27 Best Software Development Tools Reviewed For 2024
10 Best Software Development Tools Shortlist
Here's my pick of the 10 best software from the 27 tools reviewed.
Our one-on-one guidance will help you find the perfect fit.
With so many different software development tools available, figuring out which is right for you is tough. You know you want to create, test, debug, and maintain your software applications but need to figure out which tool is best. I've got you! In this post I'll help make your choice easy, sharing my personal experiences using dozens of different software development tools with various teams and projects, with my picks of the best software development tools.
What are Software Development Tools?
Software development tools are applications and platforms that assist in creating, testing, debugging, and maintaining software. These tools encompass a wide range, including integrated development environments (IDEs), code editors, compilers, debuggers, version control systems, and testing frameworks. They support various tasks in the software development lifecycle, providing functionalities tailored for efficient programming and project management.
The benefits of using software development tools include increased efficiency and productivity in the software development process. They help in improving the quality of code, reducing errors, and streamlining collaboration among development teams. These tools automate repetitive tasks and provide a structured environment for managing complex software projects. They are crucial in maintaining project timelines, facilitating effective communication, and ensuring that software meets the required standards and functionalities.
Overviews Of The 10 Best Software Development Tools
You can use the simple overviews of each tool below to understand how each tool stands out from other software development tools.
QA Wolf is a comprehensive test automation platform and service designed to enhance the software development process through efficient and reliable testing. It leverages the Playwright framework to automate end-to-end tests for web applications, ensuring that these applications function correctly across various scenarios.
Why I picked QA Wolf: As a software development tool, QA Wolf offers automated software testing and continuous expert support. The platform integrates seamlessly with CI/CD pipelines, enabling continuous testing with every code change, which is crucial for maintaining application stability. The 24-hour expert monitoring and maintenance service offered by QA Wolf ensures that tests are always up-to-date and accurate, with experts available to address any issues promptly. Additionally, all reported bugs are human-verified for better reliability.
QA Wolf Standout Features & Integrations
Features include real-time bug reporting, customizable test plans, comprehensive test coverage reports, unlimited parallel test runs, and continuous monitoring and maintenance by QA experts.
Integrations include GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Jenkins, Jira, Asana, Linear, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Azure DevOps, Travis CI, and CircleCI.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Detailed reports
- Easy direct communication with the QA Wolf team
- All bugs are human-verified
Cons:
- Potential scalability limitations
- Reliance on an external team may not be ideal for teams who want full control
Visor is a project management tool that offers a bi-directional integration with Jira, enabling the import of over 75 Jira field types for comprehensive data management and visualization. This capability positions Visor as a top choice for users seeking to create custom views and effectively manage projects within the Jira ecosystem.
Why I picked Visor: I chose Visor after determining its unique ability to provide custom views and robust Jira integration. What makes Visor stand out is its capability to connect with various SaaS applications, allowing for a unified workspace that caters to diverse project management needs. I believe Visor is the best tool for Jira integration and custom views because it not only ensures that data stays in sync with nested Jira information but also supports bi-directional integration, enabling teams to manage and share reports that reflect complex Jira hierarchies effectively.
Visor Standout Features & Integrations
Features include include API, dashboards, data export/data import, data visualization, external integrations, Gantt charts, multi-user, project management, task scheduling/tracking, resource management and third-party plugins/add-ons.
Integrations include Jira, Salesforce, and HubSpot.
Visor starts at $9 per user per month and has a free plan available.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Free plan for 2 workbooks & 5 views each
- Free unlimited viewer-only accounts
- Live support via phone & video call
Cons:
- May cost extra for monthly integration sync credits
- Unlimited audit trail locked to highest plan
GitHub
Best for automating build, test, and deployment workflow with secure CI/CD
GitHub is a Git repository hosting service that provides web-based coding and collaboration capabilities developers use to build, test, and deploy applications.
Why I picked GitHub: Trusted by millions of users across the globe, GitHub is an outstanding tool that is designed for collaboration. GitHub boosts productivity and offers features for high-quality software development. GitHub’s unlimited repositories, open source community, automation capabilities, and version control system increase developer velocity and help your team to work together efficiently.
