When comparing Browsersync vs CodeKit, the Slant community recommends Browsersync for most people. In the question“What are the best cross-browser live-update / synchronization tools?” Browsersync is ranked 1st while CodeKit is ranked 2nd. The most important reason people chose Browsersync is:
It is not constrained to a single device, it works across desktop and mobile devices at the same time. It will update code changes, synchronize scroll positions and form inputs automatically across all browsers and devices.
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Pros
Pro Works concurrently across multiple devices
It is not constrained to a single device, it works across desktop and mobile devices at the same time. It will update code changes, synchronize scroll positions and form inputs automatically across all browsers and devices.
Pro Synchronized form field input
When filling out a form in one browser, same information will be repeated in other browsers.
Pro Works with basically every desktop and mobile browser
Browser-Sync has been tested to work with desktop (Chrome, Firefox, IE 7-10, Safari, Opera) and mobile (Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Opera Mobile, Firefox Mobile) browsers.
Pro Cross-platform
Works on Windows, Linux and OS X.
Pro CSS injection
Once the monitored .css file is saved, changes are implemented without a refresh.
Pro Free and open source
Licensed under MIT.
Pro Remembers scroll position
Remembers scroll position and synchronize it across all browsers so you don't have to move to the appropriate part of the page after each reload.
Pro Works as a standalone npm package or as a Grunt plugin
To install as a standalone npm package
npm install -g browser-sync
To install as a grunt-plugin
npm install grunt-browser-sync
Pro Synchronized navigation
When navigating in one browser, other browsers will automatically follow to the same place.
Pro Doesn't require a browser plugin
BrowserSync does not require a browser plugin to be installed. This is because it serves the files directly itself, and uses a script which opens a socket between the browser and the server.
Pro Works with older versions of IE
Browser-Sync works with all supported IE versions - IE7 and up.
Pro Everything is set up for you
Everything you need to get a project started is included with CodeKit. Thanks to the professional support, different components of the workflow pipeline are guaranteed to play nicely with each other without you needing to do the research on how to configure them.
More advanced features that may require extra configuration to set up with other workflow wrappers are set up out of the box in CodeKit, like automatic browser updating, linting, and source maps.
Pro Provides a clean and modern GUI
CodeKit has a clean and intuitive graphical user interface out of the box. Most other tools in this category run as command line utilities or require unsupported third-party plugins to run with a GUI.
The CodeKit GUI makes it easier to navigate and manage the various components of your project with helpful UIs like dropdowns, and views that provide extra details without having to run a separate command.
Pro Live browser updating built in
CodeKit has live updating built in and will update monitored files across multiple browsers and devices, and refresh CSS without a new page load. Other workflow wrappers have live updating, but they require extra configuration. With CodeKit, everything is set up for you so you can get it up and running in no time at all.
Pro Interactively define how files compile with a GUI
You can navigate your project directory, and use a menu form to set up how it gets compiled without needing to read configuration documentation, or deal with configuration errors. On top of that, file watching and recompilation is built in with no extra configuration needed.
Pro Great value for money
At a one time cost of $29, it's a great deal considering how powerful and easy to use it is.
Pro Visual package management with Bower
CodeKit provides a clean GUI for Bower that makes it easier to navigate and get information about modules without having to deal with a command line interface.
Pro Connects with MAMP
You can use it to, for example, live-update server-side PHP by establishing a connection with your local MAMP server.
Pro Don't have to worry about vendor prefixes due to Autoprefixer support
Autoprefixer automagically adds vendor prefixes based on latest information.
Pro Reduces size of compressed images
CodeKit provides a powerful tool to automatically reduce the size of compressed images and production web code.
Pro Live pre-processor and script compilation
CodeKit supports live compilation of Less, Sass, Stylus, Jade, Haml, Slim, CoffeeScript, JavaScript and Compass including automatic debugging and minification.
Pro Has over 6k componenets
Install 6,000+ Bower components with a single click: Bootstrap, jQuery, Modernizr, Zurb Foundation, even WordPress.
Cons
Con Setting up in Windows can be a little tricky
Sometimes when setting up BrowserSync in Windows some errors will pop up. Most of the time this is because npm throws errors when trying to compile BrowserSync and some of the dependencies need Visual C++ runtime libraries.
This is easily solvable by installing Visual Studio. Once it's installed, there should not be any more problems.
Con Mac only
This is a major problem for larger teams that have varied development environments.
Con Confined
You get only the tools that are provided by the application.