Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

CodePen VS Greenshot

Compare CodePen VS Greenshot and see what are their differences

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CodePen logo CodePen

A front end web development playground.

Greenshot logo Greenshot

Greenshot is a free and open source screenshot tool that allows annotation and highlighting using the built-in image editor.
  • CodePen Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-09-30
  • Greenshot Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-09-30

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.

Greenshot features and specs

  • Open Source
    Greenshot is an open-source tool, meaning it is free to use and has a transparent development process. Users can view, modify, and distribute the source code.
  • Lightweight
    Greenshot has a small footprint and runs efficiently, making it suitable for use on older or less powerful systems without significantly impacting performance.
  • Customizable
    The tool offers various configuration options, allowing users to tailor the screenshot capture process and output to their specific needs.
  • Annotation Tool
    Greenshot includes built-in annotation tools, enabling users to edit, highlight, and add notes to their screenshots directly within the application.
  • Multiple Export Options
    Users can save screenshots in various formats or directly upload them to cloud services or share them via email, making it versatile for different use cases.

Possible disadvantages of Greenshot

  • Windows-Centric
    Greenshot primarily supports Windows. Users on macOS and Linux might find it less optimized or need to seek alternative solutions.
  • Learning Curve
    Although versatile, the extensive features and customization options might present a learning curve for new users, particularly those unfamiliar with screenshot tools.
  • Limited Advanced Editing
    While Greenshot offers annotation tools, it lacks advanced image editing capabilities found in more comprehensive graphic design software.
  • Occasional Bugs
    As with many open-source projects, users may encounter occasional bugs or stability issues, requiring community support or patience for fixes.
  • No Video Capture
    Greenshot is designed exclusively for capturing static screenshots and does not support video or GIF recording, unlike some of its competitors.

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 Greenshot

Overall verdict

  • Overall, Greenshot is a recommended screenshot tool due to its comprehensive features that cater to both basic and advanced screenshot needs while being resource-efficient.

Why this product is good

  • Greenshot is considered a good tool by many users due to its simplicity, ease of use, and powerful features that are highly beneficial for creating and editing screenshots. It offers various annotation tools, multiple output options, and integration with other services which enhance productivity and documentation processes.

Recommended for

  • Students who need to include annotated screenshots in their reports or presentations.
  • Office workers who frequently share screen captures in emails or documents.
  • Software developers and testers who require detailed screenshots for bug reporting and documentation.
  • Anyone looking for an easy-to-use, free, and reliable screenshot tool.

CodePen videos

What Is Codepen?

More videos:

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

Greenshot videos

My Greenshot Review 2017

More videos:

  • Tutorial - Complete Greenshot Tutorial for Beginners | Best Screen Capture Tool for Windows 10
  • Review - Greenshot Screenshot App Review

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to CodePen and Greenshot)
Text Editors
100 100%
0% 0
Screenshot Annotation
0 0%
100% 100
Programming
100 100%
0% 0
Screenshots
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using CodePen and Greenshot. 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 Greenshot

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.

Greenshot Reviews

Top 13 Free Snagit Alternatives For 2021
Greenshot is a free and open source screen-capture tool that can serve as a Snagit free alternative for Windows 7. It is quite unfortunate that Greenshot is only compatible with Windows, but hey, it’s free, so we can’t judge.
Source: screenrec.com
15 Best Snagit Alternatives in 2020
Greenshot is an open source screen capture tool. This tool allows you to quickly capture screenshots of a selected region, window, or entire screen. It also helps you to capture scrolling web pages from the Internet Explorer and other browsers.
Source: www.guru99.com
30 Best Free Screen Capture Tools and Plugins
Greenshot can capture any region on the screen or a web page and present the options to annotate or highlight parts of the shot. Interestingly, it provides an option to save the file or upload it to Flickr or Picasa. But it runs only on Windows PC.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, CodePen should be more popular than Greenshot. It has been mentiond 503 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 (503)

View more

Greenshot mentions (117)

  • Flameshot – Powerful, yet simple to use open-source screenshot software
    For the last 10(ish) years I've been using Greenshot [1]. I haven't found any issues with it but it is only available on Windows and Mac. [1] https://getgreenshot.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 12 months ago
  • Help removing ads on https://getgreenshot.org/
    Just looking for filters to remove ad space on https://getgreenshot.org/. There is a space at the top on one on the right side. Thanks! Source: over 1 year ago
  • How to get rid of the dialog box after print screen ?
    This is a program installed called Greenshot. It's a utility used for taking screenshots. If you want it to go away, you can uninstall greenshot. Source: over 1 year ago
  • This guy just dropped the BEST MOD of the month and yall dont talk abt it ????
    Here's a useful free software for that https://getgreenshot.org/. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • I opened Start and I searched for Snipping Tool to capture this!
    I had to install Greenshot once for a class and now I use it for all of my screenshots. Source: almost 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

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

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

ShareX - ShareX is a free and open source program that lets you capture or record any area of your screen...

CodeSandbox - Online playground for React

LightShot - The fastest way to take a customizable screenshot.

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.

Snagit - Screen Capture Software for Windows and Mac