Quick answer: ArcadeLab wins when your thing fits in one HTML file under 500KB and you want zero-friction publishing with no account. itch.io wins for monetization and larger multi-file games. GitHub Pages wins when you already have a repo. Glitch wins when you need a backend. CodePen wins for live editing and snippets.

The question of where to publish depends on what you're publishing and what you're willing to do. Here's how the major options compare.

Quick comparison table

Feature ArcadeLab itch.io GitHub Pages Glitch CodePen

Account required No Yes Yes (GitHub) Yes For public pens

Free Yes Yes (paid optional) Yes Free tier Free tier

Multi-file support No (single HTML) Yes (zip uploads) Yes (full repo) Yes Yes (limited)

Backend / server code No No No Yes No

Network requests allowed No (blocked) Yes Yes Yes Yes

Time to publish ~30 seconds 5-15 minutes 10+ minutes 5-10 minutes 2-5 minutes

Monetization built in No Yes No No No

When ArcadeLab is the right choice

You have a single-file HTML game or…