14 Best Developer Experience (DevEx) Tools Heading Into 2025

High-quality software comes from happy, satisfied developers. Happy developers can be found in environments that give them space to do their jobs well – workplaces free of friction, with streamlined workflows, and featuring good collaboration.

According to this calculus, an optimized developer experience (DevEx) is essential for both happy teams and high-quality software development.

However, monitoring and measuring DevEx isn’t always easy – especially when it comes to assessing more qualitative factors like developer satisfaction and burnout.

Enter DevEx tools: software designed to enhance developer productivity, efficiency, and satisfaction throughout the software development lifecycle.

Read on for our list of the best DevEx tools for software development teams heading into 2025.

Key Features to Look For in a DevEx Tool

To foster a great developer experience, look for tools that encourage collaboration, communication, and productivity while reducing friction and siloed work. This might look like the following:

Collaboration Features

Teams with efficient communication can spend more time building software and less time worrying about things like version control. Look for features in new and existing tools that facilitate better collaboration and communication among team members, such as:

• Shared workspaces and collaborative coding environments for seamless teamwork.
• Real-time editing capabilities for simultaneous code development.
• In-context communication features like code commenting, chat, or integrated messaging platforms to facilitate discussions without switching tools.
• Project management and task tracking integrations to keep everyone aligned.

Automation and Integration Features

Automation and integration features free your team from tedious manual work and promote streamlined workflows. Look for tools that integrate easily into your existing tech stack and include automation when possible:

• Automated testing and continuous integration and continuous development pipelines to streamline development and deployment.
• Smooth integration with version control systems (e.g., Git, SVN) for easy code management.
• Compatibility with other essential tools in your tech stack, such as project management, communication, and deployment platforms.
• Workflow automation capabilities to reduce repetitive tasks and optimize processes.

Friction Reduction

Cumbersome processes and tools can slow development and lead to frustrated teams. To avoid burnout, encourage retention, and improve productivity, consider whether your existing or prospective tools add or reduce friction along the developer journey. For example, tools that reduce friction might include the following:

• Intuitive and user-friendly interfaces with a minimal learning curve.
• Easy setup and configuration so teams can get started quickly.
• High performance and reliability to avoid disruptions and delays.
• Clear error messages and debugging tools to identify and resolve issues efficiently.

Feedback Loops

Developers need timely input for efficient software development. It also fosters knowledge sharing and ensures your team is aligned. Make sure your tools and processes empower teams to practice efficient feedback during development. Tools that encourage feedback loops might have features such as:

• Real-time or near-real-time feedback mechanisms.
• Instant previews and live updates to see the impact of changes immediately.
• Integrated debugging tools for efficient troubleshooting.
• Code quality analysis and linting to catch potential issues early.

Robust Documentation Options

Comprehensive documentation ensures everyone is on the same page or can get up to speed quickly. If you plan to deploy a new DevEx tool, make sure it includes the following features around documentation:

• Comprehensive and up-to-date documentation that’s easily searchable.
• Clear explanations and examples for both beginners and experienced users.
• Well-organized structure with logical navigation.
• Contextual help within the tool itself for quick reference.

Not all DevEx tools are created equally. Some tools are designed specifically to monitor and optimize for a good developer experience. Others simply have DevEx capabilities that work in tandem with core functionality.

Consider your existing tech stack, budget, and team to determine whether you should adjust existing processes and platforms, deploy new features focused on DevEx, or implement new DevEx tools altogether.

14 Best Developer Experience Tools for Engineering Teams

1. Jellyfish
2. LinearB
3. Pluralsight Flow
4. Code Climate Velocity
5. Haystack
6. Postman
7. Vercel
8. CodeSandbox
9. Grafana
10. Datadog
11. GitHub Copilot
12. GetDX
13. Sourcegraph
14. Qovery

1. Jellyfish

Jellyfish is an engineering management platform (EMP) that goes beyond metrics. It offers insights into team dynamics and well-being to foster a positive developer experience. With Jellyfish, leaders can better measure, improve, and communicate the effectiveness of engineering efforts to better address pain points, make data-driven decisions, and create a productive and fulfilling environment for engineers.

Key Features

• Feedback & Recognition: Jellyfish helps cultivate a culture of appreciation by enabling feedback and recognition, promoting a sense of value and motivation among developers.
• Workload Balancing: With Jellyfish, managers can identify teams or individuals with excessive workloads to proactively address burnout risks and ensure a sustainable work environment.
• Collaboration: By providing insights into team dynamics and communication patterns, Jellyfish encourages collaboration and knowledge sharing, facilitating a cohesive and supportive team environment.
• Team Health Metrics: Jellyfish goes beyond productivity, tracking metrics related to code churn and pull request review times. This helps identify areas where processes or collaboration might be improved, contributing to a smoother development experience.
• Surveys and Sentiment Analysis: Jellyfish can integrate with survey tools or use sentiment analysis to gather direct feedback from developers, empowering organizations to understand their needs, concerns, and overall satisfaction.

