There are lots of jQuery plugin on the internet to download and play with it, but today I am going to name those plugins who are essential for developers while creating a table and making sorting easy with these plugins.

1. jQuery TableSorter

If you want a jquery plugin for sorting dynamic table it is helpful, asTablesorter is a jQuery plugin for turning a standard HTML table into a sortable table without page refreshes. jQuery tablesorter can successfully parse and sort many types of data including linked data in a cell. It has many useful features including

  • Multi-column sorting
  • Parsers for sorting text, URIs, integers, currency, floats, IP addresses, dates (ISO, long and short formats), time. Add your own easily
  • Support secondary "hidden" sorting (e.g., maintain alphabetical sort when sorting on other criteria)

TableSorter.png

2. jQuery Datatable

To make paging, sorting, filtering easier in HTML table, we can use a jquery plugin, called jQuery datatable, it is flexible and easier to use and implement, if you are MVC C# developer you can check my article on using it in MVC application

DataTables is a plug-in for the jQuery Javascript library. It is a highly flexible tool, based upon the foundations of progressive enhancement, and will add advanced interaction controls to any HTML table. 
-> Pagination, instant search, and multi-column ordering
-> Supports server side loading using ajax
-> It is free and open source library.

You can easily initialize it(after adding plugin's jquery file) using the code below

$(document).ready(function(){
    $('#myTable').DataTable();
});

jquery-Datatble-plugin

3. sortable.js

sortable.js is a lightweight jQuery plugin that provides a 'sortable' functionality to your table columns with support for the fixed table header and column highlighting.

You can easily initialize it, after adding the required scripts and using the code below 

$('table').sortable({
  // options here
});

4. Stupid jQuery Table Sort

This is one of the lightest jquery plugins to sort table. The plugin internally recognizes "int", "string", "string-ins" (case-insensitive) and "float", so simple data tables will take very little effort on your part

5. jQuery Sortable

jQuery Sortable is a flexible, opinionated sorting plugin. It can sort your table, a horizontal list or vertical list item, it can even sort Bootstrap navigation. It is not depended on jQuery Ui and works well with twitter bootstrap.
You can sort using drag/drop

jQuery-Sortable.png

6. jPList

jPList's only hard dependency is jQuery. jQuery 1.8 or newer will work with jPList, although typically you will want to use the latest version of jQuery.

jPList is a flexible jQuery plugin for sorting, pagination, and filtering of any HTML structure. It supports data sources: PHP + MySQL, ASP.NET + Sql Server, PHP + SQLite. It works with JavaScript templates like Handlebars, Mustache etc. jPList supports XML + XSLT. It works in all major browsers.

It is a free plugin available for personal and non-commercial use under the terms of the GPL V3 License.

jPList.png

7. Bootstrap Table

Bootstrap Table is great for those looking for an extended plugin that offers loads of features like radio, checkbox, extensions, pagination and sort options. It is available for free and can be installed easily.

bootstrap-table-jquery-sorting-plugin-min.png

It Supports Bootstrap, Semantic UI, Bulma, Material Design, Foundation.

Features:

  • Sort table by just adding HTML5 attribute "data-sortable="true"" in table-header.
  • Can be used with Bootstrap 2/3 or 4
  • Show/Hide Columns
  • Show/Hide Headers
  • Can use JSON data in the table.
  • Extensions are available
  • Load data from a remote site.

8. Dynatable

Dynatable is a funner, semantic, interactive table plugin using jQuery, HTML5, and JSON. And it's not just for tables. It is HTML5+JSON interactive table plugin. And it’s not just for tables. Dynatable provides a framework for implementing the most common elements out of the box, including sorting, searching, and filtering. Above all, Dynatable is a clean and elegant API that is fun to use.

9.WaTable

A swiss army jQuery table plugin with filter, format, paginate and sort your data with ease and lightning speed.

 WaaTable.png

10. Columns

Columns are an easy way of creating JSON data into HTML tables that are sortable, searchable, and paginating. All you need is to provide the data, and Columns will do the rest.

Columns

You may also like to read:

How to export HTML table to PDF & Excel in jQuery Datatable?

Read XML using jQuery & load it in HTML Table

Useful and amazing jQuery table plugins to use in web-applications

Useful jQuery Plugin's required for Web Development