Top 10 web app development tools to use in 2024

You should always use the right tool for the job – that’s something we can all agree with.

And web app development is no exception.

The tools and frameworks you will use when developing your web app have a significant impact on what the final product will look like.

And you should make the right choice.

That’s why we’ll discuss the 10 top web app development tools you should use in 2024 to develop a great web app.

Let’s go!

What is web app development?

First, let’s define web app development.

Web app development is the process of creating an app that runs on a web server and can be accessed through a web browser.

And browser access is what sets web apps apart from mobile and desktop apps.

But, web apps aren’t the same as websites – in fact, they have more in common with mobile apps than with simple websites.

Here’s an overview of the key differences:

source: Wesrom

The difference is in their complexity and functionality.

Web apps are the right choice if you want to reach a wider audience with your app.

Now that we’ve defined web app development, let’s now discuss the top tools you can use to develop your web app.

Top 10 web app development tools

Angular

Angular is a TypeScript-based framework developed by Google’s Angular Team.

Launched in 2016, Angular is a complete rewrite of AngularJS built by the same team.

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It’s one of the most popular front-end frameworks on the market today, and it’s especially useful for developing single-page web apps.

According to a StackOverflow survey, 23.06% of engineers prefer using Angular when developing web apps.

And it’s no surprise when you look at its features.

Important features

• Two-way data binding

Angular automatically synchronizes data between the model and view components. So, when data in the model changes, the view also shows those changes – this simplifies the development process and reduces the need for direct Document Object Model (DOM) manipulation.

• Modular development structure

In Angular, your code is organized into modules that you can develop and test in isolation or combined with other modules. This makes code management and maintenance easier.

• Component-based architecture

A component-based architecture means that your app is divided into small, reusable components. Each component is responsible for a specific part of the app and they can easily be reused, tested and maintained.

• Dependency injection

Angular’s dependency injection system handles the creation and delivery of dependencies to your app’s components. This simplifies the whole process and makes for more reusable and maintainable code.

• Cross-platform capabilities

You can also use Angular to develop cross-platform apps, including mobile and desktop apps.

Pros and cons

Pricing

Angular is a free and open-source framework and you can freely use it to develop your web app.

Bitbucket

Bitbucket is a cloud-based version control service used to store and manage code.

It also offers a built-in continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipeline.

source: Bitbucket

This means that you can write, test, and ship code directly in Bitbucket.

Also, as an Atlassian product, you can easily integrate it with their other products like:

• Jira
• Confluence
• Trello

And unlike Github, whose main focus is open-source code, Bitbucket is specifically designed for business and enterprise use.

That’s why it’s a solid choice.

Important features

• Bitbucket Pipelines

Bitbucket Pipelines is their built-in CI/CD feature, and you can write, test, and deploy code directly in Bitbucket.

• Flexible deployment models

Bitbucket is available as a cloud-based solution (Bitbucket Cloud) and for data centers (Bitbucket Data Center), tailored to your specific business needs.

• Branch permissions

You can manage who can commit and push code to specific branches in the repository, which significantly improves the security of your code.

• Code analysis

Bitbucket can easily be integrated with code analysis tools, and you can see quality reports and security scans directly in your pull requests.

Pros and cons

Pricing

Bitbucket offers a free plan with limited users, build minutes, and storage.

They also offer 2 paid plans – Standard and Premium.

source: Bitbucket

The Standard plan is $3 per user/month, with unlimited users but limited build minutes and large file storage.

And the Premium plan, at $6 per user/month, offers more build minutes and large file storage as well as other advanced features.

Django

Django is a Python-based back-end development framework good for building large-scale web apps.

source: FreeCodeCamp

And with Python being the most popular programming language, Django is a good choice to develop your web app’s back-end.

One of its main advantages is that it enables fast development.

And that means that with Django you can get your app to market faster than with other frameworks.

That’s why it’s a good choice.

Important features

• Scalability

Django is specifically designed to build scalable web apps that can handle high traffic and large volumes of data.

• Admin interface

Django’s admin interface is automatically generated and it’s a simple way to manage your web app’s content within the framework itself.

