Comparison

Smashing Magazine vs CSS-Tricks

Smashing Magazine lands on Depends, and CSS-Tricks lands on Worth it.

Smashing Magazine

smashingmagazine.com

Depends

Confidence: Medium

Front-end devs and designers should bookmark it . most content is free and well-regarded by working developers.

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CSS-Tricks

Worth it

Confidence: Medium

Free to use, so there is no purchase risk . worth bookmarking as a CSS learning and reference resource.

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Smashing Magazine versus CSS-Tricks
Compare	Smashing Magazine	CSS-Tricks
Verdict	Depends	Worth it
Best for	Front-end developers and designers	Self-taught front-end devs
Who it's not for	Anyone expecting software or tooling . it's editorial content, not a product	Teams shopping for software . this is a blog, not a tool
Privacy	No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.	No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.
Support quality	Only 3 Trustpilot reviews; no support data	Content site; no support evidence
Public sentiment	Developers on Reddit broadly praise it as a regular read, though a few threads question quality trends.^⁵	Long treated as a go-to CSS learning reference, recent community discussion centers on its quietness and uncertain future after the DigitalOcean acquisition.¹³
Biggest gotcha	Membership price isn't publicly indexed . verify current cost on-site before subscribing^²	Content freshness is the real risk . recent coverage is about the site going quiet, not new guides¹³

Pick Smashing Magazine when

Front-end developers and designers
Self-directed learners
Teams caring about accessibility and UX

When Smashing Magazine is not a fit

Anyone expecting software or tooling . it's editorial content, not a product
Learners needing certified, structured curricula
Teams shopping for a training platform with admin controls
Non-technical buyers

Pick CSS-Tricks when

Self-taught front-end devs
CSS beginners
Devs needing a snippet or Almanac reference

When CSS-Tricks is not a fit

Teams shopping for software . this is a blog, not a tool
Anyone needing actively updated content right now
Learners wanting structured courses with support
Buyers needing vendor support, SLAs, or guarantees

Sources

Smashing Magazine homepagesmashingmagazine.com
official
Smashing Membershipsmashingmagazine.com
official
The Smashing Email Newslettersmashingmagazine.com
official
Smashing Magazine Reviews . Trustpilottrustpilot.com
review
Webdevs of reddit: what online web development resources do you use?reddit.com
review
Is it me or the quality of Smashing Magazine articles…reddit.com
review
Smashing Magazine . Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
news
Smashing Magazine . LinkedIn company profilelinkedin.com
news
Smashing Magazine company profile . Tracxntracxn.com
news
How Smashing Magazine achieved 10x faster load times . Netlifynetlify.com
news
CSS-Trickscss-tricks.com
official
Where I'm at on the whole CSS-Tricks thing . Chris Coyierchriscoyier.net
news
Why CSS-Tricks Has Been Quiet Lately . Reddit r/webdevreddit.com
review
CSS-Tricks in Limbo . Hacker Newsnews.ycombinator.com
news
HN: CSS-Tricks was a big blunder on DigitalOcean's sidenews.ycombinator.com
news
CSS-Tricks Reviews . Trustpilottrustpilot.com
review