Why Do Companies Prefer Jellyfish?

• Removes the need for teams to run manual DevEx surveys.
• Helps teams better understand bottlenecks and optimize resource allocation.
• Instrumental in driving business alignment.
• Allows teams to track effort without time tracking, and provides great customer support.
• Provides data and insights to facilitate conversations between engineering and product.

2. LinearB

LinearB is a software delivery intelligence platform that provides engineering teams with data-driven insights and automation capabilities to streamline workflows and improve delivery speed.

LinearB aims to provide teams with full visibility and control over developer experience and productivity. For example, LinearB’s platform dashboards provide real-time insights into things such as project risks, resource allocation, and developer impact.

LinearB lists several DevEx-specific features – such as engineering metrics, programmable workflows, goals and reporting, project forecasting, and resource allocation – to reduce developer frustration and improve productivity.

Top Features

• DORA Metrics: Measures key software delivery performance metrics like Deployment Frequency, Lead Time for Changes, Change Failure Rate, and Mean Time to Recovery.
• Workflow Automation: Automates routine tasks and processes to reduce manual effort and cognitive load while improving efficiency.
• Resource Allocation: Provides visibility into team workload and capacity to enable better planning and prevent burnout.

What Are Some Limitations of LinearB?

• Initial set-up and configuration can be time-consuming.
• Some users struggle with specific integrations.
• The learning curve can be steep.

3. Pluralsight Flow

Pluralsight Flow is a software engineering intelligence platform designed to help teams cut cycle times, build thriving teams, and deliver confidently.

The Flow platform connects with developer tools such as Github, Jira, ADO, and more to provide teams with a view into what teams are working on, where they’re facing roadblocks, and where to improve efficiencies.

The team at Pluralsight emphasizes that its approach to “human-centered software development” is based on empirical research done by social scientists and clinical psychologists.

Anyone from engineering managers to product leaders and finance can use the Flow developer platform to gather insights about engineering.

Top Features

• Workflow Visualization: Provides a clear overview of the software development process, from code commit to deployment.
• Cycle Time Analysis: Tracks the time it takes to complete different stages of development, helping identify areas for improvement.
• Team Collaboration: Facilitates communication and collaboration among team members to streamline the development process.

What Are Some Limitations of Pluralsight Flow?

• Some people find the platform’s user interface is not intuitive.
• It’s unclear how some metrics are calculated
• Price can be steep, especially for smaller teams.

4. Code Climate Velocity

Code Climate Velocity is an enterprise-level engineering intelligence platform. Code Climate differentiates from other engineering intelligence platforms by partnering closely with engineering leaders to provide customized solutions based on data-driven insights.

Engineering teams that use Code Climate Velocity can expect a three-step initiative: a diagnostic workshop with Code Climate experts; a customized dashboard and insight reports; and a tailored action plan for your business.

Like other engineering intelligence platforms, Code Climate Velocity integrates with developer tools such as Jira, GitLab, Bitbucket, and more to surface insights around efficiency, allocation, effectiveness, and more. With Code Climate Velocity, engineering leaders can easily take action and make better business decisions.

Top Features

• Diagnostic: Code Climate experts hold a series of workshops with the leadership team to identify the engineering team’s health and key challenges.
• Custom Dashboard & Reports: The Code Climate team provides a custom dashboard and report based on priorities identified in the diagnostic workshops.
• Action Plan: Tailored plans recommend actionable measures, experiments, and process adjustments.

What Are Some Limitations of Code Climate Velocity?

• Individual metrics don’t take into account factors such as PTO, holidays, or training.
• It’s unclear how to use certain metrics.
• Some users wish there were more customization options.

5. Haystack

Haystack is an engineering analytics platform. It links to Git and JIRA to help both engineering leaders and teams deliver software faster, better, and more predictably.

The Haystack platform focuses on improving deliverability. It integrates with a team’s delivery stack and maps out the entire delivery lifecycle. From there, delivery boards and reports allow teams to view things like sprints, bugs, pull requests, and release notes in one spot. Teams can integrate Haystack with Slack for automated notifications on project status or risks.

With Haystack, engineering teams can optimize their workflows, improve collaboration, reduce code times, and improve developer experience.

Top Features

• Unified Delivery Stack: Haystack cleans, connects, and enhances delivery data in one place.
• Delivery Reports: Teams can track metrics and build straightforward reports across JIRA, Git, and more.
• Automated Status Updates: Automated reports and updates keep stakeholders updated on milestones and achievements.

