Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

CodePen VS AMPPS

Compare CodePen VS AMPPS and see what are their differences

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

CodePen logo CodePen

A front end web development playground.

AMPPS logo AMPPS

MAMP and WAMP stack with Latest PHP, Apache, MySQL and Softaculous. Install and manage apps like PHP, WordPress and much more with just one click.
  • CodePen Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-09-30
  • AMPPS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-03-17

AMPPS is a bloat-free local development stack with PHP, MySQL, Apache and Softaculous.AMPPS supports all the latest versions of PHP, Apache and MySQL. Installing and updating these packages is just one click. Softaculous auto installer is also included with AMPPS which enables you to install 380+ apps like WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Magento, phpBB, etc which can be installed and updated with just one click.

CodePen

Website
codepen.io
Pricing URL
-
$ Details
-
Platforms
-
Release Date
-

AMPPS

Website
ampps.com
$ Details
freemium $49.0 / Annually
Platforms
Mac OSX Windows
Release Date
2021 October

CodePen features and specs

  • Real-time Collaboration
    Developers can collaborate with others in real-time, making it easy to work on projects with teammates or seek help from the community.
  • Immediate Visual Feedback
    CodePen allows you to see the results of your code as you write it, which is highly beneficial for learning and debugging.
  • Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
    CodePen provides a comfortable and feature-rich online IDE environment with syntax highlighting, autocomplete, and more.
  • Community-Driven
    Users can share their work with the CodePen community, receive feedback, and explore a wide range of projects created by others.
  • Extensive Resources
    CodePen offers a wealth of examples and templates for various web development tasks, making it a useful resource for learning and inspiration.
  • Cross-Device Accessibility
    Being an online platform, CodePen can be accessed from any device with an internet connection, making it convenient for developers on the move.

Possible disadvantages of CodePen

  • Limited Offline Functionality
    Since CodePen is primarily an online tool, it requires an internet connection for most of its features to work, limiting its usefulness in offline environments.
  • Performance Constraints
    Complex or resource-intensive projects may not perform as well on CodePen as they would in a full-fledged local development environment.
  • Subscription Costs
    While many features are free, advanced functionalities and additional storage options require a paid subscription, which may not be ideal for all users.
  • Limited Backend Capabilities
    CodePen is primarily designed for front-end development, so it offers limited support for backend technologies, making it less suitable for full-stack or server-side development.
  • Dependency Management
    Managing dependencies and libraries can be cumbersome compared to local development environments which have better tools for this purpose, like npm.
  • Security Concerns
    Sharing projects with the public can expose your code and assets to unauthorized use, posing potential intellectual property and security risks.

AMPPS features and specs

  • Lightweight - Install apps as per your needs
  • Latest PHP versions - One click install and update
  • Domain Management - Add unlimited addon/parked/alias domains
  • Database management
  • Enable/Disable PHP extensions
  • Manage Apache Configuration
  • Start, Stop, Restart Apache and MySQL services
  • WordPress Manager - Manage plugins, themes, auto login, WordPress core updates, plugins and themes updates, debug mode
  • Backups - Local, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, AWS S3, FTP, FTPS and SFTP
  • Clone and Staging
  • Remote Import
  • 400+ apps

CodePen videos

What Is Codepen?

More videos:

  • Review - Learn to use CodePen from a co-founder of CodePen
  • Review - Using CodePen For Inspiration & Learning

AMPPS videos

Install Ampps Webserver With Softaculous

More videos:

  • Review - Install AMPPS on Windows 10
  • Review - WAMP on PC to AMPPS on Mac, wordpress site

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to CodePen and AMPPS)
Text Editors
100 100%
0% 0
Web And Application Servers
Programming
100 100%
0% 0
Web Servers
0 0%
100% 100

Questions and Answers

As answered by people managing CodePen and AMPPS.

What makes your product unique?

AMPPS's answer:

AMPPS is a bloat-free stack so you only install the apps that you want to install.

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

AMPPS's answer:

You can install from a long list of PHP versions available. You can switch PHP versions with a click. You can also install new PHPs when they are released or upgrade the existing PHPs, Apache, MySQL to the latest version with a click.

How would you describe your primary audience?

