GitHub Profile README vs Portfolio Site

What a profile README does well

The README on github.com/you is prime real estate for the audience that's already there: maintainers, collaborators, other developers. Stats cards, badges, current-project notes — it signals craft to people who speak the language. Keep it. Nothing below argues against having one.

Where it stops working

• It lives inside GitHub's UI. Around it sits the same repo table, contribution graph, and sidebar as everyone else's profile — you control one box in someone else's layout.
• It assumes GitHub literacy. A recruiter or client doesn't know that pinned repos are curated or what a fork is. The interface itself is noise to them.
• No galleries, no demo buttons. Markdown gives you images in a column, not a screenshot gallery, a video player, or a prominent "try it live."
• Manual upkeep. Every project you ship needs a hand-edit — the same staleness problem as a hand-built portfolio site.

What a portfolio page adds

A portfolio page is your layout: featured projects first, screenshots and demo videos per project, descriptions written in plain language, and one shareable link that works on people who will never open a repo. See the difference in live examples — the same GitHub data, re-presented.

The honest answer: both, for free

Keep the README for developers. Add a generated portfolio for everyone else — with DevDex it's one sign-in, saves to a repo you own, and updates itself from your live profile. Then link them together: put devdex.tech/your-username (or a level badge) in your README, and your GitHub link in the portfolio. Full setup in the GitHub portfolio guide.