14 Best Developer Productivity Tools for a More Productive 2024

As a developer, you need to stay sharp, productive, and focused on your work. For this, you need the right tools. 

Using productivity tools for developers helps you:

• Improve your performance, 
• Sharpen your time management skills,
• Beat procrastination and distractions, and 
• Feel more content as a result. 

To ensure you maintain your productivity levels high and increase your output, I’ve tested dozens of productivity apps and contacted software developers to create a list of the 14 best developer productivity tools you need to try! All of the apps on my list either offer free plans or free trials, which allowed me to check them out with zero investment. 

musicForProgramming — best music for concentration

Based on the Middle State Tennessee University experiment, instrumental music is actually proven to be the best for work focus!

This is probably the benefit that the creators of musicForProgramming aimed for. 

Designed to improve focus and boost output, musicForProgramming presents a collection of mostly instrumental mixes created with programmers in mind. 

Why use musicForProgramming? 

This app is one of the best tools for increasing developer productivity quickly. That’s because it offers the correct amount of cognitive load to occupy the areas of your brain that would otherwise be free to wander and cause distraction. Furthermore, the app is free!

How musicForProgramming works

I love that this tool’s interface mimics a code editor. It allows you to maintain your focus on coding tasks, as you’ll visually link this website with your work.

Although I’m not a developer, I find musicForProgramming particularly useful because it offers a variety of tracks to help me maintain my focus. Moreover, episodes are at least an hour long, so I don’t have to pause my work whenever a track ends. 

At the moment, musicForProgramming offers:

• 70 episodes to listen to, and
• 1,228 tracks.

This amounts to more than 100 hours of listening time!

musicForProgramming pro

Here’s a key pro of musicForProgramming:

• Offers music grouped by episodes. 

musicForProgramming con

The main con of musicForProgramming includes:

• Its interface can be overwhelming and difficult to navigate.  

What’s new in musicForProgramming

musicForProgramming added more episodes and tracks and nearly doubled its listening time in the past year. 

musicForProgramming is suitable for: Remote, virtual, and hybrid teams of all sizes, freelancers

Pumble — best for developer communication 

Pumble facilitates every software development process. This tool offers multiple methods for communicating with your team and lets you quickly search for important information. 

Why use Pumble?

Pumble is a business messaging tool for discussing features, issues, technology, and other topics. The app arranges talks into direct messages, channels, and threads

With Pumble’s help, teams collaborate more quickly and efficiently, no matter where they are. 

Pumble’s message formatting allows developers to quickly exchange code in its original form, whether you need to extract and share a large code block or a short piece of code. 

How Pumble works

You can use Pumble to connect to people in real time by:

• Sending direct messages,
• Starting conversations in channels, and
• Maintaining discussions in threads. 

The tool makes your team communication more efficient with a large number of communication options:

• Voice messages,
• Video and audio calls,
• File sharing, and
• Search feature for quickly finding important information. 

Moreover, a cool feature I would like to point out is the Guest Role access option, which is available for Enterprise and Business plans. I use it to collaborate and communicate with people outside my company. 

Pumble pro

The main benefit of using Pumble:

• Offers 3 different methods of communication: chats, audio, and video calls.

Pumble con

Here’s a key disadvantage of Pumble:

• Users don’t receive notifications when someone reacts to their message. 

What’s new in Pumble

In October and November of 2023, Pumble added on-call messages and improved change theme features. 

Moreover, Android users now have video and audio calls available, as well as the ability to schedule messages. 

Pumble is suitable for: Remote, virtual, and hybrid teams of all sizes, freelancers

Plaky — best for developer task management

Plaky is a project management software that provides developers with an easy way to track their own assignments and see what others are working on at the moment. 

Why use Plaky?

Plaky is a project planning, management, and tracking application for developers with various developer workflow options that make task management much easier. You can arrange your backlog tasks in order of importance to focus on priority assignments.

