It depends on your definition of "better", but whether you define user performance or user preference as your metric, there are studies that objectively measure zebra striping (which can be done in more than one way).

A study was done in 2008 that looked at how effective zebra striping is on tables, and it drew some interesting conclusions.

The study tested the following table designs and measured both user performance and user preference:

##User Performance

The study found that zebra striping doesn't harm, and in some cases improves, user performance:

 

The table shows that for three of the eight questions, the striped version yielded a more accurate response than did the plain and lined versions. A fourth question comes very close to being statistically significant. For the remaining four questions, the difference in accuracy between all three styles is so small that it cannot be statistically separated from random noise. In these cases, performance with zebra striping is just as good as—and certainly no worse than—the plain or lined version.

 

This means that, in this study at least, zebra striping doesn’t harm performance—and in many cases, it actually leads to an improvement.

##User Preference##

Not only did the striping improve performance, but users indicated a clear preference in favor of them (and a strong aversion to plain tables):

 

The typical zebra striping approach (single-color, single-row) is the most preferred: 31% of participants rated it as the table that helps the most and only 4% rated it as the table that helps the least. (Note that the maximum margin of error on these estimates is 2.8%.)

##Take away##

What I would take away from this study with regard to your question is that you have several options available:

• Plain Table
• Double striped
• Lined
• Triple striped
• Single striped
• Two color striped

There are measurable differences in how users react to and use these designs, and the study's results suggest that the single striped table is the best approach.

It depends on your definition of "better", but whether you define user performance or user preference as your metric, there are studies that objectively measure zebra striping (which can be done in more than one way).

A study was done in 2008 that looked at how effective zebra striping is on tables, and it drew some interesting conclusions.

The study tested the following table designs and measured both user performance and user preference:

User Performance

The study found that zebra striping doesn't harm, and in some cases improves, user performance:

The table shows that for three of the eight questions, the striped version yielded a more accurate response than did the plain and lined versions. A fourth question comes very close to being statistically significant. For the remaining four questions, the difference in accuracy between all three styles is so small that it cannot be statistically separated from random noise. In these cases, performance with zebra striping is just as good as—and certainly no worse than—the plain or lined version.

This means that, in this study at least, zebra striping doesn’t harm performance—and in many cases, it actually leads to an improvement.

User Preference

Not only did the striping improve performance, but users indicated a clear preference in favor of them (and a strong aversion to plain tables):

The typical zebra striping approach (single-color, single-row) is the most preferred: 31% of participants rated it as the table that helps the most and only 4% rated it as the table that helps the least. (Note that the maximum margin of error on these estimates is 2.8%.)

Take away

What I would take away from this study with regard to your question is that you have several options available:

• Plain Table
• Double striped
• Lined
• Triple striped
• Single striped
• Two color striped

There are measurable differences in how users react to and use these designs, and the study's results suggest that the single striped table is the best approach.