shouldiuse.io

VERDICT

Should I use Codeforces?

Codeforces. Programming competitions and contests, programming community - codeforces.com

Depends. Free and the de facto standard for competitive programming — rated contests, ratings, and a hardcore community. If your goal is interview prep or gentle learning, it is the wrong tool; use LeetCode.

Confidence

Medium. Based on 14 public sources: Codeforces blogs, Reddit threads, review aggregators, and Wikipedia.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support quality
  • Security posture

Pricing

$0

Free

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes

Best for

  • Competitive programmers chasing ratings
  • ICPC and olympiad trainees
  • Self-directed learners comfortable with hard problems

Not for

  • Interview preppers — LeetCode fits better
  • Total beginners wanting guided learning paths
  • Companies needing support SLAs, SSO, or procurement
  • Anyone discouraged by public ratings and brutal difficulty

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

No native 2FA; users built a third-party browser extension for logins

high

Account takeover recovery happens through community posts, not a support desk

low

Scheduled maintenance can take Codeforces and Polygon offline unexpectedly

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Free contests, ratings, and problem archive since 2009
  • Active community cited as its core strength
  • Harder than LeetCode — described as 'Leetcode on steroids'
  • Community poll says practicing still helps even outside ICPC

Cons

  • Hiring value questioned; companies reportedly ignore Codeforces ratings
  • Repeated account hacks and site-wide hacker alerts
  • No official security page published
  • Brutal difficulty; median rating is just 924

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/21/2026 - 14 sources - Multiple community reports of account takeovers and a site-wide hacker alert; no official security page found.

official x2review x6security x5news x1
  • Emergency announcement: hackers on Codeforces, Official blog post confirming hackers active on the platform.
  • User account hacked, User reports original account with rating was compromised.
  • Vulnerability in the hacking (challenge) system, Incident disclosed in the contest hacking/challenge feature.
  • No security page, Security page URL returns no published security policy.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 5/5

    Rating

  • $0

    Starting price

  • 14

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 5/5. Free; no paywalled contest features
  • Ease of use: 2/5. Guess: spartan dated UI, steep learning curve
  • Feature depth: 4/5. Rated rounds, Elo ratings, hacks, huge archive
  • Support quality: 2/5. Guess: issues handled via community blogs, no SLA
  • Security posture: 2/5. Hacked accounts and emergency hacker alerts reported
  • $0 Price Contests and problem archive are free
  • 4.7/5 Scamadviser score Only 3 reviews — thin signal
  • 2009 Founded Per Wikipedia; long-running platform
  • 924 Median user rating Community median; expect a humbling start

Pricing

Free

$0

  • Rated contests
  • Full problem archive
  • Community blogs and ratings

Security

Multiple community reports of account takeovers and a site-wide hacker alert; no official security page found.

  • Emergency announcement: hackers on CodeforcesOfficial blog post confirming hackers active on the platform.⁷
  • User account hackedUser reports original account with rating was compromised.⁸
  • Vulnerability in the hacking (challenge) systemIncident disclosed in the contest hacking/challenge feature.⁹
  • No security pageSecurity page URL returns no published security policy.10

What users say

Users find Codeforces humbling but rewarding, praising its active community while questioning its job-market payoff.

“doing codeforces is a very humbling experience”
Reddit, r/codeforces
“IMO, yes, doing Codeforces helps.”
Reddit, r/codeforces
“(Median rating on codeforces is 924)”
Reddit, r/codeforces
Full analysis

Based on 14 public sources: Codeforces blogs, Reddit threads, review aggregators, and Wikipedia.

Free, brutal competitive-programming contests. Perfect for CP racers; wrong tool for interview prep.

Methodology

Based on 14 public sources: Codeforces blogs, Reddit threads, review aggregators, and Wikipedia.

Sources

  1. Codeforces - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
    news
  2. Codeforces official sitecodeforces.com
    official
  3. How does codeforces make money (free platform)codeforces.com
    official
  4. Leetcode vs Codeforces for FAANG - Redditreddit.com
    review
  5. CodeForces reviews - SaaSHubsaashub.com
    review
  6. codeforces.com Reviews - Scamadviserscamadviser.com
    review
  7. Emergency Announcement — Hackers on Codeforcescodeforces.com
    security
  8. My Codeforces Account Was Hackedcodeforces.com
    security
  9. Vulnerability in the Hacking system of Codeforces!codeforces.com
    security
  10. Codeforces security pagecodeforces.com
    security
  11. Is there even a point of doing Codeforces anymore - Redditreddit.com
    review
  12. Are these ranks considered good - Redditreddit.com
    review
  13. 2FA browser extension for Codeforces - Redditreddit.com
    review
  14. Codeforces security issuecodeforces.com
    security

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