With Plaky, you can maintain a neat and organized backlog to make it much simpler to complete each assignment.

How Plaky works

Plaky is great for software development teams that collaborate with different departments such as marketing teams and creative teams.

Plaky lets you:

• Monitor your and your team’s tasks,
• Prioritize backlog tasks, 
• Record and track bugs with Plaky’s bug tracking templates, and
• Plan a product roadmap.

For instance, let’s say you’re working with someone from a marketing department and you need a quick proof of a document. Plaky lets you easily create a task and assign it to them. You can add task descriptions, and deadlines, and even attach files to the task you created.

I love how easy it is to use Plaky. Our daily schedule can get pretty complicated, so having this kind of project management tool makes the organization easier. 

The feature I benefit the most from is Favorites. It prevents me from getting overwhelmed with the number of boards and tabs available as it allows me to favorite the ones I need the most and access them as soon as I open Plaky. 

Plaky pro

The Main Plaky advantage I notice is:

• Easy task assignment and clear overview of the tasks users are assigned to. 

Plaky con

Plaky does come with a disadvantage:

• One login session lasts only 7 days, so users have to log in again after a week. 

What’s new in Plaky

In October and November of 2023, Plaky added a Private Views feature that allows for custom viewing of the board (choosing between kanban and table view) without changing the view of other users.

In addition, web and Android users now receive notifications whenever they are assigned an item or a task they’re working on is modified. 

Plaky is suitable for: Remote, virtual, and hybrid teams of all sizes, freelancers

Clockify — best for managing and tracking time

Tracking the time you spend on various programming activities is vital, and there is no better way to do this than turning to efficient and free time tracking software, such as Clockify. 

With Clockify, you can keep track of your working hours without wasting time on complicated procedures or paper timesheets. 

Why use Clockify? 

Clockify is primarily a work hours tracker that helps you:

• Track the time you spend on projects, 
• Get data that shows how productive you are (weekly, monthly, or yearly), 
• Capture screenshots of your work, as well as 
• Calculate billable hours and manage payroll.

How Clockify works

Tracking time is easy and can be done with one click. Just type in what you’re working on and start the timer. When you click end, the timer adds your coding activities to a list of your time entries.

You can also add time manually and fill out a timesheet at the end of the day so you know how much time you’ve spent on each project.

Later, you can use this data to track your performance and analyze how much time you and your whole team spent on each project in reports.

I like to use Clockify to implement the Pomodoro technique. I can get too caught up in writing and forget to take a break, which makes me much less productive after a while. 

Moreover, Clockify comes with a Pomodoro timer, which is available in the app’s preferences. With this timer, I can set break time and work time and let the system remind me when it’s time to focus on each.

Clockify pro

Main Clockify pro:

• Reminds users to log work hours if they forgot. 

Clockify con

The key Clockify con is:

• Software doesn’t automatically correct timesheet mistakes. 

What’s new in Clockify

In October of 2023, Clockify updated its ClickUp integration which now comes with an added timer on task list view. 

Furthermore, as of November 2023, users have the option to assign different currencies to clients.  

Clockify is suitable for: Remote, virtual, and hybrid teams of all sizes, freelancers

For more details on Clockify’s paid plans, check out Clockify’s pricing page.

F.lux — best for adjusting monitor lighting 

F.lux is a cross-platform that adjusts the color temperature of your display to help your eyes rest, and ensure you can work on your programming tasks in a quality way, for longer.

Why use F.lux? 

F.lux follows the premise that warmer colors help you slip into relaxation and sleep mode faster and that light-blue colors improve alertness. To maintain healthy sleeping patterns and boost productivity at the right times, simply adjust the settings to fit your work routine.

How F.lux works

The program adjusts the colors of your computer screen based on your location and the time of day.

My eyes get tired after a long day of screen time. One thing I noticed that helps with this is changing my screen colors during the evening. Once F.lux detects it’s nearing sunset in my location, the colors become warmer. My screen then becomes more pleasant to look at during the evening. 

