Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

CodePen VS BuiltWith

Compare CodePen VS BuiltWith and see what are their differences

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CodePen logo CodePen

A front end web development playground.

BuiltWith logo BuiltWith

Find out the technology behind websites
  • CodePen Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-09-30
  • BuiltWith Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-16

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.

BuiltWith features and specs

  • Comprehensive Technology Profiling
    BuiltWith provides detailed information about the technologies that websites are using, including analytics tools, content management systems, e-commerce platforms, and more. This can be incredibly useful for market research and competitive analysis.
  • Market Reports
    The platform offers in-depth market reports that can help businesses understand technology trends across different industries. This data can be crucial for strategic planning and technology adoption decisions.
  • Lead Generation
    BuiltWith can be used to generate leads by identifying websites that use specific technologies. This helps sales teams target potential clients who are already using a competitor's tool or a complementary technology.
  • Customizable Alerts
    Users can set up alerts to get notified whenever a website starts or stops using specific technologies. This feature helps businesses stay updated with market shifts and competitor movements in real-time.
  • Ease of Use
    The interface is relatively user-friendly, making it easy for users to search for websites and technologies without requiring any advanced technical skills.

Possible disadvantages of BuiltWith

  • Pricing
    BuiltWith can be quite expensive, particularly for small businesses and startups. The high cost may make it inaccessible for companies with limited budgets.
  • Data Accuracy
    While generally reliable, the data provided by BuiltWith may not always be 100% accurate or up-to-date. This can sometimes lead to incorrect assumptions or decisions based on outdated information.
  • Limited Free Features
    The free version of BuiltWith offers limited features and capabilities, which may not be sufficient for in-depth research or analysis. Users often need to upgrade to a premium plan to access the full range of functionalities.
  • Complex Data
    The detailed data and extensive lists of technologies can sometimes be overwhelming to sift through without specialized knowledge or a clear strategy, making it less useful for casual users.
  • Dependency on External Data
    BuiltWith relies on external data sources, which means that any limitations or issues with these sources can affect the quality and comprehensiveness of the information provided.

Analysis of CodePen

Overall verdict

  • Yes, CodePen is considered a good platform for web developers, both beginners and experienced. It offers a wide array of features that facilitate creative development and community engagement.

Why this product is good

  • CodePen is a popular online code editor and community platform for front-end developers to experiment with creating and sharing HTML, CSS, and JavaScript snippets. It provides an easy-to-use interface and real-time previews, making it a valuable tool for learning, prototyping, and sharing web development work. It also fosters a community where developers can showcase their projects, receive feedback, and learn from each other.

Recommended for

  • Front-end developers who want to quickly prototype and test web designs.
  • Beginners in web development looking to learn and receive feedback from the community.
  • Educators and students interested in a platform to showcase projects and collaborate.
  • Developers who want to explore creative coding and share their work with a community.

Analysis of BuiltWith

Overall verdict

  • Yes, BuiltWith is considered a good resource for analyzing the technology behind websites due to its comprehensive data and ease of use. It is widely used by professionals to gain a competitive edge and to streamline technology-related decisions.

Why this product is good

  • BuiltWith is a valuable tool for web developers, marketers, and businesses as it provides insights into the technology stack of any website. It helps in understanding market trends, gaining competitive intelligence, and making informed decisions for technology adoption.

Recommended for

  • Web developers looking to understand how different sites are built and which technologies are used.
  • Digital marketers aiming to gather competitive insights and trend analysis.
  • Businesses wanting to assess potential technology partners and competitors.
  • Investors conducting due diligence on companies by understanding their technological dependencies.

CodePen videos

What Is Codepen?

More videos:

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

BuiltWith videos

How to Find Competitors Customers | BuiltWith Review | Kas Andz

More videos:

  • Review - Google Page Speed Tool, Comic-Con Website Review, and BuiltWith Anniversary by Matt@mywebbro.com

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to CodePen and BuiltWith)
Text Editors
100 100%
0% 0
Market Research
0 0%
100% 100
Programming
100 100%
0% 0
Sales Automation
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using CodePen and BuiltWith. 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 BuiltWith

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. Codepenโ€™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 โ€œPensโ€ get picked.

BuiltWith Reviews

  1. Eleanor Bennett
    ยท Digital Marketing Specialist at Logit.io ยท
    Great for finding potential contacts

    A great tool to help you discover the technology being used by a variety of websites. I was impressed that upon signing up that I had full access to a free list of leads.


