# CodePen Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra

> Is CodePen the right Application Development solution for you? Explore 23 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice.

Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/229451/CodePen/reviews

---

CodePen

4.6 (23)

[View alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/229451/CodePen/alternatives/)

Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/our-story/)

* * *

Last updated March 13th, 2026

# Reviews of CodePen

Ease of use

4.7

Customer Service

4.3

## Pros and Cons in Reviews

RS

Roja S

Solution managerEducation Management, 51 - 200 employeesUsed the software for: 6-12 months.

“Code pen user interface is amazing and it's performance also.“

January 11, 2024

Joël T

Senior Web dev.Computer Software, 2 - 10 employeesUsed the software for: Less than 6 months.

“One weird thing with code pen is how complex it seems sometimes.“

July 17, 2023

KJ

Krinal J

Software DeveloperInformation Technology and Services, 11 - 50 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years.

“All the features are not provided in free version and pricing of pro version of CodePen is higher as compared to other alternatives.“

October 29, 2022

Christopher E

TeacherEducation Management, 501 - 1,000 employeesUsed the software for: 1-2 years.

“The interface takes up a lot of screen real estate and it is not always conducive.“

July 6, 2021

KV

Kartheek V

Full-stack DeveloperInternet, 2 - 10 employeesUsed the software for: 1-2 years.

“The interface is outdated and can be confusing when you are starting out .“

July 3, 2021

## Showing most helpful reviews

Showing 1-23 of 23 Reviews

Sort by:

Most Helpful

Rating

Company Size

Reviewer's Role

Length of Use

Frequency of Use

Abrar K.  
Survey Programmer  
Market Research  
Used the software for: 1-2 years

### "Best light-weight code editor for anyone who likes to code."

July 22, 2021

4.0

I have been using this tool to showcase my skills and try out small codes. The animations and other designing features are great in this application. It is online and everything is stored on cloud, making it easier to access from any device all around the world.

Pros

The interface is very good and the application is fast. There are many features to help in coding and many programming languages to choose. We can display our code snippets in the form of pens and make it available for everyone to view it. It is the best platform to showcase one's skills. We can even checkout other user's pens or snippets and can fork it for ourselves.

Cons

Although this application have lots of features but it lacks many which other competitors have. The auto-code completion is poor as the code library is not vast. It is only useful for small one page projects and can not handle very large projects.

Switched from

[Notepad++](https://www.capterra.com/p/185965/Notepad/)

The tool is simple and does not have many features. It does not have intelliSense for auto-code completion. It is offline and does not have a cloud storage.

Review Source

VR

Verified Reviewer  
developer software  
Information Technology and Services  
Used the software for: 6-12 months

### "the best ally to get started in coding"

February 8, 2022

5.0

Code Pen was an extraordinary tool, I would say almost fundamental during my learning process as a developer, it seems to me that it is the best product for someone who is just starting out, or at least for me it was.

Pros

it is definitely its graphical interface, how intuitive it is, you like to use it. For students who are just starting out, the use of a tool like Code Pen is great.

Cons

I use it as a user and in free versions, because in my opinion its scalability for projects due to the limited one is with the languages ​​is decisive according to the type of project. Ideal for web development use, not so for other tools

Switched from

[Microsoft Visual Studio](https://www.capterra.com/p/80230/microsoft-visual-studio/)

I made the change mainly because Visual Studio for a beginner is a bit complex to use and its graphical interface is very limited, but the determining factor was that Code Pen, due to its way of being distributed, helped me to better understand the principles of web development.

Review Source

KNKA

Khan Nida Khanum A.  
Software Engineer  
Computer Software  
Used the software for: 6-12 months

### "For showcasing your small snippets it is good. More like a social ground for developers to showcase"

July 16, 2021

3.0

Overall , sine the community for codepen is huge. It is a great social platform tool to showcase your code like amazing animations. Most users share and showcase their animation snippet through codepen. For larger projects other tools like codesanbox can be used.

Pros

Good for showcasing small code snippets as the community for codepen is very large compared to other tools like codesandbox. Minimal configuration to start with.

Cons

Very limited feature for codepen projects. More features are available in paid version. Also, intellisense is not great in codepen. Other tools like codesanbox provides better features and intellisense for larger projects.

Review Source

Joël T.  
Senior Web dev.  
Computer Software  
Used the software for: Less than 6 months

### "Amazing Intergrated development environment for creative ideas and collaboration"

July 17, 2023

5.0

Codepen is a great option for rapid online coding.

