Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Carbon VS Netlify

Compare Carbon VS Netlify and see what are their differences

Carbon logo Carbon

Create and share beautiful images of your source code.

Netlify logo Netlify

Build, deploy and host your static site or app with a drag and drop interface and automatic delpoys from GitHub or Bitbucket
  • Carbon Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-17
  • Netlify Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-23

Carbon features and specs

  • Aesthetically Pleasing
    Carbon allows you to create beautiful images of your source code, which can be easily shared on social media, presentations, or documentation.
  • Customization Options
    Provides various customization options such as themes, background colors, window controls, font styles, and more, allowing users to create images that match their preferences or brand identity.
  • Ease of Use
    The interface is user-friendly, enabling users to create high-quality code images with minimal effort. Simply paste your code, customize it, and export.
  • Code Syntax Highlighting
    Supports syntax highlighting for a wide range of programming languages, helping to make your code snippets more readable and visually appealing.
  • Export Options
    Allows users to export images in various formats, including PNG and SVG, ensuring versatility for different use cases.

Possible disadvantages of Carbon

  • Limited Collaboration Features
    Carbon does not support collaborative editing, making it less ideal for team-based projects where multiple users might need to work on the same snippet simultaneously.
  • No Direct Code Editing Features
    Carbon focuses on code visualization and does not provide in-depth code editing capabilities, unlike full-featured code editors.
  • Dependency on Browser
    As a web-based tool, it requires an active internet connection and may be less convenient for users who prefer offline tools.
  • Performance Limitations
    For very large snippets or heavy customization, the tool may experience performance issues or slowdowns.
  • Limited Format Support
    Does not support exporting in all possible image formats or directly integrating into platforms like content management systems without manual steps.

Netlify features and specs

  • Deployment Speed
    Netlify offers very fast and easy deployment processes, often requiring just a push to a Git repository.
  • Built-in CDN
    Netlify includes a global Content Delivery Network (CDN) to speed up the delivery of websites and applications.
  • Serverless Functions
    Netlify provides serverless functions allowing developers to run backend code without managing servers.
  • Automated Builds
    Automated build processes are integrated, supporting continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD).
  • Custom Domains and SSL
    Easily manage custom domains and automatically provision and renew SSL certificates.
  • Integrated Form Handling
    Netlify offers form handling capabilities out-of-the-box, simplifying the process of collecting form data.
  • Plugins and Integrations
    Extensible with a wide range of plugins and integrations including analytics, CMS, and other third-party services.
  • Developer-Friendly
    Offers a wide range of developer-friendly features, such as split testing, instant rollbacks, and APIs for customization.
  • Free Tier
    Generous free tier that allows for hosting of personal projects and small websites at no cost.

Possible disadvantages of Netlify

  • Pricing
    While there's a free tier, more advanced features and higher usage can become expensive on a paid plan.
  • Function Limits
    Serverless functions have execution and duration limits, which may not be suitable for all applications.
  • Platform-Specific
    Deployment and feature configurations can be platform-specific, which may require learning new processes that differ from other providers.
  • Build Minutes
    The free tier includes limited build minutes, which can be a constraint for projects that require frequent deployments.
  • Vendor Lock-In
    Using Netlify-specific features (like certain build plugins) can make it harder to migrate to another hosting provider.
  • Limited Backend Services
    Primarily designed for frontend applications, so it may not be as robust for extensive backend services compared to traditional servers.
  • Steep Learning Curve
    Some advanced features may have a steep learning curve for beginners.
  • Build Times
    Build times can be slow for very large sites or monorepos, impacting continuous deployment speed.
  • Support
    Customer support responses can be slow on the lower-tier plans.

Analysis of Carbon

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Carbon is a good tool for creating and sharing visually appealing code snippets. It is widely appreciated in the developer community for its functionality and ease of use.

Why this product is good

  • Carbon (carbon.now.sh) is a popular tool for creating and sharing beautiful code snippets as images. It offers a clean interface, customizable themes, and syntax highlighting for numerous programming languages, making it an excellent choice for developers looking to present their code aesthetically. Its ease of use and ability to quickly generate high-resolution images are among its standout features.

Recommended for

  • Software developers looking to share code snippets on social media or blogs
  • Educators and technical writers who need to include code examples in their materials
  • Conference speakers and presenters preparing slides with code samples
  • Developers and designers seeking to build a portfolio showcasing their coding skills

Analysis of Netlify

Overall verdict

  • Netlify is considered a good option for many developers and businesses looking for a platform to deploy and manage static websites or Jamstack applications.

Why this product is good

  • Netlify offers a seamless and easy-to-use platform for deploying static sites and modern web applications.
  • It provides developers with a variety of powerful features like continuous deployment, built-in HTTPS, DNS management, and serverless functions.
  • The platform supports server-side rendering and dynamic functions, which is advantageous for modern web development needs.
  • Netlify's workflow optimizes for Git, allowing developers to connect their repositories directly and automate deployment processes.
  • The platform's collaboration tools make it easy for teams to work together on website development.

Recommended for

  • Developers building static sites or Jamstack applications.
  • Teams looking for streamlined deployment workflows integrated with Git providers.
  • Businesses seeking a robust hosting solution with minimal server management overhead.
  • Projects requiring custom domains with automatic HTTPS.

