IDE stands for an integrated development environment, a software that combines all the necessary developer tools in a single graphical user interface. It facilitates the development of applications by bringing all the necessary developer tools under one roof. My complete focus of this article is to make you aware of the top online IDEs.
An integrated development environment consists of essential developer tools: a source code editor, local build automation, and a debugger. Since all these tools are available in a single platform, programmers do not need to install and configure them separately on their devices. Also, they do not need to switch between different tools while developing applications.
Well, offline integrated development environments require you to install them on your computer system, which consumes a lot of space. Also, it becomes challenging to transfer the code to multiple systems.
To make your code accessible from anywhere, online IDEs come in handy. Also, you do not need to install and configure them on your local system.
Let us now peek into the list of the top online IDEs that help you write code regardless of your local system.
So, let us get started!
What is an Online IDE?
Also known as web or cloud-based IDE, it is a browser-based programming environment that combines the necessary developer tools and works within your browser. It is accessible from various web browsers , including Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge.
A compatible browser and a reliable internet connection are all you need to write, compile, debug, and save your code using an online IDE. You can access your code from any device. However, it only provides some of the robust features as offline ones.
Advantages
- Access code anywhere from any device with a browser and an active internet connection.
- No need to install and configure it on your local system.
- Work on any device.
- Not prone to configuration drift.
- Since all the information is stored in the cloud, there are no hardware limitations.
Disadvantages
- Code is available only when there is an internet connection.
- You cannot customize your development environment.
- Many online IDEs lack essential features that offline ones offer but are more powerful than text editors.
Top 10 Online IDEs to Use in 2023
Here is a curated list of the top 10 online IDEs that facilitate the development of applications:
- AWS Cloud9
- CodeTasty
- JSFiddle
- Codepen.io
- GroomIDE
- Codeanywhere
- Repl.it
- ShiftEdit
- StackBlitz
- SourceLair
1. AWS Cloud9
It is a web-based and one of the best professional online IDEs available on the internet. It enables you to write, run, and debug your source code inside a browser. It includes a source code editor, debugger, and terminal.
Moreover, it comes with essential tools for writing and executing source code in various programming languages, including JavaScript, Python, and PHP.
Features
- Fully-Featured Code Editor: It makes writing, running, and debugging source code in various programming languages a breeze. Code completion and syntax-suggesting features help you write code faster and reduce errors.
- Programming Language Support: Supports over 40 popular programming languages, including JavaScript, PHP, Python, Ruby, Go, C, C++, and Java.
- Integrated Debugger: An integrated debugger provides standard features, including setting breakpoints, stepping through code, and inspecting variables.
- Built-in Terminal: It allows you to run commands for various purposes, such as compiling your code, displaying output, or pushing code changes to Git. In addition, it comes with a pre-installed and authenticated AWS Command Line Interface (CLI). This AWS CLI allows you to access any AWS services easily.
- Collaboration: You share your development environment with others. Therefore, your team can work together and pair program on the same file. In addition, it has a built-in chat feature that allows you to communicate with other team members without leaving the development environment.
- Themes: A variety of color schemes for syntax highlighting and the user interface are available in AWS Cloud9.
- Integrated Tools: You get SDKs, tools, and libraries required for developing serverless applications.
Pricing
AWS Cloud9 does not charge any additional fee. If you use Amazon EC2 instances for AWS Cloud9, you only have to pay for the compute and storage resources required for running and storing code.
2. CodeTasty
CodeTasty is a modern, robust, and extensible web development environment with all the features of a desktop IDE. It lets you write clean and readable code in real time, regardless of your working device. Moreover, it can handle hundreds and thousands of lines of code in a single file without sacrificing speed.
Features
- Code Editor: A powerful source code editor lets you quickly write and run source code. In addition, it offers code completion, error detection, and built-in compilation features.
- Programming Language Support: It supports over 40 programming languages, including Python, JavaScript, PHP, HTML, CSS, and Ruby.
- Extensible: It is extensible, meaning you can download and install various extensions to extend its functionality and boost your productivity.
- Built-in Terminal: Use a built-in terminal in any workspace folder.
- Personalization: Everyone’s choice is different, and keeping this in mind, CodeTasty allows you to change the theme, customize settings, and resize or split panels. You can customize the workspace according to your needs.
- Collaboration: Supports multiple members to work on a single source code file. You can see all the changes in real time.
Pricing
- Free: Free forever
- Starter: $4 per month
- Developer: $10 per month
- Team: $50 per month
3. JSFiddle
JSFiddle allows developers to write and run HTML, JavaScript, and CSS code on one screen. It has a minimalist interface, which is split into four parts. The three parts correspond to editable HTML, CSS, and JavaScript fields. The last part corresponds to the result field that displays the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code output.