GitHub’s built-in security features make the tool stand out. The platform enables you to secure your code in minutes and stay compliant with regulations. With GitHub Actions, you can automate your build, test, and deployment processes with super-secure CI/CD. It has an AI-powered solution, GitHub Copilot, that makes development 55% faster.
GitHub Standout Features and Integrations
Features include collaboration capabilities, built-in security, a complete dev environment, code scanning, workflow automation, unlimited repositories, and version control.
Integrations include Slack, GitKraken, Atom, Disbug, Jira, Azure Boards, Codetree, Nessus, and GitHub Scanner.
GitHub costs $3.67 per user/month and offers a free plan for individuals and organizations.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Large open-source community
- A wide range of integrations
- Reliable backup
- Good collaboration features
- Great documentation
Cons:
- Security risks
- The subscription fee can add up fast
- A steep learning curve
Bitbucket Cloud, optimized for developers using Jira, is the native Git tool in Atlassian’s Open DevOps solution that offers outstanding Jira integration and built-in CI/CD.
Why I picked Bitbucket: Millions of developers build on Bitbucket because of its outstanding capabilities, including ease of collaboration across multiple teams. This powerful Git solution enables you to seamlessly manage your Jira issues using the built-in Jira user interface. As a result, it helps minimize context-switching.
Bitbucket has code review features, which help you find and resolve issues before deploying your software. With the in-built CI/CD and Bitbucket Pipelines, you can increase developer velocity by automating workflows.
Bitbucket Standout Features and Integrations
Features include a built-in Jira interface, code review capabilities, automated deployments, automatic security scans, automated issue tracking, and collaboration capabilities.
Integrations include Jira, IronGit, Makerflow, Mergetastic, Fleep, Atlas Bot, Bucket Board, CircleCI, CloudCannon, and Code Dog.
Bitbucket costs $15/month for 1 - 5 users and offers a freemium plan.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Teams that integrate Jira release faster
- Flexible pricing
- Shipping of high-quality codes
- Ease of collaboration across multiple teams
Cons:
- The support platform needs to improve response time
- Users encounter configuration challenges sometimes
- Lacks some features that top alternatives have
Linx is a low-code development platform used by software teams to build and deploy APIs, automation, and other software solutions.
Why I picked Linx: Linx is a top no-code development environment that allows you to build software solutions without requiring code, frameworks, or infrastructure. The platform has built-in tools for the management and monitoring of what you create.
Linx enables you to develop complex applications with smart editors, pre-built templates, and familiar coding concepts. It integrates with any stack. So, you can increase development speed by importing resources from your databases.
Additionally, Linx has outstanding and easy debugging processes and a wide range of plugins. As a result, developers get rid of issues easily and accelerate development with pre-built components.
Linx Standout Features and Integrations
Features include a low-code editor, workflow automation, integrations, built-in management & monitoring, APIs & microservices, pre-built templates, and code debugging.
Integrations include Google Drive, Microsoft Excel, Gmail, GitHub, MySQL, Microsoft Azure, Xero, MongoDB, Adobe Analytics, and Amazon EC2.
Linx’s pricing starts from $49 per month with a free trial.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Works with any stack
- Smart editors
- Easy visual debugging
- Low-code IDE
Cons:
- Limited pre-built solutions
- The UI needs some improvements
Codenvy
Best for providing a secure and zero-configuration cloud-native software development environment
Condenvy is a cloud-based application development software that helps developers to build solutions and collaborate on projects from anywhere - without installing software.
Why I picked Codenvy: It provides a complete, Kubernetes-native development environment, which includes a code editor, debugger, profiler, and building manager. Condenvy provides everything you need to build and ship high-quality applications.
Codenvy is a future-fit coding platform with an integrated set of tools for administering builds, source code repositories, deployments, and testing. It uses cloud technologies (Kubernetes and containers) to offer users consistent, super-secure, and zero-configuration software development space.
Codenvy Standout Features and Integrations
Features include one-click developer workspaces, near-instant onboarding, enterprise integration, and collaboration capabilities.
