as Single line text. Their settings sit behind a Pro lock box: the Select placeholder, the Image click action and download text, and the Button link target, rounded corners, force download, colors and rel attributes. In the row form, Image and Button/Link fields carry a PRO badge and fall back to a plain text input.
Rows
| Feature | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Add, edit, duplicate and delete rows in Table Rows | ✅ | ✅ |
| Import rows from CSV, export as CSV, Excel or JSON | ✅ | ✅ |
| Edit a row's Created date | ✅ | ✅ |
| Row and cell colors (Row settings and Cell settings) | ✅ | |
| Image and Button/Link fields in the row form | Plain text input | ✅ |
| Insert row below | ✅ | |
| Sort manually (drag rows into order) | ✅ |
Table Design
| Feature | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Live preview on Desktop, Tablet and Mobile | ✅ | ✅ |
| Styling: style library, rows and borders, typography, title and header | ✅ | ✅ |
| Default color scheme (no color) | ✅ | ✅ |
| Other preset color schemes | ✅ | |
| Custom colors | ✅ | |
| Search box on or off | ✅ | ✅ |
| Search box position and full width | ✅ | |
| Sorting on or off, default order by created date or by column | ✅ | ✅ |
| Manual default order | ✅ | |
| Pagination, rows per page and pagination position | ✅ | ✅ |
| Let visitors change page size, scroll to the table top on page change | ✅ | |
| Sticky header and sticky first column | ✅ | |
| Responsive Breakpoint set to Closed, and Stackable Table | ✅ | ✅ |
| Responsive Breakpoint set to First Row or All Rows, Hide Empty Values, Hide Labels | ✅ | |
| Row details popup | ✅ | ✅ |
| Export & Print buttons for visitors | ✅ | |
| Default look for new tables in Settings › Global Appearance | ✅ | ✅ |
In the free version, picking any scheme other than the default, or Custom, opens the upgrade pop-up. A banner above the preview says color customization is a Pro feature.
Table editor tabs
| Feature | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Table Configuration: engine (FooTable or DataTables) and caching | ✅ | ✅ |
| Rendering Setting set to Ajax | ✅ | ✅ |
| Rendering Setting set to Legacy | ✅ | |
| Custom CSS/JS: custom CSS class and CSS | ✅ | ✅ |
| Custom CSS/JS: JavaScript | ✅ | |
| Custom Filter | ✅ | |
| Frontend Editing | ✅ |
The default Rendering Setting depends on the plan. A new table defaults to Ajax in the free version, and to Legacy when Pro is active. A table saved while Pro was active keeps Legacy if you later turn Pro off, but the option is locked. See Engine, rendering and caching.
Settings
| Feature | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| General (JavaScript error handling) | ✅ | ✅ |
| Global Appearance | ✅ | ✅ |
| Performance (clear caches) | ✅ | ✅ |
| Permissions (roles that can manage tables, SQL access) | ✅ | |
| License | ✅ |
In the free version, Permissions shows a lock box, and License doesn't appear in the Settings menu.
Drag & Drop builder
| Feature | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Text, Button, Star rating, List, Custom HTML, Shortcode and Progress elements | ✅ | ✅ |
| Merge and split cells, free templates | ✅ | ✅ |
| Icon, Image, Styled list, Ribbon and Text icon elements | ✅ | |
| Button icons | ✅ | |
| Highlight column, sticky first row and first column, custom JavaScript | ✅ |
Click or drag a locked element in the free version and a message tells you it is a Pro feature. Nothing is added to the table.
Putting tables on your site
| Feature | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
[ninja_tables] shortcode with id, filter, use_parent_width and info | ✅ | ✅ |
[ninja_table_info], [ninja_table_cell] and [ninja_table_builder] shortcodes | ✅ | ✅ |
| Ninja Tables block for the block editor, and the classic editor button | ✅ | ✅ |
Advanced shortcode attributes, such as per_page, columns, limit, skip and logged_in_only | ✅ | |
| Placeholders such as the current user or date in filters | ✅ | |
[nt_ratings] and [nt_icon] shortcodes | ✅ | |
| Custom colors in the Ninja Tables block (preset colors are free) | ✅ | |
| Block options: sorting by visitors, Hide empty items, Hide Labels, scroll to table top, page size changer, search position and full-width search, sticky first column and header, Disable Sticky on Mobile | ✅ |
See the shortcode reference for details.
Tables list
Everything on the Tables list is free: search, source and engine filters, Duplicate, the trash, and the Used on column.
Charts
Ninja Charts is a separate free plugin. It works with both the free and Pro versions of Ninja Tables.