The Top 100+ Developer Tools 2021


Welcome to The 8th Annual StackShare Awards! 🎊 (Check out the 2020 awards if you missed them).

This year we analyzed over 10 million data points shared by you- the StackShare community- to bring you these rankings 📈

You won't get through this in one sitting so might as well bookmark this page now 😉

ICYMI: 2021 was also the year that the StackShare community crossed ONE MILLION developers 🥳 There's a cool interactive timeline there of the history of StackShare since inception!

Don't forget that the primary way in which StackShare makes money (StackShare Enterprise) is also available for FREE on the GitHub Marketplace and now includes Security Vulnerability Reporting (so you can catch the next Log4Shell without having to write scripts to loop through your repos to find CVEs) 🔐

And now, the moment of truth... the categories for the winners of the StackShare Top Tools Awards 2021 are:

As usual, this is our biggest undertaking of the year- we comb through a massive data set to find the best tools that you should know about, try out, or should already be using. We aggregated usage from 600K+ tech stacks , over 7M+ follows , and millions more developer comments, reviews, and votes (more on methodology below) . Let’s dive in!

New Tool of the Year (2021)


#1: FastAPI

With Python being the #2 language of 2021, it's no surprise that a Python framework ended up being the top tool of the year. FastAPI was created by Sebastián Ramírez in 2019 but hit peak popularity and was added to StackShare last year. In his own words, "FastAPI is a modern, fast (high-performance), web framework for building APIs with Python 3.6+ based on standard Python type hints." FastAPI has an MIT license and is used by plenty of developers, with over 40K stars on GitHub. So next time you need to build a Python API, you may want to give this a shot. Go to FastAPI's website to learn more.

» Follow FastAPI | » See recent tech decisions about FastAPI

#2: GitHub Copilot

Tools for Text Editors

Get suggestions for whole lines or entire functions right inside your editor

» GitHub Copilot's profile | » GitHub Copilot's website

#3: FigJam

Graphic Design

An online whiteboard from Figma designed for teams

» FigJam's profile | » FigJam's website

#4: Logtail

Log Management

Query your logs like you query your database

» Logtail's profile | » Logtail's website

#5: Coder

Cloud IDE

The developer workspace platform

» Coder's profile | » Coder's website

#6: Charts.css

Front-End Frameworks

CSS data visualization framework

» Charts.css's profile | » Charts.css's website

#7: Counter

General Analytics

Simple and free web analytics

» Counter's profile | » Counter's website

#8: React Query

Javascript UI Libraries

Fetch, cache and update data in your React and React Native applications all without touching any "global state"

» React Query's profile | » React Query's website

#9: vscode.dev

Cloud IDE

Bringing VS Code to the browser

» vscode.dev's profile | » vscode.dev's website

#10: BookStack

Documentation as a Service & Tools

An open source wiki platform and alternative to Confluence

» BookStack's profile | » BookStack's website

#11: Thunder Client

API Tools

Rest API Client for VS Code, lightweight Postman alternative

» Thunder Client's profile | » Thunder Client's website

#12: Quod AI

Tools for GitHub

Find the code you need faster

» Quod AI's profile | » Quod AI's website

#13: Dendron

Tools for Text Editors

Super fast open source note-taking in VSCode

» Dendron's profile | » Dendron's website

#14: Notion API

Project Management

Connect Notion to the tools you use every day

» Notion API's profile | » Notion API's website

#15: Github1s

Tools for GitHub

One second to read GitHub code with VS Code

» Github1s's profile | » Github1s's website

#16: Ocean

Container Tools

Serverless infrastructure engine for containers

» Ocean's profile | » Ocean's website

#18: Jina

NLP / Sentiment Analysis

An easier way to build neural search on the cloud

» Jina's profile | » Jina's website

#19: Focalboard

Project Management

Open source alternative to Trello, Asana, and Notion (by Mattermost)

» Focalboard's profile | » Focalboard's website

#20: zx

Bash Scripts

A tool for writing better scripts (By Google)

» zx's profile | » zx's website

#21: OpenSearch

Search as a Service

AWS fork of Elasticsearch and Kibana

» OpenSearch's profile | » OpenSearch's website

#22: Querybook

Big Data Tools

A Big Data IDE that allows you to discover, create, and share data analyses, queries, and tables (By Pinterest)

» Querybook's profile | » Querybook's website

#23: MangoDB

Databases

An open-source MongoDB alternative

» MangoDB's profile | » MangoDB's website

#24: ToolJet

Low Code Platforms

Open-source alternative to Retool, Internal.io, etc

» ToolJet's profile | » ToolJet's website

#25: Kitemaker

Project Management

End-to-end product development from user feedback to shipping things people want.