Pros

Codepen is my number online app dev alternative of all time. It's just one Google search away and is fast and responsive.It's also free and has a beginner-friendly GUI. It offers the possibility to open up to 3 tabs at the same time; this is great as it endorses an easy workflow and boosts productivity rates. This software enables me to work on personal as well as collaborative projects. It's an amazing hub for collaboration, creative ideas, and skill training.I get in touch with various developers around the world and I also get to discover their skills and work- it's simply fun.

Cons

One weird thing with code pen is how complex it seems sometimes. It wasn't easy for me to be able to locate some features (like, where to insert the header tags ) in the app as they seem hidden.

Switched from

[PyCharm](https://www.capterra.com/p/186625/PyCharm/)

It's a little too simple and purpose-oriented

Review Source

VR

Verified Reviewer  
Senior Web Developer  
Defense & Space  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Handy tool for testing, debugging and sharing"

June 4, 2025

5.0

Overall it's a great little tool that I've used over the years to test and build basic html/js/css code, I have found it easy to share with others and allows you to teach and demonstrate code in real time. It's also saved me a lot of time to just test small code snippets quickly to see if it's something viable to use.

Pros

Codepen is a cool tool that let's you test and edit in real time your html, js and css code. It's really handy for debugging and proving out small snippets of code. It's also handy for sharing and demonstrating code to others.

Cons

It has some limitations, anything large scale it isn't exactly suited for, you can't run stuff in it like a full staging environment but it does support mid sized projects. It also doesn't support running php script.

Review Source

AP

Aakash P.  
Accessibility Consultant  
Information Technology and Services  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Easy and FREE!"

August 24, 2024

5.0

Pros

It always works well and allows me to quickly test small pieces of code on multiple devices. The free features are really useful

Cons

I wish you would be able to pause the auto-running/updating functionality whilst writing code in a CodePen. It can be quite annoying and disruptive sometimes

Review Source

Aliaksandr B.  
Marketing Expert  
Marketing and Advertising  
Used the software for: 1-2 years

### "Ultimate tool for developers"

August 23, 2021

5.0

First of all, CodePen is a unique tool for developers. You don\`t need to configure the local server for development. Just create your account or sign in and that\`s all. CodePen is a simple and great. What I\`ve like the most: it doesn\`t matter what is the length of your code. The animations, scripts are works great. Also you can work with this software from any device, because all of your projects are hosted on cloud.

Pros

You can create your projects for free, UI is great and clean, must have tool for developers

Cons

I totally happy with CodePen. Can\`t say anything negative about it.

Review Source

VR

Verified Reviewer  
developer  
Media Production  
Used the software for: 1-2 years

### "Best for front-end development"

August 18, 2021

4.0

Codepen is amazing to use unless you have to code in any other language rather than HTML, CSS and Javascript.

Pros

Excellent and easy to use user interface. I would highly recommend this for front-end development and sharing your code through a single link. Best thing about CodePen is one can view the output at real time while editing the code.

Cons

It has only 3 languages available i.e HTML, CSS and Javascript and another thing I don't like is that it does not have the feature of live collaboration.

Review Source

Christopher E.  
Teacher  
Education Management  
Used the software for: 1-2 years

### "Web-Based Front End Development"

July 6, 2021

4.0

CodePen is a great place to learn and work on coding web-based and front-end projects. The challenges are fun and engaging and the community is very supportive.

Pros

CodePen is an excellent web-based IDE for web and front-end development. The site supports HTML, CSS, JavaScript and more. One of the best features is the challenges. Every month the community completes themed challenges to hone the skills. This is a great way to practice and learn more about how the code works. CodePen is also the preferred IDE of freeCodeCamp.

Cons

The only issue I have is the interface has a bit of a learning curve. Looking at the interface for the first time can be somewhat daunting. It also does not do well on smaller screens. The interface takes up a lot of screen real estate and it is not always conducive.

Review Source

Shan S.  
Founder  
Computer Software  
Used the software for: 1-2 years

### "Live Code Editor"

April 1, 2022

5.0

Pros

CodePen is a great tool for front-end developers to test out their code on the fly and share it with others. CodePen can be used to create code snippets and test them on the fly and share them with others. Mostly, the use-case is to embed the code on the website. It's a pretty useful and solid tool. Not only that you can search other developers' code like CSS animations, JavaScript techniques, and much more. Highly Recommended

Cons

It's a great tool, no complaints so far. The feature they can introduce is the beauty code snippets.

