10 Best Software Development Tools 2024 for Developers

“Fact – In 2022, software development tools market was valued at $5.4 billion and is expected to reach $14 billion by 2028”

Software application development programming tools industry is changing rapidly with time and will continue to grow. These tools help businesses & teams streamline, automate, speed up, and facilitate software development process. The industry has some promising scope and now is the golden time to enter the industry. If you are also looking to enter this industry by building a robust software development platform, then you can hire best offshore development teams from India.

Further, it is also important for you to understand what web development tools are currently trending in the market. The article unveils the list of top 10 software development technologies 2024 along with other important topics. It includes the meaning of software development tools, its types, factors to consider before choosing a tool, and much more.

Top Software Development Tools 2024 – Stats & Facts

• Some of the most used cloud platforms are AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure, in the same order
• Jira & Trello are the most widely used project management software development tools
• Slack & Email are the most widely used communication tools among developers
• Most development tools are free-to-use & open source, and host a varied active developer community
• 90% developers use Git and reported it as an essential tool

What are Software Development Tools?

Software development tools are programming software for developers to build, maintain, support, debug, and edit other frameworks, applications, or programs. In other words, a software development platform is a software used by developers to build another application or software. It ensures the success of the project in an efficient manner. Apart from this, there are some practices that developers follow for a successful software development project.

Such tools help teams streamline, automate, speed up, and facilitate the development process of custom software development companies. There are several types of software development technologies but the major ones are

Types of Software Development Tools

• IDEs (Integrated Development Environment)
• Automated Testing Tools
• Code and Text Editors
• Build Automation Tools
• Source Control Tools

IDEs (Integrated Development Environment)

Integrated Development Environment or IDEs allow top software development companies to work on a single graphical user interface (GUI) and combine different development tools at one place. The tool is used for building software and applications and includes a debugger, source code editor, and local build automation.

IDE aids developers in building applications efficiently in less time & effort. There are different IDEs available in the market and you need to choose the one that best fills your requirements. Some of the top factors to choose the ideal IDE for you include automation features, plug-ins, extensions, and supported operating systems.

Text & Code Editors

Code & text editors help developers to manage & modify code. However, these tools are programming language specific & support one or more languages. The uses cases include warning the developers about any syntax errors & offer suggestions while writing code. Some of the most popular text & code editors include Notepad++, Atom, & Sublime Text.

Build Automation Tools

Build Automation Software helps software development services providers automate several development tasks, including running tests, compiling, packaging code, downloading dependencies, and deployment. In other words, these tools automate the development of applications from source code. Some of the most popular build automation tools are Build Master, Apache Ant, Jenkins, and Maven.

There are three major types of build processes that developers use to develop an application, namely continuous integration builds, nightly builds, and gated check-in builds.

Source Control Tools

Source control tools help developers manage and track changes to the code. The tool aids in handling the version code and changes in their code base ensure developers are working on the right version of the source code. Apart from this, it helps multiple developers collaborate seamlessly and work on a common codebase. Some of the top source control tools are Revision Control System, Git Source Control, and IBM Rational Clear Case.

The tool allows developers to combine & commit code without any conflict. Developers can modify shared code without overwriting each other’s work.

Automation Testing Tools

Automation testing tools or software testing tools facilitate automatic testing of an application without any human intervention. The tools save time and efforts and leave no scope for any mistake in testing. Further, the apps can run multiple tests at once and deliver accurate results without any mistake in negligible time. Some of the most popular automation testing tools in the market are Test Project, Lambda Test, Test Complete, and QMetry Automation Studio. Most companies follow the lean software development methodology that ensures maximum productivity & minimum waste, that further mandates the use of automation testing tools.

Factors to Consider For Selecting the Right Software Development Tool

Pricing

Some software application development programming tools are open source & free to use while others charge some price to use them. It is also essential to consider your budget in relation to the tool’s price. Some tools also offer Freemium versions with the basic functionality & features for users to try the tool.