As sunrise nears, the program returns the display’s colors to the usual settings.

If you work mainly at night, you can adjust the program to apply warmer colors later and disregard the sunrise/sunset times of your location. You can also disable the tool for different apps or for a period. 

F.lux pro

The main benefit of F.lux is:

• Lighting automatically changes based on your set working hours. 

F.lux con

F.lux’s crucial disadvantage includes:

• Warm colors can disrupt your viewing or gaming experience. 

What’s new in F.lux

F.lux’s last update (September 2023) brought a new location preview method. 

The tool now uses NASA’s Black Marble instead of Google Maps for earth previews. 

F.lux is suitable for: Remote, virtual, and hybrid teams of all sizes, freelancers

Scribe — best for detailed step-by-step guides

Scribe is a time-saver for any programmer who has to document how they built something or share documentation. It captures your screen while you execute a process, then converts your clicks and keystrokes into screenshots and step-by-step instructions.

Why use Scribe? 

Scribe automatically makes how-to manuals with: 

• Screenshots, 
• Directions, and 
• Clicks. 

Scribe also simplifies the process of information sharing and work delegation. Many teams use Scribe to create SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures), software documentation, help center guides, and onboard new hires.

How Scribe works

One thing I noticed about Scribe is that it’s extremely easy to use.

After creating a profile with Scribe, I downloaded the Scribe extension. Once the extension was embedded into my browser, I started recording my work in one click.

Scribe screenshots important steps and creates descriptions for each one on its own. When my work was done, I viewed the end result Scribe created and was able to make edits where needed. 

It’s also worth mentioning that an individual Scribe can be shared with others via a link, or directly within the app. 

Scribe pro

Scribe users enjoy one important benefit:

• Automatic screenshotting of your work. 

Scribe con

A key downside of Scribe:

• Web extension sometimes slows down the browser. 

What’s new in Scribe

Scribe Sidekick is a new Scribe extension feature launched in October of 2023.

If you or your teammates have created a Scribe for a particular website, whenever you visit that website, you’ll automatically be offered a user manual. You also have the option to view Scribes in side-by-side windows. 

Scribe is suitable for: Remote, virtual, and hybrid teams of all sizes

IntelliJ IDEA — best for analyzing codes

IntelliJ IDEA is a Kotlin and Java-integrated development environment (IDE) that offers a number of functionalities that assist you in coding across various frameworks and languages.

Why use IntelliJ IDEA? 

With this Java IDE, you can:

• Build tools,
• Decompile,
• Run tests,
• Manage schemes,
• Run queries, and much more.

IntelliJ IDEA also has useful code analysis features. The tool automatically detects and corrects abnormal codes in a project. Moreover, it highlights issues, and dead codes, and finds bugs and spelling problems in your code. 

How IntelliJ IDEA works

IntelliJ IDEA offers easy access to all the functions and built-in tools, as well as a variety of customization choices. What I love about IntelliJ IDEA is that everything can be fine-tuned to support your productivity, including shortcuts, plugins, interface customization, and more.

The majority of tasks in IntelliJ IDEA can be completed using shortcuts, from examining recently used files to launching and troubleshooting projects. 

IntelliJ IDEA enables you to locate almost any item inside and outside the project.

This tool can also analyze your code across various projects and languages, find connections between them, as well as detect duplicates.

IntelliJ IDEA pro

IntelliJ IDEA’s main advantage is:

• Good syntax highlighting.

IntelliJ IDEA con

Users often report this con:

• Version control is too complicated for new users. 

What’s new in IntelliJ IDEA

The latest IntelliJ IDEA update (December 2023) came with an AI assistant and a set of AI-powered features. 

In addition, the Profiler section now displays in-editor hints for even faster code editing. 

IntelliJ IDEA is suitable for: Remote, virtual, and hybrid teams of all sizes, freelancers

ClickUp — best for monitoring project progress 

ClickUp is an all-in-one productivity app designed for all users — from solo programmers to large software development enterprises. 

