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VS Code VS CoCalc

Compare VS Code VS CoCalc and see what are their differences

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VS Code logo VS Code

Build and debug modern web and cloud applications, by Microsoft

CoCalc logo CoCalc

Collaborative Calculation and Data Science
  • VS Code Landing page
    Landing page //
    2024-10-09
  • CoCalc Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-29

CoCalc is a sophisticated online workspace that supports Jupyter notebooks, SageMath worksheets and LaTeX. It is a fully managed Python and R Statistics environments provide a lot of packages/libraries out of the box. It is also possible to edit LaTeX files and R documents right inside your browser. A full Linux terminal and an environment to run graphical applications complete CoCalc as a very versatile platform. Beyond that, CoCalc is made for teaching a class online! Avoid the hassle of installing software on every student's machine and help your students more precisely by collaborating on their notebooks.

VS Code

Website
code.visualstudio.com
Pricing URL
-
$ Details
Platforms
-
Release Date
-
Edit details

CoCalc

Website
cocalc.com
Pricing URL
Official CoCalc Pricing
$ Details
freemium $14.0 / Monthly
Platforms
Browser Docker
Release Date
2013 April
Edit details

VS Code features and specs

  • Cross-platform
    VS Code works on Windows, macOS, and Linux, providing a consistent development experience across different operating systems.
  • Extensibility
    A vast library of extensions allows users to add functionalities like debuggers, linters, and themes, making it highly customizable.
  • Integrated Git
    Built-in Git integration makes it easy to manage version control tasks directly within the editor.
  • Performance
    Lightweight compared to full-fledged IDEs, ensuring good performance even on systems with limited resources.
  • IntelliSense
    Advanced code completion and refactoring tools help improve coding efficiency and reduce errors.
  • Community Support
    A strong and active community provides extensive support, tutorials, and third-party extensions.
  • Debugging
    Robust debugging tools for various languages and frameworks are available out of the box.
  • Free and Open-Source
    VS Code is completely free to use and open-source, which is beneficial for both individual developers and organizations.

Possible disadvantages of VS Code

  • Limited IDE Features
    While extensible, it may lack some advanced features found in dedicated IDEs out of the box.
  • Extension Management
    Managing and configuring a large number of extensions can become cumbersome and sometimes lead to performance issues.
  • Learning Curve
    Although user-friendly, it has a steeper learning curve for beginners due to its numerous features and customization options.
  • Memory Usage
    Despite being lightweight, it can consume a significant amount of memory when multiple extensions are installed.
  • Update Frequency
    Frequent updates may sometimes introduce bugs or require users to adapt to new changes quickly.
  • Internet Dependency
    Some features and extensions may require an internet connection to function optimally.
  • Telemetry
    By default, VS Code collects usage data, which might be a concern for users sensitive about data privacy. However, this can be disabled.

CoCalc features and specs

  • Collaboration
    CoCalc offers real-time collaboration, allowing multiple users to work on the same project simultaneously, making it ideal for group projects and teaching.
  • Integration with Jupyter Notebooks
    It supports Jupyter Notebooks, which are popular for data analysis and scientific computing, allowing users to easily share and execute their code.
  • Reproducibility
    CoCalc provides tools to help ensure that computational results can be easily reproduced, supporting both academic research and educational settings.
  • Wide Range of Tools
    The platform supports several programming languages and tools, including LaTeX, Python, R, and SageMath, offering a versatile working environment.
  • Accessibility
    As a cloud-based platform, CoCalc is accessible from anywhere with an internet connection, allowing users to work remotely.

Possible disadvantages of CoCalc

  • Performance Limitations
    As CoCalc is a cloud-based service, computational resources are shared, which can lead to performance limitations compared to local execution.
  • Cost
    While CoCalc offers a free version, advanced features and more computational resources require a subscription, which may not be affordable for all users.
  • Learning Curve
    New users might face a learning curve when getting started with CoCalc, especially if they are unfamiliar with similar platforms or the supported technologies.
  • Internet Dependency
    Since CoCalc is an online platform, a stable internet connection is necessary, which can be a disadvantage in areas with poor connectivity.
  • Limited Customization
    Compared to setting up a local environment, CoCalc may offer less flexibility in configuring the available software and environment settings.

VS Code videos

+ Add

My New Favorite Text Editor - Visual Studio Code

More videos:

  • Review - 7 reasons why I switched to Visual Studio Code from Sublime Text

CoCalc videos

+ Add

Real-time collaboration with Jupyter notebooks using CoCalc- William Stein (SageMath, Inc)

More videos:

  • Review - An overview of CoCalc
  • Review - CoCalc: Making open source data analysis software more collaborative

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to VS Code and CoCalc)

VS Code

CoCalc

Text Editors
100 100%
Text Editors
0% 0
Mathematics
0 0%
Mathematics
100% 100
IDE
100 100%
IDE
0% 0
Python IDE
0 0%
Python IDE
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using VS Code and CoCalc. 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 VS Code and CoCalc

VS Code Reviews

  1. dksinden
    · Working at SpeechKit ·
Boost Your Productivity with These Top Text Editors and IDEs
Visual Studio Code, commonly known as VS Code, is a powerful and extensible code editor developed by Microsoft. With its rich ecosystem of extensions and features like IntelliSense, debugging, and Git integration, VS Code enhances your coding productivity.
Source: convesio.com
13 Best Text Editors to Speed up Your Workflow
Finally, the Visual Studio Code website has numerous tabs for you to learn about the software. The documentation page walks you through steps like the setup and working with different languages. You’re also able to check out some tips and tricks and learn all of the Visual Studio Code keyboard shortcuts. Along with a blog, updates page, extensions library and API...
Source: kinsta.com
Jupyter Notebook & 10 Alternatives: Data Notebook Review [2023]
Previously, VS Code was more suited to developers or engineers due to its lack of data analysis capabilities, but since 2020, the VS Code team has collaborated with the Jupyter team to create an integrated notebook within VS Code. The end result is a fantastic IDE workbook for data analysis.
Source: lakefs.io
The Best IDEs for Java Development: A Comparative Analysis
Overview: Although not a traditional IDE, VS Code has gained popularity as a lightweight code editor.
Source: dev.to
20 Best Diff Tools to Compare File Contents on Linux
Visual studio code is a code editor made by Microsoft. It supports several development operations like debugging, task running, and version control. It works on Linux, macOS and Windows operating systems.
Source: linuxopsys.com

