shouldiuse.io

New check

Categories

VERDICT

Should I use Snap! Build Your Own Blocks?

The Snap! Community. Snap! is a blocks-based programming language built by UC Berkeley and used by hundreds of thousands of programmers around the world. - snap.berkeley.edu

Worth it. A free, browser-based blocks language from UC Berkeley — a smart pick for classrooms and learners outgrowing Scratch. Skip it entirely if you need to build real, production software.

Confidence

Medium. Based on ~20 public sources; several evidence items (TIB AV-Portal talks) were unrelated noise and excluded.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support quality
  • Security postureNo security evidence in sources

Pricing

$0

Free

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes

Best for

  • Middle and high school CS teachers
  • Learners graduating from Scratch
  • UC's BJC-style intro curriculum
  • Hobbyists prototyping ideas visually

Not for

  • Professional software teams shipping products
  • Anyone needing job-ready languages or hiring skills
  • Teams wanting paid support or SLAs
  • App builders targeting mobile or web deployment

Gotchas - check before you buy

medium

Academic project with no vendor — support depends on volunteers and forums

medium

Users report performance problems as projects grow

low

No public security page or disclosures found in sources

low

Cloud accounts fall under Berkeley ToS; self-hosting requires technical setup

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Free and browser-based — nothing to install or purchase
  • Extends Scratch with user-defined blocks and deeper CS concepts
  • Open source with an active GitHub repo
  • Active community forum for teacher and user questions
  • Backed by UC Berkeley and used in published CS-education research

Cons

  • Users report performance issues on larger projects
  • No commercial support — forum volunteers only
  • Learning transfers poorly to industry programming jobs
  • Hosted community has ToS restrictions on use

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/21/2026 - 10 sources - No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

official x6review x3news x1

Key stats

  • Value for money: 5/5

    Rating

  • $0

    Starting price

  • 10

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 5/5. Completely free, no paid tiers
  • Ease of use: 4/5. Drag-and-drop blocks, explicit low floor
  • Feature depth: 4/5. Custom blocks go well beyond Scratch
  • Support quality: 3/5. Community forum only, no SLA
  • Security posture. No security evidence in sources
  • Free Price Described as free in ACM paper
  • Hundreds of thousands Users Per official tagline
  • UC Berkeley Backer Academic project, not a vendor
  • In-browser Runs Implemented in JavaScript

Pricing

Free

$0

  • Full blocks language in the browser
  • Community sharing and cloud projects
  • Open source on GitHub

Security

No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

What users say

Reddit and forum users treat Snap! as a serious step up from Scratch, with performance on big projects the main complaint.

“I have been using Scratch for years, however I want to learn actual progr…”
Reddit, r/scratch
“If you like Scratch, do you dare to try Snap! (Build Your Own Block…”
Reddit, r/ProgrammerHumor
“Snap: Build Your Own Blocks (snap.berkeley.edu)”
Hacker News
Full analysis

Based on ~20 public sources; several evidence items (TIB AV-Portal talks) were unrelated noise and excluded.

Free UC Berkeley blocks language — great for teaching CS, not for building real products.

Methodology

Based on ~20 public sources; several evidence items (TIB AV-Portal talks) were unrelated noise and excluded.

Sources

  1. Snap! Build Your Own Blocks (official site)snap.berkeley.edu
    official
  2. SNAP! (Build Your Own Blocks) — ACM SIGCSE abstractdl.acm.org
    review
  3. Snap! (programming language) — Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
    official
  4. jmoenig/Snap — GitHub repositorygithub.com
    official
  5. Performance issues — Snap! forumforum.snap.berkeley.edu
    review
  6. What are some languages to move to after Scratch — Redditreddit.com
    review
  7. Snap! wikisnapwiki.miraheze.org
    official
  8. Terms of Service — Snap!snap.berkeley.edu
    official
  9. The story of Snap! — Snap!Consnapcon.org
    news
  10. Research — Snap!snap.berkeley.edu
    official

Rate this review

Anonymous. You can change your vote.

Loading votes…

Comments

One queue. No nested comments. Give a display name first. Limit: 200 words per comment and 7 comments per day. You can edit or delete yours.

Save a name to write a comment.

0 / 200 words

No comments yet.