Is DevToys free? Yes. DevToys is a free, open-source desktop app released under the MIT license, with no paid tier listed on its site. If you would rather skip the install and use the same kind of tools in a browser, AyeTab is free too and runs as a Chrome extension or a web app.
The details on DevToys
DevToys is a desktop toolbox for developers on Windows, macOS and Linux. Its home page calls it free, open source and privacy-focused, and its code is public on GitHub under the MIT license. That license lets you use, copy and change the software, including at work.
You can get it from the Microsoft Store, a classic installer, a portable zip, winget, a macOS app bundle or Homebrew. A separate DevToys CLI is also free. More tools come as community extensions, which the DevToys site points to on NuGet.
So the price is zero. The real cost is an install on each machine, and on a locked-down work laptop that may not be allowed.
The free browser option
AyeTab answers a slightly different need: free developer tools with nothing to install at all.
- As a web app. Open app.ayetab.com in any browser tab and pick a tool.
- As a Chrome extension. The tools take over Chrome's new tab page and also open in a side panel.
There is no account, no signup and no paid plan. Every tool runs in the browser, so nothing you paste is uploaded, and the extension works offline once installed. It asks only for side panel and storage access, and removing it puts Chrome's usual new tab back. Your favorites and recent tools stay on your own machine.
What each free option covers
| Need | DevToys | AyeTab |
|---|---|---|
| Format JSON, SQL, XML | Yes | Yes |
| Decode a JWT | Yes | Yes, JWT Debugger |
| Base64 text and images | Yes | Yes |
| Hashes and UUIDs | Yes | Yes |
| Compare two texts | Yes | Yes, Text Diff |
| Test a regex | Yes | Yes |
| Use from the terminal | Yes, DevToys CLI | No |
| Use without installing | No | Yes, web app |
Free does not mean the same thing everywhere
Plenty of free online tools for decoding tokens or formatting JSON exist, and some of them send your input to a server to process it. When the input is a session token or a customer record, that is worth avoiding. DevToys keeps your data on your machine because it is a desktop app. AyeTab keeps it on your machine because every transform happens inside the browser tab.
Which free tool to use
For most people who spend the day in Chrome, AyeTab is the easier pick: the tools are one new tab away, Ctrl+K or Cmd+K jumps to any of them, and pasting a JWT, JSON or Base64 string brings up the matching tool. Start with the JSON Formatter or the JWT Debugger and star the tools you use.
DevToys is the better free pick if you want a native desktop app, need its CLI in scripts, or use one of its community extensions. Both cost nothing, so trying each is easy.