Developer Tools: what to install, and why
A working machine in nine installs. Everything here is free or free for personal use, and nothing requires an account to do its core job. The order…
What this category is for
A working machine in nine installs. Everything here is free or free for personal use, and nothing requires an account to do its core job. The order matters more than the list: a terminal, an editor and version control first, then languages, then the specialised tools only when a project asks for them.
What we filter on
- The tool is the reference implementation or a de facto standard, not a wrapper around one.
- Works without a cloud account for local work.
- A licence that permits the use we describe, stated plainly (one entry here is source-available, not open source).
- No telemetry that cannot be switched off in settings.
The 12 programs, compared
The table below is generated from the same directory data as the main list. Licence wording matters here: free for personal use is not the same as free for a work machine, and source-available is not the same as open source. Every link opens the publisher's own site.
| Program | Licence / price | Platforms | Why it is on the list |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visual Studio Code Publisher's site ↗ | Free · Source-available | Windows, macOS, Linux | The default editor for most languages, with the largest extension ecosystem in existence. Note that official builds ship Microsoft telemetry, so turn it off in settings or use VSCodium if that matters to you. |
| Git for Windows Publisher's site ↗ | Free · Open source | Windows, macOS, Linux | Version control, plus a real Bash shell on Windows so you can stop translating commands in your head. Install it before anything else in this section. |
| Windows Terminal Publisher's site ↗ | Free · Open source | Windows | Tabs, panes, proper font rendering and a config file, in place of the old console window. On Windows 11 it is already installed. On Windows 10 get it from the Microsoft Store. |
| Microsoft PowerToys Publisher's site ↗ | Free · Open source | Windows | A bundle of small fixes for Windows: PowerRename for bulk renames, FancyZones for window layouts, a colour picker, a text extractor and more. Enable the two or three you want and ignore the rest. |
| Notepad++ Publisher's site ↗ | Free · Open source | Windows | Replaces Notepad for anything involving line endings, encodings, regex search or large log files. Light enough to open in a fraction of a second, which is why it survives next to VS Code. |
| Node.js Publisher's site ↗ | Free · Open source | Windows, macOS, Linux | Take the LTS release, never the Current one, unless you enjoy debugging someone else's broken dependency at midnight. Installing it also gives you npm and npx. |
| Python Publisher's site ↗ | Free · Open source | Windows, macOS, Linux | Tick 'Add python.exe to PATH' during install or you will spend tomorrow morning reading forum posts. For real projects, use uv or a virtual environment rather than installing packages globally. |
| Docker Desktop Publisher's site ↗ | Free for personal use | Windows, macOS, Linux | Containers without a Linux VM to babysit. Free for personal use and small companies, but check the licence terms before using it commercially. Needs WSL2 enabled on Windows. |
| DBeaver Community Publisher's site ↗ | Free · Open source | Windows, macOS, Linux | One database client that speaks PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, SQL Server, Oracle and a hundred more. Browse tables, write queries, export results. The community edition is genuinely complete. |
| PuTTY Publisher's site ↗ | Free · Open source | Windows | Small, ancient, reliable SSH client that has been the answer on Windows for twenty years. If you live in a terminal, OpenSSH is now built into Windows and you may not need this at all. |
| WinSCP Publisher's site ↗ | Free · Open source | Windows | Moves files over SFTP, SCP and FTP with a two-pane interface and a proper synchronise feature. Pair it with PuTTY and you have a complete remote workflow on Windows. |
| AutoHotkey Publisher's site ↗ | Free · Open source | Windows | Turns a few lines of script into keyboard shortcuts, text expansion and window automation. The usual use is small: remap one awkward key, or expand a signature block. The unusual use is a full personal automation layer. Windows only. |
If you only install one
Visual Studio Code. It handles most languages well out of the box and has the largest extension ecosystem, which means fewer one-purpose editors on the machine. Note the licence wording on the table below: it is source-available, not open source, and the Microsoft build ships with telemetry that can be disabled.
Its Free · Source-available licence and Windows, macOS, Linux support are listed in the table above. The rest of this category exists because the right answer changes with the job, not because the other entries are filler.
The trade-offs
| Instead | What changes |
|---|---|
| Git | Install with the editor, not after the first project. It is the tool every later step assumes you have. |
| Windows Terminal | The default console replacement on Windows; a small install that makes every subsequent command-line task less painful. |
| Notepad++ | The fastest way to inspect one large log or config file. It is not a replacement for an editor with a debugger. |
Mistakes we see
- Installing Docker Desktop before knowing whether a project needs containers. It is a large install with its own licensing terms for business use.
- Installing a language runtime globally when the project expects a version manager. Check the project README first.
- Treating source-available as open source when choosing tooling for a company. The licence difference is in the table for a reason.
Questions people ask
What is the minimum set here?
A terminal, an editor and Git. Add a runtime only when the project you are opening needs one.
Why list PuTTY and WinSCP when Windows has SSH?
They still earn their place for saved sessions and graphical file transfer on machines where that is faster than the command line.
Where to go next
These guides use tools from this category:
- A developer machine in nine installs
- When free software is enough, and when it is not
- Getting a few more years out of an older PC
Or continue through the other categories:
- Browsers — 4 programs
- Files & Organisation — 6 programs
- Media, Recording & Capture — 10 programs
- Graphics & Design — 7 programs
- Documents & Notes — 8 programs
- Communication — 6 programs
- Privacy & Security — 10 programs
- System & Hardware — 8 programs
- Backup & Sync — 5 programs
- Network & Remote — 6 programs
How to read this page. How to read this page. Platform, licence and publisher details come from our directory data. Where an independent review, audit or survey is mentioned, it is summarised in our own words with the source named and linked; our /sources page sets out that policy. The recommendation, the trade-offs and every 'skip it if' line are our editorial judgement. We do not run benchmarks, publish measured performance figures or host installers, and every download link goes to the publisher's own site. If a detail is out of date, our About page explains how to tell us.