Compare developer publishing platforms and blogs (dev.to, Hashnode, Medium, In Plain English, freeCodeCamp)

If your goal is publishing developer/technical content, these five platforms serve rather different purposes. The biggest distinction is:

• DEV.to → community + developer discovery
• Hashnode → your own developer blog + ownership/control
• Medium → broad audience + potential writer revenue
• In Plain English → distribution through a large technical publication ecosystem
• freeCodeCamp → high-authority educational publication + editorial credibility

Quick comparison

Platform	Best for	Audience	Editorial barrier	SEO / ownership	Monetization	Community
DEV.to	Developer community & discussion	Developers	🟢 Low	🟢 Canonicals supported	🔴 Limited/no direct writer payout	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Hashnode	Building your developer blog/brand	Developers	🟢 Low	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Strong control	🟡 Mainly indirect	⭐⭐⭐⭐
Medium	Reach + writing income	General + tech readers	🟢 Low for self-publishing	🟡 Platform-centric	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Partner Program	⭐⭐⭐⭐
In Plain English	Technical distribution	Developers/engineers/tech	🟡 Editorial	🟡 Depends on publication	🟡 Depends on arrangement	⭐⭐⭐
freeCodeCamp	Serious tutorials & credibility	Developers/learners	🔴 High	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Strong links/SEO	🔴 Not a paid-placement model	⭐⭐⭐

1. DEV Community

Best choice if you want developer interaction.

DEV is essentially a social network for developers: articles get surfaced through tags, feeds, followers, reactions, and discussions. It is particularly good for posts such as:

• "I built X with React"
• debugging stories
• programming tips
• career/engineering experiences
• short-to-medium tutorials

A particularly useful feature is canonical URLs, so you can republish an article from your own blog while telling search engines where the original lives. DEV explicitly supports importing RSS content with a canonical URL. DEV Community+1

Strength: Community engagement Weakness: Less control over your long-term publishing home than a self-owned domain.

Verdict: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ for getting developers to read and respond to your work.

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2. Hashnode

Best choice if you want a real developer blog rather than merely publishing on someone else's site.

Hashnode is much closer to a blogging platform/CMS. It supports custom domains, publications, newsletters, analytics, collaboration, APIs/headless CMS, and Markdown-oriented technical writing. Hashnode+1

You can therefore have something like:

blog.yourname.com

while using Hashnode underneath it.

Hashnode also emphasizes portability: its current platform supports Markdown imports, canonical URLs, GitHub backups, and publishing from a repository. Hashnode

Strength: Ownership/branding + developer-focused tooling Weakness: Less of the immediate social-discussion energy of DEV.

Verdict: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ if you're building a long-term developer brand or portfolio.

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3. Medium

Best choice if you care about general readership and potentially earning from your writing.

Medium isn't exclusively technical. That's actually its advantage if you're writing things such as:

• engineering leadership
• career stories
• AI
• productivity
• entrepreneurship
• technology essays
• opinion pieces

Its Partner Program can pay eligible writers based on member engagement, and Medium's current terms were updated in June 2026. Medium Help+1

Medium also supports canonical URLs when you're republishing something that originally appeared elsewhere. Medium Help

The downside is that you're building primarily on Medium's ecosystem, rather than strengthening a domain you control.

Strength: Reach + monetization Weakness: Less developer-specific and less ownership/control.

Verdict: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ for reach and revenue, ⭐⭐⭐ for developer-specific branding.

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4. In Plain English

Best choice if your priority is distribution rather than creating your own blogging infrastructure.

In Plain English is particularly relevant for:

• programming tutorials
• AI/ML
• cloud
• software engineering
• developer tooling
• accessible technical explainers

Its own 2026 comparison describes its audience as developers, engineers, and technology decision-makers, and positions it alongside DEV, Hashnode, Medium and other technical publishing outlets. In Plain English Resources

One important nuance: In Plain English is more of a publication/distribution channel than a personal blogging platform. You shouldn't think of it as a direct replacement for Hashnode.

Strength: Distribution to a technical readership Weakness: Less control/identity than maintaining your own blog.

Verdict: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ for amplifying good technical content.

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5. freeCodeCamp

Best choice for authoritative, educational tutorials—but it's the hardest to get into.

freeCodeCamp is fundamentally different from DEV/Medium/Hashnode. It operates an editorial publication with a formal review process. Contributors pitch ideas, write drafts according to the style guide, and the editorial team copy-edits, fact-checks and checks for plagiarism. freeCodeCamp

That means publication there can carry considerably more editorial credibility than simply self-publishing an article.

It also has an interesting relationship with Hashnode: freeCodeCamp's publication currently uses Hashnode as its publishing backend. freeCodeCamp

The trade-off is that freeCodeCamp explicitly discourages simply cross-posting the same article to open publishing sites such as Medium, and asks contributors to work through its editorial process. freeCodeCamp

Strength: Authority + educational reach Weakness: Selective and slower.

Verdict: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ for a polished, substantial tutorial that you want associated with an established educational publication.

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Which one should you choose?

I'd think about them as different layers, rather than competitors:

If you're starting from zero:

Hashnode → build your canonical home DEV.to → distribute and discuss In Plain English → expand reach Medium → reach broader audiences / monetize freeCodeCamp → submit your strongest educational tutorials

For example, if you wrote a 3,000-word "Build a RAG Application with Python" tutorial:

1. Put the definitive version on your own domain / Hashnode.
2. Republish to DEV.to with a canonical URL.
3. Consider In Plain English for additional distribution.
4. Create a somewhat different, broader version for Medium if appropriate.
5. For a particularly polished educational tutorial, pitch freeCodeCamp instead of indiscriminately cross-posting it.

My ranking by objective

Objective	#1	#2	#3
Developer community	DEV.to	Hashnode	Medium
Build your personal brand	Hashnode	DEV.to	Medium
Own/control your blog	Hashnode	DEV.to	Medium
Potential writer income	Medium	—	—
Technical audience	DEV.to	Hashnode	In Plain English
Editorial credibility	freeCodeCamp	In Plain English	Medium
Long-form tutorials	freeCodeCamp	Hashnode	DEV.to
Fast/easy publishing	DEV.to	Hashnode	Medium
SEO/long-term asset	Hashnode	freeCodeCamp	DEV.to

Bottom line: If I were a developer trying to build a reputation over several years, I'd make Hashnode/my own domain the home base, use DEV.to for community, use In Plain English for distribution, and treat Medium as an additional channel rather than my primary archive. I'd pursue freeCodeCamp selectively for my very best tutorials. Hashnode+2DEV Community+2