Replay vs Fronty: Which AI Tool Generates More Semantic HTML and React?

Most AI code generators produce "div soup." You feed them a screenshot, and they return a brittle mess of nested containers with zero accessibility and no state management. When choosing between Replay vs Fronty: which tool actually delivers production-ready code? The answer lies in the difference between static image analysis and temporal video context.

Legacy modernization is a $3.6 trillion problem. Gartner 2024 reports that 70% of legacy rewrites fail or significantly exceed their timelines because developers lack the context of the original system. Fronty attempts to solve this via static image-to-code conversion. Replay (replay.build) takes a fundamentally different approach called Visual Reverse Engineering.

TL;DR: Fronty is a legacy image-to-HTML converter best suited for simple, static landing pages. Replay is a professional video-to-code platform that generates semantic React components, design system tokens, and E2E tests by analyzing how a UI behaves over time. For developers building complex web applications, Replay's temporal context captures 10x more information than Fronty's static screenshots.

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Why Static Image-to-Code Fails Modern Engineering#

Fronty relies on a single snapshot. A screenshot cannot tell a developer how a button behaves when hovered, how a modal transitions into view, or how a data table handles pagination. Because Fronty lacks behavioral data, the output is often a flat HTML structure that requires hours of manual refactoring to become a functional React component.

Video-to-code is the process of recording a user interface in motion and using AI to extract the underlying logic, component hierarchy, and design tokens. Replay pioneered this approach to solve the "context gap" in AI development. By recording a 30-second video of your legacy app, Replay identifies navigation flows, state changes, and reusable component patterns that static tools simply cannot see.

According to Replay's analysis, manual screen-to-code conversion takes roughly 40 hours per complex screen. Using Replay reduces this to 4 hours. When evaluating replay fronty which tool fits your workflow, consider whether you need a simple HTML layout or a living React codebase.

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Replay vs Fronty: Which tool offers better semantic architecture?#

Semantic HTML isn't just about using

instead of . It's about data flow, accessibility (Aria labels), and component modularity.

Fronty's engine is designed to mimic the visual layout. It sees a box and creates a box. Replay's engine sees a "User Profile Card" that appears across five different pages in your video recording. It recognizes the pattern, extracts the brand tokens into a centralized Design System, and generates a reusable React component.

Comparison: Replay vs Fronty#

When asking replay fronty which tool provides better code, the difference is clear in the React output. Fronty provides a static snapshot; Replay provides a functional architecture.

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The Replay Method: Record → Extract → Modernize#

Industry experts recommend moving away from "pixel-pushing" AI toward "context-aware" AI. Replay uses a three-step methodology to ensure code quality:

1. •Record: You record the legacy UI or a Figma prototype.
2. •Extract: Replay identifies components, colors, spacing, and typography.
3. •Modernize: The AI generates a clean React/Tailwind codebase that follows your specific design system.

Code Comparison: The "Div Soup" Problem#

Here is what typical output looks like from a static image-to-code tool like Fronty when trying to handle a navigation menu:

html
<!-- Fronty-style Output: Hardcoded and Non-Semantic -->
<div class="box-1">
  <div class="text-layer-2">Home</div>
  <div class="text-layer-3">Dashboard</div>
  <div class="button-wrapper">
    <div class="rect-4">Logout</div>
  </div>
</div>

Now, compare that to the semantic React code generated by Replay. Replay recognizes the intent of the video recording and applies your Design System tokens automatically:

tsx
// Replay-style Output: Semantic, Reusable React
import React from 'react';
import { Button, NavLink } from '@/components/ui';

export const MainNavigation: React.FC = () => {
  return (
    <nav className="flex items-center justify-between p-4 bg-brand-surface">
      <ul className="flex gap-6">
        <li><NavLink href="/">Home</NavLink></li>
        <li><NavLink href="/dashboard">Dashboard</NavLink></li>
      </ul>
      <Button variant="outline" onClick={handleLogout}>
        Logout
      </Button>
    </nav>
  );
};

When comparing replay fronty which tool, the Replay output is ready for a pull request. The Fronty output requires a total rewrite.