Integrations include GitHub, Jira, Microsoft Visual Studio, Microsoft Azure, and BitBucket.
Codenvy offers customized pricing upon request.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Easy to manage and monitor workspaces
- Team members can contribute code from remote locations
- Speedy software development
- Collaborative Kubernetes-native tool
Cons:
- Premium support is only available for the paid plan
- Developers complain of occasional lagging
Dreamweaver, a product by Adobe, provides web design tools that enable developers to build websites for any browser or device.
Why I picked Dreamweaver: This software supports multiple languages (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and more) and allows you to build web services for any browser or device. Dreamweaver has a good coding engine that enables fast and flexible coding of dynamic pages.
With the code hints feature and visual aids, you can significantly reduce errors and speed up the development process. There are customizable starter templates you can use to quickly build web pages, like e-commerce pages, HTML emails, About pages, and blogs.
Additionally, this tool is part of Creative Cloud. As a result, you can import resources from your Creative Cloud Libraries and Adobe Stock.
Dreamweaver Standout Features and Integrations
Features include multiple programming languages, flexible and speedy coding, a simplified coding engine, code debugging, customizable templates, multi-monitor support for Windows, integrations, and tutorials.
Integrations include Adobe Creative Cloud, Adobe Photoshop, Arlo for Training Providers, SalesCart, CSS, Diib, POS2Net, Adobe Comp, Adobe Stock, and OpenText xPression.
Dreamweaver’s pricing starts from $22.56 per month with a 30-day free trial of Adobe Stock.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Flexible pricing
- Easy debugging
- Code suggestions
- Seamless integrations
Cons:
- Some users have challenges with global styling
- You don’t get what you see always
- Learning the interface takes time
Jira is a leading project management tool that developers use to plan, automate, and track software development processes.
Why I picked Jira: It has project management features that help developers to stay organized, work fast, and collaborate effectively. The project planning capabilities help you break ideas into easy-to-manage chunks across teams.
Jira Software’s Open DevOps takes care of necessary automation and integrations while your team focuses on developing, deploying, and managing applications. This solution sets the foundation for DevOps right and helps you focus on things that matter.
Jira Standout Features and Integrations
Features include customizable templates, complete visibility in the DevOps process, No-code automation, Issue management, tracking & reporting, and reliable security.
Integrations include ScriptRunner, Jira Misk Custom Fields (JMCF), Deep Clone, BigPicture, Zephyr Scale, Xporter, Worklogs, Asset Management for Jira, and Calendar for Jira.
Jira costs $7.75 per user/month with a 7-day free trial.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Good security
- Highly customizable
- Easy bug tracking
- Integrations
Cons:
- Steep learning curve - for some features
- Not as intuitive as some top Jira alternatives
App Builder is a low-code platform that helps software teams to build enterprise apps faster using pre-built app templates and drag & drop features.
Why I picked App Builder: It gets rid of the complexity that comes with UI design and streamlines the entire software building process. App Builder makes fast app development possible with high-end tools, including 60+ UI controls.
App Builder allows you to deliver your app 80% faster - using customizable templates and responsive screen layouts. The platform is compatible with popular design tools like Sketch, Figma, and Adobe XD. You can import your designs and turn them into an HTML code with a few clicks.
App Builder Standout Features and Integrations
Features include WYSIWYG drag & drop capabilities, pre-built templates and starter layouts, 60+ UI controls, high-speed RAD development, integrations, and real-time source code preview.
Integrations include Fitter, Stacker, GoodBarber, AppSheet, Interfaces by Zapier, Softr, Tadabase, Typebot, Amazon Honeycode, and Kaspr.
App Builder’s pricing starts from $1,095 per developer.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- What you see is what you get
- Low-code features
- Production-ready code
- Fast development
Cons:
- Not suitable for users that want to improve their coding skills
- Subscription is expensive
Best development environment and app framework for refactoring code
Apache NetBeans provides a code environment and smart tools for building applications in multiple languages.