» Kitemaker's profile | » Kitemaker's website

New Tool of the Year: Runner-Up (2021)


#26: Appflowy

Project Management

Open-source Notion Alternative

» Appflowy's profile | » Appflowy's website

#27: Kubegres

Container Tools

Kubernetes operator allowing to create a cluster of PostgreSql instances and manage databases replication, failover and backup

» Kubegres's profile | » Kubegres's website

#28: Lightning Web Components

Front-End Frameworks

A blazing fast, enterprise-grade web components foundation

» Lightning Web Components's profile | » Lightning Web Components's website

#29: Judo

No Code Platforms

Design and code - united at last.

» Judo's profile | » Judo's website

#31: Control

SOC 2 as a Service

Accelerate and automate security & SOC2 compliance for free

» Control's profile | » Control's website

#32: Remix

Frameworks (Full Stack)

A framework focused on web fundamentals and modern UX

» Remix's profile | » Remix's website

#33: NocoDB

Spreadsheets as a Backend

Free & open source Airtable alternative

» NocoDB's profile | » NocoDB's website

#34: JetBrains Qodana

Code Review

Evaluate the integrity of code you own, contract or purchase

» JetBrains Qodana's profile | » JetBrains Qodana's website

#35: Tabnine

Tools for Text Editors

AI Assistant For Software Developers

» Tabnine's profile | » Tabnine's website

#36: Coolify

Platform as a Service

An open-source, self-hostable Heroku and Netlify alternative

» Coolify's profile | » Coolify's website

#37: Penpot

Mobile Prototyping & Interaction Design Tools

The Open-Source design & prototyping platform

» Penpot's profile | » Penpot's website

#38: Portman

API Tools

New way to test APIs with OpenAPI and Postman

» Portman's profile | » Portman's website

#39: Devops Stack

Container Tools

Continuously deployed Kubernetes environment

» Devops Stack's profile | » Devops Stack's website

#40: Slidev

Markdown Editors

Presentation slides for developers

» Slidev's profile | » Slidev's website

#41: ReScript

Languages

The JavaScript-like language you have been waiting for

» ReScript's profile | » ReScript's website

#42: Fig

Shell Utilities

Autocomplete for the Terminal

» Fig's profile | » Fig's website

#43: FlutterFlow

Cross-Platform Mobile Development

Build apps visually

» FlutterFlow's profile | » FlutterFlow's website

#44: Porter

Platform as a Service

Heroku that runs in your own cloud

» Porter's profile | » Porter's website

#45: SigmaOS

Web Browser

The new home for your internet ✨

» SigmaOS's profile | » SigmaOS's website

#46: VictoriaMetrics DB

Databases

Fast, cost-effective monitoring solution and time series database

» VictoriaMetrics DB's profile | » VictoriaMetrics DB's website

#47: Cloudflare Pages

Static Web Hosting

JAMstack platform for frontend developers to collaborate and deploy websites

» Cloudflare Pages's profile | » Cloudflare Pages's website

#48: Devbook

API Documentation Browser

Search engine for developers

» Devbook's profile | » Devbook's website

#49: Front Matter

Static Site Generators

Managing your static sites straight from within VS Code

» Front Matter's profile | » Front Matter's website

#50: Supabase UI

UI Components

React component library for enterprise dashboards

» Supabase UI's profile | » Supabase UI's website

Analytics Tool of the Year (2021)


#1: Google Analytics

General Analytics

Enterprise-class web analytics.

» Google Analytics's profile | » Google Analytics's website

#2: Google Tag Manager

Analytics Integrator

Quickly and easily update tags and code snippets on your website or mobile app

» Google Tag Manager's profile | » Google Tag Manager's website

#3: Mixpanel

General Analytics

Powerful, self-serve product analytics to help you convert, engage, and retain more users

» Mixpanel's profile | » Mixpanel's website

#4: Segment

Analytics Integrator

A single hub to collect, translate and send your data with the flip of a switch.

» Segment's profile | » Segment's website

#5: Amplitude

Mobile Analytics

User analytics to fuel explosive user growth

» Amplitude's profile | » Amplitude's website

Application Hosting Tool of the Year (2021)


#1: Firebase

Realtime Backend / API

The Realtime App Platform

» Firebase's profile | » Firebase's website

#2: Amazon EC2

Cloud Hosting

Scalable, pay-as-you-go compute capacity in the cloud

» Amazon EC2's profile | » Amazon EC2's website

#3: Heroku

Platform as a Service

Build, deliver, monitor and scale web apps and APIs with a trail blazing developer experience.

