Gitpod (now Ona)

When I first dipped my toes into Gitpod, I was genuinely excited. The concept of spinning up fresh development environments directly from a Git repository sounded like a dream. And for the most part, it delivered. I found the prebuild feature particularly useful; it meant that I could push my changes and not have to wait around for my environment to set up. I could jump straight into coding, which is what I wanted. The integration with VS Code was smooth, making the transition from my local setup to the cloud surprisingly painless.

However, it wasn't all smooth sailing. On a few occasions, I found the performance lacking, especially when the platform seemed to be under heavy load. There was one instance where I was racing against a deadline, and the lag was enough to make me consider alternative solutions. Additionally, while the interface is functional, it doesn't quite have the polish I expected. Coming from a tool like GitHub Codespaces, I felt a noticeable difference in user experience, which could be off-putting for some users.

Pricing-wise, Gitpod offers a freemium model that is good for dabblers, but if you are serious about coding, you might find those hours run out quicker than expected. The Personal plan at £9 a month is reasonable for individual developers, but if you're part of a larger team, the costs can accumulate fast. The Enterprise plan being custom-priced means you need to be prepared for a negotiation, which can be a bit of a hassle.

In comparison to its competitors, Gitpod holds its own but has notable weaknesses. GitHub Codespaces, for instance, offers a more integrated experience with GitHub repositories and generally better performance. On the other hand, Gitpod’s flexibility with different Git providers is a strong selling point. It’s the perfect tool for developers who want to eliminate the setup headache and are okay with a few quirks. I’d recommend Gitpod for solo developers or small teams who value speed and flexibility over ultra-smooth performance. But if you’re in a high-stakes environment where every second counts, you might want to consider other options that offer more reliability.

Getting started with Gitpod

In this guide, you'll learn how to set up and use Gitpod to create cloud-based development environments directly from your Git repository. After reading, you'll be ready to start coding without the usual setup hassle.

Step 1: Sign up and set up

Step 2: Your first workspace

Step 3: Get better results

Pro tip

Set up a prebuild in your `.gitpod.yml` file to automatically install dependencies and run setup scripts when a workspace is created. This saves time and ensures every workspace is ready to go without manual setup.

Common mistake to avoid

Avoid using Gitpod without checking the prebuilt configuration. If you don’t define a `.gitpod.yml` file, you might end up spending time installing dependencies manually in each new workspace, defeating the purpose of automation.