Why use ClickUp? 

By using ClickUp, you and your team can:

• Plan, monitor, and cooperate on any project, 
• Manage production sprints, and
• Construct the ideal workflow.

ClickUp offers customization options suitable for everyone. You can choose from hundreds of functional and advanced tools to improve team communication. 

How ClickUp works

ClickUp offers a user-friendly interface and a drag-and-drop functionality so you can focus on coding. With ClickUp, you can: 

• Easily collaborate with your team, 
• Edit work simultaneously with your team members, and 
• Assign comments and tasks to each other. 

I like that ClickUp makes my task organization easier by offering me the option to quickly add a table, column, a list, or a subpage.​​ I can also link my to-do lists to other tasks or docs, which is great when I want to connect my to-do list for that day with an article I’m working on during the week. 

ClickUp makes planning your programming work simpler as you can create to-do lists and group them into different categories, based on the project you’re working on.

ClickUp pro

Here’s the main advantage of ClickUp: 

• Easy overview of all tasks worked on and assigned to. 

ClickUp con

A major ClickUp drawback: 

• Inability to allocate time for tasks (only task duration is available). 

What’s new in ClickUp

The latest big ClickUp update was in November 2023. It brought 3 different task layout options. 

Furthermore, the new update comes with Item Hubs, allowing easier management of Docs, Whiteboards, and Dashboards. Item Hubs present 4 types of lists you can quickly access: 

• Popular, 
• Recent, 
• Favorites, and 
• Created by Me.

ClickUp is suitable for: Hybrid, remote and virtual teams, and freelancers

GitHub — best for code collaboration

GitHub is a developer collaboration platform for storing and sourcing codes. Over 100 million developers use it to manage their software development projects. 

Why use GitHub? 

GitHub is an open-source, cloud-based platform that enables software building and team collaboration. It’s among the most secure platforms out there, as it offers secret scanning (prevents fraudulent use of secrets) and automatic vulnerability detection, among other safety features. 

How GitHub works 

GitHub offers plenty of features that make both coding and collaboration easier. 

With GitHub, you can work on multiple projects at the same time and share the work with your colleagues.

The platform allows users to create branches of code, which enables them to work on the same project in parallel. The built-in project planning features allow users to delegate tasks, communicate, and, once their codes are ready, merge branches.

Software Development Engineer Jovana Majcen believes GitHub makes team collaboration easier:

“I use GitHub to store codes. Moreover, when the whole team is working on the same version of the application, GitHub allows us to easily monitor changes and sync our work.”

Another feature developers like? Finding open source codes. Security Engineer for CAKE.com, Nikola Bogavac, notes that he usually goes to GitHub when he needs quick access to open-source code. 

GitHub pro

GitHub’s main advantage is:

• Excellent version control. 

GitHub con

GitHub comes with this drawback:

• Deleting folders is complicated. 

What’s new in GitHub

In September 2023, GitHub released a Copilot Chat for all users. Together, GitHub Copilot Chat and GitHub Copilot provide AI assistance that speeds up software development and makes collaboration and coding easier.  

GitHub is suitable for: Remote, virtual and hybrid teams

Focusmate — best for virtual coworking 

If you’re a freelance developer worried that you’re prone to procrastinating during the time periods when you should be coding, you can try Focusmate. This is a coworking virtual community where you get assigned with a partner who makes sure you focus on your tasks.

Why use Focusmate? 

This community bases its premise on scientific research, which states that pressure, accountability, and other behavioral triggers help people stop procrastinating.

How Focusmate works

Focusmate works through sessions you book with other Focusmate users. Once you determine when to book a session, you can visit the Focusmate Dashboard. There, you’ll see a calendar filled with other users’ available session times. 

To book a session with a user, I just had to click on their name in the calendar and choose to book a session with them. 

