Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Responsively VS CodePen

Compare Responsively VS CodePen and see what are their differences

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Responsively logo Responsively

Develop responsive web-apps 5x faster!

CodePen logo CodePen

A front end web development playground.
  • Responsively Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-16

A web browser that aids responsive web app development. Preview all target screens in a single window side-by-side. Brings down your development time. Use your already-familiar dev-tools from the browser. No additional learning curve!

  • CodePen Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-09-30

Responsively

$ Details
free
Platforms
Windows Mac OSX Linux
Release Date
2020 May

Responsively features and specs

  • Multi-device Preview
    Allows simultaneous preview of a website on different device screen sizes, facilitating responsive design testing and debugging.
  • Open Source
    Being an open-source project, it allows for community contributions, transparency, and no licensing fees.
  • Sync Scrolling and Clicks
    Enables synchronized scrolling and clicking across all previews, making it easier to test interactions and layouts uniformly.
  • Customizable Viewports
    Users can add, remove, or adjust predefined viewports to match specific device requirements or test cases.
  • Lightweight and Fast
    Designed to be performant and quick, reducing the overhead on development machines and improving productivity.
  • Cross-platform
    Compatible with multiple operating systems, including Windows, macOS, and Linux, ensuring broader user adoption.

Possible disadvantages of Responsively

  • Limited Browser Support
    May not offer the same level of browser compatibility testing as dedicated tools like BrowserStack or Sauce Labs.
  • Steep Learning Curve
    New users might require some time to get accustomed to the interface and functionalities compared to more straightforward testing tools.
  • Resource Intensive
    Running multiple device previews simultaneously can consume considerable system resources, which might slow down other tasks.
  • No Cloud Integration
    Lacks integration with cloud services for remote testing, unlike some paid alternatives.
  • Dependence on Electron
    As an Electron-based app, it might have a larger memory footprint compared to native applications.

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.

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.

Responsively videos

Responsively App Demo

More videos:

  • Review - Responsively Style Checkboxes, freeCodeCamp Bootstrap Review, lesson 16
  • Review - Line up Form Elements Responsively with Bootstrap, freeCodeCamp Bootstrap Review, lesson 18

CodePen videos

What Is Codepen?

More videos:

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

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Responsively and CodePen)
Design Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Text Editors
0 0%
100% 100
Developer Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Programming
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Responsively and CodePen

Responsively Reviews

  1. Open source and best
    🏁 Competitors: Sizzy, Polypane

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.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, CodePen seems to be a lot more popular than Responsively. While we know about 503 links to CodePen, we've tracked only 46 mentions of Responsively. 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.

Responsively mentions (46)

  • Best Free Tools for Frontend Developers to Speed Up Workflow
    🔍 5. Responsively App Testing responsiveness on multiple devices? Responsively App is an open-source tool that lets you preview your site across devices side-by-side. - Source: dev.to / 19 days ago
  • Polypane, The browser for ambitious web developers
    To save other readers a click: https://responsively.app/. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • 22 Unique Developer Resources You Should Explore
    URL: https://responsively.app What it does: View your website across multiple devices and screen sizes simultaneously. Why it's great: Perfect for real-time responsive testing — save time and effort! - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • Responsively App: The Ultimate Tool for Web Developers on Windows
    You can download Responsively App from their official website. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • My Hacktober Journey as a Contributor
    Hacktoberfest has been an incredible ride! As a maintainer of the Responsively App, I’ve had the privilege of witnessing developers come together to support and improve our open-source project. Seeing the growth in contributions this year has been both surprising and inspiring. It’s been a chance for us to engage with developers who are as excited about improving Responsively as we are. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
View more

CodePen mentions (503)

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What are some alternatives?

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

Polypane - The browser for ambitious web developers that want to 5× their quality and efficiency.

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

Sizzy - The browser for designers and developers

CodeSandbox - Online playground for React

BrowserStack - BrowserStack is a software testing platform for developers to comprehensively test websites and mobile applications for quality.

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.