Polypane, The browser for ambitious web developers

Hey, I&#x27;m Kilian, the creator and solo developer of Polypane. Exciting to see this on the homepage again.<p>Happy to answer any questions folks have!

I totally get why you do subscription. I totally get why I don&#x27;t do subscription.<p>Is there some sort of middle ground? Say, minimum purchase cost is the same price as six months, but it keeps on working afterwards sans updates. When the dev realizes that such a tool is only 80% effective unless it is totally updated, they can subscribe.

I&#x27;ve used it a lot. Great product, emulates subtle device issues very well that Chrome device view doesn&#x27;t

I wish such a browser could accurately emulate a mobile device&#x27;s browser, not just change screen size, but even Apple&#x27;s iOS simulator fails at this.

The question is that it seems to emulate many things, but what doesn&#x27;t it emulate well?<p>It looks like it&#x27;s built off chromium, so I&#x27;m assuming it wouldn&#x27;t be able to show an issue that only appears in safari or maybe Mozilla?<p>Perhaps this is in the docs.<p>edit: It&#x27;s in the FAQ at the bottom. Still, beyond the actual browser engine, are there other known limitations?

I just spent several long days implementing my first modern CSS responsive web design, learning flexboxes and grids and what-can-I-use along the way. I currently have three different browser windows and two device emulators open across two monitors. So what I&#x27;m saying is, I have an appreciation for how this app could probably have saved me a lot of trouble if I&#x27;d known about it last week.

I don&#x27;t understand the many comments here complaining that the browser has a subscription. Finally! I want more paid browsers, not less. I want to get back to a world where we paid for products with money, instead of being datamined and have ads pushed down my throat.<p>People here, out of all places, should be aware of what it means when a product is free.

I&#x27;ve been using Polypane for over a year now, and while it may not be the right fit for everyone, it works well for my needs.<p>What I appreciate:<p>- Session management keeps my workflow organised.<p>- Responsive-first design, with panes for both desktop and mobile views.<p>- Comprehensive screenshot functionality, including annotations.<p>Sure, you could replicate these features with other browsers or plugins, but I prefer having everything set up out of the box—one less thing to configure.<p>The support is outstanding. I encountered an issue with my IDE not launching Polypane correctly, and after reaching out on Slack, Killian helped resolve it quickly.<p>Reading through the Slack conversations, it&#x27;s clear he&#x27;s dedicated to building the best possible product for his users.

* What are a few features you offer over Browserstack? (re: x-browser testing).<p>* Do you offer GenAI integrations? (Copilot, Claude, etc)<p>(Help me sell this to my manager)

I really wish the pricing model offered some sort of lifetime purchase. This seems great but I don’t think I could justify the monthly&#x2F;yearly cost.

As a frontend developer focusing on mobile React, the features I&#x27;ve wanted the most for several years is the ability to simulate the safe-area (yes, the notch) on modern iOS devices.<p>I tried using Polypane, but unfortunately, I couldn&#x27;t find any relevant settings.<p>That’s not surprising, though Chrome DevTools doesn’t support it, and even the Safari simulator lacks this functionality.<p>It seems I still have to rely on guesswork and iterative adjustments to resolve all the issues related to safe-areas.

Almost all of these features are already built into Firefox devtools. Why is a whole new browser warranted? It seems like this could&#x27;ve been an extension

I understand the subscription model, but the cost doesn&#x27;t sit right for me.<p>My all products JetBrains subscription is £137 a year, for every single product they create (and perpetual fallback licences). This is £91 a year, which is about 66% of the cost of my JB sub and if I stop paying, I assume PolyPane stops working.

Any free alternative?

Super cool! Is there the possibility to get a students discount? Will try the free trial for now :)

I&#x27;ve been using it for a while now. It is an excellent tool in the tool belt, making me a much better developer and more productive, a lot less messing around.

I read the website, but I still don&#x27;t get what value it&#x27;s offering over Chrome? Better viewport sizing?

Seems quite similar to <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;sizzy.co&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;sizzy.co&#x2F;</a>

Shut up and take my money!

Is it just an Electron app with webviews synced via Browsersync?

A browser with a subscription. I have no words. People try to make money out of anything. And they succeed in this. The world is an insane place, really.