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codepen.io
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codepen.io

8 technologies
VerifiedVisit4.6M/mo$1M108 Tech4 Leads
Deep Dive

CodePen: The $0.9M Giant That Changed Front-End Forever

How a 10-person team built a 4.6M monthly visit playground that outlasted the hype cycle

In an era of billion-dollar SaaS platforms, CodePen operates on a radically different principle: building a $0.9M revenue business with just 10 people while serving 4.6M developers monthly. It's not a unicorn—it's something rarer: a sustainable, community-first platform that became the de facto standard for front-end experimentation.

4.59M
monthly visits
10
employees
$0.9M
annual revenue
23.7M
backlinks

"CodePen doesn't just host code—it hosts conversations. Every pen is a dialogue between developer and community, where feedback is immediate and iteration is public."

The Community Flywheel

CodePen's genius lies in its network effect: 46% of traffic comes directly, meaning developers return instinctively. The platform's 23.7M backlinks aren't just SEO metrics—they're proof of a community that organically evangelizes. Unlike GitHub's transactional nature, CodePen fosters creative collaboration where every pen becomes a teaching tool, portfolio piece, and conversation starter.

The SEO Trojan Horse

While competitors chased enterprise contracts, CodePen captured the long tail of front-end learning. Ranking for 'codepen' (283K monthly searches) and 'double click test' (44K searches), they've become the default entry point for developers learning CSS animations and JavaScript interactions. This organic discovery funnel converts curious visitors into daily active users without a single sales rep.

The tech stack reveals their philosophy: Tailwind CSS for rapid iteration, Cloudflare for global performance, and Ruby on Rails for stability. They're not chasing every framework trend—they're building a reliable canvas. The 38% organic search traffic proves that when you solve a real pain point (sharing code snippets that actually work), search engines and developers reward you.

  • Built by developers, for developers: Chris Coyier's design-first approach created an intuitive UI that even non-coders can understand
  • The 'double click test' phenomenon: Capturing 44K monthly searches for a niche interaction proves deep understanding of developer workflows
  • Revenue through utility, not hype: $0.9M with 10 people means ~$90K per employee—sustainable, not explosive
No enterprise sales team
Focus on core experience: Build, share, learn
No aggressive fundraising
Community-driven product development
No feature bloat trying to be everything
Profitable sustainability over unicorn chasing

The Anti-Unicorn Blueprint

CodePen proves that a focused product, deep community trust, and sustainable revenue can outlast the venture capital hype cycle. In a world obsessed with growth at all costs, they chose to be the best at one thing—and let the world come to them.

What tech stack does Codepen use?

9 detected
Security1
Error Tracking1
Backend Frameworks1
Cloud & Hosting1
Performance1
Build Tools1
CSS Frameworks1
Tracking & Analytics1
G
Google DoubleClick

How much traffic does Codepen get?

Traffic & Engagement

7.5M
Monthly Visits
-1.4%
5.5
Pages/Visit
10:55
Avg. Duration
50%
Bounce Rate
Monthly Traffic Trend-9%
8.3M
Oct 2025
Oct
7.6M
Nov 2025
Nov
7.5M
Dec 2025
Dec

Rankings

#7,685
Global Rank
#8,976
United States Rank
Computer Software and Development
Category

Backlinks & Authority

23.7M
Backlinks
137.2K
Ref. Domains
58
Authority Score
Low
Penalty Risk
Backlinks Trend-62%
62.3M
Jul 2025
Jul
55.3M
Aug 2025
Aug
37.1M
Sep 2025
Sep
29.2M
Oct 2025
Oct
26.1M
Nov 2025
Nov
23.7M
Dec 2025
Dec

Search Traffic

Organic
778.7K

Top Organic Keywords

#1codepen
27,100 vol17.9%
#1code pen
8,100 vol5.3%
#1terminus calculator
22,200 vol4.5%
#1codepen.io
3,600 vol2.4%
#1https://codepen.io/pen
3,600 vol2.4%

Where is Codepen's audience located?

🇺🇸United States16.6%
🇮🇳India14.0%
🇯🇵Japan5.0%
🇩🇪Germany3.5%
🇫🇷France3.2%

Device Distribution

Desktop70.2%
Mobile29.8%

What keywords does Codepen rank for?

5 keywords
1codepen283.9K vol$2.62
2double click test44.2K vol
3code pen24.1K vol$3.51
4mouse double click test10.7K vol
5codepen.io6.2K vol

How is Codepen's SEO?

Open Graph Image

OG Image preview
og:image

https://cpwebassets.codepen.io/assets/social/facebook-default-05cf522ae1d4c215ae0f09d866d97413a2204b6c9339c6e7a1b96ab1d4a7340f.png

Meta Tags

title65 chars

CodePen: Online Code Editor and Front End Web Developer Community

description78 chars

Build, share, and learn JavaScript, CSS, and HTML with our online code editor.

og:title

CodePen

og:description

An online code editor, learning environment, and community for front-end web development using HTML, CSS and JavaScript code snippets, projects, and web applications.

languageEN

H1 Tags

h1The best place to build, test, and discover front-end code.

Who works at Codepen?

Loading leads...

What do customers think of Codepen?