» Heroku's profile | » Heroku's website

#4: AWS Lambda

Serverless / Task Processing

Automatically run code in response to modifications to objects in Amazon S3 buckets, messages in Kinesis streams, or updates in DynamoDB

» AWS Lambda's profile | » AWS Lambda's website

#5: Microsoft Azure

Cloud Hosting

Integrated cloud services and infrastructure to support computing, database, analytics, mobile, and web scenarios.

» Microsoft Azure's profile | » Microsoft Azure's website

Web Server of the Year (2021)


#1: NGINX

Web Servers

A high performance free open source web server powering busiest sites on the Internet.

» NGINX's profile | » NGINX's website

#2: Apache HTTP Server

Web Servers

Open-source HTTP server for modern operating systems including UNIX and Windows

» Apache HTTP Server's profile | » Apache HTTP Server's website

#3: Apache Tomcat

Web Servers

An open source software implementation of the Java Servlet and JavaServer Pages technologies

» Apache Tomcat's profile | » Apache Tomcat's website

#4: Microsoft IIS

Web Servers

A web server for Microsoft Windows

» Microsoft IIS's profile | » Microsoft IIS's website

#5: Gunicorn

Web Servers

A Python WSGI HTTP Server for UNIX

» Gunicorn's profile | » Gunicorn's website

Application Utility of the Year (2021)


#1: Postman

API Tools

Only complete API development environment

» Postman's profile | » Postman's website

#2: Elasticsearch

Search as a Service

Open Source, Distributed, RESTful Search Engine

» Elasticsearch's profile | » Elasticsearch's website

#3: Google Maps

Mapping APIs

Build highly customisable maps with your own content and imagery

» Google Maps's profile | » Google Maps's website

#4: GitHub Pages

Static Web Hosting

Public webpages freely hosted and easily published.

» GitHub Pages's profile | » GitHub Pages's website

#5: Shopify

Ecommerce

Quickly and easily create a beautiful online store with Shopify.

» Shopify's profile | » Shopify's website

Assets & Media Tool of the Year (2021)


#1: Google Drive

File Storage

A safe place for all your files

» Google Drive's profile | » Google Drive's website

#2: CloudFlare

Content Delivery Network

The Web Performance & Security Company.

» CloudFlare's profile | » CloudFlare's website

#3: Dropbox

File Storage

Build the power of Dropbox into your apps

» Dropbox's profile | » Dropbox's website

#4: Amazon CloudFront

Content Delivery Network

Content delivery with low latency and high data transfer speeds

» Amazon CloudFront's profile | » Amazon CloudFront's website

#5: Fastly

Content Delivery Network

We're redefining content delivery.

» Fastly's profile | » Fastly's website

Back Office Tool of the Year (2021)


#1: Gmail

Email Services

A free web-based e-mail service

» Gmail's profile | » Gmail's website

#2: Google Sheets

Spreadsheets Online

Create and edit spreadsheets online, for free

» Google Sheets's profile | » Google Sheets's website

#3: Microsoft Excel

Spreadsheets Online

A spreadsheet program included in the Microsoft Office suite of applications

» Microsoft Excel's profile | » Microsoft Excel's website

#4: Yandex Mail

Email Services

Free Mail for your domain

» Yandex Mail's profile | » Yandex Mail's website

#5: Superhuman

Email Marketing

A blazingly fast Email client

» Superhuman's profile | » Superhuman's website

Build, Test, & Deploy Tool of the Year (2021)


#1: GitHub

Code Collaboration & Version Control

Powerful collaboration, review, and code management for open source and private development projects

» GitHub's profile | » GitHub's website

#2: Visual Studio Code

Text Editor

Build and debug modern web and cloud applications, by Microsoft

» Visual Studio Code's profile | » Visual Studio Code's website

#3: Docker

Virtual Machine Platforms & Containers

Enterprise Container Platform for High-Velocity Innovation.

» Docker's profile | » Docker's website

#4: npm

Front End Package Manager

The package manager for JavaScript.

» npm's profile | » npm's website

#5: Kubernetes

Container Tools

Manage a cluster of Linux containers as a single system to accelerate Dev and simplify Ops

» Kubernetes's profile | » Kubernetes's website

Collaboration Tool of the Year (2021)


#1: Slack

Group Chat & Notifications

Bring all your communication together in one place

» Slack's profile | » Slack's website

#2: Jira

Issue Tracking

The #1 software development tool used by agile teams to plan, track, and release great software.

