When comparing Glitch vs GitHub Codespaces, the Slant community recommends Glitch for most people. In the question“What are the best cloud IDEs?” Glitch is ranked 14th while GitHub Codespaces is ranked 18th.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Unlimited number of public and private projects for free
Pro Runs a server out of the box
Perfect for building web applications, be it client-only, server-only, or full stack.
Pro Private data are kept secret, even in public projects
Non-collaborators can't access private data (e.g. API keys) which are stored in a special file, and they are deleted when a project is forked.
Pro Persistent storage
Pro Multiple languages supported
Although the only official language/framework is Node.js, you can access the terminal and install other languages via apt-get (as long as it doesn't exceed the storage limit).
Pro VS Code integration
If you feel the built-in web editor is not sufficient, you can switch to VS Code and get the full power of its plugins. You still work with the files and server in the cloud, no extra setup required.
Pro It has a friendly welcoming community of builders
Pro Preferences are synced
Your Visual Studio local preferences and extensions are saved within GitHub, allowing you to use your configurations on the go.
Pro One-click experience
Designed to make contributing to a repository easier, all it takes to start the cloud IDE is its dedicated button within the repository page.
Pro Visual Studio Codespaces extensions works as-is
If you are a customer for Visual Studio Codespaces, your extension to control GitHub Codespaces will also work and you will be able to use your Visual Studio Code to interact to the Codespace instead of using the Web IDE if need be.
Pro Extensible and configurable
Borrowing from its bigger sister, Visual Studio Codespaces, which is also based on Visual Studio Code, any VS Code extensions work outside the box, no gotchas.
Pro Customizable environments
Environments can be customized in the user-level or the repository using a container declaration file, allowing the environments to be tailored according to the user and the target project
Cons
Con No code prediction
Con Limited to GitHub
As this is a GitHub Product, do not expect it to work with the likes of GitLab or BitBucket. If you want to use third party VCS providers, you might want to use Visual Studio Codespaces instead.
Con Limited to 5 Codespaces instances
GitHub Codespaces currently limits you to 5 concurrent working codespaces. You have to delete another to start another codespace.
Con Early-Access Software
Currently invite-only, expect GitHub Codespaces to have some bugs until its GA release.
