Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

CodePen VS HackDesign

Compare CodePen VS HackDesign 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.

HackDesign logo HackDesign

Newsletter that teaches you design via 50 curated courses
  • CodePen Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-09-30
  • HackDesign Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-09-23

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.

HackDesign features and specs

  • Free Access
    HackDesign provides free access to a wide range of design lessons and resources, making it accessible to anyone interested in learning design without financial barriers.
  • Curated Content
    The platform offers content curated by professional designers, ensuring users receive high-quality and relevant educational materials.
  • Diverse Topics
    HackDesign covers a broad spectrum of design topics, from basic principles to advanced techniques, catering to various skill levels and interests.
  • Self-Paced Learning
    Users can learn at their own pace, allowing them to balance their studies with other commitments and review materials as needed.
  • Community Support
    HackDesign fosters a community of learners and professionals who can share insights, collaborate, and support each other in their design journey.

Possible disadvantages of HackDesign

  • Lack of Interactivity
    The platform mainly consists of text-based lessons and links, which may not offer the interactive learning experiences some users prefer.
  • Variable Depth
    While offering a wide range of topics, the depth of coverage can vary, potentially leaving advanced learners seeking more in-depth material.
  • No Formal Certification
    HackDesign does not provide formal certifications or accreditations, which might be important for users looking to add credentials to their resumes.
  • Dependent on External Resources
    Much of the content is sourced from external links, which can lead to inconsistencies in quality or availability if the linked resources change or are removed.
  • Limited Multimedia Content
    There is limited use of multimedia such as videos or interactive simulations, which might reduce engagement for users who prefer visual or dynamic content.

CodePen videos

What Is Codepen?

More videos:

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

HackDesign videos

No HackDesign videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

Add video

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to CodePen and HackDesign)
Text Editors
100 100%
0% 0
Design Tools
0 0%
100% 100
Programming
100 100%
0% 0
CSS
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using CodePen and HackDesign. 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 HackDesign

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.

HackDesign Reviews

We have no reviews of HackDesign yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, CodePen seems to be a lot more popular than HackDesign. While we know about 502 links to CodePen, we've tracked only 5 mentions of HackDesign. 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 (502)

View more

HackDesign mentions (5)

  • Ask HN: Best UI design courses for hackers?
    I recall the HackDesign website/course being great a few years ago! Not sure about now, but used to be free...! https://hackdesign.org/. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Biamp Tesira Canvas Control Surface examples
    For short-form lessons, applied knowledge, and tooling intros https://hackdesign.org also has a decent set of resources. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • How to Become a “Designer Who Codes”
    What specifically do you want to get better at? Visual design or interaction design? Try these: https://hackdesign.org/ https://www.interaction-design.org/courses/ui-design-patterns-for-successful-software https://www.manning.com/books/usability-matters https://pragprog.com/titles/lmuse2/designed-for-use-second-edition/ https://designcode.io/ui-design-for-developers https://www.learnui.design/newsletter.html... - Source: Hacker News / about 2 years ago
  • Nearly done 1st cert. Can't style CSS for sh*t.
    There is also a cool free resource online for learning design - https://hackdesign.org/. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Ask HN: Best self-starter resources to learn web design?
    Hack Design is a design course as well as a curated list of resources and tools: https://hackdesign.org/ It's not limited to web design (though resources relevant to web design make up a large part of the course) but addresses design fundamentals such as colour theory and typography, too. - Source: Hacker News / over 3 years ago

What are some alternatives?

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

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

Smashingmagazine - Smashing Magazine delivers useful and innovative information to Web designers and developers. Their aim is to inform about the latest trends and techniques in Web development.

CodeSandbox - Online playground for React

Awwwards - Awwards focuses on web design and has an awards system that highlights exceptional design.

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.

CSS-Tricks - CSS-Tricks is a website about websites.