The best free tools for developers
Every developer builds up a toolkit of small utilities that make daily work smoother. The programs below help you compare and merge code, manage version control, build applications, generate documentation, run a local web server and inspect file metadata. All are free, most are open source, and each links to its verified download here, so you can set up a capable workbench without spending a thing.
8 apps from our catalog
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Visual diff and merge for files and folders on Windows, perfect for reviewing changes and resolving conflicts.
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A Subversion client that lives inside Windows Explorer, making everyday version control approachable for whole teams.
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A full visual IDE for the Free Pascal compiler, for building native cross-platform desktop apps.
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A lightweight, fast C and C++ IDE that is a long-time favourite for learning and small projects on Windows.
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Generates browsable documentation straight from annotated C++, C, Java and other source code.
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A one-stop Windows stack of Apache, PHP and MySQL/MariaDB for local web development.
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A cross-platform Apache, MariaDB/MySQL, PHP and Perl bundle for spinning up a local web server in minutes.
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The definitive command-line tool for reading, writing and editing metadata across a huge range of file formats.
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