Carbon videos

Adidas YEEZY 350 V2 Carbon REVIEW & GIVEAWAY

More videos:

  • Review - Need for Speed: Carbon review - ColourShed
  • Review - Carbon Movie Malayalam Review by Sudhish Payyanur | Monsoon Media

Netlify videos

Netlify Platform Tutorial Review

More videos:

  • Review - Deploy Websites In Seconds With Netlify
  • Review - Deploy Your Website In Minutes With Netlify

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Carbon and Netlify)
Web App
100 100%
0% 0
Cloud Computing
0 0%
100% 100
Developer Tools
28 28%
72% 72
Design Tools
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Carbon and Netlify

Carbon Reviews

We have no reviews of Carbon yet.
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Netlify Reviews

  1. Eleanor Bennett
    · Digital Marketing Specialist at Logit.io ·
    Useful previews

    As someone who is often creating new pages, Netlify's preview makes the review process easier. You can also use the generated URL from Netlify's preview to run an SEO audit prior to going live. This is very useful for spotting bugs or broken redirects.


Top 15 Cloudflare Alternatives: A Complete Guide
Netlify is a CDN service that also offers edge computing, web security, and VPN solutions. Netlify allows you to deploy and run your web content and applications on its edge network, which has over 70 edge locations in 35 countries. Netlify also provides security features, such as SSL, DDoS protection, WAF, and firewall, to protect your web content and applications.
Exploring alternatives to Vercel: A guide for web developers
Netlify is one of the most popular alternatives to Vercel, offering a comprehensive platform for deploying static sites and modern web applications. With a strong focus on developer experience, Netlify provides powerful features such as serverless functions, continuous deployment, and advanced analytics.
Source: fleek.xyz
Choosing the best Next.js hosting platform
Where Netlify is superior to Vercel is the list of add-ons they offer. Among them, Netlify Forms allow developers to manage forms and submission without extra code. It even integrates with third-party applications such as MailChimp, Zendesk, and more.
Top 10 Netlify Alternatives
Although Netlify is a credible static app hosting and deployment platform for all sizes of businesses. But if you still want alternatives, then you should consider our suggested Netlify alternatives. This guide displays all these alternatives to Netlify in detail with pricing structure and core properties. Hopefully, you will pick a suitable option for your project.
3 best alternatives to the big cloud providers
Very interesting topic! I’m not sure if things like Netlify or Vercel could replace something like Kubernetes on GCP but I believe in the power of Netlify for hosting websites!
Source: dev.to

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Carbon should be more popular than Netlify. It has been mentiond 171 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Carbon mentions (171)

  • Gist Share
    I was inspired by https://carbon.now.sh/ for sharing code snippets on social media but I wanted a tight integration with Github's Gists, a focus on embedding the code in posts like Markdown with access to the code. - Source: dev.to / 5 days ago
  • "10 Free Tools Every Developer Should Bookmark in 2025"
    *Carbon * – Beautiful Code Snippets Https://carbon.now.sh. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • HexShare – Create and share beautiful snippets of your binary/hexbytes
    Inspired by Carbon -(https://carbon.now.sh , I wanted to build a simple tool for easily sharing binary snippets. HexShare is a hex-sharing tool designed for viewing and sharing binary data with colorful byte highlighting. It works entirely offline, running client-side with no backend. You can generate visually appealing images of your hex bytes with annotations and also share configurations via a link. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • 22 Unique Developer Resources You Should Explore
    URL: https://carbon.now.sh What it does: Carbon lets you turn your code snippets into stunning visuals, perfect for sharing or embedding in blogs and presentations. Why it's great: Make your code aesthetically pleasing and shareable! Highlight your solutions or showcase your work effortlessly. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • Recommend 12 free productivity tools! Make your work more effective with less effort!
    Carbon is a free online code screenshot tool that helps users create beautiful code screenshots for use in blogs, social media, or presentations. It provides a simple interface that allows users to enter their own code and choose different themes, fonts, and color schemes. Users can also adjust the code alignment, line numbers, background, shadow, etc. To better control the screenshot effect. Carbon also supports... - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
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Netlify mentions (109)

  • Build a Personal Portfolio Website (2-Minute Tutorial)
    Upload your folder to Netlify, GitHub Pages, or Vercel — and boom, your portfolio is online! - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Deploy Your Full-Stack App for Free: Host Backend on Render and Frontend on Netlify in Minutes
    Deploy on Netlify Go to https://netlify.com and log in. Click "Add new site" → "Import an existing project". Connect your GitHub and choose your frontend repo. Fill in the deploy settings: Build Command: npm run build (or flutter build web) Publish Directory: build (for React) or build/web (for Flutter) Add your environment variables (e.g., your backend URL). Click Deploy Site. You’ll get a public frontend URL like:. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • How Bun can help to revive a Gridsome project
    Starting from this year, builds for this website's code through my Netlify account began failing. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • I'm Joining Sentry
    As much as this is exciting news, it does mean that sadly I'm moving on from Netlify. Netlify which has been my home for the last 2 years and who believed in us(and me) before anyone else did. Their support is what made SolidStart possible. I've learned so much about deployment and infrastructure working closely with the Frameworks and Primitives team. I've traveled the world giving talks alongside the Developer... - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
  • Join us for the Netlify Dynamic Site Challenge: $3,000 in Prizes!
    We are so excited to team up with Netlify to bring you our next DEV challenge. This Challenge is all about dynamic and high-performance digital experiences, across any framework! - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Carbon and Netlify, you can also consider the following products

Ray.so - Create beautiful images of your code

Vercel - Vercel is the platform for frontend developers, providing the speed and reliability innovators need to create at the moment of inspiration.

Codeimg.io - Create and share images of your source code

CloudFlare - Cloudflare is a global network designed to make everything you connect to the Internet secure, private, fast, and reliable.

Snappify - snappify is a great tool to create and adjust beautiful code snippets easily.

Heroku - Agile deployment platform for Ruby, Node.js, Clojure, Java, Python, and Scala. Setup takes only minutes and deploys are instant through git. Leave tedious server maintenance to Heroku and focus on your code.