» Jira's profile | » Jira's website

#3: Trello

Project Management

Your entire project, in a single glance

» Trello's profile | » Trello's website

#4: Confluence

Project Management

One place to share, find, and collaborate on information

» Confluence's profile | » Confluence's website

#5: G Suite

Productivity Suite

Collaboration and productivity apps for Business

» G Suite's profile | » G Suite's website

Communications Tool of the Year (2021)


#1: Twilio

Voice and SMS

Bring voice and messaging to your web and mobile applications.

» Twilio's profile | » Twilio's website

#2: Amazon SES

Transactional Email

Bulk and transactional email-sending service.

» Amazon SES's profile | » Amazon SES's website

#3: Twilio SendGrid

Transactional Email

Email Delivery. Simplified.

» Twilio SendGrid's profile | » Twilio SendGrid's website

#4: Mailgun

Transactional Email

The Email Service for Developers.

» Mailgun's profile | » Mailgun's website

#5: Agora

Voice and SMS

The Real-Time Engagement platform for devs to integrate voice & video chat, interactive live streaming, and messaging

» Agora's profile | » Agora's website

Data Store/Tool of the Year (2021)


#1: MySQL

Databases

The world's most popular open source database

» MySQL's profile | » MySQL's website

#2: PostgreSQL

Databases

A powerful, open source object-relational database system

» PostgreSQL's profile | » PostgreSQL's website

#3: MongoDB

Databases

The database for giant ideas

» MongoDB's profile | » MongoDB's website

#4: Redis

In-Memory Databases

Open source (BSD licensed), in-memory data structure store

» Redis's profile | » Redis's website

#5: Amazon S3

Cloud Storage

Store and retrieve any amount of data, at any time, from anywhere on the web

» Amazon S3's profile | » Amazon S3's website

Design Tool of the Year (2021)


#1: InVision

Interactive Mockups

Prototyping & Collaboration For Design Teams

» InVision's profile | » InVision's website

#2: Figma

Graphic Design

The collaborative interface design tool.

» Figma's profile | » Figma's website

#3: Adobe XD

Graphic Design

UX/UI design and collaboration tool

» Adobe XD's profile | » Adobe XD's website

#4: Adobe Photoshop

Graphic Design

The industry standard in design, photography, video editing & more

» Adobe Photoshop's profile | » Adobe Photoshop's website

#5: Avocode

Interactive Mockups

Open, Share & Inspect Sketch, XD, PSD, AI, and Figma designs on macOS, Windows, or Linux

» Avocode's profile | » Avocode's website

Language of the Year (2021)


#1: JavaScript

Languages

Lightweight, interpreted, object-oriented language with first-class functions

» JavaScript's profile | » JavaScript's website

#2: Python

Languages

A clear and powerful object-oriented programming language, comparable to Perl, Ruby, Scheme, or Java.

» Python's profile | » Python's website

#3: TypeScript

Languages

A superset of JavaScript that compiles to clean JavaScript output

» TypeScript's profile | » TypeScript's website

#4: Node.js

Frameworks (Full Stack)

A platform built on Chrome's JavaScript runtime for easily building fast, scalable network applications

» Node.js's profile | » Node.js's website

#5: Java

Languages

A concurrent, class-based, object-oriented, language specifically designed to have as few implementation dependencies as possible

» Java's profile | » Java's website

Front-end Framework of the Year (2021)


#1: React

Javascript UI Libraries

A JavaScript library for building user interfaces

» React's profile | » React's website

#2: Vue.js

Javascript MVC Frameworks

A progressive framework for building user interfaces

» Vue.js's profile | » Vue.js's website

#3: AngularJS

Javascript MVC Frameworks

Superheroic JavaScript MVW Framework

» AngularJS's profile | » AngularJS's website

#4: jQuery

Javascript UI Libraries

The Write Less, Do More, JavaScript Library.

