Cloud Development Environments (2024)
This study is strongly related to the subject of Cloud Development Environment (CDE), started in September 2024.
Context and problem statement
As a trainer, I need to provide a configured development environment to the trainees so the training sessions can be efficient.
As a manager, I want to enforce recommended code & security practices so the developer's time is optimized and the risk of losing sensitive information is minimized.
Requirements
- Development dependencies can be configured (SDK, runtimes)
- Container can be executed with a managed lifecycle
- IDE (Integrated Development Environment), such as Visual Studio Code can be used in the web or locally
Considered options
| Name | Sources | Deployment | Free tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coder | :octocat: ★ 67.6k | Kubernetes | Community version |
| CodeSandbox | 🚫 | SaaS | 40 hours/month |
| Devbox | :octocat: ★ 8.3k | Shell script | No restriction/limitation |
| devenv | :octocat: ★ 4k | Shell script | No restriction/limitation |
| DevPod | :octocat: ★ 8.6k | Desktop & CLI apps | No restriction/limitation |
| GitHub Codespaces | 🚫 | SaaS | 30 hours/month (4 cores) |
| Gitpod | :octocat: ★ 12.7k | SaaS / AWS (Enterprise) | 50 hours/month |
| Strong Network | 🚫 | SaaS / Kubenertes | 5 users (free community edition) |
Decision outcome
⛵ Experimentation in progress!
- 🔴 DevPod doesn't work with Docker on Windows 10 + Ubuntu 20.04 (WSL)
- 🟠 GitHub Codespaces can quickly be expensive with a limited featureset
- 🟢 Strong Network works well and offers the most advanced professional features (security, user management, collaboration)