Quick Comparison
| Platform | Best For | Key Strength |
|---|---|---|
| CodePen | Showcasing work, CSS experiments | Beautiful UI, community features |
| JSFiddle | Quick debugging, sharing snippets | Simple, fast, no-frills |
| JS Bin | Teaching, minimal demos | Ultra-lightweight, collaborative |
| CodeSandbox | Full app development, npm packages | Real dev environment, VS Code integration |
| StackBlitz | Framework projects (React, Angular, etc.) | Runs in browser, instant environment |
When to Use Each
CodePen
- ✅ Building your portfolio
- ✅ CSS animations and creative demos
- ✅ Sharing on social media (good embeds)
- ✅ Exploring others’ work for inspiration
- ❌ Complex apps with many dependencies
JSFiddle
- ✅ Quick bug reproduction for Stack Overflow
- ✅ Testing a small code snippet
- ✅ Simple collaboration (easy to fork)
- ✅ No account needed to share
- ❌ Fancy presentation or portfolio pieces
JS Bin
- ✅ Teaching code to beginners
- ✅ Minimalist testing environment
- ✅ Live collaborative editing
- ❌ Anything requiring build tools
CodeSandbox
- ✅ Building actual applications
- ✅ Using npm packages and imports
- ✅ Working with React, Vue, Angular projects
- ✅ Prototyping before local development
- ❌ Simple HTML/CSS/JS demos (overkill)
StackBlitz
- ✅ Full framework development (especially Angular)
- ✅ Node.js backend projects
- ✅ WebContainer-based instant environments
- ✅ Editing actual GitHub repos
- ❌ Pure CSS/HTML demos
Rule of Thumb
HTML/CSS/Vanilla JS demo? → CodePen or JSFiddle
Need npm packages? → CodeSandbox or StackBlitz
Teaching beginners? → JS Bin
Showcasing creative work? → CodePen
Quick debugging? → JSFiddle