Which Developer Tools Dominated 2019? Rankings, Trends, and Surprises

In recent years many developer tools have entered the market, reflecting developers' growing focus on productivity. Axosoft, a software company, provides a suite of productivity products including a Scrum project‑management tool, the cross‑platform Git client GitKraken, and the Glo Boards task‑tracking system.

1. GitKraken – a Git client for Windows, macOS and Linux. In 2018 it surpassed one million users and was voted the best by users for three consecutive years. Download: https://www.gitkraken.com/git-client

2. Visual Studio Code – Microsoft’s code editor for building and debugging web and cloud applications. It has been rated the second‑best developer tool for two years in a row. Download: https://code.visualstudio.com/

3. Docker – a platform for building, testing and deploying applications with containers. After ranking seventh the previous year, Docker jumped to third place in 2019. Download: https://www.docker.com/

4. Git – the free, open‑source distributed version‑control system. It has held the fourth position for three consecutive years and remains the most widely used VCS. Download: https://git-scm.com/

Other notable tools (ranks 5‑20)

Postman – a powerful GUI platform for faster API development (up 4 points).

Visual Studio – a comprehensive IDE for any language or platform (up 7 points, tied with Docker).

Chrome DevTools – built‑in web development and debugging tools (down 2 points).

GitLab – Git repository management with code review and issue tracking (up 4 points).

Sublime Text – text editor for code and prose (down 2 points).

IntelliJ IDEA – JetBrains’ Java IDE (up 1 point).

GitHub – web‑based Git hosting service (down 8 points, largest drop).

Slack – modern messaging, archiving and search for R&D teams (down 4 points).

Atom – free open‑source code editor (down 7 points due to upcoming discontinuation).

Azure – Microsoft’s cloud computing platform and services (new entry, gaining traction).

Trello – web‑based project‑management app (new entry, strong competitor to Glo Boards).

Google services – search, cloud computing and software ecosystem (new entry, some tools removed from list).

Android Studio – official IDE for Android development (stable newcomer since 2017).

Xcode – IDE for macOS and iOS development (returned to list after 2017).

Eclipse IDE – Java EE and web application development tool (up 1 point).

Linux – open‑source operating system built around the Linux kernel (new entry).

The 2019 trend forecast highlights Docker as a tool to watch, having risen seven positions to third place. VS Code and Docker share the highest year‑over‑year popularity growth, both climbing from 13th to 6th. New entrants this year include Azure, Trello, Google and Linux, while task‑tracking tools appear for the first time.

Re‑entries from the 2017 list are Android Studio and Xcode. Postman continues its ascent, gaining eight positions over the past two years. Six tools—PhpStorm, ZSH, Node.js, Firefox Developer Tools, Stack Overflow and iTerm2—showed little change from the previous year.

GitLab overtook GitHub for the first time, ranking fourth while GitHub fell from third to eleventh. Git maintains its fourth‑place position for the third consecutive year, underscoring the industry’s continued migration toward Git for version control.

“工欲行其事，必先利其器” – Happy coding!

Compiled by: Wang Rong Source: https://blog.axosoft.com/top-developer-tools-2019/