1. Plain text format, git and git diffs work
2. You can combine many languages in a single document, and every code block can be part of a separate session, as an analogy to Jupyter Notebooks, you can have multiple kernels backing a single notebook and you can decide what kernel you want the current code block to run in.
3. You can edit a code block in the major mode for that language, i.e. you get all the features of Emacs while editing code: documentation, auto-complete, snippets and anything Emacs can do, and Emacs can do a lot :)
4. You can have internal and external links to any part of the document (or any other org-mode file) within the editor which get exported as links in the HTML file too. Want to refer to a code block you used before, just name it and drop a link. Extremely useful in binding the whole document together.
5. Literate Programming support -- You can decide the order the concepts are introduced in according to the human reader, not according to the execution order the machine demands it to be in:
#+NAME: named_code_block :eval no
function_not_defined_yet()
#NAME: complete_code_block
def function_not_defined_yet():
print("nice function innit?")
<<named_code_block>>
The <<named_code_block>> gets expanded to whatever you defined it and you control the way you want to structure the document to be the most readable. You can keep working backed by a REPL in the initial stages and then extract(tangle in literate programming speak) to a file, again in the order you want using the <<named_code_block>> (NOWEB syntax). So one org-mode can generate your whole project if you wish so.6. With the internal and external links and <<named_code_block>> (NOWEB syntax) the org-mode file is closer to being a hypertext file than Jupyter Notebook even though Jupyter Notebook is the one running in a browser.
I have covered only the major features of org-babel, I haven't even covered all the features. I love Jupyter Notebooks too, but org-babel is something else. I am currently working on a toy ray tracer in Clojure in literate programming style and loving every moment :)
Just to give an example of what can be done using org-mode, this is the project I am using to grok Literate Programming -- http://ray_tracer.surge.sh/
The whole thing is generated using one org-mode file -- https://gitlab.com/snippets/1710454
and this org-mode file is the one I work in, it will eventually generate the source code in separate files too, once I have finished the project.
This is what my setup looks like -- https://i.imgur.com/mqi8vPR.png
Anyways I can't convince you to use it, but hopefully I can convince you to give it a try, it isn't easy but it is worth it :)
I'd add that you can also benefit from other aspects of org, such as project management functionality, outline editing, table editing, tables with formulas, direct git integration via Magit, etc., etc.
I agree that getting people on Emacs is a non-minor issue, but using something like Spacemacs with CUA-mode enabled could go a long way towards acceptance.