What Are Some Limitations of Haystack?

• Some users would like more features.
• There could be more specific or customizable filters.
• Some insights don’t feel actionable.

6. Postman

Postman is an API development and testing platform. It lets developers design, build, test, and collaborate on APIs.

Postman is an excellent tool for optimizing DevEx specifically for teams working on APIs. That’s because Postman prioritizes simplifying the steps of the API lifecycle and streamlining collaboration so that teams can create better APIs faster.

For example, shared workspaces and version-controlled collections make it easier for teams to collaborate and maintain consistency across projects. Postman’s SDKs allow developers to easily integrate API functionalities into their applications, so teams can streamline testing and automate across multiple environments.

Top Features

• API Design: Provides a collaborative environment for designing APIs using specifications like OpenAPI.
• API Testing: Offers a robust testing framework for ensuring API functionality and reliability.
• API Documentation: Auto-generates documentation to make APIs easily understandable and accessible.

What Are Some Limitations of Postman?

• The user interface isn’t intuitive for beginners.
• Better suited for manual testing than automated testing.
• It can become expensive as teams scale up.
• Some users report performance issues with larger collections or complex requests.

7. Vercel

Vercel is a cloud platform. It provides developer tools and the cloud infrastructure needed to easily build, scale, and secure web applications.

Frontend developers – especially those working with frameworks like Next.js – will find that Vercel simplifies developer workflows by automating the entire deployment pipeline.

Collaborative features, such as preview environments, help teams iterate quickly while maintaining high code quality. Vercel also integrates with Git repositories, serverless functions, and global edge networks so developers can deploy high-performance applications with minimal setup.

Overall, by reducing operational complexity, Vercel gives teams more space to focus on coding and innovation.

Top Features

• Serverless Functions: Enables developers to add backend functionality to their applications without managing servers.
• Pre-Built Templates: Rather than starting from scratch every time, developers can work from existing solutions to jumpstart the app development process.
• Collaboration Features: Teammates can collaborate and chat on production-grade UI, rather than static designs.

What Are Some Limitations of Vercel?

• Pricing can become expensive as you scale.
• Some users wish there was more documentation and support.
• Not all features are available with the free version.

8. CodeSandbox

Teams use CodeSandbox as an online code editor and prototyping environment. With CodeSandbox, developers can create, share, and collaborate on web applications directly in a browser.

CodeSandbox’s cloud development environments (CDEs) are designed to boost productivity and empower collaboration. For example, CodeSandbox claims that its CDEs save more than five hours per week per developer, and lead to a 90% reduction in developer onboarding time.

CodeSandbox can be an effective DevEx tool for teams looking to experiment and iterate fast on web applications.

Top Features

• Live Collaboration: Enables multiple developers to work on the same code simultaneously and see real-time live previews.
• Instant Deployment: Makes it easy to share and deploy web applications with a single click.
• Extensive Library Support: Provides access to a vast library of pre-built components and templates.

What Are Some Limitations of CodeSandbox?

• Occasionally users must refresh pages due to timeout issues.
• Requires a good internet connection.
• Some new users would like more tutorials on the user interface.

9. Grafana

Users can query, visualize, alert on, and understand data – no matter where it’s stored – with Grafana. Grafana is an open-source visualization and analytics platform that makes it easy to access and understand data through dynamic and intuitive dashboards.

Development teams can integrate Grafana into existing workflows to create more efficient and collaborative work environments. For example, teams can use Grafana to integrate data from multiple sources into customizable, highly visual dashboards that make it easier to glean insights at a glance. These dashboards may use charts, graphs, heatmaps, and more to improve team communication and problem-solving.

Grafana excels in making company data accessible and impactful for everyone in an organization.

Top Features

• Flexible and Visually Robust Dashboards: Users create custom dashboards to visualize and analyze data any way they want.
• Wide Range of Data Sources: Supports a variety of data sources, including databases, cloud services, and application logs.
• Alerting: Users can set up alerts to be notified when specific conditions are met.

What Are Some Limitations of Grafana?

• Initial configuration can be challenging.
• Complex dashboards require JSON knowledge.
• Features are limited in the free version.

10. Datadog

Datadog is a cloud monitoring and observability platform. Teams use Datadog to monitor and analyze the health and performance of applications, infrastructure, and networks.

Teams can also use Datadog to accelerate their DevOps transformation. In other words, teams can use Datadog to implement observability, data sharing, and automation to provide fast feedback, better collaboration, streamlined workflows, and a unified view of application performance data.