• Built-in template system

It has a built-in template system, which makes creating HTML templates easier and allows you to add dynamic HTML content to your app.

• Object-relational mapper

With Django’s ORM, you can interact with databases by writing Python code instead of SQL queries, which makes the process much more straightforward.

Pros and cons

Pricing

Django is a free and open-source development framework, so you can use it and modify it based on your needs.

Figma

Figma is a collaborative design tool widely used for user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) design.

source: Think Company

You can use Figma to design:

• Wireframes
• Logos
• Prototypes
• Mockups

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Figma’s stand-out feature is real-time collaboration – the whole design team can work on the same file simultaneously, which significantly speeds up the design process.

And that’s one of the reasons why it’s such a popular tool.

Important features

• Real-time collaboration

Figma allows multiple users to work on the same file at the same time, they can view, comment and edit in real-time.

• Version control

Figma automatically saves the version history, so you can track changes and revert to a previous version if you need to.

• Developer Handoff

This feature allows engineers to inspect designs, get CSS and other code snippets and download assets directly from Figma.

• Asset library

Teams using Figma can create a library of shared assets like:

• Colors
• Fonts
• Effects

This helps ensure consistency and speeds up the design process.

Pros and cons

Pricing

Figma offers a free Starter plan, limited to 3 Figma or Figjam files and lacking advanced features available in the paid plans.

source: Figma

They also offer 3 paid plans:

• Figma Professional – $12 per editor/month, includes unlimited Figma files and version history
• Figma Organization – $45 per editor/month, includes many advanced features that aren’t available in lower tiers
• Figma Enterprise – $75 per editor/month, includes access to all features as well as extra security

Github

Github is a popular web-based version control and collaborative software development platform.

source: Github Blog

It’s Git-based and that’s what allows multiple engineers to work on the same project at the same time.

Github is free to use and it’s best known for hosting a huge number of open-source software projects, but they also offer paid plans for businesses.

It also has a strong, active community which makes troubleshooting any problems you encounter much easier.

And that’s why you should consider using it.

Important features

• Version control

Github’s main feature, version control, allows you to track and manage any changes made to your code.

• Repositories

Another key feature, users can create private or public repositories to store and manage their code – Github repositories are

• Pull requests

Pull requests notify other collaborators when changes are made to a branch in the repository.

• Forking

Users can fork i.e. make a personal copy of someone else’s project so they can experiment with changes without modifying the original project

Pros and cons

Pricing

Github’s main features are available for free, you just need to create an account.

But, if you need advanced features or you want to use it for business purposes, they also offer 2 paid plans – Team and Enterprise.

source: Github

The Team plan is $4 per user/month and offers access to Github Codespaces as well as other advanced features.

And the Enterprise plan, at $21 per user/month, offers even more advanced features and premium support for large teams.

Jira

Jira is one of the most popular project management tools you can use when developing a web app.

source: Atlassian Community

With Jira, you can efficiently:

• Plan projects
• Track projects
• Manage projects

It’s a great option for Agile software development, as it also allows you to track issues and bugs during development.

Important features

• Issue tracking

This is Jira’s main feature. You can use it to create, prioritize and track tasks (called issues in the app) and their progress. You can also customize task categorization and track bugs.

• Agile boards

Jira supports Agile development methodologies like Scrum and Kanban and you can use boards to visualize your workflow.

• Integration with development tools

Jira can easily integrate with development tools like Github and has a large number of add-ons and plugins.

• Reporting and analytics

Jira also offers a number of reporting tools for agile projects like:

• Burn-down charts
• Velocity charts
• Sprint reports

Pros and cons

Pricing

Jira offers a free plan up to 10 users, with a maximum of 2 GB of storage – ideal for small teams and projects.

source: Jira

But, if you have a bigger team and want to use their more advanced features, you can use one of their paid plans:

• Standard – $8.15 per user, up to 35,000 users, 250 GB of storage
• Premium – $16 per user, unlimited storage, advanced features
• Enterprise – starting from $141,000, a minimum of 801 users, suitable for large businesses

Node.js

Node.js is a Javascript-based runtime environment that executes Javascript code outside of a web browser.

Often confused for a framework, Node.js is an efficient runtime environment you can use to build your web app’s back-end.