CodePen

CodePen

3.2
7 reviews

Categories

Software Company#undefinedSoftware Vendor#undefined

Activity & Engagement

Reply Rate
0%
Avg. Reply Time
0.0 days

Contact Information

Address:
Bend, US

Reviews (7)

Filter by rating:
Hannes
8/25/2024
🇩🇪 Germany1 reviewsOrganicUnverified
Experience date: 8/24/2024
Perfect as an open source code editor!

Perfect as an open source code editor!

William Addens
11/13/2021
🇺🇸 United States3 reviewsOrganicUnverified
A must have for any frontend developer

A must have for any frontend developer. With CodePen, you can quickly create concepts for your projects and practice your skills. You can even use frameworks like React and tools like Pug and Sass. The community is also great, you'll always get inspired by the crazy things people do with just CSS!

jonathan vigren
9/14/2020
🇸🇪 Sweden2 reviewsOrganic
Awesome customer support

This is a bit late of a review, but they deserve it, they provide an amazing service as well as amazing customer service. Something went wrong when I wanted to subscribe to their pro thingy and instead of monthly billing it went with annual billing, 99% sure I chose monthly though, but anyways, I was short on money and could not afford the annual option at that time, despite not having to they were really nice and gave me a refund for that, it might not sound like much but it was greatly appreciated and I am very grateful, I am now subscribing monthly and will continue to do so

Pierre F.
2/5/2020
🇧🇪 Belgium35 reviewsOrganic
Excellent platform

Excellent platform. I've created more than 70 pens so far, one has passed 110,000 views! It's a real playground where I can test all kinds of code snippets. Thanks, CodePen ^^

Alan
6/20/2017
🇬🇧 United Kingdom23 reviewsOrganic
Fantastic site, a must have for any front end dev!

CodePen are awesome. This is a must have tool for any front end developer as it allows you to test out concpets and ideas before pushing them to a live enviroment.

Frequently Asked Questions about Codepen

What is Codepen's Revenue?
Codepen generates approximately $1M in annual revenue. With 10 employees, that's $87,000 per employee.
What does Codepen do?
Build, share, and learn JavaScript, CSS, and HTML with our online code editor.
How fast is Codepen growing?
Codepen has declined by 1.4% in the last 6 months according to traffic data.
How do people interact with Codepen?
When visiting Codepen, visitors view an average of 5.5 pages per visit, and spend around 10:55 on the site, and the bounce rate is 50.2%.
How do people find Codepen?
6.8M people (90%) visit Codepen directly. 778.7K (10%) find them through organic search.
Who uses Codepen?
Codepen's top market is United States with 1.3M visitors (16.6%). India is 2nd with 1.1M (14.0%). Japan is 3rd with 373.7K (5.0%).
What technologies does Codepen use?
Codepen uses 8 technologies across their website including Security, Error Tracking, Backend Frameworks. Key technologies include HSTS, Sentry, Ruby on Rails.
Who are Codepen's competitors?
Codepen's main competitors include IDM Computer Solutions, GNU Project, Fookes Software, ActiveState, SlickEdit. These companies operate in similar markets and compete for the same customer base.
What do customers think of Codepen?
Codepen has a Trustpilot score of 3.2 out of 5 (3 stars) based on 7 customer reviews.

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How to contact Codepen?

Social Profiles

What are Codepen's key pages?

Export codepen.io Data

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Raw JSON Data

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About codepen.io

Build, share, and learn JavaScript, CSS, and HTML with our online code editor.

Company Overview

codepen.io
Website
computers_electronics_and_technology
Industry
#10,512
Global Rank
4.6M
Monthly Visitors
8
Technologies
4+
Employees

codepen.io Social Media

Contact codepen.io

Technology Stack

codepen.io uses 8 technologies across their website including HSTS, Sentry, Ruby on Rails, and more.

Security

HSTS

Error Tracking

Sentry

Backend Frameworks

Ruby on Rails

Cloud & Hosting

Cloudflare

Advertising

DoubleClick Floodlight

Performance

Lazy Loading

Traffic & Audience

4.6M
Monthly Visits
50%
Bounce Rate
4.8
Pages/Visit
3:18
Avg. Duration

codepen.io receives approximately 4.6M monthly visitors and ranks #10,512 globally. The website has a bounce rate of 50% with visitors viewing an average of 4.8 pages per visit. Users spend an average of 3:18 on the site.

The majority of codepen.io's traffic comes from undefined, undefined, .

Frequently Asked Questions

What is codepen.io?
Build, share, and learn JavaScript, CSS, and HTML with our online code editor.
How much does codepen.io cost?
You can view codepen.io's pricing and plans on their pricing page. Visit their website for the most up-to-date pricing information.
What technologies does codepen.io use?
codepen.io uses 8 technologies including HSTS, Sentry, and 2 more. View the full tech stack analysis above.
What are codepen.io's social media accounts?
codepen.io is active on youtube, instagram. You can find links to all their social media profiles in the social section above.
How popular is codepen.io?
codepen.io receives approximately 4.6M monthly visitors and ranks #10,512 globally.

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This page provides publicly available information about codepen.io. Data is collected from various public sources and may not always be up to date. For the most accurate information, please visit codepen.io directly at https://codepen.io.