As a developer, you already know that paid tools are unaffordable for individuals. However, the alternatives to paid products are also unavailable for independent developers. As a result, you have to rely on free programs which have lots of limitations. Most of the time your projects slow down due to the limited functionality. But you don’t need to face such problems anymore! Here is a list of most helpful Free Tools for Developers .
As a developer, you work hard to create the most useful and efficient solutions for your users. As such, it’s important to invest in high-quality tools that provide value. I’ve tried my fair share of free tools and want to share with you some of the best free tools I’ve used over the years. These freebies can help you and your team save time and deliver more quickly on key processes.
Microsoft Visual Studio
Microsoft’s Visual Studio is one of the software development tools that will help you write your code faster and resolve any issues accurately. With just one click, you can resolve any warning and suggestions. This software development tool enables you to pause code execution and debug the code already written.
What else should you know about this software development tool?
You can also get easy access to the changes made in the code and insights into the impact of those changes. At a glance, you can see authors, history, tests, and other vital information as well.
Visual Studio will navigate and organize your tests for the code and give quick results. You will also get recommendations from their AI-assisted IntelliCode and real-time collaborative development for sharing code.
Key Features
- You can develop, navigate, and fix code
- Possible to debug and profile your code
- Test code with high-quality testing tools
- Easy integration and version control
- Customize IDE using thousands of available extensions
Pros
- Easy to install and supports various programming languages
- Debugging and testing tools are better than other software development tools
- Easy integration with TFS and GIT
Cons
- It can get slow at times
- Uses a large space for memory
Cost
For a professional plan, you will have to spend $45 per month and a monthly subscription to the enterprise plan will cost you $250.
Image via Microsoft
Firefox Developer Tools
You can use Firefox Tools for developers on various operating systems like Windows, Linux, and macOS. What makes it one of the software development tools is that using this platform, you can test, edit, and debug HTML, CSS, and JavaScript on your desktop or mobile.
The Page Inspector feature helps you view and edit page content and layout. Similarly, through the Web Console, you can check messages logged by a web page and interact with them using JavaScript.
There’s more.
You can analyze your website or app’s responsiveness and layout performance by using the features of Performance Tools. Also, you can access a page and check what is missing and requires your attention using the Accessibility Inspector.
Key Features
- Page Inspector helps with page content and layout
- Performance Tools can help analyze your code’s performance
- Many additional tools that can help with various functions like memory storage, inspecting cookies, inspecting a page’s DOM properties, viewing and editing CSS styles, etc.
Pros
- Its features are specially designed for web development
- Runs fast
- User interface can be customized
Cons
- Debugging and web development tools make it heavy
Cost
It’s available for free. The tools are built into Firefox so you don’t need to download any other application.
Image via Firefox Developer Tools
Quixy
Quixy – Enterprises use Quixy’s cloud-based no-code platform to empower their business users (citizen developers) to automate workflows and build simple to complex enterprise-grade applications for their custom needs up to ten times faster. All without writing any code.
Quixy helps eliminate manual processes and quickly turn ideas into applications making business more innovative, productive, and transparent. Users can start from scratch or customize pre-built apps from the Quixy app store in minutes.
Features:
- Build the app interface the way you want it by dragging and dropping 40+ form fields including a rich text editor, e-signature, QR-Code scanner, Facial Recognition widget, and much more.
- Model any process and build simple complex workflows be it sequential, parallel and conditional with an easy-to-use visual builder. Configure notifications, reminders, and escalations for each step in the workflow.
- Seamlessly integrate with 3rd party applications through ready-to-use connectors, Webhooks, and API Integrations.
- Deploy apps with a single click and make changes on the fly with no downtime. Ability to use on any browser, any device even in offline mode.
- Live actionable Reports and Dashboards with the option to export data in multiple formats and schedule automated delivery of reports through multiple channels.
- Enterprise-ready with ISO 27001 and SOC2 Type2 Certification and all enterprise features including Custom Themes, SSO, IP filtering, On-Premise deployment, White-Labelling, etc.
Verdict: Quixy is a completely visual and easy-to-use No-Code Application Development platform. Businesses can automate processes across departments using Quixy. It will help you to build simple to complex custom enterprise application faster and with lower costs without writing any code.
Linx
Linx is low code tool to build and automate backend applications and web services. The tool accelerates the design, development and automation of custom business processes, including easy integration of applications, systems and databases.
- Easy-to-use, drag-and-drop IDE and Server.
- Over 100 pre-built plugins programming functions and services for rapid development.
- One-click deployment to any local or cloud server.
- Input and outputs include nearly any SQL & NoSQL databases, numerous file formats (text and binary) or REST and SOAP Web services.
- Live debugging with step-through logic.
- Automate processes via a timer, directory events or message queue or expose web services, and call APIs via HTTP requests.
The Silver Searcher
The Silver Searcher is a tool for searching code. It started off as a clone of Ack, but their feature sets have since diverged slightly. In typical usage, Ag is 5-10x faster than Ack.
Main features:
- It is an order of magnitude faster than
ack. - It ignores file patterns from your
.gitignoreand.hgignore. - If there are files in your source repo you don’t want to search, just add their patterns to a
.ignorefile. (*cough**.min.js*cough*) - The command name is 33% shorter than
ack, and all keys are on the home row!
* No premium version
Conclusion
Most notable software developers use various tools for daily activities. These tools can improve productivity by boosting efficiency and make work easier. There are many types of tools; some are specific for development, web design or SEO, but there are also universal tools.