Review Source

gB

giorgia B.  
Amministrazione Software e Hardware  
Computer Software  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "CodePen ottimo sito web per trovare progetti per il propio sito web"

October 28, 2024

5.0

La mia esperienza con CodePen è completamente positiva, se potessi dare più stelle ne darei, rimane il sito web migliore in assoluto per trovare ogni tipo di progetto di altri utenti perfetto veramente

Pros

Uso CodePen da anni ormai, mi piace molto la possibilita di vedere progetti di altri utenti, mi è piaciuto molto il fatto che CodePen ti consenta di vedere in tempo reale il progetto scritto in vari linguaggi, molto bella la grafica, grazie a CodePen sono riuscita a prendere grandi progetti da implementare nel mio sito web. Ho apprezzato molto il fatto che quando esporti il progetto rimane salvato ogni file JS e CSS in 2 cartelle separate ottimo. Anche la possibilità di modificare il codice HTML direttamente dal sito web perfetto

Cons

Quello che mi è piaciuto di meno di CodePen è che avevo esportato un progetto di un utente che mi piaceva moltissimo, quando l'ho esportato ho aperta il file HTML non funzionava il non riconoscendo i file scritti in javascript, quando in CodePen in preview caricava tutto alla perfezione da risolvere

Review Source

VR

Verified Reviewer  
Développeur  
Internet  
Used the software for: 1-2 years

### "Superbe outil de partage de code entre passionnés"

April 17, 2025

5.0

Pros

CodePen est un excellent outil pour partager du code avec d'autres utilisateurs sans aucune prise de tête et de façon organisée. C'est très agréable de visualiser à la fois le rendu, le code html, le code css et le code JS and un même espace.

Cons

Je n'ai pas de point spécifique à reprocher à CodePen, seule l'utilisation sur mobile est délicate mais c'est davantage du à la taille de l'écran qu'au site lui-même.

Review Source

Fabrizio M.  
Ethical hacking  
Internet  
Used the software for: 1-2 years

### "CodePen miglior modo per mpstrare i propi progetti"

December 24, 2023

5.0

La mia esperienza con CodePen è de tutto positiva lo utilizzo da anni ormai è fondamentalmente per chi lavora nell'ambito di webdevolper, il sito è veloce è fluido anche visitato mobile quindi continuate così 👍👍👍

Pros

CodePen mi piace molto perchè posso condividere progetti con altri utenti, passo ore a vedere progetti veramente perfetti creati con css3 e javascript da parte di altri utenti, la cosa che mi piace molto è che permette l'esportazione completa in un file zip dove ti trovi il file .html con tutte le relative cartelle .js .css, io trovo questo sito veramente utile per implementazione direttamente nel sito in progettazione è implementare il codice grazie ha utenti che mettono impegno per condividere i loro progetti con altri. Mi piace molto l'anteprima dei progetti anche se molto pesanti per un sito web per la riproduzione, CodePen lo apre e riproduce il progetto perfettamente senza blocchi, penso che CodePen sia indispensabile per i webdevolper che progettano siti web scrivendosi come me, codici html e js per creare un sito web da solo senza aiuto di piattaforme più note. Che dire io lo uso da anni rimane sempre il numero 1 dei reposity html, il sito rimane sempre sicuro e affidabile, i complimenti davvero hai creatori continuante così 👍👍👍👍

Cons

Allora di persè CodePen non presenta alcun errore che non permette l'utilizzo e la visualizzazione dei progetti, una cosa che dovreste migliorare che personalmente non mi è piaciutà è il fatto che, quando trovo un progetto che mi piace lo apro in CodePen viene aperto correttamente con tutte le varie librerie js, css, js, quando lo esporti e lo estrai sul pc in locale presenta errori con la visualizzazione, quindi quando succede c'ho devo riaprire il progetto che mi è piaciuto è vedere dove è l'errore che non permette la visualizzazione corretta in locale sul PC, nell'esportazione del progetto non viene mostrato alcune volte il link https://sitoweb.com/image/image.png, l'immagine risulta non trovata in locale, con tasto destro, ispeziona elemento, non trova il file o nei casi più gravi non trova le librerie di javascript è quindi non visualizza correttamente il progetto esportato. Dovreste migliorare su questo aspetto è impedire che quando un utente crea un progetto, inserisce un'immagine o un link rimandande a un hosting di assicurarsi che sia presente, perchè poi presenta errori in locale

Review Source

VR

Verified Reviewer  
Desarrollador Web  
Information Technology and Services  
Used the software for: 1-2 years

### "Buen editor de codigo online"

February 8, 2024

5.0

Muy buena, en general lo utilizo para crear proyectos siemples con JS.

Pros

Puedes crear nuevo codigo de forma rapida y eficiente y te permite compartir tu codigo.

Cons

Algunas veces la ejecuta del codigo tiene algunas fallas o se hace lenta el mostrar el resultado final.

