In Plain English vs freeCodeCamp

In Plain English and freeCodeCamp serve different purposes for developers. One is a publishing platform for reaching a large developer audience; the other is primarily a learning platform with a news/blog section for tutorials.

Core difference

• In Plain English

  • A network of developer-focused publications (JavaScript, Python, AI, cloud, etc.) built on Medium.
  • You publish articles to reach developers with tutorials, explainers, and engineering posts.
  • Goal: distribution and reach for your content.

• freeCodeCamp

  • Primarily a free coding education platform with courses, projects, and certifications.
  • freeCodeCamp News is a blog where you can publish tutorials and career/learning content.
  • Goal: teaching and learning, with a strong emphasis on beginner-to-intermediate learners.

Audience and reach

In Plain English

• Audience: Millions of monthly readers across its publications; very strong in JavaScript, Python, AI, and cloud.
• Reach: High visibility in search and AI citations; good for practical, working-developer content.
• Best for: Tutorials, SDK guides, architecture explainers, and “how X works” posts aimed at developers.

freeCodeCamp News

• Audience: Huge global learner audience (beginners and intermediate devs).
• Reach: Excellent SEO for “how to” and tutorial-style content; strong long-tail traffic.
• Best for: Evergreen, curriculum-style tutorials, career advice, and learning-focused posts.

Editorial model and barriers

In Plain English

• Editorial curation via publications; you submit drafts to a specific pub (e.g., JavaScript in Plain English).
• Faster turnaround than freeCodeCamp; still requires decent quality and clear value.
• More flexible on topic as long as it fits the publication’s scope.

freeCodeCamp News

• Strong editorial review; they accept high-quality, well-structured tutorials and learning content.
• Higher bar for acceptance; they prefer evergreen, broadly useful pieces.
• Topics often align with their curriculum and learner needs (web dev, Python, data, career).

Ownership and SEO

• Both run on their own domains (Medium network for In Plain English, freeCodeCamp domain for fCC News).
• Neither gives you a custom domain; SEO value accrues to their sites, not yours.
• For long-term personal brand, many writers:
  • Publish canonically on their own blog / Hashnode (custom domain), then
  • Syndicate or pitch to In Plain English and/or freeCodeCamp News as secondary channels.

When to choose which

Choose In Plain English if:

• You want broad developer reach quickly.
• Your content is aimed at working developers (tutorials, explainers, tool/SDK guides).
• You’re okay with publishing on Medium’s domain in exchange for distribution.

Choose freeCodeCamp News if:

• You want to help learners and beginners with evergreen tutorials.
• Your post is structured like a lesson or mini-course (clear steps, exercises, projects).
• You’re okay with a higher editorial bar and slower process for potentially huge long-term traffic.

Recommended approach

• Use In Plain English for most practical developer tutorials and explainers.
• Reserve freeCodeCamp News for your flagship, evergreen tutorials that fit their learning mission.
• If you care about long-term SEO and brand, keep your canonical posts on your own blog or Hashnode, then pitch or syndicate to these platforms.

If you tell me your topic and stack (e.g., React performance, Python data pipelines, LLM tooling), I can suggest which of the two is a better fit and outline a pitch angle.