CoCalc Reviews

Jupyter Notebook & 10 Alternatives: Data Notebook Review [2023]
CoCalc (previously called SageMathCloud) is a cloud-based collaborative platform that includes many of the same features as Jupyter Notebooks as well as a number of new ones.
Source: lakefs.io
12 Best Jupyter Notebook Alternatives [2023] – Features, pros & cons, pricing
CoCalc (formerly known as SageMathCloud) is a cloud-based platform for collaborative computing that offers many of the same features as Jupyter Notebooks, as well as a number of additional capabilities. It supports a wide variety of programming languages, including Python, R, and Julia, and provides access to powerful hardware resources, including GPUs. In addition to its...
Source: noteable.io

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, VS Code seems to be a lot more popular than CoCalc. While we know about 1141 links to VS Code, we've tracked only 31 mentions of CoCalc. 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.

VS Code mentions (1141)

  • What's Happening in Developer Tools? (OpenAI Just Bought Windsurf for $3B)
    Microsoft's Visual Studio Code is a free code editor that relies on community plugins for support across various languages and frameworks. It also has an AI offering, Copilot, that provides code completion and it just added its own agent. VSCode supports multiple LLMs, but initially, there seemed to be a preference for ChatGPT, in part given its early lead and no doubt influenced by the fact Microsoft was an early... - Source: dev.to / 2 days ago
  • Your first MCP Server (quick)
    Explore different MCP Clients too! You can continue using ollmcp as we did earlier, or try other clients like Claude Desktop, Visual Studio Code, and more to see how different environments interact with your server. - Source: dev.to / 3 days ago
  • An Introduction to TypeScript for JavaScript Developers
    Better Tooling – Enhanced autocompletion, refactoring, and navigation in IDEs like VS Code. - Source: dev.to / 4 days ago
  • Why Understanding, Not Just Generating Code, Still Matters
    To do this, I used VS Code, an extension called Cline configured in Act mode, and Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 03-25, which is amazing. I made two attempts. The first one using a simple and very generic prompt, and a second one using a more detailed prompt. Let’s talk about them. - Source: dev.to / 8 days ago
  • 🚀 Your First Setup Win: Python and VS Code on Mac (Beginner Friendly)
    I visited code.visualstudio.com and clicked the big, inviting "Download for Mac" button. After downloading, I opened the .zip file, dragged the VS Code app into my Applications folder, and launched it. - Source: dev.to / 11 days ago
View more

CoCalc mentions (31)

  • Hetzner introduces GPU server for AI training
    CoCalc offers On-Demand GPU servers with H100s starting at $2.01 per hour (metered per second) through its integration with Hyperstack... It also has more budget-friendly options, like RTX A4000s at $0.18 per hour. https://cocalc.com/features/compute-server In case you are not familiar, CoCalc is a real-time collaborative environment for education and research that you can access via your web browser at... - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
  • Show HN: Adding Mistral Codestral and GPT-4o to Jupyter Notebooks
    Thank you for the list - I think I've come across all of these in my research! I'll try highlight the differences for each. - https://noteable.io/ - as you say, it doesn't exist anymore - https://deepnote.com - I actually mentioned this in the post but in my experience, the UX and features far behind what we've built already. I'd love to hear from anyone who's tried jupyter-ai to give us a shot and let me know... - Source: Hacker News / 10 months ago
  • Show HN: Adding Mistral Codestral and GPT-4o to Jupyter Notebooks
    - https://cocalc.com -- very extensive AI integration everywhere with all the main hosted models, mostly free or pay as you go; also has realtime collaboration. (Disclaimer: I co-authored this.). - Source: Hacker News / 10 months ago
  • Show HN: I made a better Perplexity for developers
    Is there something like this (maybe this?) that provides an API so I can integrate it like any other model into my own website (in this case, https://cocalc.com)? I tried asking the Phind.com devs, but got ignored. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • A list of SaaS, PaaS and IaaS offerings that have free tiers of interest to devops and infradev
    Cocalc.com — (formerly SageMathCloud at cloud.sagemath.com) — Collaborative calculation in the cloud. Browser access to full Ubuntu with built-in collaboration and lots of free software for mathematics, science, data science, preinstalled: Python, LaTeX, Jupyter Notebooks, SageMath, scikitlearn, etc. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing VS Code and CoCalc, you can also consider the following products

Sublime Text - Sublime Text is a sophisticated text editor for code, html and prose - any kind of text file. You'll love the slick user interface and extraordinary features. Fully customizable with macros, and syntax highlighting for most major languages.

Overleaf - The online platform for scientific writing. Overleaf is free: start writing now with one click. No sign-up required. Great on your iPad.

Vim - Highly configurable text editor built to enable efficient text editing

ShareLaTeX - An online LaTeX editor that's easy to use. No installation, real-time collaboration, version control, hundreds of LaTeX templates, and more. Log InRegister - Reset Password - Documentation - .

Notepad++ - A free source code editor which supports several programming languages running under the MS Windows environment.

Colaboratory - Free Jupyter notebook environment in the cloud.

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