Features
- Source Code Editor: You can write and run JavaScript, HTML, and CSS code. Also, it leverages CodeMirrors to provide various features, such as syntax highlighting, syntax verification, brace matching, auto-indentation, search and replace, autocompletion, and text folding.
- Integration: You can easily integrate external resources, such as an external CSS sheet or JavaScript libraries , with JSFiddle.
- Collaboration: You can collaborate with your friends or colleagues by sending a link to them. Moreover, you can click on the microphone icon to start audio chat if only your browser supports it.
- Editor Layout: You can change the layout from the six available options.
Pricing
Free.
4. Codepen.io
Specially designed for front-end designers and developers, Codepen.io is an online social development environment to write and test code for front-end applications. It allows you to build and deploy websites and write test cases to debug your source code. In addition, Codepen.io allows you to save your code snippets, called ‘pens,’ and search them easily with their names.
Features
- Code Editor: There are three different panes for HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. The trio supports the auto code-completion feature. There is another pane to display results as you write HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code.
- Asset Hosting: It allows you to store essential files on Codepen and use them as and when required.
- Image Editing: There is no need to switch to another tool for editing images. Codepen.io allows you to edit, optimize, resize, and rotate images.
- Collaboration: Multiple members can write and edit source code simultaneously. It also has a chat field to start discussions with team members.
- Build Entire Projects: Codepen.io provides all the features of traditional IDE in your browser, such as live preview, drag-and-drop uploading, automatic preprocessing, and website deployment.
Pricing
Individual
- Free: Free forever
- Starter: $8 per month and $96 per year
- Developer: $12 per month and $144 per year
- Super: $26 per month and $312 per year
Team
The Team plan charges $12 per month per user.
5. GoormIDE
It is a developer-focused web IDE that aims to boost programmer productivity. It enables developers and programmers to write, edit, and share projects in containers right from a web browser. In addition, it allows you to build your own development environment with just a few clicks.
Features
- Code Editor: The code editor enables you to write, edit and run source code in various programming languages . Moreover, it saves time and increases efficiency with the auto code completion feature.
- Programming Language Support: It supports over 28 programming languages, including PHP, Ruby, Node.js, Python, C, Perl, Go, C++, and Java.
- Web-based Terminal: A fully-featured web-based terminal lets you access the Linux-based container.
- Integrated debugger: An integrated debugger facilitates debugging of your source code.
- Collaboration: Multiple members can simultaneously type or edit the code in the code editor.
- Integration: Seamless integration with Git repositories and the Git collaboration platform, GitHub.
- Deployment: Support AWS Elastic Beanstalk, Heroku, and Cloud Foundry deployment.
Pricing
You get a 14-day free trial. Once the trial period ends, you need to subscribe to one of the following plans:
- Free: Free forever
- Basic: $7.35 per month or $88.2 per year
- Student: $10.5 per month or $126 per year
- Premium: $21.88 per month or $262.5 per year
6. Codeanywhere
Based on CodeMirror, Codeanywhere is a cloud-based IDE allowing developers to write, edit, and run web development projects from a browser. It utilizes OpenVZ containers for its development environments called DevBoxes.
Features
- Code Editor: The intelligent code editor allows you to write and edit code in all the supported programming languages. Some features include auto code completion, code refactoring, and syntax highlighting.
- Programming Language Support: Supports various programming languages, including JavaScript, PHP, C, C++, Python, Ruby, C#, TypeScript, and Java.
- Integrated Debugger: Debug your code by setting breakpoints, calling stacks, and stepping through your code.
- Servers: You can work directly on your servers. It supports all the standard protocols, including SSH, FTP and SFTP , to connect with your server.
- Built-in Terminal: It enables you to run commands, debug your application’s source code, and display command outputs from your server.
Pricing
- Basic: $6 per month per user (billed monthly) or $4.80 per month per user (billed annually)
- Standard: $15 per month per user (billed monthly) or $12 per month per user (billed annually)
- Premium: $40 per month per user (billed monthly) or $32 per month per user (billed annually)
7. Repl.it
Repl.it is the best web IDE for Ruby featuring Read–Eval–Print Loop (REPL). The interface consists of a code editor and a results pane next to it. Alongside Ruby, it also supports various other popular programming languages.
Features
- Code Editor: It provides syntax highlighting and auto code completion features for all supported programming languages. Moreover, you can share your source code with others.