Requirement

The second most important factor is to evaluate your & project’s requirements. It is essential to understand the value that tool will bring to the overall team efficiency. Subscribing or buying a costly software development platform with varied functionalities is not always the right choice, unless the features are to your use. When understanding your needs, it is essential to think long term, i.e. for the next 5 or 10 years, and evaluate the rise in tool’s cost with your growth.

Customer Support Services

Support & maintenance team of software plays a huge role in the success of your business. This is especially true if the software development tool is costly and you have a beginner or small team. The customer support team should be responsive, quick, knowledgeable, and able to help your employees. Make sure to note the support hours of the team and read reviews online to understand things better. In other words, the support team must be able to help whenever required.

Learning Curve

All software development technologies have a learning curve and require certain efforts & time by the team to understand. This counts as an overhead expense and should be considered during evaluation of certain software. For instance, complex development tools need time & effort above the initial deployment & learning curve phase.

Integration

An ideal web development tool integrates well with all the existing software and technologies. A good integration provides great value to the team & other departments within the organization.

Usability

The tool should be easy to use for your developers and understand the navigation to save time. The UI/UX of the software contributes to the overall productivity and thus better results.

Top 10 Software Development Tools for Developers – With Pros & Cons

Software Development Tools	Reviews	Pricing	OS
Azure	4.4	Available Upon Request	Linux, Microsoft Windows, macOS, iOS, Android
Visual Studio Code	4.5	Available Upon Request	Windows 10 or later, OS X 10.11 or later, Linux
Zoho Creator	4.3	Starts at $8/Month	iOS, Android
GeneXus	4.7	Available Upon Request	Windows, iOS, Android, Linux
AWS Cloud9 IDE	4.4	Available Upon Request	Linux
Linux	4.2	Starter: $49 per month	Linux, Microsoft Windows, macOS, iOS, Android
Apache NetBeans	4.2	Available Upon Request	Windows, macOS, Linux, Solaris
New Relic	4.3	Available Upon Request	Linux, Microsoft Windows, macOS, iOS, Android
GitHub	4.7	Starts @$4/Month	Windows, macOS
SendBird	4.5	Pricing is Available upon Request	Windows

Azure

One of the most popular software development technologies for creating, deploying, and maintaining an online application is Azure. Azure is favored by developers due to its support for a wide range of operating systems, frameworks, and programming languages. Azure is more of a cloud environment meant for application management by developers. It wins big points with software engineers for its capacity to recognize and remove dangers.

For teams that adhere to lean software development principles, Azure is a great choice.

Azure Pros

• Platform offers scalable and secure solutions to users
• Provides the default access to SQL Database
• Backed by a Reliable Cloud Platform, Microsoft

Azure Cons

• Pricing is Confusing and Complex, as reported by users
• Some features are complicated to understand, even for developers
• Expert Maintenance is needed for server monitoring and patching

Azure G2 Rating – 4.3/5 (500+ Reviews)
Azure Pricing – Pricing is available upon request with the team

Visual Studio Code

Microsoft offers an open-source code editor called Visual Studio Code. The coding tool is lightweight, free, and compatible with Windows, macOS, and Linux. Developers of all skill levels utilise it, from novices to experts. It includes an IntelliSense feature that provides intelligent code completion based on function definitions, imported modules, and variable types, as well as lives editing to enable front-end developers to observe how code changes affect the user interface in real time. Together with built-in Git integration, Visual Studio Code provides remote development capabilities, a marketplace with over 200,000 extensions for maximum customization, and seamless code cloning, committing, pushing, and pulling from GitHub and related repositories.

Microsoft Visual Studio Pros

• The platform is simple to establish & run a new project
• The tool also supports real time collaboration for users
• It provides several cross platform functionalities & tools

Microsoft Visual Studio Cons

• Difficult to learn for beginners & non-tech users
• Platform crashes or becomes slow & unresponsive sometimes
• Code compilation error messages are often confusing or misleading

Microsoft Visual Studio G2 Rating – 4.5/5 (3000+ Reviews)
Microsoft Visual Studio Pricing – Available Upon Request

Zoho Creator

A low-code platform called Zoho Creator helps to create robust enterprise software applications ten times faster by facilitating the quick development and delivery of online and mobile applications. Writing many lines of code is no longer required to create an application.

