Noco vs Coder
An honest comparison of Noco and Coder for cloud development environments. Who each tool is best for, where they differ, and when to choose which.
At a glance
Noco
- Best for
- Teams where designers, PMs, and founders ship code alongside engineers using AI tools
- Pricing
- Free during early access
- Setup time
- ~60 seconds
- AI tool support
- Any (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, vim, etc.)
- Preview URLs
- Every branch, automatic TLS
Coder
- Best for
- Enterprise platform engineering teams managing developer infrastructure at scale
- Pricing
- Open source (free), Premium from $44/user/month
- Setup time
- 5–15 minutes (depends on template)
- AI tool support
- Any (via SSH tunnel)
- Preview URLs
- Not built-in
What is Coder?
Coder is the enterprise standard for self-hosted cloud development environments. It uses Terraform templates to provision workspaces on any infrastructure — Kubernetes, AWS, GCP, Azure, or bare metal. Fortune 500 companies like Discord, Palantir, and Goldman Sachs use Coder to give developers consistent, secure environments.
Coder's strength is flexibility and enterprise compliance — SOC 2, air-gapped deployments, WireGuard networking. The tradeoff is complexity: someone on your team needs to write and maintain Terraform templates, and end users need to understand the workspace concept.
Strengths
- Runs on any infrastructure (K8s, VMs, bare metal)
- Terraform-based templates for full customization
- Enterprise security (SOC 2, air-gapped, WireGuard)
- Large enterprise customer base (Discord, Palantir, Goldman Sachs)
Limitations
- –Requires a platform team to write and maintain Terraform templates
- –Complex setup — not designed for small teams or non-engineers
- –No built-in preview URLs
- –End users need to understand workspaces and infrastructure concepts
What is Noco?
Cloud dev environments for your entire team — not just engineers. One command gives anyone a live, running copy of your app with a preview URL. Works with any AI coding tool, any git provider.
Noco gives every branch a live preview URL. Designers, PMs, and founders use AI coding tools to build features on the real codebase, then submit PRs that reviewers can click and use — not just read diffs.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Noco | Coder |
|---|---|---|
| Setup complexity | One command | Terraform templates required |
| Time to running app | ~60 seconds | 5–15 minutes (depends on template) |
| IDE / editor lock-in | None — any editor, any AI tool | None — any IDE via SSH or web |
| AI tool support | Any (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, vim, etc.) | Any (via SSH tunnel) |
| Preview URLs | Every branch, automatic TLS | Not built-in |
| Git provider support | Any (GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket) | Any |
| Self-hosted option | Yes (K8s) | Yes (primary model) |
| Non-engineer accessibility | Designed for it | Not designed for it |
| File sync speed | < 50ms via Mutagen | N/A (remote SSH) |
| Platform team required? | No | Yes |
Key differences
Convention vs. Terraform
Coder uses Terraform templates — powerful but requires a platform engineer to author and maintain them. Noco uses a .noco/ folder convention: a start.sh script and a small config.yml. Any developer (or AI tool) can create one in seconds.
Who cares: Small to mid-size teams without a dedicated platform engineering function. If you don't have someone who writes Terraform, Coder is a non-starter.
Entire team vs. just developers
Coder is built for software engineers who understand workspaces, SSH tunnels, and infrastructure. Noco is built so that a designer can run one command and get a live preview of the app they're about to modify with AI.
Who cares: Companies that want to extend coding capabilities beyond the engineering team using AI tools.
Preview URLs vs. none
Noco gives every environment a live preview URL. Coder doesn't have built-in preview URLs — accessing running services requires SSH tunnels or custom networking configuration.
Who cares: Teams where PR review involves seeing the running feature, not just reading diffs.
When to choose Coder
- You have a platform engineering team that manages developer infrastructure
- You need SOC 2 compliance, air-gapped deployments, or enterprise security
- You want maximum control over infrastructure via Terraform
- Your users are all experienced software engineers
When to choose Noco
- You don't have a platform team to write Terraform templates
- You want non-engineers to ship code with AI tools
- You need preview URLs for PRs and branch environments
- You want convention-based setup instead of infrastructure-as-code
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a platform team to use Coder?
Effectively, yes. Coder requires Terraform templates to define workspaces. Someone needs to write, test, and maintain those templates. Noco uses a simple .noco/ folder convention that anyone can set up.
Is Coder free?
Coder's core is open source and free. The premium version with enterprise features (audit logs, template RBAC, high availability) starts at $44/user/month.
Can non-engineers use Coder?
Coder is designed for software engineers. The workspace concept, Terraform templates, and SSH-based access assume technical knowledge. Noco is specifically designed for non-engineers using AI tools.
Does Coder have preview URLs?
No. Coder doesn't include built-in preview URLs. You'd need to configure custom networking or port forwarding to access running services. Noco provides automatic preview URLs for every branch.
Try Noco for your team.
One command. Live preview URL. Works with any AI coding tool.
No spam. We'll reach out to schedule onboarding.