Software Alternatives & Startups

CodePen VS NetworkTests

Compare CodePen VS NetworkTests and see what are their differences

CodePen

A front end web development playground.

Rating
0 reviews
NetworkTests

Measure packet loss, latency, jitter, and hop-by-hop performance with real network diagnostics, DNS leak, VPN detection & more — delivered directly from your browser.

Rating
0 reviews
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.

Which is more popular?

Based on our record, CodePen seems to be more popular. It has been mentioned 513 times since March 2021.

social mentions
513 vs 0
Text Editors popularity
100% vs 0%
alternatives listed
240+ vs 11

Base details

Website, pricing, platforms and company facts side by side.

CodePen
NetworkTests
Website codepen.io networktests.com
Company — Startup from the United States · 1 - 9 employees · 2026
Listed in

About CodePen and NetworkTests

In their own words, as submitted to SaaSHub.

CodePen
NetworkTests

No description of CodePen yet.

NetworkTests.com goes beyond a basic speed test. Most tools like Speedtest use TCP, which retransmits lost packets — reporting perfect delivery even when your network drops packets affecting video calls, gaming, and VoIP. NetworkTests.com uses WebRTC UDP to measure packet loss, latency, and...

Read more about NetworkTests

Features and specs

What each product offers, as listed by its team.

CodePen 6 features
NetworkTests 5 features
  • 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

  • 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.
  • Free Access
    Many network testing tools like this are typically offered free of charge, allowing users to check internet speed, latency, and connection quality without any cost.
  • Convenience
    Being web-based, it allows users to quickly test their network performance from any browser without needing to download or install additional software.
  • Useful Diagnostics
    Such tools often provide helpful diagnostic information like ping, jitter, download/upload speeds, which can help users troubleshoot connectivity issues.
  • Simple Interface
    Network testing websites are usually designed with straightforward, easy-to-understand interfaces, making them accessible even to non-technical users.
  • Quick Results
    Tests are generally designed to run quickly, giving users near-instant feedback on their network performance.

Analysis

An editorial look at what each product does well and who it suits.

CodePen
NetworkTests

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.

Overall verdict

  • NetworkTests appears to be a niche network diagnostic and speed-testing tool, but there is limited independent verification or widespread reputation data available to confirm its reliability, accuracy, or trustworthiness compared to established alternatives.

Why this product is good

  • Offers basic network testing functionality such as speed and connectivity checks
  • Simple, accessible interface for quick diagnostics
  • May be free to use without requiring account creation
  • Lacks strong third-party reviews or established reputation in the industry
  • Limited transparency about the company behind the service, data handling, and testing methodology

Recommended for

  • Users seeking a quick, no-frills network test without needing detailed analytics
  • Casual users who don't require enterprise-grade reporting
  • Those already familiar with the tool through direct recommendation
  • Not recommended as a primary tool for professionals needing certified or highly accurate network diagnostics

Videos

Walkthroughs and reviews on video.

CodePen 3 videos + Add
NetworkTests 0 videos + Add

What Is Codepen?

More videos

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

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

Category popularity

How often each product is chosen within a category, 0–100% relative to the other.

Score bands 0–20 21–40 41–50 51–60 61–100
CodePen
NetworkTests
100% 100%
0% 0%
0% 0%
100% 100%
100% 100%
0% 0%
0% 0%
100% 100%

Questions & Answers

As answered by people managing CodePen and NetworkTests.

What makes your product unique?

NetworkTests's answer:

Most network speed tests use TCP, which automatically retransmits lost packets — so they can report perfect results even when your connection is actively dropping packets that affect video calls, gaming, and VoIP.

NetworkTests.com uses WebRTC DataChannels in unreliable/unordered UDP mode to measure what real-time applications actually experience: packet loss, latency, and jitter — metrics that TCP-based tests hide. It also performs hop-by-hop path diagnostics from our servers back to the client's connection edge using STUN-assisted UDP — inbound path analysis directly from a browser, without any install or agent. This is unusual for a browser-based tool.
Beyond the core test, it includes 12 diagnostic tools: IP lookup, DNS lookup, DNS trace, AS lookup, reverse DNS, ping, traceroute, MTR, MAC lookup, VPN detection, DNS leak test, and SSL proxy / TLS interception check — all free, no signup required.

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

NetworkTests's answer:

Traditional speed tests tell you how fast your connection is. NetworkTests.com tells you why your connection feels broken even when the speed test says it's fine.