Important features such as cloud functionalities, AI, JavaScript, third-party integrations, multilingual support, offline mobile access, payment gateway integration, and more are also included.

With more than 60 apps and more than 4 million users globally, our platform increases business productivity. The 2019 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms (LCAP) includes Zoho Creator.

Zoho Creator Pros

• It supports easy collaboration & allows connecting business data
• Users can create insightful reports & analytics
• The tool is backed by a reliable company and thus offers robust safety & security

Zoho Creator Cons

• The tool is not beginner friendly and is difficult to understand
• Limited features available while working offline
• Users have reported a poor customer support for the tool

Zoho Creator G2 Rating – 4.3/5 (150+ Reviews)
Zoho Creator Pricing – Starts at $8/Month

GeneXus

GeneXus is an intelligent platform for building systems and applications that let databases, mission-critical apps, and programmes be automatically created, developed, and maintained across several platforms and languages.

Every application that uses GeneXus as a model can be readily modified to accommodate changes in business needs. It can also be automatically generated in the newest programming languages and distributed to all major platforms available.

GeneXus’s concept is founded on more than thirty years of experience in developing tools for application development and automatic generation.

GeneXus Pros

• Design to Prototype time is quick
• Customer support response time is fast
• Provides a robust data modeling feature

GeneXus Cons

• Customer support is not effective and requires time for critical projects
• The tool is expensive as compared to other similar tools
• Insufficient documentation that doesn’t much helps developers

GeneXus G2 Rating – 4.7/5 (100+ Reviews)
GeneXus Pricing – Different Pricing Plans are Available upon Request

AWS Cloud9 IDE

An Amazon-backed cloud-based integrated development environment (IDE) is called Cloud9 IDE or AWS Cloud9. With this software development platform, developers may write, run, and debug code using only their browser by fusing the Ubuntu workspace with an online code editor. AWS Command Line Interface (CLI) is pre-installed along with a code editor, debugger, and terminal in this IDE configuration.

You only have to pay for the resources used when storing or running the code thanks to Cloud9’s pay-per-use model. For a free trial and customised price, get in touch with AWS experts.

AWS Cloud9 IDE Pros

• Provides access to AWS Services
• Various Plug-ins, SDKs, and libraries are available
• Provides Quick Switch between remote & local execution for users

AWS Cloud9 IDE Cons

• Support & Maintenance is Limited
• Platform Design & UI/UX is complicated
• Variety of Tools makes the platform complex for beginners

AWS Cloud9 IDE G2 Rating – 4.4/5 (100+ Reviews)
AWS Cloud9 IDE Pricing – Varies, Depends upon the storage resource users consumes

Linx

Our list of the top software development tools would be lacking without including Linx. After all, by making software creation accessible to everyone, low-code and no-code software development frameworks have set off a wave of citizen developers.

Plugins, a server, and an IDE called Linx Designer are included with the Linx development platform. Customised, scalable, and reliable backend solutions can be developed with the aid of such an all-inclusive software development tool.

Linx Pros

• Robust UI/UX with over 1000+ features
• Backend Process is Automated for users
• Pre Built-in Plugins are Availables
• Platform Deployment is Smooth with Linx Server

Linx Cons

• Configuration is Difficult for Users
• Costly as compared to other software development tools
• UI/UX of the platform is not beginner friendly

Linx G2 Rating – 4.2/5 (10+ Reviews)
Linx Pricing – Starter: $49 per month, Business 1: $99 per month, Business 2: $199 per month

Apache NetBeans

A code environment and intelligent tools for creating multilingual applications are offered by Apache NetBeans. Its exceptional characteristics make it simple to implement code refactoring and highlight syntactic and semantic aspects of source code. Multiple language programming is made possible and development time is increased with the aid of Apache NetBeans’ wizards, templates, and editors.

Because Apache NetBeans is cross-platform, it can run on any OS that supports Java. Put otherwise, it is compatible with widely used operating systems such as BSD, Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux. Furthermore, the Apache development environment is compatible with the Write Once, Run Anywhere philosophy.