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It also has an active community and works well with open-source development frameworks.

And it’s an increasingly popular tool for developing web apps because of that.

That’s why it’s a solid choice for your app’s development, too.

Important features

• Node Package Manager

Node Package Manager (NPM) allows you to access a huge number of open-source libraries, which simplifies adding new functionalities and dependencies.

• Built-in HTTP server

It also comes with HTTP modules so you can create a web server that listens to requests and returns responses – this way, you don’t need separate server software.

• Cross-platform functionality

Node.js runs on a number of different platforms, including:

• Windows
• Linux
• Unix
• MacOS

And it’s this cross-platform flexibility that’s one of the reasons for its increasing popularity.

Pros and cons

Pricing

Node.js is open-source and free to use for anyone who wants to develop a web app.

React

React is a Javascript library used to build user interfaces, especially for single-page web apps.

Developed by Facebook and maintained by an active community, React is one of the most popular web app development tools on the market.

source: Codup

And for a good reason.

React is an efficient, high-performance tool that can greatly speed up development.

Let’s take a look at some key features that explain why that’s the case.

Important features

• Component-based architecture

With React’s component-based architecture, you can create a wide range of reusable components, which speeds up development.

• Javascript XML

React uses Javascript XML (JSX), a syntax extension, that lets you write HTML in the same file as your Javascript code – this way, your code is more readable and it’s easier to create components.

• Virtual Document Object Model (DOM)

In React, you can create a virtual Document Object Model (DOM), a lightweight copy of the actual DOM – this way, updates you make to your web app’s DOM are optimized and its performance is improved.

Pros and cons

Pricing

React is free and open-source, so you can freely use it to develop your web app.

Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code is an open-source code editor developed by Microsoft.

source: Visual Studio Code

It’s one of the most popular tools in web app development because of its versatility and performance.

Visual Studio Code offers a wide range of advanced features and extensions – and it’s just short of a full integrated development environment (IDE).

It works with a wide range of programming languages and has a huge library of extensions, so you can customize it based on your specific needs.

And that’s why it’s so popular.

Important features

• IntelliSense

IntelliSense offers smart code completions, which speeds up the code writing process.

• Built-in Git integration

Visual Studio Code has a built-in Git integration, which means you have version control directly in the editor

• Live Share

The Live Share extension allows real-time collaborative editing and debugging, regardless of the programming language.

• Multi-root workspaces

Visual Studio Code offers multi-root workspaces, which means you can work on multiple projects in a single window.

Pros and cons

Pricing

Visual Studio Code is free and built on open-source software, so it’s easily accessible at no cost.

Vue.js

Vue.js is a progressive, open-source JavaScript framework commonly used to build UIs and single-page web apps.

source: Kofi Group

It’s a simple, flexible framework that’s easy to learn and use.

That’s why it’s growing in popularity, although it’s still not as popular as frameworks like Angular or React.

Now, let’s take a look at some of its key features.

Important features

• Virtual Document Object Model (DOM)

Like React, Vue.js uses a virtual DOM which optimizes updates and improves your web app’s performance.

• Reusable components

You can create and use a range of reusable components in Vue.js, which significantly speeds up development.

• Reactivity

Vue.js is a reactive framework, which means that after any changes, the relevant parts of your web automatically update.

Pros and cons

Pricing

Vue.js is free and open-source, so you can freely use it at no cost.

Web app development tools: FAQs

What is web app development?

Web app development is the process of creating an app that runs on a web server and can be accessed through a web browser.

Which frameworks should I use for front-end development?

The front-end development frameworks we recommend are React, Angular and Vue.js.

Which frameworks should I use for back-end development?

For back-end development, the frameworks we recommend are Django and Node.js

What should I pay attention to when choosing web app development tools?

You should pay special attention to:

• Their important features
• Their pricing
• How they serve your specific needs

Conclusion

Developing a web app can be a challenging process.

And it’s even more challenging if you don’t have the right tools for the job.

With the tools we’ve mentioned, you’ll have no problem building a top-notch web app.

If you want to learn more, check out our step-by-step guide on how to develop a web app and how we develop web apps.