[Discussion] Any good Github Codespaces alternatives?

[Errorbot1122]

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Are there any online development environments similar to Github Codespace out there?.

Preferably it would be

• Free / Reasonably cheap
• Use a VS Code Web UI interface

I used to use Gitpod, but they shut down and turned into YET ANOTHER AI startup (Same with Replit too) 🫤. After that I swapped to CodeAnywhere but it started giving me a weird Archiving bug and would always unrecoverable erroring out my environments, causing me to loss all my progress for the past few days.

_{( Context )}

[Abishek0070]

Try using Eclipse theia
or
Eclipse che (Highly recomended )
Che is closest match to Gitpod overall
workspaces + containers + automation + Theia web IDE + multi-user system

Theia is just the editor
the UI layer Gitpod used, but without the cloud workspace backend
hope this helps you :)

[Errorbot1122]

Update: I've been having trouble trying to convert my old .devcontainer files into OpenShift Dev Spaces compatible devfile.yaml... not sure if this will work, but I definably has potential, just extremally confusing. (Most likely because I never learned Kubernetes) 😭

(I may have to remove the answer if I cant figure it out by tomorrow... sorry @Abishek0070 🙁)

[Abishek0070]

Its okie bro no problem😊 i will also check some other codespaces and let u know 🔥🤝

[Errorbot1122]

Uh... is this post dead? This is still an issue...

[thesomewhatyou]

Uh... is this post dead? This is still an issue...

yaml is funky. If anything just plug it into AI, it's probably your best bet for now.

Otherwise, probably just read the documentation. I am also lookin for an alternative, so I will touch base when possible.

[Errorbot1122]

I actually did, but it failed. I doesn't have enough info in it's dataset to understand what its doing.

[TanishqCh07]

[Errorbot1122]

That's straight up just a ChatGPT Reponses...

How I know... I literally asked it multiple times before posting this, and it just regurgitated the google search results. 🤦‍♂️

Please don't give me an AI Response. This is not contributing to the discussion in a meaningful way, like... at all. If your too lazy to do your own research at-least at a minimum, check out the products you are shilling before posting.

_{(Probably a ragebait post but who cares)}

[Abishek0070]

Bro ,have you tried any of the things I mentioned, if not working pls let me know

[Errorbot1122]

Not yet but I will soon...

_{(Also this probably should have been a direct reply to your last comment, just saying 😅)}

[Abishek0070]

okie bro

[Errorbot1122]

Uh... and how dose that answer my question?

[ggjulio]

I used to use Gitpod, but they shut down and turned into YET ANOTHER AI startup

@Errorbot1122 wdym ? Gitpod it still usable as devenv right ?

• https://ona.com/docs/ona/editors/vscode

Otherwise coder is probably the best one if you're okay for not using a self hosted product.

EDIT:
I forgot devpod which may better fit you needs than coder if you don't want to have to deal with a backend server to host somewhere...
The drawback is that their not really adding features, see loft-sh/devpod#1153 (comment) , there's a fork.

EDIT 2:

Otherwise you may just use vscode (or any vscode based IDEs), intelliJ IDEs (paid unfortunately) or zed IDE to work on a remote vm. (unfortunatelly with theses IDEs you must manage the vm yourself)
VSCode works really well I use it on a windows laptop to start a bunch of devcontainer (with docker in docker) in wsl2.

[Errorbot1122]

Hmm, your responses are pretty good, however ONE BIG ISSUE with all of them is:

They all require you to either download something, or use VS Code to connect to it.

For me the main appeal for Codespaces is that you basically get a full VS Code Instence at any time, anywhere, from any device, as long as they can connect to the internet, you could use a smartwatch for all I care. However if you need to download something, then why not just run the Devcontainer on your current PC? I guess you could still use the codespaces if you don't have alot of compute, storage, or just want a place to store your unfinished commits to acces from any PC, but as I seid before... this is not really the main issue at hand.

Anyhow Devpod is currently the closest solution I've gotten, so thanks for the reply 👍

[ggjulio]

@Errorbot1122 wdym ? Gitpod it still usable as devenv right ?

@Errorbot1122 why did you stop using gitpod/ona ? (never really used btw but I'm curious, it seem it still do the job right? you're not forced to use ai ? pricing maybe ?)

• https://ona.com/docs/ona/editors/vscode-browser

[Errorbot1122]

@Errorbot1122 why did you stop using gitpod/ona ? (never really used btw but I'm curious, it seem it still do the job right? you're not forced to use ai ? pricing maybe ?)

@ggjulio The issue is, is that, yes, they basically entirely rebranded to one of those AI app builders, hiding, and basically making the IDE side unusable. Not just as a standalone but just in general. 😕

It was kinda sad as gitpod has constantly been my goto for a few years (even if the accidently perma-banned my account) and seeing them fall down the same rabbit hole as Replit was just a gut-punch, really making me dispise AI Generation more then I already do.

[thesomewhatyou]

Okay, try https://codesandbox.io

They provide practically the same hours worth of coding like Codespaces, with a cheap upgradable plan, and if not, they just provide a generally heavy amount of kindness and are pretty good.

[thesomewhatyou]

Yes, I know AI regurgitated this but come on it's genuinely a good solution.

I didn't specifically use AI but someone else did

[Errorbot1122]

Though I knew what I was, but dang they must have updated as this seems to be almost exactly what I needed! (the only issue I can see right now is most extentions don't work)

I'll try it out and give any updates of it works out for me! 👍

[thesomewhatyou]

@Errorbot1122 A lot of extensions work for me. I don't know if it's just me or my preference to TS/JS, but most extensions work.

[Errorbot1122]

_{(I google translated your response and...)}

This seems to be a responses to a comment or something... I think you ment to replay @TanishqCh07 or something...

[thesomewhatyou]

(I google translated your response and...)

This seems to be a responses to a comment or something... I think you ment to replay @TanishqCh07 or something...

It looks more like a bit account to be fair. It shows prevalent patterns

[Darksun-Dyuti]

1. GitHub Codespaces (Free tier)
   Free hours every month
   Best VS Code Web experience
   Very stable

2. GitPod (Self-hosted / Open-source)
   Cloud version is gone, but
   You can self-host it if you have a server
   Still very solid

3. Replit
   VS Code–like UI (not full VS Code)
   Free tier available
   Good for quick projects, less ideal for large repos

4. StackBlitz
   Excellent for frontend (React, Vite, Next.js)
   Very fast
   Not ideal for backend-heavy setups

5. CodeSandbox
   Great for frontend & Node projects
   Free tier exists
   VS Code–style interface

[thesomewhatyou]

Codespaces is what we are trying to avoid.

GitPod is dead to us. Replit is dead. Stackblitz is dead.

CodeSandbox is considered...

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