Developers have a very important role to play, coding the websites and apps that we engage with everyday in our work and personal lives and ensuring they are seamless to use. As with most professional skills, however, developers can’t do their work without a set of tools at their disposal. These tools—aka devtools—are almost entirely digital and are vital to fixing bugs in code and testing user interfaces. Moreso, thanks to the rich and collaborative global community of programmers and developers, many of the best development tools around are free to use and open source.
Keep reading to learn more about five of the best free tools for developers:
Figma
Figma one of the best free tools for developers and is an interface design tool that is tailored for collaborative environments and web development teams. The web-based application offers a broad range of tools and capabilities for web design and prototyping, allowing you to seamlessly create and mock up website designs directly in your browser. The online tool is also great for wireframing and designing mobile apps for optimized user experience (UX). Figma has a versatile pricing scheme that includes a free subscription. This version consists of a limited number of Figma and FigJam files, but comes with unlimited personal files, unlimited collaborators, compatibility with plugins, and access to the mobile app.
Postman
Postman is a useful tool for web developers as it enables you to easily build and implement Application Programming Interface (APIs). While invisible to end users, APIs provide vital links between different software programs or computers so that they can share information. Postman has many built-in tools to streamline every step of the API development process: from design and testing, to documentation and sharing. Postman also includes a repository to store all the data related to your APIs, including specifications, test results, and key metrics, and helps keep them organized and well-managed. The free version of Postman includes access to all the software’s core tools, but limits collaboration to three users.
WordPress
WordPress is a user-friendly content management system for building websites and blogs. The fairly ubiquitous platform—over 40% of all websites use WordPress for content management—is open source and free to use. It is also particularly useful for novice web developers thanks to its simple, intuitive interface. WordPress is made versatile by a huge variety of templates (aka Themes) and plugins, which enable the creation of custom websites, including e-commerce platforms, blogs, professional websites, business websites, and more. When it comes down to it, WordPress simply puts the tools in your hands, letting you design and develop websites with multiple styles and functions.
Sublime Text
Text editors are a key tool in any web developer’s toolbox and Sublime Text is one of the most popular free tools for developers out there. The free software tool is compatible with several operating systems and provides support for dozens of programming and markup languages, including CSS, JavaScript, and HTML. The platform can also be customized using various plugins—including your own plugins developed using a Python API. Overall, many developers continue to use Sublime Text for its well-designed interface as well as unique features like multi-line editing and text snippets. The platform is free to download and evaluate, though a license may be required for more regular use.
Svelte
Svelte is a free and open-source platform for building interactive user interfaces for web applications. Svelte has many of the same capabilities as other JavaScript frameworks, but it offers a couple distinct advantages. For one, it requires less code, which saves developers time and minimizes the risks of bugs. The main thing that sets Svelte apart, however, is the fact that it converts your web application into JavaScript at build time instead of during runtime. This cuts down on the costs associated with JavaScript runtime abstractions like virtual DOM. The popular front-end software is also known for its speedy development and processing and overall good end results.
Finding the right tools
Of course, there are countless free tools for developers out there and many more in development—several of which are free to use. As a web developer, it is all about finding the right set of tools that will allow you to unlock your potential. And the aforementioned solutions are a great place to start. Moreover, our SkillPack blog can help you find your footing, so be sure to check out our blog for more tips and support.
