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A few weeks ago, I saw a Replit ad on Instagram and honestly? I rolled my eyes. It made vibe coding look too effortless, and like most “AI will make you 10x more productive” promises, I assumed it was pure hype.
Then a friend of mine who codes for a living casually brought it up out of nowhere. That was enough to make me take a second look. I’m really glad I did.
Replit is a browser-based coding workspace where you can write code, run it instantly and share what you built with a link. And after spending time with it, I finally get why people swear by it: it makes building real projects feel weirdly effortless, even if you don’t know much about coding yet.
What is Replit and how does it use AI?
Replit is a cloud-based coding workspace you can use in your browser or through its app, which means you can write, run and share code without setting up a traditional local development environment from scratch. You open a project, start building and hit “Run” — it’s that fast.
That simplicity is a big reason Replit has become so popular. It removes the most annoying part of coding for beginners and casual builders: the setup spiral. Instead of installing tools, configuring environments and troubleshooting errors before you even start, Replit gets you straight to the fun part.
Where Replit really stands out right now is how aggressively it’s leaning into AI. The platform includes AI features designed to act like a coding assistant sitting next to you, helping you go from idea to working project faster. You can describe what you want in plain text, generate starter code, troubleshoot bugs and get suggestions as you build — all inside the same workspace.
When it works, it feels like cheating (in the best way). But like any AI coding tool, it still needs supervision. It can speed you up, but you still want to understand what you’re running before you treat it like a finished product.
I can see Replit being useful for:
- beginners who don’t want to deal with installing tools
- students working on assignments
- creators prototyping an idea fast
- anyone who just wants to try something without committing to a full setup
My first impressions
When I first gave Replit a try, I used the app, which felt pretty intuitive and straightforward. And while I usually lean towards mobile-first applications, I found the desktop version in the browser even easier to use. My first thought after opening Replit was: oh… this is why people love it.
Everything feels designed to get you coding fast, not stuck fiddling with settings. For me, that's the most intimidating part. Anyone can enter an idea into a chat box, it's what to do with that idea once it generates the code that has always tripped me up.
However, the interface is clean and modern, the “Run” button is right where you want it, and the whole experience has that no-nonsense vibe that makes you want to experiment with every idea that pops in your head.
It also feels surprisingly welcoming if you’re not a hardcore developer. You don’t need to create a perfect file structure, install a dozen dependencies or even know the “right” way to start. You can just pick a language, start typing and see what happens.
And that’s the magic of Replit in the first five minutes: it makes coding feel approachable, fast and kind of fun — like you’re playing around with an idea instead of committing to a whole project.
The interface feels like a clean, modern coding editor with the basics you actually need. Replit made me want to tinker, which is exactly how learning and building feels the most productive.
Replit isn’t just for writing code — it’s for showing and sharing your work
Whatever you build with Replit can be shared with a link to your project. This makes it easy to:
You can share a project with a link, which makes it ridiculously easy to:
- send something to a friend
- show your boss a prototype
- post a demo online
- teach someone how something works
I tested Replit in a few ways, but my favorite experiment was creating an app that showcases all my Tom's Guide articles. It's a simple way to share what I write with friends and family so they can keep up with all things AI.
The ability to create a portfolio in seconds is something just about anyone could appreciate. From content creators to busy executives, Replit leans into AI features to act like a coding assistant sitting next to you.
But I’ll be honest: AI coding help is still the kind of thing you have to supervise. It can speed you up, but you still need to understand what you’re running — especially if you’re building anything beyond a basic project. It's not a "set it and forget it" tool yet.
How does Replit compare to Claude Code?
I've played around with Claude Code a lot. Replit and Claude Code can both help you build faster, but they’re solving slightly different problems. Replit is the “just let me start” option because it’s a full browser-based coding workspace where you can write, run, and share projects instantly. Claude Code feels more like a serious AI coding partner, especially when you need help reasoning through complex code, debugging, or working across multiple files.
- Replit: best for fast prototyping, beginners and running projects in the browser with minimal setup
- Claude Code: best for deeper coding help like debugging, refactoring and thinking through architecture
- Big difference: Replit gives you the workspace (IDE + run environment), Claude Code gives you the brainpower but doesn't host your project the way Replit does.
- How I’d use them together: build and test in Replit, then ask Claude Code to improve, optimize or troubleshoot the code
What Replit is best for (and where it falls short)
After testing it, I think Replit shines most in three situations:
- Learning to code. If you’re new, setup issues can make you quit before you even begin. Replit removes that problem.
- Prototyping. If you want to test an idea quickly, Replit makes it easy to go from “what if…” to “it exists.”
- Small tools you actually use. This is where it gets fun: quick calculators, simple trackers, tiny scripts, mini web apps. Replit makes these feel approachable.
Replit isn’t perfect, and it doesn’t replace everything. The biggest limitation is that browser-based tools can feel less flexible than a fully customized local setup — especially if you’re doing heavy development work or working with complex dependencies.
And like any platform that’s trying to be an all-in-one solution, there’s always a tradeoff between convenience and control. It's also important to note that the free tier is a great place to practice vibe coding, but once you publish, you have to pay at least $25/month or else your app doesn't stay published.
Final thoughts
Replit makes coding easier to start — and honestly, it lives up to the hype. As coding becomes a genuine way to upskill, I recommend using Replit as a starting point.
It’s not a place to just write code, it's a tool that creates what you want to build. By removing the excess setup, it speeds up the messy “first draft” stage and makes experimenting feel low-stakes instead of intimidating.
If you’ve ever wanted to code more but got stuck in the setup spiral, Replit might be the easiest way to finally get moving.
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