15 Best BuiltWith Alternatives 2022
Sometimes, BuiltWith may not fit your specific business needs. If so, weโ€™ve compiled our list of best BuiltWith alternatives you may want to consider for your profiling.
8 Best SimilarWeb Alternatives (2019 UPDATE): Add These to Your Digital Tool Kit
BuiltWith is a truly comprehensive tool that will mine a ton of information from anyoneโ€™s site and serve it to you in a manner you will be able to crunch and use it. You might take your time since it is a lot of information to inform your decisions, which is a good thing.
Best Similarweb Alternatives in 2019 to Spy on your Competitors
See business insights of your own business as well as get to know what keywords your competitors are using. Analyze your rivalsโ€™ budget and strategies. The top-notch companies tied with BuiltWith are Google, Adobe, Facebook, Amazon,eBay, and Paypal.
Source: affnext.com
The Best Email Marketing, Sales Prospecting, and Email Automation Software
Builtwith is a tool that helps in identifying sites that use specific web technologies. It identifies the technology spend, gathers the location information and vertical, among other option to create lead lists that are solid for websites by taking into account the internet footprint and technology usage.
73 Best SEO tools 2021 โ€“ The Most Epic List You Shouldnโ€™t Miss
BuiltWith offers a database of 7,000+ web technologies and more than 250 million websites to build lists for lead generation.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, CodePen should be more popular than BuiltWith. It has been mentiond 511 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.

CodePen mentions (511)

  • Haunted Loop: A Pure-CSS Halloween Scene
    Embed on DEV: If you prefer CodePen embed, create a Pen with that HTML and add to the post as: {% codepen https://codepen.io//pen/ %}. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • Top 10 Free Tools Every Web Developer Should Know
    CodePen is where creativity meets frontend code. You can write HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and see results instantly in the browser. - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • What is the Most Effective AI Tool for App Development Today?
    For those preferring agent-based approaches, Replit Agent shines. Khris Steven, Founder of KhrisDigital Marketing, notes, "You can simply describe what you want your app to do in plain English, and Replit Agent will generate the code and deploy it." This natural language interface fosters collaboration, turning ideas into deployable apps in minutes. - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • How I Built a Responsive Dark Mode Toggle Using Vibe Coding?
    After wrapping everything up, I hosted the final toggle on CodePen so others could test it out and learn from the approach. What started as a simple idea became a complete, responsive, and accessible component, thanks to a process that blended creativity with automation. - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • Building an Office with 900+ Lines of CSS: My Frontend Challenge Journey
    For this CSS Art challenge, I wanted to step out of my comfort zone. While I've used CSS extensively for web apps and websites, I had never built an art piece purely with CSS. I started by diving into codepen and other inspiration sites, getting a feel for what was possible. Eventually, a rough sketch of an office atmosphere in Excalidraw became my guiding vision. My goal was to depict a typical office scene,... - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
View more

BuiltWith mentions (162)

  • What Qualities Does It Take to Be the Best Software Developer
    Evan You, creator of Vue.js, is a prime example. Vivek Nair, Co-Founder of BotGauge, notes that You โ€œcreated something that addresses real developer needs with clean logic and thoughtful design.โ€ Vue.js powers over 1.5 million websites in 2025, a testament to its scalability and developer trust, as reported by BuiltWith. Youโ€™s ability to build a framework independently, without corporate backing, underscores his... - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Web apps built with Ruby on Rails
    There exist websites like https://builtwith.com so answer to your question is yes. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Ask HN: Tech Stack Behind the Claude App?
    BuiltWith says the web client is NextJS which is interesting as ChatGPT made a big switch away to Remix IIRC. https://builtwith.com/?https%3a%2f%2fclaude.ai%2fnew. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Disney's Robots Use Rockets to Stick the Landing
    Also, wow that is an obsene amount of libraries they use: https://builtwith.com/?https%3a%2f%2fspectrum.ieee.org%2fdisney-robot-2668135204. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 years ago
  • What website frameworks are used to build these websites?
    I would say run both sites through https://builtwith.com/ to get what all they used in the building process. Source: over 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

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

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

Wappalyzer - Wappalyzer is a technology profilers and leads data provider. Create lists of websites and contacts that use certain technologies.

CodeSandbox - Online playground for React

WhatRuns - Extension that helps you identify technologies used on any website at the click of a button.

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.

Elucify - A completely free software tool that uses crowdsourced data to find business email addresses