Free Tools for Developers – There are more than 100,000 tools available to developers. Some are paid, but many are free. We have picked out the best ones in various categories based on quality, accuracy and popularity. Here is your complete list of must have tools for your development needs.
Developers, like you and me, often like to develop free tools as a hobby as well as for work applications. Here is a list of some great free development tools I’ve run across.
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.
An Intro to Low-code and What You Need to Get Started
Low-code platforms simplify, accelerate and reduce the cost of application development compared to traditional methods, which is very attractive to busy IT departments. The transformative potential of low-code development is limitless.
In this eBook, you’ll learn:
- What is low-code?
- When a competitive advantage is achieved with low-code development.
- Why IT executives are turning to low-code development platforms
- How low-code platforms help speed software application development
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.
Xcode
Xcode from Apple is one of the best software development tools that helps you write code with advanced code completion and syntax highlighting using a professional code editor. It displays warnings, errors, and other important information in a message bubble in accordance with your code too so that you can easily troubleshoot.
Anything else?
This software development tool also helps compile the asset catalog into an organized bundle for final distribution. You can seamlessly access any file within your workspace using the primary code editor.
Key Features
- Xcode’s vision editor can help you maintain a strict watch on the commitment timeline
- You can go back in history to compare source files with this software development tool
- Enables you to design and test your user interface on prototypes and connect your interface to the source
Pros
- Detailed guidelines make installation easy
- Developers don’t need to go to the Web interface to manage CI tasks
- Cost-effective software development tool for developers who have Apple Developer accounts
Cons
- Supports integration on Github but no support for testing pull requests
- Debugging is difficult
- This software development tool does not support Android operating systems
Cost
You will have to connect with Apple Developer Support for any questions related to the pricing plans.
Freebies.ByPeople
Freebies.bypeople is a professionally-curated repository of the best free-for-commercial use resources for developers and designers. It includes icons, fonts, plugins, UI kits, web templates, web tools & much more.
Lunchclub
Lunchclub aims to make remote networking easier. You can register on the site with your background, interests, and goals, and each week, the AI-based tool directly matches you with relevant people for 1:1 conversations
Cafecito
https://2dde0f3be86c8134a0523214e8277ca1.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.htmlCafecito is great for connecting with other people who share similar interests. Its algorithm matches you with vetted creatives to have “coffee break”-style conversations with them.
Reslash
Reslash is a video communication tool that aims to make team conversations realistic and fun. Team members can hangout in a single virtual space, where if you move closer to someone, you can hear them, and as you move away, they fade away.
Linear
Linear is an issue tracking tool that allows seamless collaboration between developers, designers, and peers. It helps streamline software projects, sprints, tasks, and bug tracking.
Zoho Bug Tracker
https://2dde0f3be86c8134a0523214e8277ca1.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.htmlZoho Bug Tracker is a simple, fast and scalable bug tracking application that offers a nifty set of features & dashboards with a high level of customisability.
BlackHole
https://2dde0f3be86c8134a0523214e8277ca1.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.htmlBlackHole is secure, server-less file transfer that works on blockchain. It’s open-source, and is available for Windows and Mac. It offers a simple UI, data streaming, and transfer compression.
Creative Tim Ui Tools
Creative Tim’ Ui Tools are fully coded UI Kits and Dashboards built on top of modern frameworks: Bootstrap, Angular, React, Vue js, Laravel, Node js. Creating your web design from scratch with dedicated designers can be very expensive and time-consuming. This is why these UI tools are very helpful and you don’t have to worry about the design. You will save time and money by focusing on the business model.
- UI Kits & Example Pages
- Pre-Made Sections & Elements
- Fully coded Dashboards
- Free UI Tools
- Open-source products
*Premium products available
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
Atom
Atom is a hackable text editor for developers. It is a free and open-source text and source code editor for macOS, Linux, and Microsoft Windows with support for plug-ins written in Node.js, and embedded Git Control. The main goal of Atom is that anyone can hack the core to make it do what they want. This tool is developed by GitHub.
Atom is fully modular which means that it is easy to download extensions and modules from the Internet to make the editor more useful for your needs. Themes are also part of this modularity.
Main features:
- Highly customizable
- Cross-platform – OS X, Windows, and Linux.
- Package manager – thousands of plugins available
- Autocompletion
- File system browser
- Multiple panes
* No premium version
BuildBox
Did you ever think it was possible to create exciting games without writing code? I am happy to let you know that it is!
Imagine if you are already busy with coding a game app, but a new client asked you to create a game for them. Instead of rejecting the offer, you can use BuildBox to make the game. It’s a win-win situation if you ask me. 😉
Buildbox is the world’s first software that truly allows anyone to create amazing games regardless of technical skill. Due to its unique user interface, making games becomes a fluid process that doesn’t require any scripting, programming, or software design experience.
As a developer, you can use Buildbox to:
- Drag and drop to create unique and professional 3D games.
- Add smart assets into your game.
- Add action effects and logic to your games and more! 🚀
Pricing 💵
Buildbox has a free tier and two other paid tiers listed below:
- Plus: $9.99 a month or $89.99 per year
- Pro: $224.99 per year
Conclusion
Software development can be a great way to make a living. If you have the necessary skills and a good team, you can really have a lot of fun while also earning a lot of money. I’m going to show you a number of free online tools that can benefit your career as a software developer.