» jQuery's profile | » jQuery's website

#5: Redux

State Management Library

Predictable state container for JavaScript apps

» Redux's profile | » Redux's website

Backend/Full Stack Framework of the Year (2021)


#1: Django

Frameworks (Full Stack)

The Web framework for perfectionists with deadlines

» Django's profile | » Django's website

#2: Spring Boot

Frameworks (Full Stack)

Create Spring-powered, production-grade applications and services with absolute minimum fuss

» Spring Boot's profile | » Spring Boot's website

#3: Laravel

Frameworks (Full Stack)

A PHP Framework For Web Artisans

» Laravel's profile | » Laravel's website

#4: Rails

Frameworks (Full Stack)

Web development that doesn't hurt

» Rails's profile | » Rails's website

#5: Next.js

Frameworks (Full Stack)

A small framework for server-rendered universal JavaScript apps

» Next.js's profile | » Next.js's website

Mobile Tool of the Year (2021)


#1: React Native

Cross-Platform Mobile Development

A framework for building native apps with React

» React Native's profile | » React Native's website

#2: Flutter

Cross-Platform Mobile Development

Cross-platform mobile framework from Google

» Flutter's profile | » Flutter's website

#3: Android SDK

Frameworks (Full Stack)

An SDK that provides you the API libraries and developer tools necessary to build, test, and debug apps for Android.

» Android SDK's profile | » Android SDK's website

#4: Kotlin

Languages

Statically typed Programming Language targeting JVM and JavaScript

» Kotlin's profile | » Kotlin's website

#5: Swift

Languages

An innovative new programming language for Cocoa and Cocoa Touch.

» Swift's profile | » Swift's website

Monitoring Tool of the Year (2021)


#1: Kibana

Monitoring Tools

Visualize your Elasticsearch data and navigate the Elastic Stack

» Kibana's profile | » Kibana's website

#2: Grafana

Monitoring Tools

Open source Graphite & InfluxDB Dashboard and Graph Editor

» Grafana's profile | » Grafana's website

#3: Sentry

Exception Monitoring

See performance issues, fix errors faster, and optimize code health.

» Sentry's profile | » Sentry's website

#4: Datadog

Performance Monitoring

Unify logs, metrics, and traces from across your distributed infrastructure.

» Datadog's profile | » Datadog's website

#5: Logstash

Log Management

Collect, Parse, & Enrich Data

» Logstash's profile | » Logstash's website

Payments Tool of the Year (2021)


#1: Stripe

Payment Services

Payments for developers

» Stripe's profile | » Stripe's website

#2: PayPal

Payment Services

Send Money, Pay Online or Set Up a Merchant Account

» PayPal's profile | » PayPal's website

#3: Paddle

Payment Services

The better way to sell software

» Paddle's profile | » Paddle's website

#4: Braintree

Payment Services

Accept payments in your app or website today

» Braintree's profile | » Braintree's website

#5: MANGOPAY

Payment Services

An end-to-end payment solution

» MANGOPAY's profile | » MANGOPAY's website

Support, Sales, and Marketing Tool of the Year (2021)


#1: WordPress

Self-Hosted Blogging / CMS

A semantic personal publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability.

» WordPress's profile | » WordPress's website

#2: Mailchimp

Email Marketing

Easy email newsletters

» Mailchimp's profile | » Mailchimp's website

#3: Google AdSense

Advertising

A program that allows bloggers and website owners to make money by displaying Google ads

» Google AdSense's profile | » Google AdSense's website

#4: HubSpot

Marketing Automation

All the software you need to do inbound marketing.

» HubSpot's profile | » HubSpot's website

#5: Zendesk

Help Desk

The leading cloud-based customer service software solution.

» Zendesk's profile | » Zendesk's website

Top Community Members (2021)


These rankings are brought to you, by YOU. The StackShare community makes these awards possible by sharing not only what you're using, but more importantly, why you chose your stack. For those that aren't familiar, Stack Advice is an easy way to get and give advice on specific tech stack decisions.

So we'd like to recognize the community members that chose to give their fellow developers advice in their time of need, on all sorts of important tech stack decisions.

While there are thousands of developers that helped each other out on StackShare in 2021- the 20 developers below went above and beyond the call of duty to give their peers advice over and over again.

We'd like to thank everyone who asked the community for advice and everyone who chimed in with their recommendations 🙏 See all the Stack Decisions and Stack Advice these special developers shared by visiting their profiles below!

Methodology:

For tool rankings, scores are calculated using a combination of number of stacks a tool was added to, number of votes, Stack Decisions, one-liners, follows, and profile views for the year. New Tool rankings were calculated from tools that were created and added to StackShare in 2021 with follows and views being weighted more heavily than other metrics since new tools don’t just enter stacks overnight.

As usual, we removed Git from the rankings in the DevOps rankings since many developers don't list it in their stack (and instead only list Git collaboration platforms like GitHub).

If you have any questions about the rankings, drop us a line at team@stackshare.io!