I also tested out creating my own entry in the calendar. As soon as I did that, Focusmate proposed several available users I could choose from. I also had the option to wait for Focusmate to find me another work buddy, which is another great option. 

Focusmate allows for 3 different session lengths:

• 25 minutes,
• 50 minutes, and
• 75 minutes. 

You can add people with whom you had productive sessions to your favorites. 

You can also join a Focusmate group on the Focusmate website.

Focusmate pro

Focusmate stands out from the competition because:

• Work buddies are from all over the world which makes it easy to find someone to chat with at any time.  

Focusmate con

The main downside to Focusmate is:

• Too many emails from Focusmate even before the first session. 

What’s new in Focusmate

In December 2023, Focusmate updated its video feature for a more comfortable user experience. The chat interface was updated with time stamps, and the tool is now available in dark mode. 

Lastly, new buttons for audio and video allow for quick muting and device switching.  

Focusmate is suitable for: Teams, freelancers

Visual Studio Code — best for cross-platform code editing

Visual Studio Code is a cross-platform code editor that supports various markup and program languages. It helps users with running tasks, version control, and debugging. 

Why use Visual Studio Code? 

Visual Studio Code speeds up the code debugging process by enabling you to debug codes from the editor. You can attach it to the apps you’re using to debug with call stacks and break points. 

Moreover, Visual Studio Code is fully customizable. You can install various extensions for changing themes and languages without slowing down the editor. 

How Visual Studio Code works

This tool offers a great number of plugins. You can use it with any relevant programming language or plugin for text editing and formatting. 

In addition, integrating Visual Studio Code with many popular developer tools, such as Copilot, GitHub, and Snyk, is extremely easy. 

Bogavac highlights the SSH extension as a major upside to using Visual Studio Code:

“Remote SSH plugin is the most significant feature Visual Studio Code has (this feature is only available on one other platform: Vim). It allows me to connect to any server and program in VS code despite it not being installed on the server.” 

Visual Studio Code pro

Important Visual Studio Code pro:

• Great support for different programming languages. 

Visual Studio Code con

Visual Studio Code users struggle with this drawback:

• Software requires too much configuration for a customized experience. 

What’s new in Visual Studio Code

As of October 2023, Visual Studio Code comes with more audio cues that allow for activities such as save, clear, and format. Moreover, you can now show and hide editor tabs. 

In addition, users received the ability to move the Activity bar to the top.

Visual Studio Code is suitable for: Teams and freelancers

Warp — best Rust-based terminal

If you’re a developer looking for a Rust-based terminal that makes software development much easier, you should try Warp. Warp offers plenty of features and is fast and simple to use. 

Why use Warp?

Warp is a fast, reliable terminal that comes with AI integration, knowledge-sharing tools, and autocompletion that speed up your work.

What’s more, Warp offers security as it never collects your data. Anything you save in Warp Drive is encrypted. 

How Warp works

Warp comes with a text editor and supports shortcuts, cursor positioning, and selections. 

Every command and its outputs are grouped into blocks. Blocks are units that allow you to quickly:

• Copy commands and their outputs,
• Edit commands,
• Bookmark commands, and
• Share commands and outputs. 

Software Engineering Consultant at CAKE.com, Vladimir Gusev, believes Warp is the best new terminal for macOS users:

“Warp has a lot of features that help with productivity. Even their new AI suggestion is useful.”

Speaking of AI, this technology is fully integrated with the terminal. Ask Warp AI can walk you through programming workflows and help you find the commands you’re looking for. 

In addition, the Ask Warp AI feature helps developers identify errors in command output and find missing dependencies.

Warp pro

Warp’s main advantage is:

• Tabs feature lets users have multiple terminal sessions at the same time.

Warp con

This tool comes with this drawback:

• Can’t be used without a sign-in. 

What’s new in Warp

From November 2023, users can experience a faster scrolling speed and the option to resize the information block when they resize the Warp window. 

