What are the pros/come versus using a mature online editor such as Cloud9, that supports direct terminal access to the backend instance and FTP/SFTP support? Though I will admit I was disappointed when AWS acquired Cloud9.
Good question. Repl.it is all about instantness, you should be able to get a REPL really fast[0]. If you want to host a webserver you should be able to do it quickly from the same interface[1], if you want to share your work then that should also be possible[2]. You could code and ship a small webserver on Repl.it faster than you can sign up for Cloud9.
Repl.it is also what's no called "Serverless" in that it's logically always available and you don't have to worry about the underlying resources. We're not doing because we wanted to ride a fad, we've always done it this way, we think that's the future of computing.
When we build Repl.it we always think what's a "web native" way to do online coding. We think it's a) instant! b) social c) simple yet powerful.
The previous generation of online IDEs -- C9, Nitrous, Koding -- were awesome, yet most pivoted or shutdown. It's good to ask why that is? We think it might be that they were not "web native."
> The previous generation of online IDEs -- C9, Nitrous, Koding -- were awesome, yet most pivoted or shutdown. It's good to ask why that is? We think it might be that they were not "web native."
Maybe it's because giving away cloud services for free is not a sustainable business model.
Sure, but no one used them -- just like Repl.it, pretty much all of their monthly active users were only there for the free plan, and they left as soon as the companies tried to monetize.
Koding, in particular, went through pretty much exactly the same cycle as Repl.it a few years ago. They started out getting tons of users by giving cloud servers away for free, targeted mainly at children/education market. Then they started selling premium plans for beefier servers, but no one bought them. Then, they tried to become a cloud infrastructure company[1] and created a distributed filesystem product[2], which seems to be exactly your plan as well!
As it turns out, the educational users were only there because going on a free website is easier than installing Python on your computer, so when Koding started trying to charge for stuff, no one bought it.
1. We've been arond longer than most in this space (since 2011)
2. We've been profitable and bootstrapping for a long time. We have paying users like Facebook, Google, and Stripe, Hackreactor, HCT (biggest college in the UAE) and so many more: https://repl.it/pricing
3. We're probably like 5-10x Koding users base.
4. You keep creating accounts to spread misinformation. Go find something better to do.
3. In other words, you're giving away like 5-10x the amount of free servers Koding did. If burning money didn't work for them then how would burning it five times faster help you? Are you trying to make it up in volume or something?
4. Alright, just for you I'll stop using throwaway usernames. i don't post on HN super often and I usually forget my password, so I usually just make a new account whenever I want to post something. (fyi this is only my fourth post in this thread)
Look I like Repl.it and have used it in the past. You did a good job making the interface work well. I just don't see how free cloud computers can be sustainable as a business in the long term.
> 3. In other words, you're giving away like 5-10x the amount of free servers Koding did. If burning money didn't work for them, then how would burning it five times faster help you? Are you trying to make it up in volume or something?
In Sep we spent $15k for all of our infrastructure cost and we made all of it back and then some with subscriptions. It's serverless, we only spend resources when people actually execute code (most of the time they're just typing the code) or when servers are responding to traffic (most of the time they're idle). Unlike C9/Koding/etc which were all VMs :-)
Thanks for the reply and transparency. I am actually a little surprised and refreshed that you were able to post infrastructure costs ($15k in Sept). I'm assuming this is on AWS Lambda?
> Then they started selling premium plans for beefier servers, but no one bought them..
I still think this has validity, especially with high-tech products that have a free plan. How do you know how big the business can grow in terms of revenue when the vast majority of your users are free? In my experience developers are a VERY hard crowd to get to pay for things while being enthusiastic early adopters.
No we built our own. I started working on it in 2015 before much of the seeverless hype.
> How do you know how big the business can grow in terms of revenue when the vast majority of your users are free?
You don't. You have some plan and some people back you knowing that you're probably wrong about part or all of it. If you're careful and don't balloon the company (we're 6 people and hire very very slow) and get to default alive then you can have a near infinite runway to figure it out.
One rule of thumb is that if your developers are making money using your tools then they're more likely to pay. We all know devtools is a tough space but we're very driven, ambitious, yet conservative at the same time. Take every opportunity to cut burn and make revenue.
I personally see repl.it less as a replacement for a development environment (c9's aim) and more as a quick way to deploy, run, and illustrate a piece of code. It is perfect for school assignments, running quick trials, and general explatory-esque learning.