Datadog is designed to be used across various organization sizes and industries to drive collaboration among development, operations, security, and business teams.

Top Features

• Infrastructure Monitoring: Monitors the health and performance of servers, databases, and other infrastructure components.
• Application Performance Monitoring (APM): Tracks application performance and helps identify bottlenecks.
• Log Management: Aggregates and analyzes logs from various sources to provide insights into application and system behavior.

What Are Some Limitations of Datadog?

• The learning curve can be steep.
• Best suited for “power users” familiar with niche terms like “APM” and “RUM.”
• Pricing can be expensive and opaque.

11. GitHub Copilot

GitHub and OpenAI joined forces to create GitHub Copilot, an AI developer tool. GitHub Copilot is an AI-powered code completion tool that helps developers write code faster and with fewer errors.

Many teams use GitHub Copilot to increase developer productivity and accelerate the pace of software development. In fact, the company claims that its tool results in 55% faster coding.

GitHub Copilot provides developers with suggested code completions as they type. Developers can also “collaborate” with GitHub Copilot by asking it programming questions. The goal of GitHub Copilot is to empower developers to produce high-quality code with confidence.

Top Features

• Context-Aware Suggestions: Provides real-time suggestions based on the context and style of the code being written.
• Multiple Language Support: Works with a variety of programming languages.
• Integration with Popular IDEs: Works seamlessly within popular development environments.

What Are Some Limitations of GitHub Copilot?

• Code often requires human review.
• Can be costly, especially for smaller teams.
• Some users have privacy concerns.

12. GetDX

DX is a software developer intelligence platform designed by leading software engineering researchers.

The DX platform combines quantitative data (e.g., DORA and other metrics) with qualitative data (e.g., developer experience insights) to provide a more comprehensive view of developer productivity. DX emphasizes a holistic developer experience and considers factors such as developer flow state, connectedness, learning culture, and technical debt.

Teams that wish to look beyond productivity metrics to optimize DevEx can use DX to make data-driven decisions around streamlining workflows, improving collaboration, boosting innovation, and more.

Top Features

• Quantifies Internal Developer Experience: Measures developer sentiment and workflows using a research-backed qualitative insights platform.
• Quantitative Insights: Uses DORA metrics for immediate visibility into software delivery.
• A Platform for Platform Engineering Teams: ProductX makes it easy for teams to better understand customers, collect developer feedback, and track feature adoption.

What Are Some Limitations of DX?

• The company is still improving its features.
• Some people would like the capability to manage multiple teams.
• Teams must be open to frequent surveys.

13. Sourcegraph

Sourcegraph is a code intelligence platform that allows developers to quickly search, write, and understand code across multiple repositories and languages.

Sourcegraph improves the developer experience by streamlining the development process in complex enterprise environments.

With Sourcegraph, code search and context-aware AI help untangle messy and sprawling codebases so developers can spend more time writing code. Developers can leverage Souregraph to quickly find and fix the code behind bugs, automate tedious tasks like documentation, and explain code and dependencies with AI.

Top Features

• Code Search: Developers can find code snippets, definitions, and references across their entire codebase.
• Code Intelligence: Provides contextual information about code, such as definitions, references, and usage examples.
• Code Navigation: Helps developers easily navigate between files and code sections.

What Are Some Limitations of Sourcegraph?

• Could use improved documentation and support.
• Codebase size and project complexity may impact performance.
• Can require additional context.

14. Qovery

Qovery is a cloud deployment platform designed to simplify the process of deploying and managing applications in cloud environments.

It integrates with major cloud providers like AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure, allowing developers to easily launch  SaaS apps without needing deep knowledge of cloud infrastructure.

Qovery automates key processes like server setup, scaling, and configuration management, enabling developers to focus on a faster time to market rather than managing infrastructure. By reducing the complexity of deployment and offering more streamlined workflows, Qovery enhances developer productivity, shortens release cycles, and contributes to a more efficient developer user experience.

Top Features

• Environment Management: Allows developers to easily create and manage multiple environments for development, testing, and production.
• Automatic Scaling: Scales applications automatically based on demand.
• Continuous Deployment: Enables seamless deployment of code changes.

What are some limitations of Qovery?

• Still has occasional small bugs.
• Can be overwhelming for those new to cloud and DevOps
• Deployment time can be slow.

Maximize the Impact of Software Engineering with Jellyfish

Jellyfish is the engineering management platform you can trust to give you a holistic view of your entire engineering organization. With Jellyfish’s DevEx product, engineering leaders can leverage both quantitative data and qualitative sentiment to provide unbiased feedback, celebrate the impact of each individual, and identify areas for coaching.

Ready to build trust and improve the focus of your teams? Book a demo.