Dev.to launched in 2016, founded by Ben Halpern, Jess Lee, and Peter Frank. It was built as an inclusive, beginner-friendly alternative to older developer blogging platforms. The site runs on Forem, an open-source community platform that Dev.to’s team created and later spun out as its own product.
The platform has grown to millions of registered developers who publish articles, tutorials, and discussion posts. Unlike Medium, Dev.to doesn’t put content behind paywalls — everything is free to read and write. The site’s clean design and fast load times became a selling point, especially compared to bloated alternatives.
Dev.to’s content covers everything from JavaScript tutorials and career advice to deep dives into system architecture. The community is known for being welcoming — comment sections tend to be constructive rather than hostile, which isn’t something you can say about every developer forum.
The platform earned venture funding and became part of a broader push to build Forem as a white-label community tool. Organizations can spin up their own Forem-powered communities with custom branding. However, Forem’s growth as a standalone product has been slower than initially hoped.
Based in New York, Dev.to’s small team relies heavily on community contributions and volunteer moderation. The platform integrates with GitHub, supports markdown-based writing, and offers RSS feed imports for cross-posting. Tags and follower systems help developers discover content tailored to their interests.
