I tested 23 Chrome extensions for developers over the past few months and narrowed it down to seven that actually stayed installed. Full disclosure: I built JSON Formatter Pro as part of Zovo, a collection of 16 Chrome extensions I maintain. Take my perspective accordingly.
These are the extensions I reach for daily, ranked by how much time they save me.
1. JSON Formatter Pro
JSON Formatter Pro is my go-to for anything JSON-related in the browser. It auto-detects JSON content and formats it with collapsible tree views, syntax highlighting, and instant error detection. I regularly drill into nested objects 30 or 40 levels deep, and it handles files up to 100MB without choking.
The search is what sold me. When you're staring at a 2,000-line API response trying to find one key, being able to search across the entire formatted tree saves real time. Dark mode is a nice touch for those late-night debugging sessions we all pretend we don't have.
The main gap is inline editing. You can't modify values directly in the formatted view, so you still need to copy things back to your editor. At $4.99 for the pro version, it's paid for itself many times over in my workflow.
2. React Developer Tools
React Developer Tools gives you a live view into your component tree, props, state, and hooks right inside the browser. The profiler is genuinely useful for finding components that re-render too often. I've caught performance issues in minutes that would have taken hours with console.log scattered everywhere.
The interface is dense. If you're new to React, expect to spend some time getting oriented across the multiple tabs and panels. But once you know where everything is, you won't debug without it. Free, maintained by the React team, no reason not to install it.
3. Vue.js devtools
Vue.js devtools does for Vue what React DevTools does for React. The component inspector, Vuex state tracking, and time-travel debugging all work well. The events tab is especially helpful for tracing custom events through complex component hierarchies. It also has solid support for Vue 3 composition API and TypeScript projects.
One limitation worth knowing: it only works in development mode, so you can't use it to debug production issues directly. For local development though, it's essential if you're writing Vue.
4. Wappalyzer
Wappalyzer tells you what stack a website is running. Click the icon, and you get a breakdown of frameworks, CMS, analytics, hosting, and more. The database covers over 1,600 technologies and updates regularly.
I mostly use it for two things. First, scoping freelance projects, because knowing what tech a client already runs saves awkward conversations later. Second, satisfying curiosity about how other sites are built. The free tier handles basic detection fine. The paid plan at $9.99/month adds analytics and historical tracking, which is overkill for most individual developers but potentially useful for agencies.
5. Web Developer
The Web Developer extension packs a surprising number of tools into one toolbar. Disable stylesheets, outline block elements, validate markup, test different viewport sizes, populate forms automatically. It's a Swiss Army knife for front-end work that keeps you from switching between half a dozen standalone tools.
The menu structure takes some getting used to. There are a lot of options and the organization isn't always intuitive. But once you memorize where your most-used features live, it eliminates a lot of context switching during daily front-end work.
6. ColorZilla
ColorZilla is the quickest way to grab exact color values from any element on a page. The eyedropper works reliably, and the gradient generator outputs CSS you can paste directly into your stylesheet. The color history saves recent picks, which is handy when you're matching colors across multiple pages or maintaining brand consistency across projects.
For complex gradient work, dedicated design tools are still better. But for quick color identification and basic gradient generation, ColorZilla handles it without leaving the browser. Free, lightweight, does what it says.
7. JSONView
JSONView is the lightweight alternative if you just need basic JSON formatting. It auto-formats JSON responses with syntax highlighting and collapsible nodes. No search, no error detection, no large file support. But it's free and fast for simple use cases.
If your work mostly involves quick API checks with small payloads, JSONView gets the job done. For anything more complex, like debugging microservice responses or parsing large config files, you'll hit its limits quickly.
Picking the Right Tools
The biggest practical decision in this list is whether you need basic or advanced JSON formatting. JSONView works for quick checks. But if you regularly debug services with large payloads or deeply nested config files, the search, validation, and performance of JSON Formatter Pro make a noticeable difference. I wrote a more detailed version of this comparison on the original article.
The rest is straightforward. If you write React, install React DevTools. If you write Vue, install Vue devtools. Wappalyzer and Web Developer are useful regardless of your framework. ColorZilla earns its spot if you do any front-end design work.
Before installing anything, visit chrome://extensions to review what permissions each one requests. All seven on this list are pretty minimal in what they ask for.
I build Chrome extensions at zovo.one. All 16 are free, open source, and collect zero data.
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