Furthermore, the same update introduced the possibility to open .md files in Warp as well as run shell commands. 

Warp is suitable for: Remote, hybrid, and virtual teams

Pieces for Developers — best for capturing coding in progress

Pieces for Developers is a tool specifically designed to simplify the software development process. It allows you to capture coding snippets you can use as a reference when editing existing codes or working on a new project.

Why use Pieces for Developers?

Pieces for Developers is a unique tool created for software developers. It speeds up the coding process by allowing you to:

• Save parts of your code in the app,
• Easily access saved code snippets,
• Paste codes from the Internet, and
• Share your codes with your team.

How Pieces for Developers works?

Pieces comes in the form of an app and a browser extension. 

The app allows you to upload codes and images or search for existing snippets. Once uploaded, you can edit the code as well as its description. 

I love that Pieces for Developers makes coding understandable to anyone. For instance, if you see a code written on the site you visit, you can use the Ask the Copilot option to quickly understand what is happening on the page.

I decided to use the Ask the Copilot option to fathom what was happening on the page I visited. Pieces not only broke down the code format, but it also added a list of suggested questions for further reading. 

Moreover, Pieces for Developers lets you share your snippets with others via a shareable link. Once a person clicks on your link, they not only see your code, but also a description that the tool automatically generates. You can edit this description as well. 

Pieces for Developers pro

Pieces for Developers has this amazing feature:

• Turns screenshots into editable codes.

Pieces for Developers con

The tool has a key disadvantage:

• AI support is only available in English. 

What’s new in Pieces for Developers

In September of 2023, Pieces for Developers Desktop and Copilot became available to download and can be used offline. 

Moreover, as of June 2023, Pieces is available for JupyterLab Extension, which allows for annotating code snippets within JupyterLab, real-time syncing with all Pieces integrations, and easier snippet management. 

Pieces for Developers is suitable for: Remote, hybrid and virtual teams

CotEditor — best for macOS text editing

CotEditor is a simple text editor for Mac users. It’s an open-source platform designed to enable everyone to contribute to its development. 

Why use CotEditor? 

CotEditor stands out from the competition with its simple and easy-to-use interface. 

Vladimir Gusev believes CotEditor is the best option for those looking for a light and fast editor: 

“I have experience with many text editors, after Notepad++ it took some time to find a great text editor. SublimeText was too heavy, and finally, I found Cot, which is really fast and light.”

How CotEditor works

CotEditor comes with over 50 pre-installed languages, such as Python, PHP, and HTML. It has a Find feature, which enables users to search for their previous work for reference.

Moreover, the Split Editor feature allows you to quickly split your window into different panes. You will then be able to see various parts of the document at the same time. 

Gusev highlights the ability to leave notes in text as one of the best CotEditor features:

“While I’m working, I leave notes in a text file, just to easily remember what I did a month ago.”

CotEditor pro

This is a major CotEditor pro:

• Easy to navigate. 

CotEditor con

CotEditor’s key disadvantage is:

• Not available for Windows users.

What’s new in CotEditor 

CotEditor’s last update, which was in October 2022, introduced the option to add an advanced character count feature to the text menu and syntax styles for DOT and TypeScript.

For this update, CotEditor users also received the option to see a dot in the window if a document they work on has unsaved changes. Furthermore, users can now draw a separating line between the editor and the line number view.  

CotEditor is suitable for: Personal use, remote, virtual, and hybrid teams of all sizes

Improve productivity with appropriate developer productivity tools

Tools such as CotEditor, Pieces for Developers, IntelliJ IDEA, Warp, and Visual Studio Code are there to make software development easier and quicker. 

But, great developer productivity tools aren’t just the ones directly related to your programming tasks. 

If you’re looking for software that tracks your time and project progress, and allows you to generate reports of your work, you should try Clockify. 

Clockify can be integrated with many project management tools for even more productive work! 

Clockify comes with many great features for developers that automate time and project monitoring which help you save time on activities unrelated to software development!