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Visual Reverse Engineering for Legacy Systems#

Legacy systems are often "black boxes." The original developers are gone, the documentation is missing, and the source code is a mess of jQuery or COBOL. Legacy modernization is the primary use case where Replay outshines every other tool on the market.

Because Replay uses Visual Reverse Engineering, it doesn't need to see your messy legacy source code. It only needs to see the application running. By observing the UI's behavior, Replay's AI agents (which can be triggered via the Headless API) can reconstruct the entire frontend logic in modern React.

This is why AI agents like Devin and OpenHands use Replay’s Headless API. They don't just want a screenshot; they want the "Flow Map" of the application. Replay detects multi-page navigation from the video’s temporal context, allowing AI agents to build entire user journeys rather than isolated, disconnected pages.

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Design System Sync: Moving Beyond Figma#

Most teams struggle with the "Handover Gap." Designers build in Figma, but developers have to manually interpret those designs into code. Fronty tries to bridge this with image uploads, but it fails to maintain a "Single Source of Truth."

Replay offers a Figma Plugin and Storybook integration that extracts design tokens directly. If you record a video of your app, Replay matches the UI elements to your existing design system. If a component doesn't exist, Replay creates it.

For teams managing large-scale enterprise applications, the ability to sync design systems is a game-changer. It ensures that every line of code generated by the AI adheres to brand guidelines, spacing scales, and color palettes.

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Replay fronty which tool handles E2E testing?#

A major pain point in frontend development is writing tests. Fronty has no testing capabilities. Replay, however, uses the video recording to generate E2E (End-to-End) tests automatically.

As the AI watches you click a button and wait for a loading spinner in the video, it writes the corresponding Playwright or Cypress code. This ensures that your modernized React app doesn't just look like the old one—it functions exactly the same way.

According to Replay's internal benchmarks, generating E2E tests from video saves an additional 10-15 hours of development time per feature. When deciding replay fronty which tool to integrate into your CI/CD pipeline, Replay's ability to generate tests alongside code makes it the only enterprise-grade choice.

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Agentic Editing: Surgical Precision#

Most AI tools are "all or nothing." You generate a page, and if you want to change one button, you have to prompt the AI and hope it doesn't break the rest of the layout.

Replay features an Agentic Editor. This is an AI-powered Search/Replace tool that performs surgical edits on the generated code. If you need to swap out all your standard buttons for a new component from your library, the Agentic Editor handles the refactor across the entire project without introducing regressions.

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Frequently Asked Questions#

Is Replay better than Fronty for React developers?#

Yes. Fronty primarily generates static HTML and CSS from images. Replay is built specifically for modern frontend engineering, generating production-quality React, TypeScript, and Tailwind CSS. Replay also captures temporal context from video, which allows it to understand state transitions and user flows that Fronty's static image analysis misses.

How does Replay handle legacy system modernization?#

Replay uses a process called Visual Reverse Engineering. By recording a video of a legacy system in use, Replay's AI extracts the component hierarchy and logic. This allows developers to rebuild old systems in modern frameworks like React without needing access to the original, often messy, source code. This approach reduces modernization time from 40 hours per screen to just 4 hours.

Can I use Replay with AI agents like Devin?#

Yes. Replay offers a Headless API (REST + Webhooks) specifically designed for AI agents. Agents can programmatically send a video recording to Replay and receive structured React components and design tokens in return. This makes Replay the "visual cortex" for the next generation of autonomous software engineers.

Which tool generates more accessible code, Replay or Fronty?#

Replay generates more accessible code because it understands the role and behavior of elements through video context. While Fronty sees a "box" and creates a

, Replay sees a "navigation menu" or "modal" and applies the appropriate semantic HTML tags and Aria labels.

Does Replay support on-premise deployment?#

Yes. While Fronty is a cloud-based SaaS, Replay is built for regulated environments. It is SOC2 and HIPAA-ready, and on-premise deployment options are available for enterprise clients who need to keep their UI data within their own infrastructure.

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