Which is better, Snap! or Scratch?

TL;DR: Don't ask that here.

We are absolutely not interested in a rivalry with Scratch or the Scratch Team.

Scratch has been phenomenally successful, with millions of users (not all active at once, but cumulatively), both in schools and with independent learners. Many, many people who would otherwise know nothing about programming have learned to love it through Scratch, including kids from groups that have traditionally been underrepresented in computing. We love Scratch! And, on a personal level, we are friends with the Scratch Team.

Also, Snap! is an outgrowth of their work. Our earlier version, BYOB, was an extension to Scratch. (That is, it was based on the actual code implementing Scratch.) Snap! is now an independent program, not sharing code with Scratch, but we have obviously adapted their vocabulary of block, script, stage, sprite, and so on, and most of their actual blocks (although reimplemented). Our screen layout is close to that of Scratch 1.4, which we prefer to the later Scratch layouts. We have shamelessly borrowed their collections of costumes, backgrounds, and sounds, as permitted by their license terms.

Their goals are different from ours. They want to promote creativity in young children by giving them expressive tools. We want to teach computer science to teenagers. That drives our work in different directions. (In the early days of BYOB, we were hoping to convince the Scratch Team to adopt our additions to Scratch into their version, but they chose otherwise.) We have focused more on advanced programming language features such as first class procedures and lists; they have been able to put much more effort than we, so far at least, into the nurturing of their phenomenal online community.

If you have a curious six to ten year old, give them Scratch. If you have a self-taught twelve to twenty year old who needs more of a challenge, give them Snap!.

Given all of the above, we are not interested in engaging in conversations about how much better or how much worse Scratch is than Snap!. Our Terms of Service specifically prohibit such conversations on our site, including in this forum. Thanks.