CrabGlamp vs Gitpod

CrabGlamp and Gitpod take fundamentally different approaches. CrabGlamp gives you persistent VMs — create once, use forever. Gitpod gives you ephemeral workspaces — defined by config, recreated from scratch each time.

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Feature comparison

	CrabGlamp	Gitpod
Persistence model	Persistent VM (lives until destroyed)	Ephemeral workspace (recreated per session)
Configuration	Zero config, ready out of the box	.gitpod.yml defines environment
AI tools	OpenClaw + platform LLM keys	Bring your own
IDE support	Browser VS Code only	Browser VS Code, desktop VS Code, JetBrains
Web hosting	Built-in public HTTPS URL	Preview URLs (session-scoped)
Self-hosted	No	Yes (Gitpod Dedicated)
Environment sharing	GlampHub snapshots	.gitpod.yml in repo
State between sessions	Everything persists	Start from config each time

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Choose Gitpod if

• You want reproducible environments-as-code that spin up identically every time
• You use JetBrains IDEs (IntelliJ, GoLand, PyCharm)
• You need self-hosted deployment on your own infrastructure
• Your workflow is repo-centric — each repo defines its own environment

Choose CrabGlamp if

• You want a persistent environment that accumulates your tools, configs, and projects over time
• You want AI tools and LLM keys ready out of the box
• You need permanent web hosting for demos, staging, or lightweight production
• You prefer zero configuration — no YAML files to maintain