Why I picked Apache NetBeans: It has outstanding features that allow you to implement code refactoring easily and highlight source code syntactically and semantically. Apache NetBeans offers wizards, templates, and editors that help speed up development and enable the use of multiple languages.
Apache NetBeans can be run on OSs that support Java - it’s cross-platform. In other words, it can be installed on popular operating systems like BSD, Mac OSX, Windows, and Linux. Moreover, the concept of Write Once, Run Anywhere applies to the Apache dev environment.
Apache NetBeans Standout Features and Integrations
Features include cross-platform tools, code refactoring, editors, wizards, and templates.
Integrations include DataMelt, CSS, JRebel, Zulu Enterprise, Java, PHP, Payara Enterprise, JavaScript, C++, and XRebel.
Apache NetBeans offers customized pricing upon request.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Cross-platform
- Great community support
- Simple user interface
- Lightweight runtime
- Easy to install
Cons:
- Learning how some features work takes time
- It’s slow to load sometimes
The Best Software Development Tools Summary
| Tools | Price | |
|---|---|---|
| QA Wolf | From $149/user/month | Website |
| Visor | From $9/user/month | Website |
| GitHub | From $4/user/month (billed annually) | Website |
| Bitbucket | From $3/user/month (billed annually) | Website |
| Linx | Starts from $49/month | Website |
| Codenvy | Customized price upon request | Website |
| Dreamweaver | From $20.49/month | Website |
| Jira | From $7.16/user/month (billed annually, min 5 seats) | Website |
| App Builder | Starts from $1,095/developer | Website |
| Apache NetBeans | Open source project and Available for free | Website |
Compare Software Specs Side by Side
Use our comparison chart to review and evaluate software specs side-by-side.
Compare SoftwareOther Options
Here are a few more options that didn’t make the best software development tool list:
How I Selected the Best Software Development Tools
Perhaps you're wondering how I selected the best software development tools for this list. To build this top 27 list, I evaluated and compared a wide range of software development tools with positive user ratings.
After determining my long list of top choices, I further honed my list by using the selection criteria below to see how each platform stacked up against the next one. I also drew on my years of software development experience to pinpoint the features that add a lot of value.
Selection Criteria
Here’s a summary of the main selection and evaluation criteria I used to develop my list of the best software development tools for this article:
User Interface
Every tool on this list has a responsive, simple, and intuitive user interface. The tools have well-designed interfaces, making it very easy for new users to navigate. The navigational buttons are super responsive and strategically positioned to aid ease of use. In addition, the interfaces are aesthetically appealing.
Usability
No matter how powerful a tool is, it won’t be very helpful if users are struggling to apply the features. I picked programming tools that are not sophisticated or too technical to use.
Developer communities need tools that streamline coding and make development less cumbersome. As a result, all the tools on the list are simple to use. You don’t need weeks of tutorials to get started. It’s easy to figure out how the tools work and get started with projects.
Software Integrations
Software development is vast and requires the use of many tools & frameworks. One of the challenges developers face is using many tools at the same time. Shuttling between tools is mentally tasking and time-consuming. The solution to this problem is integration.
Integrating other tools with your major software development program enables you to have access to your toolset from one platform. It gets rid of the need to move from one tool to another when building software. Consequently, I looked out for tools that can be integrated with a wide range of software development programs and productivity tools.
Pricing
When it comes to pricing, three important factors were considered: affordability, flexibility, and transparency. As you go through my list of the best 10 software development tools, you are sure to find tools that suit your budget and project.
People Also Ask
Here are a few popular questions answered for your convenience!
What are the Key Features of Software Development Tools?
What Other Testing Resources Do I Need?
Conclusion
If you are looking to build successful, high-performing software, your choice of software development tools plays a vital role. The tool you use significantly determines the quality of the software, how fast you deliver it, and the cost of development.
Settle for a software development tool that has all the capabilities needed for your project. A good tool has a comprehensive dev environment, future-fit technologies, compatibility with multiple OSs, integrations, and more. That said, carefully explore the tools above to find the one that suits your needs and budget.
One more thing, Click here to sign up for the newsletter to get the latest insights from top thinkers in the QA industry.