AMPPS's answer:

If you are a developer who use any of the following technologies then you can use AMPPS : - PHP - Apache - MySQL - MongoDB

User comments

Share your experience with using CodePen and AMPPS. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

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

CodePen Reviews

Best Forums for Developers to Join in 2025
Codepen is a social network for developers to show off their work, ask and answer questions, and exchange ideas. It's like a Reddit for coding and design, with a large community of talented web developers.
Source: www.notchup.com
Top 10 Developer Communities You Should Explore
Codepen is a social development environment that allows developers to showcase their work and experiment with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript in a collaborative space. Codepen’s focus on visual and interactive development makes it an excellent community for front-end developers and designers.
Source: www.qodo.ai
8 Best Replit Alternatives & Competitors in 2022 (Free & Paid) - Software Discover
Codepen is a social development environment for front-end designers and developers. Build and deploy a website, show off your work, build test cases to learn.
Best Online Code Editors For Web Developers
Probably the most popular online code editor. CodePen is fast, easy to use, and allows a web developer to write and share HTML/CSS/JS code online.
Source: techarge.in
Top 25 websites for coding challenge and competition [Updated for 2021]
CodePen is a cool online IDE that allows you to write code in your browser and see the result just as you build it. CodePen challenges is a place for leveling up your skills by building things. Each week, new challenges appear for you to tackle, and the best “Pens” get picked.

AMPPS Reviews

Best XAMPP Alternatives for Website Development in 2024
The last alternative to XAMPP on our list is AMPPS available for Windows, MacOS, and Linux. AMPPS provides a complete local setup for WordPress site development. With its versatility across multiple operating systems, it offers convenience and flexibility for developers.
Source: instawp.com
8 Best MAMP Alternatives (Definitive List)
The free version of AMPSS doesn’t limit the number of local websites that you can set up. However, that version doesn’t come with AMPPS’ built-in WordPress manager tool. This feature helps you manage multiple WordPress websites using a panel that’s very similar to a multisite setup.
Source: kinsta.com
13 Best XAMPP Alternatives
Most AMPPS servers offer similar features as shared hosting plans from companies like HostGator or DreamHost without requiring you to pay a monthly fee. If you don’t have your server, many hosts offer great packages for $5-10 per month that let you test out how effective an AMPPS setup will be for your needs.
Source: thetechtian.com
9 Best XAMPP Alternatives Cross Platform Web Server
AMPPS supports a variety of open sources web applications such as Dolphin, Joomla!, and WordPress. As a result of which, creating a website has become a matter of mere minutes. All you need for that is the AMPPS package and the latest version of your favorite web application.
10 Best alternatives of XAMPP servers for Windows, Linux and macOS
AMPPS comes with a Domain Administrator and an auto-installation tool for hundreds of web applications. Also, there are many free features that we have not yet explored. In comparison, I think that AMPPS could be a better alternative to WAMP, MAMP, and XAMPP.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, CodePen seems to be a lot more popular than AMPPS. While we know about 503 links to CodePen, we've tracked only 3 mentions of AMPPS. 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.

CodePen mentions (503)

View more

AMPPS mentions (3)

  • Best MAMP Alternatives in 2025
    AMPPS is available for both Windows and MacOS, offering a straightforward setup for WordPress site development. Its versatility across different platforms makes it a convenient and flexible choice for developers. Furthermore, this tool enables you to test your site locally without interfering with the production site, making it a solid option for development and testing environments. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Form data from form page isn't submitted to the database, how can I fix this issue?
    It should have generated a log file, though. If it didn't then you need to make sure you actually restarted everything. I'd also consider switching to something like Ampps and see if that helps. Source: over 2 years ago
  • How to install WordPress
    Some web hosting providers offer a Softaculous auto-installer that simplifies WordPress installation to the smallest. - Source: dev.to / over 3 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing CodePen and AMPPS, you can also consider the following products

JSFiddle - Test your JavaScript, CSS, HTML or CoffeeScript online with JSFiddle code editor.

XAMPP - XAMPP is a free and open-source cross-platform web server that is primarily used when locally developing web applications.

CodeSandbox - Online playground for React

MAMP - MAMP is the abbreviation for Macintosh, Apache, MySQL, and PHP. It is a reliable application with its four components that allows you to access the local PHP server as well as the database server (SQL).

GitHub - Originally founded as a project to simplify sharing code, GitHub has grown into an application used by over a million people to store over two million code repositories, making GitHub the largest code host in the world.

Laragon - All in one web server.