Abstract: Heave compensation devices play a crucial role in offshore lifting operations, significantly enhancing operational safety and extending operational windows by mitigating the adverse marine environmental effects. This paper presents a review of portable integrated heave compensation devices, offering in-depth insights into this field. Firstly, the paper classifies portable integrated heave compensation devices into four main types: passive heave compensation (PHC), adaptive passive heave compensation (adaptive PHC), active heave compensation (AHC), and semi-active heave compensation (SAHC). PHC is a mechanical system mainly composed of a hydraulic cylinder and a gas-liquid accumulator, which can be approximated as a parallel spring-damper system. It does not require a supply of energy and sensors for operation, and it has the advantages of a simple structure, high reliability, and low maintenance costs. However, its compensation precision is limited, and it has poor adaptability to complex sea conditions. Adaptive PHC can automatically adjust the system’s spring-constant and damping according to different lifting stages, improving the compensation performance and sea-state adaptability compared with traditional PHC. AHC involves closed-loop control, which uses motion sensors to detect ship motion. Through control algorithms and an actuator, it can achieve high-precision compensation. However, AHC requires a large amount of energy input. SAHC combines the advantages of PHC and AHC, requiting less power to maintain adequate compensation compared to a strictly active system, and achieving higher reliability through its ability to switch between passive and active modes. Secondly, the paper elaborates on the compensation objectives of these devices, which mainly include tension compensation, position compensation, and hybrid compensation. Tension compensation can maintain cable tension within a safe range to prevent cable failure and load loss. This is crucial for applications such as underwater towing, underwater recovery, shipwreck salvage, and marine structure installation. Position compensation focuses on accurately controlling the position of the load to ensure the operational safety and precise equipment docking, and is widely used in scenarios like offshore oil platform equipment maintenance, underwater device recovery, and ship-to-ship cargo transfer. Hybrid compensation comprehensively considers multiple state variables to improve the control system's accuracy and resistance to disturbances, and is applied in complex situations where the load is severely disturbed and requires precise control, such as topside lifting, splash zone crossing, and landing. Finally, this paper introduces mainstream portable integrated heave compensation devices available internationally and, by analyzing them, offers suggestions for the future direction of research in China. Internationally, companies such as Safelink AS, Cranemaster, Vremac Cylinders, Norwegian Dynamics, and Tensa have developed a series of products that encompass a range of heave compensation devices. These products are characterized by high reliability, adaptability to varying operational conditions, and advanced control functions. Meanwhile, through an in-depth analysis of these international products, China's integrated heave compensation devices can be further advanced in two main aspects: technological innovation and manufacturing processes. Technological innovation includes optimization of product design, enhancement of functionality, and improvement of control strategies. Improvements in manufacturing processes involve material selection, sealing technology, and corrosion-resistant design. In conclusion, this review provides a detailed overview of portable integrated heave compensation devices, which is of great significance for promoting the development of related technologies in China and enhancing the competitiveness of China's offshore engineering equipment.