Free Tools I Use Daily as an Indie Developer

Free Tools I Use Daily as an Indie Developer

Building products solo means you don’t have the luxury of wasting time or money.
Every tool I use daily must meet three criteria:

Free (or generous free tier)

Removes real friction

Scales with me as the product grows

Here’s the actual stack I rely on every day as an indie developer.

🧠 Planning & Thinking
Notion

Brain dumps, product specs, roadmaps

Simple Kanban for features

One place for ideas → execution

Why it stays: Flexible enough to replace 3–4 tools.

Excalidraw

Architecture diagrams

Database relationships

Quick system thinking without overdesign

Why it stays: Zero friction. Visual clarity fast.

💻 Development
VS Code

Primary IDE for frontend and backend

Extensions for Git, linting, formatting, and Docker

Why it stays: Fast, extensible, and completely free.

GitHub

Source control

Issues as lightweight task tracking

README as living documentation

Why it stays: Industry standard + community.

🗄 Backend & Database
Supabase

Authentication

Postgres database

Storage for user files

Row-level security out of the box

Why it stays: Backend without backend fatigue.

PostgreSQL

Reliable relational database

Powerful querying and indexing

Easy to reason about

Why it stays: Boring tech that works forever.

🚀 Deployment & Hosting
Vercel

Frontend hosting

Preview deployments

Seamless Git integration

Why it stays: Deploy in minutes, not hours.

Render

Backend services

Background workers

Simple environment management

Why it stays: Clean UI, predictable pricing.

🔍 Monitoring & Debugging
Postman

API testing

Request collections

Debug backend flows quickly

Why it stays: Faster than writing test clients.

Browser DevTools

Performance profiling

Network inspection

CSS and layout debugging

Why it stays: Criminally underused, extremely powerful.

📣 Writing & Distribution
DEV.to

Share learnings

Build developer credibility

Get feedback early

Why it stays: Developers read developers.

Markdown

Documentation

Blog drafts

README files

Why it stays: Portable, readable, timeless.

🔁 The Real Advantage: Tool Discipline

The biggest mistake indie developers make is tool hopping.

I deliberately:

Use fewer tools

Reuse tools for multiple purposes

Avoid “shiny” replacements unless there’s real pain

Tools don’t ship products — decisions and consistency do.

🔚 Final Thought

If I had to start over today, I’d choose the same tools again.

They are:

Free

Proven

Boring in the best way

👋 Over to You

What free tools do you use daily as an indie developer?
Did I miss something obvious?