10 Best Advanced Drag And Drop Plugins In JavaScript (2023 Update)

by jQueryScript,

What Is Drag And Drop?

Drag And Drop is one of the most commonly used features in today's web page or applications that allow the user to change the position of an object (element) by using mouse drag or touch events.

How does Drag and Drop work?

HTML5 (the latest version of Hypertext Markup Language) provides a basic HTML Drag and Drop API on your web app. The user may select draggable elements with a mouse, drag those elements to a droppable element, and drop them by releasing the mouse button. A translucent representation of the draggable elements follows the pointer during the drag operation.

See the Pen HTML5 Drag And Drop API by iqq800 (@iqq800) on CodePen.

The Best Drag and Drop Plugin?

To apply more advanced functionalities to draggable elements, you might need a JavaScript plugin to extend and enhance the native Drag And Drop API.

This is a list of 10 best jQuery and Vanilla JavaScript advanced and enhanced drag and drop plugins from which you can choose for your next web project. Have fun.

Originally Published Nov 13 2019, updated Feb 20 2023

Table of contents:

jQuery Drag And Drop Plugins:

Performant Drag And Drop JavaScript Library - Draggabilly

A jQuery & Vanilla JavaScript plugin that provides an advanced, performant, smooth, touch-friendly Draggable functionality on any DOM element.

Performant Drag And Drop JavaScript Library - Draggabilly

[Demo] [Download]


Easy and Touch-enabled jQuery Draggable Obeject Plugin - pep.js

A simple, cross browser and mobile-friendly jQuery plugin used to enable draggable functionality on any DOM element. The plugin allows to move any object by clicking or touching on it and dragging it anywhere within the viewport. Pep.js also comes with a lot of options and APIs that could fit to a wide range of design purposes.

Easy and Touch-enabled jQuery Draggable Obeject Plugin - pep.js

[Demo] [Download]


Touch-compatible jQuery Drad and Drop Plugin - Dragmove

A jQuery plugin that allows you to drag and move any DOM elements with either the mouse or touch events.

Touch-compatible jQuery Drad and Drop Plugin - Dragmove

[Demo] [Download]


Easy Drag and Drop Plugin For jQuery - dad.js

A simple and easy-to-use jQuery plugin which enables drag and drop functionality on a group of DOM elements with just one JS call.

Easy Drag and Drop Plugin For jQuery - dad.js

[Demo] [Download]


jQuery Plugin For Draggable HTML Elements - Udraggable

A jQuery plugin that provides an API similar to jQuery UI's draggable but with support for unified mouse and touch events. The plugin allows to make any html elements draggable by mouse or touch events based on Michael S. Mikowski's jquery.event.ue unified event plugin.

jQuery Plugin For Draggable HTML Elements - Udraggable

[Demo] [Download]


Vanilla JavaScript Drag And Drop Plugins:

Lightweight JS Sorting Library with Native HTML5 Drag and Drop – SortableJS

Sortable is a lightweight and simple javascript library that makes a list of items sortable by using native Html5 drag and drop API. Works with all the modern browsers and touch devices.

Lightweight JS Sorting Library with Native HTML5 Drag and Drop – SortableJS

[Demo] [Download]


Pure JavaScript Drag and Drop Library – dragula.js

dragula.js is a simple, dependency-free, touch-enabled JavaScript library that provides drag and drop functionality on DOM elements.

Pure JavaScript Drag and Drop Library – dragula.js

[Demo] [Download]


Touch-enabled Draggable & Sortable Library – draggable.js

A customizable draggable/droppable/sortable/swappable JavaScript library that works with mouse drag, touch, and force touch events.

Touch-enabled Draggable & Sortable Library – draggable.js

[Demo] [Download]


Create Draggable/Resizable/Scalable/Rotatable/Warpable Element – moveable

A JavaScript library that makes an element draggable, resizable, scalable, scrollable, rotatable, roundable, clippable, and wrappable.

Create Draggable/Resizable/Scalable/Rotatable/Warpable Element – moveable

[Demo] [Download]


Lightweigt HTML5 Drag And Drop Sortable Library – html5sortable

A lightweight and standalone JavaScript library for re-sorting a group of list and/or grid items using native HTML5 drag and drop API. Supports exclude, nested, connected lists and even table rows.

Lightweigt HTML5 Drag And Drop Sortable Library – html5sortable

[Demo] [Download]


Conclusion:

The above collection of drag and drop plugins for JavaScript can be a big help to your website, as they combine all the best features of drag and drop elements. You will have an option to customize them in a number of ways, allowing you to pick and choose which features are the best fit for you. This is why we believe they make the perfect solution for your needs.

Seeking more jQuery plugins or JavaScript libraries to create awesome Draggable Elements on the web & mobile? Check out the jQuery Drag And Drop and JavaScript Drag And Drop sections.

See Also: