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CodePen VS Google Web Designer

Compare CodePen VS Google Web Designer and see what are their differences

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CodePen logo CodePen

A front end web development playground.

Google Web Designer logo Google Web Designer

Google Web Designer is a free, professional-grade HTML5 authoring tool. Build interactive, animated HTML5 creative, no coding necessary.
  • CodePen Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-09-30
  • Google Web Designer Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-07-17

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.

Google Web Designer features and specs

  • Free to Use
    Google Web Designer is available at no cost, making it accessible for individuals and small businesses with limited budgets.
  • User-Friendly Interface
    Provides a visual interface that allows users to quickly design web content without extensive coding knowledge. The drag-and-drop functionality simplifies the design process.
  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    Supports multiple platforms, including Windows, Mac, and Linux, ensuring that users can work on their preferred operating systems.
  • Integration with Google Services
    Seamless integration with other Google services and products, such as Google Ads and DoubleClick Studio, which is beneficial for creating interactive ad campaigns.
  • Animation Capabilities
    Powerful animation tools that enable designers to create rich, interactive web content and animations using HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript.

Possible disadvantages of Google Web Designer

  • Learning Curve
    Although the interface is user-friendly, there is still a learning curve for users who are not familiar with web design principles.
  • Limited Templates
    Offers a limited number of pre-designed templates, which may restrict creativity and efficiency for users who prefer a template-based approach.
  • Performance Issues
    Some users report that the software can be slow or unresponsive, particularly with complex projects or on less powerful hardware.
  • Lack of Advanced Features
    May not have all the advanced features that professional web designers require, limiting its utility for complex or highly customized projects.
  • Dependency on Google Ecosystem
    While integration with Google services can be a pro, it can also be a con for users who prefer not to rely heavily on Google’s ecosystem.

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 Google Web Designer

Overall verdict

  • Overall, Google Web Designer is a good tool for both beginners and experienced designers who need a free, feature-rich platform for creating dynamic visual content. Despite its strengths, it's important to assess if its feature set aligns with your specific needs, as it might not cover very advanced design requirements or non-Google ecosystem integrations as effectively as some other specialized software might.

Why this product is good

  • Google Web Designer is considered a robust tool for creating interactive and animated design content. It provides an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, advanced design features, HTML5 and CSS3 support, and seamless integration with other Google services. This makes it appealing for users looking to create engaging web content without needing extensive coding knowledge.

Recommended for

  • Web designers who want a free platform with powerful animation and interactive content capabilities.
  • Users who already utilize other Google services and seek seamless integration.
  • Designers interested in creating HTML5 ad banners or engaging web content without deep coding expertise.
  • Beginners looking for an intuitive interface to start learning web design concepts.

CodePen videos

+ Add

What Is Codepen?

More videos:

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

Google Web Designer videos

+ Add

Google Web Designer for Google Ads Demo

More videos:

  • Review - Google Web Designer for Beginners

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to CodePen and Google Web Designer)

CodePen

Google Web Designer

Text Editors
100 100%
Text Editors
0% 0
CMS
0 0%
CMS
100% 100
Programming
100 100%
Programming
0% 0
Website Builder
0 0%
Website Builder
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using CodePen and Google Web Designer. 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 Google Web Designer

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.
Source: www.softwarediscover.com
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.
Source: towardsdatascience.com

Google Web Designer Reviews

16 Best Web Design Software in 2022 [Essential Guide]
Google Web Designer is a free, professional-grade HTML5 authoring tool. Build interactive, animated HTML5 creative, no coding necessary. Use Google Web Designer’s advanced drawing tools to create and animate vector graphics. Set the color, gradient, line style, line thickness and opacity of your shapes.
Source: filmlifestyle.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, CodePen seems to be a lot more popular than Google Web Designer. While we know about 503 links to CodePen, we've tracked only 10 mentions of Google Web Designer. 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

Google Web Designer mentions (10)

  • Lottie is an open format for animated vector graphics
    Https://webdesigner.withgoogle.com/ Expressive Animator (paid, but not expensive and with free trial), made for SVG animations, can also export Lottie. - Source: Hacker News / 21 days ago
  • Does anyone know a cheaper alternative to adobe animate
    Check out > https://webdesigner.withgoogle.com/. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Show HN: Construct Animate – our new browser-based animation tool
    This looks really nice. I'm reminded of a desktop app Google has called "Google Web Designer" which can do similar timeline based animations and exports to the same formats. But it's nice being able to do in the browser without downloading an app. However, Web Designer is free so there's that. Also, who knows how long Google will continue to support this app. https://webdesigner.withgoogle.com/. - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago
  • what are programs that are like Adobe animate, and also can open FLA's files
    I don't think .FLA files are compatible with any other software. Flash was originally its own product produced by Macromedia before adobe bought them out. There is only one other product that I know of that you can use a canvas to create animations and that is Google WebDesigner. I'm not sure if you can import FLA though. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Decker, a platform that builds on the legacy of Hypercard and classic macOS
    Google Web Designer which is closed source has Dreamweaver features including templates. See https://webdesigner.withgoogle.com/. - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing CodePen and Google Web Designer, you can also consider the following products

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

Nova Code Editor - Nova Code Editor is software that is used for writing and editing codes.

CodeSandbox - Online playground for React

SquareSpace - Squarespace is the easiest way for anyone to create an exceptional website. Pages, galleries, blogs, e-commerce, domains, hosting, analytics, 24/7 support - all included.

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.

Adobe Dreamweaver - Adobe Dreamweaver is a proprietary web development tool developed by Adobe Systems.

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