Review Source

KJ

Krinal J.  
Software Developer  
Information Technology and Services  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Great and amazing code-sharing platform"

October 29, 2022

4.0

Pros

It is easy to use and save the code. We can easily build, edit and take a look of the live preview of the output. We can easily use CodePen without installing any code-editor. Also, we can manage and edit the code easily on the cloud.

Cons

All the features are not provided in free version and pricing of pro version of CodePen is higher as compared to other alternatives. So, they should try to give some affordable pricing for pro-version.

Review Source

bB

barun B.  
HR Specialist  
Construction  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "My Opinion"

May 10, 2022

5.0

Awesome editor with live preview result.

Pros

Awesome online code editor for HTML, CSS and JavaScript . I like its Live preview result.

Cons

Nothing negative about this editor. But can be added free pro version.

Reason for choosing CodePen

because it is online editor and it's live preview.

Switched from

[Visual Studio Code](https://www.capterra.com/p/186634/Visual-Studio-Code/)

Html Live preview result.

Review Source

AB

Ashok B.  
Digital Marketer  
Information Technology and Services  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Amazing light-weight code editor."

July 4, 2022

4.0

Pros

It have very user-friendly interface. It provides live preview results for the ones who are using or editing someones code online. It allows users to showcase there skills by displaying the code snippets in the form of pens. It has a large community. Also, the platform provides good storage space.

Cons

The only drawback using this tool is that we cannot use it in the offline mode.

Review Source

SA

Sami A.  
Software Developer  
Computer Software  
Used the software for: 6-12 months

### "Perfect Tool For front-end developer"

December 28, 2023

5.0

I faced some difficulty in the beginning because the program does not support a back-end programming language. But using it for a period of time I saw that the program was designed in a good way to make it easier for us to create a front-end layouts. I worked on a personal page and another page for electronic payment. Finally, looking at other screens to see the changes made me suffer but using this program helped me to avoid this.

Pros

What I liked is the mechanism for displaying consistent HTML, CSS and JavaScript codes next to each other on one page with the ability to view added modifications immediately. This is very cool if we are using large displays. It facilitates the process of navigating between the code files and the website to find out the details of whether they are good or not.

Cons

I didn't like that I constantly need the Internet to continue working. I thought this was an app I could download to work on if internet wasn't available. I face a delay in displaying interface layout when I work with large files.

Review Source

RS

Roja S.  
Solution manager  
Education Management  
Used the software for: 6-12 months

### "The versatile tool for Frontend Developing "

January 11, 2024

4.0

Pros

Code pen user interface is amazing and it's performance also. Good.Mos t important thing is s no need to download bundle of softwares ...can use all html,css,Java script in online.Also it's allow copy pasting.

Cons

It's sometimes get lac ...while working large files.

Review Source

SOB

Sadık Oktay B.  
Junior Software Engineer  
Information Technology and Services  
Used the software for: Less than 6 months

### "Most convenient IDE for me"

May 13, 2022

5.0

Pros

CodePen is the easiest to adopt IDE for application development, you can easily start coding and organize your work.

Cons

everything is quite fine so far, I haven't experinced any issues that worth to mention here.

Review Source

KV

Kartheek V.  
Full-stack Developer  
Internet  
Used the software for: 1-2 years

### "Is very reliable"

July 3, 2021

4.0

Pros

I like that you can share just parts of the code, as opposed to the full thing each time . The platform gives you a lot of storage room and running commands through the console is simple and smooth .

Cons

You can't work on it offline . The interface is outdated and can be confusing when you are starting out . The community is still growing and it can take a while for you to receive the help you need .

Review Source

AS

Alberto S.  
Front End Developer  
Computer Software  
Used the software for: Less than 6 months

### "A good tool for developer"

April 18, 2023

4.0

My overall experience is good, not really easy to use for a junior developer like me but very helpful in some occasions

Pros

That you can find many useful codes done by people and you can easily see the output of your code, we used it to learn as a backboard

Cons

That there are no suggestions to complete the code, see VSCode as example, for junior devs like me could be a little hard to find errors

Review Source

JM

John M.  
Front End Software Engineer  
Internet  
Used the software for: 1-2 years

### "Great for both experiments and for actual work ."

May 8, 2021

5.0

Pros

I like that the app allows you to select whether to test the whole code or just parts of it ( which you determine ) .

Cons

You can't use it offline . A lot of the error messages and unclear and do not really let you know what the exact issue is .

Review Source

Similar Products

Featured

## Related categories

[Integrated Development Environment (IDE)](https://www.capterra.com/ide-software/)[Application Development](https://www.capterra.com/application-development-software/)