5 Free SCSS to CSS Converter Tools (and the one thing most get wrong)

Every "convert SCSS to CSS online" tool handles a basic variable substitution fine. Where they actually differ is the trickier stuff — the & parent-reference, what happens to $variables, and whether nested @media gets hoisted the way Sass does it.

I ran the same three SCSS blocks through five free converters to see where each one holds up. (Tested August 2026 — these tools update, so re-check before trusting any of this on a real file.)

Test 1: The & parent-reference

This is the single most common manual-conversion mistake, and it's where weak tools fall apart too.

/* Input SCSS */
.card {
  padding: 1rem;

  &:hover {
    box-shadow: 0 4px 12px rgba(0,0,0,0.1);
  }
}

There are two ways to get this wrong:

/* WRONG — space before :hover selects a hovered descendant, not the card itself */
.card {
  padding: 1rem;
}
.card :hover {
  box-shadow: 0 4px 12px rgba(0,0,0,0.1);
}

/* CORRECT — no space, & concatenates directly onto the parent */
.card {
  padding: 1rem;
}
.card:hover {
  box-shadow: 0 4px 12px rgba(0,0,0,0.1);
}

That single space changes the selector's meaning entirely — one selects the card on hover, the other selects something inside the card while it's hovered. Sass always concatenates & with no space.

A harder version of the same test — comma-separated parents, which should expand cartesian:

/* Input SCSS */
.a, .b {
  & > .c {
    color: red;
  }
}

/* Correct output */
.a > .c, .b > .c {
  color: red;
}

Most lightweight converters handle the simple &:hover case but choke on the comma-separated version.

Test 2: Variable handling

/* Input SCSS */
$brand: #7c3aed;
$radius: 8px;

.button {
  background: $brand;
  border-radius: $radius;
}

Two useful outputs, depending on what you're actually trying to do:

/* Inline mode — matches Sass's actual compile output */
.button {
  background: #7c3aed;
  border-radius: 8px;
}

/* CSS custom-property mode — not what Sass emits, but often what you want */
:root {
  --brand: #7c3aed;
  --radius: 8px;
}
.button {
  background: var(--brand);
  border-radius: var(--radius);
}

Worth being clear that only the first is a real Sass compile — $variables are resolved at build time and don't exist in the output. The second is a migration convenience: if you're dropping Sass from a codebase, converting $vars to custom properties gives you runtime theming that $variables never had in the first place. Most converters only offer inline mode.

Test 3: Nested @media

/* Input SCSS */
.container {
  padding: 1rem;

  @media (min-width: 768px) {
    padding: 2rem;
    max-width: 720px;
  }
}

Sass hoists the @media block to the top level:

/* Correct output — hoisted */
.container {
  padding: 1rem;
}
@media (min-width: 768px) {
  .container {
    padding: 2rem;
    max-width: 720px;
  }
}

A tool that does a naive flatten and leaves @media sitting inside .container { } isn't producing invalid CSS anymore — native CSS Nesting has been widely supported since 2023–24, so that form works in current browsers. But it isn't what Sass emits, it won't match a real build's output, and it breaks in any browser matrix that still includes pre-nesting versions. If the point of converting is to get the same CSS your Sass build produces, unhoisted output has failed the job.

Now, how the five tools handled all three.

1. SassMeister

Best for: older SCSS with mixins, @extend, and control directives.

Passes all three tests — it runs an actual Sass compiler rather than a simplified parser, so mixins, @extend, and control directives work.

The catch is the version. SassMeister compiles against Ruby Sass 3.x and LibSass, both long since retired — Ruby Sass hit end of life in 2019, LibSass was deprecated in 2020. So modern syntax doesn't work: no @use, no @forward, no sass:math / sass:color modules. lighten() and darken() still run, but those are the deprecated API. Treat it as excellent for legacy Sass, not current Sass.

🔗 sassmeister.com

2. CodeFronts — SCSS to CSS Converter

Best for: the harder & cases, and knowing what got skipped instead of guessing.

Passed all three tests, including comma-separated parent expansion and full @media hoisting. Two things stood out:

• Both variable modes are available — inline for a one-off snippet, CSS custom properties for a codebase migration.
• Unsupported features get flagged, not silently dropped. Paste something with @mixin, @extend, or a Sass color function and it warns you which feature it skipped, so you know what needs a hand-audit against a real Sass build.

It also evaluates same-unit math in place (padding: 12px + 4px → padding: 16px), which none of the other four here do.

Where it loses: it's a browser-only subset of SCSS, not a compiler. Multi-file @use/@forward setups and anything needing real mixin argument-binding still need Sass installed locally. If your input actually uses mixins, SassMeister will get you further.

🔗 codefronts.com/tools/scss-to-css-converter

3. CSS Portal — SCSS to CSS Compiler

Best for: a quick paste-and-compile on straightforward nesting.

Handled all three tests correctly, including the comma-separated & case — better than I expected from a tool this minimal, and better than the two below it here.

Its one gap is silence: like most lightweight converters, it doesn't tell you which SCSS features it couldn't handle. Paste something using mixins or color functions and you get quietly incomplete output rather than a warning. If your input is plain nesting and variables, though, it does the job with no ceremony.

🔗 cssportal.com/scss-to-css

4. CodeBeautify — SCSS to CSS Converter

Best for: simple snippets, when you want a name you already trust.

Solid on the basics — simple nesting, variable inlining, @media hoisting — but less reliable on the comma-separated & case. Part of a much larger suite of format converters, so it's a reasonable default if it's already in your bookmarks for other things.

🔗 codebeautify.org/scss-to-css-converter

5. GeeksforGeeks — SCSS to CSS Converter

Best for: a fast answer with nothing to configure.

Handled the simple &:hover case and basic variable inlining fine. The comma-separated parent case didn't expand cleanly, and the nested @media came out only partially hoisted. Inline values only, no custom-property option.

🔗 geeksforgeeks.org/utilities/scss-to-css-converter

Results at a glance

Short version

• Legacy SCSS with mixins and @extend → SassMeister (mind the old compiler)
• Harder & cases, or you want to know what got skipped → CodeFronts
• Plain nesting, fast, no options → CSS Portal
• Already in your bookmarks → CodeBeautify
• Quick one-off → GeeksforGeeks

And honestly: if you're converting anything beyond snippets, install Sass and run it. Every browser-based converter is a subset, and the ones that don't tell you which subset are the risky ones.

Whichever you pick, run the comma-separated & case and a nested @media block through it before trusting it on a real file — those two are where most converters, and most manual conversions, quietly get it wrong.

What's your usual move — keep Sass around for one project's build step, or convert and drop the dependency?