Apache NetBeans Pros

• Easy to Use & Beginner friendly Interface
• Automatic Code Completion feature is highly effective
• Side by side code comparison feature allow easy code management & make updates

Apache NetBeans Cons

• Slow response time reported by users causing delays in work
• Documentation is not comprehensive, making it difficult for new users to learn
• Users have also reported glitches & bugs while using the platform

Apache NetBeans G2 Rating – 4.3/5 (100+ Reviews)
Apache NetBeans Pricing – Pricing available upon request

New Relic

With the help of New Relic, engineers can now monitor, debug, and enhance their software or complete stack. You can monitor your stack with this all-in-one tool that includes over thirty different features. New Relic adds more than 530 integrations to expand its capabilities. The data-driven platform offers the tools your team needs to track and resolve issues with software performance.

With New Relic’s flexible pricing structure, you can just pay for the services you actually utilize and provide a monthly 100 GB of free data consumption. It gives you the information you need to organize, create, and implement. With many tools integrated into one platform, New Relic gives you the ability to fix issues more quickly with a single, integrated experience.

New Relic Pros

• Easy to use and power user interface
• Easy to understand reports & analytics
• Robust features

New Relic Cons

• Customer service is not good and phone support doesn’t work
• Users have reported the issue of Auto renewal without permission

New Relic G2 Rating – 4.3/5 (400+ Reviews)
New Relic Pricing – Free Version is Available; Pricing upon Request

GitHub

GitHub is one of the biggest cloud-based repositories for Git, an open-source distributed version control system. It is used by software engineers to interact, follow, peer code, publish code, follow projects, and undertake code reviews. Consider it a social media site specifically designed for developers!

GitHub is a software development service that lets users build software, manage projects, store code, evaluate other people’s work, work together on code security, look for solutions, and pitch ideas.

GitHub Pros

• Easy collaboration for different departments
• Documentation is comprehensive; detailed tutorials and guides are available
• Offers great functionality and ease for hosting code repositories

GitHub Cons

• Learning curve is complex for beginners
• Permissions & roles are less advanced as compared to other similar options
• Customer support response is often delayed and not satisfactory

GitHub G2 Rating – 4.7/5 (2000+ Reviews)
GitHub Pricing – Starts @$4/Month; Free Version is Available

SendBird

An application programme interface (API) for websites, chat apps, and messaging is called SendBird. It is a completely managed and orderly chat platform with offline messaging, translation, delivery receipts, analytics, and moderating tools that creates cutting edge messaging experiences. This is especially useful when you outsource software development work. India is a top destination for software outsourcing and here are the reasons.

SendBird provides lag-free in-app voice and video chats. Chat rooms are dynamically divided and merged to allow for constant audience participation. Bots for customer service and product recommendations are integrated with it. User messages can be read and followed.

SendBird Pros

• Sales team is robust, responsive, and has good product knowledge
• SendBird is easy to implement and monitor the messages
• The tool’s performance is satisfactory and highly efficient

SendBird Cons

• Lack of multi-user feature per account
• Pricing is not transparent and is offered differently to different customers
• Documentation is confusing and still needs improvement

SendBird G2 Rating – 4.5/5 (45+ Reviews)
SendBird Pricing – Pricing is Available upon Request

Last Thought

So, these were the top 10 software development tools for 2024 for developers. Note that these tools are crated after research based on some internal pointers and doesn’t intent to demean any platform. We have also covered the meaning of software development tools, types of tools, and factors to consider. These tools are to be used by tech experts and top software development companies, and are not meant for non-technical users. Further, you can also hire software developers if you want to build your own software development platform. Here is a list of top software development services provider to pick the best.

Top Software Development Tools – Frequently Asked Questions

Which are the top software development tools?

Some of the top software development tools are Visual Studio, Azure, Jira, Linx, New Relic, and Apache NetBeans.

What is software tools used for?

Software development tools are programming software for developers to build, maintain, support, debug, and edit other frameworks, applications, or programs.

What is the cost to build software development tools?

The cost to build a software development tool varies and depends upon the functionality, features required, and many other factors. You can consult custom software development companies to get the exact cost.