- Programming Language Support: Supports numerous programming languages, including Ruby, JavaScript, C, Java, C++, Go, Rust, C#, TypeScript, Haskell, PHP, Python, Kotlin, and R.
- Code Together (Multiplayer): You get a Google Docs-like experience. It allows you and your friends or colleagues to work together to write, run, and debug code in real time.
- Collaboration: Easy chatting with team members or friends while working on the project without leaving your development environment.
- Customize: Custom themes and plugins help you tailor the workspace according to your choice.
- Universal Package Manager: Save time by running a package manager for your language.
- Integration: Seamlessly integrates with GitHub.
Pricing
-
Personal:
There are two different plans.
- Free: Free forever
- Hacker: $7 per month
- Organization: It includes the Teams Pro plan, which charges $15 per month per member.
-
Education:
The Education plan is available for individual teachers and educational institutes.
- Educational Institutes: $1,000 per year
- Individual Teacher: $35 per month
8. ShiftEdit
ShiftEdit makes the development of responsive websites easy and quick. It allows you to connect your project files from their original location, from good or bad FTP and SFTP, to cloud-based services, such as Google Drive and Dropbox.
Features
- Code Editor: Syntax highlighting, auto code complete, and syntax checking are significant features.
- Programming Language Support: Supports all three web technologies: JavaScript, HTML, and CSS, alongside various programming languages, including PHP and Ruby.
- Built-in Terminal: With its fully-functional built-in terminal, you can connect to the development environment or the SSH server.
- Live Preview: You can quickly observe the output changes as you change your project's source code.
- Compare Files: This feature allows you to compare two files in real-time.
- Customizable: Change themes and import your CSS to tailor the look and feel of the development environment.
Pricing
- Basic: $10 per month or $8 per month if billed annually.
- Business: $20 per month or $16 per month if billed annually.
9. StackBlitz
StackBlitz, powered by Visual Code, is one of the fastest and most secure online IDEs ideal for web development. You can create Angular, React, and Vue projects quickly and effortlessly in a browser. Also, you can share these projects with others in just one click via a link.
Features
- Code Editor: It is similar to the code editor of VS Code. Along with writing and editing source code, it provides various features, such as syntax highlighting and auto code completion.
- Language, Framework, or Library Support: It supports HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and TypeScript and various frameworks and libraries, including React, Angular, Vue.js, and RXJS.
- NPM client: A built-in npm client enables you to install multiple packages simultaneously.
- Hot Reloading: Tweak your application in real-time without reloading its pages while preserving the application’s state.
- Live Preview: You can preview the results in your browser as you change your source code.
- Keep Editing while Offline: It features a live in-browser dev server allowing you to write code offline.
Pricing
There are two editions of StackBlitz: StackBlitz Self-Hosted and StackBlitz Cloud. To know the pricing of StackBlitz Self-Hosted, you need to contact the sales team.
StackBlitz Cloud offers three different pricing plans:
- Free: Free forever
- Astronaut: $9/month/user or $99/year/user
- Commander: $39/month/user or $349/year/user
10. SourceLair
SourceLair allows you to write code in over 25 programming languages and frameworks. It lets you develop various applications, from static HTML websites to robust Django and Node.js applications powered by MongoDB, PostgreSQL, or MySQL.
Features
- Code Editor: Write and edit code faster with its syntax highlighting, code completion, code suggestions, automatic indentation, and code folding features.
- Programming Language Support: Node.js HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, Python, and Django, are a few supported programming languages and frameworks.
- Error Reporting: Get real-time error reporting for Python and JavaScript code.
- Linux Terminal: A built-in terminal allows you to access the Linux environment from your browser, install libraries, manipulate files, and run commands.
- Split View: Get the result of your source code next to the editor. Observe changes in the result as you change the source code.
- Emmet Support: SourceLair has a built-in Emmet.io that lets you write HTML code quickly.
- Integration: Seamless integration with other developer tools, such as Git, PIP, and npm.
Pricing
- Lite: $10 per month and supports 3 projects
- Pro: $25 per month and supports 10 projects
Conclusion
This brings us to the end of the top 10 online IDEs. Except for JSFiddle and Codepen.io, they all support various programming languages and have an intelligent code editor that facilitates code writing. JSFiddle and Codepen.io only support JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.
Moreover, CodeTasty, Codepen.io, GroomIDE, Repl.it, and StackBlitz have free and paid editions, while JSFiddle is always free and has no paid version. On the other hand, AWS Cloud9, Codeanywhere, ShiftEdit, and SourceLair have only paid versions.
We hope this blog post has helped you choose the best cloud-based IDE for your project. If you want to add any other to the above list, do let us know in the comments section below.
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