Most competitors use TCP, which hides packet loss through automatic retransmission. NetworkTests.com uses UDP via WebRTC — the same protocol used by video calls, gaming, and VoIP — so the results reflect what your applications actually experience. Key reasons to choose NetworkTests.com: - Accurate packet loss measurement — UDP doesn't retransmit, so real packet loss is visible instead of hidden - Hop-by-hop path diagnostics — pinpoints exactly which router on the path is causing the problem, directly from a browser session - All-in-one diagnostics — 12 tools in one place covering network quality, DNS, privacy, and security checks - Privacy tools — DNS leak test, VPN detection, and SSL proxy check in one place, useful for verifying your privacy setup - No friction — no signup, no install, no extensions. Open the browser and run the test - Free — everything is free with no paywalled features

How would you describe the primary audience of your product?

NetworkTests's answer:

NetworkTests.com serves anyone who wants to understand what is really happening on their network, not just how fast it is.

Primary audiences: - Home users — people experiencing choppy video calls, laggy gaming, or buffering streams despite good speed test results. NetworkTests.com helps them identify the real cause — packet loss, jitter, or a bad hop on the network path - Network engineers & sysadmins — professionals who need UDP-based metrics, hop-by-hop MTR analysis, and real packet loss data for diagnosing and validating network performance - IT teams — diagnosing connectivity issues across office networks, validating ISP performance, and pinpointing bottlenecks with data - Privacy & security conscious users — people who want to verify their VPN is working correctly, check for DNS leaks, or detect whether their HTTPS traffic is being intercepted by a corporate or ISP proxy - Developers & researchers — anyone building or testing applications that depend on network quality and need accurate, protocol-level diagnostics directly from a browser

What's the story behind your product?

NetworkTests's answer:

I built NetworkTests.com out of personal frustration.

I kept running Speedtest and seeing great numbers — solid download speeds, low ping — while my video calls were still freezing and my connection felt unreliable. The speed test said everything was fine, but clearly something was wrong. After digging into it, I discovered the problem: Speedtest uses TCP, which automatically retransmits lost packets. It literally cannot see packet loss. My connection was dropping packets, but TCP was quietly hiding them — so the test looked perfect while real-time applications suffered.
I wanted a tool that measured what my applications actually experienced. Something that used UDP — the same protocol video calls, gaming, and VoIP use — and showed me the real numbers: packet loss, jitter, and latency without TCP's masking.
I also wanted hop-by-hop visibility — not just "your connection is bad" but "this specific router on the path is dropping packets." That led to building inbound MTR diagnostics using STUN-assisted UDP through NAT, directly from the browser — something I hadn't seen in other browser-based tools.
Over time it grew into a full diagnostics platform — DNS lookup, DNS trace, VPN detection, DNS leak testing, SSL proxy detection, traceroute, ping, MTR, and more — because these tools belong together when you're trying to diagnose a real network problem.
The goal is simple: give anyone — home user or network engineer — the tools to understand what is actually happening on their connection, for free, without installing anything.

Which are the primary technologies used for building your product?

NetworkTests's answer:

NetworkTests.com is built on modern web technologies that enable real-time network measurements directly in the browser — no plugins, extensions, or installations required.
The core network quality test runs entirely client-server using browser-native APIs, enabling UDP-style packet loss, latency, and jitter measurements without any software install. The backend infrastructure is distributed across three geographic regions, allowing users to test against multiple server locations and get accurate hop-by-hop path diagnostics. All diagnostic tools — DNS lookup, traceroute, MTR, ping, VPN detection, DNS leak test, SSL proxy check, and more — run server-side and return results in real time through the browser interface.

Who are some of the biggest customers of your product?

NetworkTests's answer:

Since NetworkTests.com is a free tool launched in February 2026 with no paid plans or signups, you don't have named customers yet. I'd suggest answering honestly:

NetworkTests.com is a free, public tool launched in February 2026. It does not require signup or registration, so we don't track named customers.
Our users include home users diagnosing connectivity issues, network engineers and sysadmins troubleshooting infrastructure, IT teams validating ISP performance, and privacy-conscious users verifying their VPN and DNS configurations.

User comments

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Reviews and articles

External articles and on-site reviews we used to compare the two products.

CodePen no reviews yet
NetworkTests no reviews yet

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Social recommendations and mentions

Recommendations tracked on public social media and blogs since March 2021.

CodePen 513 mentions
NetworkTests 0 mentions
  • CSS Properties You Should Know for Better Text Designs
    > I vividly remember IE and many hacks to have css elements properly working in it… The common advice now is to only use CSS that is supported in the last two major versions of each major browser. You can check any css property's support... - Source: Hacker News / 2 months ago
  • Ambient Website Background Clouds
    Thank you, heartfelt... For sharing an artwork, a miracle! Just in case, have you considered publishing the work at platforms as CodePen, where genius Artists/People express their art, too, as you?: // https://codepen.io/. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • 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 / 12 months ago

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Tracking NetworkTests since Mar 2026.

Alternatives to CodePen and NetworkTests

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