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SepDifference Between Repeater and DataList and GridView
21 Jul 2025
Intermediate
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3 min read
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Repeater and DataList and GridView are Data-bound controls that bound to a data source control like SqlDataSource, LinqDataSource to display and modify data in your Asp.Net web application. Data-bound controls are composite controls that contains others Asp.Net controls like as Label, TextBox, DropdownList etc. into a single layout. In this article, I am going to expose the difference among these three.
Difference between DataList and Repeater
DataList
Repeater
Rendered as Table.
Template driven.
Automatically generates columns from the data source.
This features is not supported.
Selection of row is supported.
Selection of row is not supported.
Editing of contents is supported.
Editing of contents is not supported.
You can arrange data items horizontally or vertically in DataList by using property RepeatDirection.
This features is not supported.
Performance is slow as compared to Repeater
This is very light weight and fast data control among all the data control.
Difference between GridView and Repeater
GridView
Repeater
It was introduced with Asp.Net 2.0.
It was introduced with Asp.Net 1.0.
Rendered as Table.
Template driven.
Automatically generates columns from the data source.
This features is not supported.
Selection of row is supported.
Selection of row is not supported.
Editing of contents is supported.
Editing of contents is not supported.
Built-in Paging and Sorting is provided.
You need to write custom code.
Supports auto format or style features.
This has no this features.
Performance is very slow as compared to Repeater.
This is very light weight and fast data control among all the data control.
Difference between GridView and DataList
GridView
DataList
It was introduced with Asp.Net 2.0.
It was introduced with Asp.Net 1.0.
Built-in Paging and Sorting is provided.
You need to write custom code.
Built-in supports for Update and Delete operations.
Need to write code for implementing Update and Delete operations.
Supports auto format or style features.
This features is not supported.
RepeatDirection property is not supported.
You can arrange data items horizontally or vertically in DataList by using property RepeatDirection.
Doesn’t support customizable row separator.
Supports customizable row separator by using SeparatorTemplate.
Performance is slow as compared to DataList.
Performance is fast is compared to GridView.
What do you think?
I hope you will enjoy the tips while programming with Asp.Net. I would like to have feedback from my blog readers. Your valuable feedback, question, or comments about this article are always welcome.
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