Free Programming Tools and Utilities
Editors, Debuggers, Help Authoring, Setup, Version Control, etc
Free Programming Tools / Resources
You can find tools, resources and utilities for a wide variety of programming tasks below.
If you don't see the category of tools you want listed in the index below, please check out the Miscellaneous Free Programming Tools page, a catch-all page for everything that does not have its own page. Note that compilers and interpreters and source code and libraries are listed separately on their own pages.
Help and Documentation
Text and Source Code Handling
- Free Programmers' Editors, ASCII Text Editors and IDEs
- Free Java IDE and Editors
- Free Online Editors and Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
- Free Text Search and Replace Utilities
- Free Text and Binary Comparison / Merging Utilities (Diff/Merge)
- Free Clipboard Extenders and Clipboard History Managers
- Free Source Code Beautifiers
- Free Version Control Software
- Free Interactive Regular Expression (Regex) Testers and Builders
- Free Static Code Analyzers (Static Source Code Analysis Tools/Lint)
- Free Programmer's Fonts
Debugging and Binary Code Management
- Free Debuggers and Bug Trackers
- Free Disassemblers, Binary and Hex Editors, Hex Viewers
- Free DOS Extenders (Protected Mode)
- Free Text and Binary Comparison / Merging Utilities (Diff/Merge)
- Free Executable Compressors - shrink your EXEs and Binaries
- Free Windows Resource Compilers, Resource Editors, Resource Hackers, Icon Editors
- Free File Patch Makers (for Delivering Small Updates)
Compiler Construction and Grammars
Miscellaneous
- Free 3D Software Box Image Makers
- Free Interactive Regular Expression (Regex) Testers and Builders
- Free File Patch Makers (for Delivering Small Updates)
- Free GUI Builders, Application Builders and Rapid Application Development (RAD) Software
- Free Make Utilities (Program Maintenance and Building Software)
- Free Setup / Installers / Uninstallers
- Free Autorun/Autoplay DVD and CD Menu Creation Software
- Free Command Line Shells
- Free Programmer's Fonts
- Free JavaScript Minifiers (Minimizers), Obfuscators and Compressors
- Free Java Resources and Tools
- Miscellaneous Free Programming Tools and Utilities
Engineering Software
Other Programming Resources
- Free Source Code and Programming Libraries - don't reinvent the wheel
- Free Compilers and Interpreters for Programming Languages
- Free Emulators and Virtual Machines
Other Resources of Interest
- Free Security, Privacy, and Anonymity
- Free Utilities and Application Software
- Free Perl CGI Scripts
- Free PHP/Perl CGI Script Hosting
- Free PHP Scripts
- Free JavaScript, AJAX, DHTML and Web 2.0 Scripts
- Free Web Hosts, Budget Web Hosts
- More Free Webmaster Resources
- Free Tutorials and Articles for Webmasters
- Free POP3, IMAP, SMTP, Web Email
New Pages on thefreecountry.com
- Free EPUB Readers (Ebook Viewing Software)
- Free Software to Create Bootable and Multi-Boot USB drives
- Free Video Conferencing Software
- Free Geolocation Services
- Free Android Emulators
- Free Social Network / Media Software
- Free Static Code Analyzers (Static Source Code Analysis Tools/Lint)
- Free JavaScript Minifiers (Minimizers), Obfuscators and Compressors
- Free Image Pop-Up JavaScripts (Where Image Overlays Current Web Page)
- Free Royalty-Free Stock Photos
- Free PHP Compilers: compile PHP scripts to native code, .NET or Java bytecode
- Free Image/Photo Slide Show JavaScript
New Pages on thesitewizard.com
- How to Set the Height of a DIV Relative to a Browser Window (CSS)
- How to Give Alternate Table Rows a Different Colour (HTML/CSS)
- How to Generate the Free Let's Encrypt SSL Certificate on Your Own (Windows) Computer
- How to Insert Meta Tags into a Web Page with BlueGriffon
- How to Play a Song (or Some Other Audio Clip) from a List on a Website
- How to Restore Expression Web's Design Panel and Layout to its Initial Default State
- How to Draw a Horizontal Line on a Web Page with Expression Web
- How to Embed a Background Image in CSS to Get a Self-Contained Web Page
- How to Create a Website Free of Charge
- How to Restore the Style Properties Panel in BlueGriffon if It Disappears
- How to Change the Colour (Color) of Links on a Website with Expression Web
- Why Can't I Make Up Any Domain I Want? Is There a Way to Do Away with a Registrar Altogether?
- How to Add an Audio or Music File to a Web Page with BlueGriffon
- How to Start a List with a Number Other than 1 and Still Have it Automatically Numbered (HTML)
- What to do if a registrar quotes an exorbitant price for a domain
- Can I Change My Website's Address to HTTPS Without Getting an SSL Certificate?
- How to Prevent Your Website from being Placed in a Frame
- What's the Difference Between a Domain Name Registrar and a Web Host?
- How to Move Your Website to SSL (ie, Convert from HTTP to HTTPS)
- How to Make a Mobile-Friendly Website: Responsive Design in CSS
- What's the Difference Between a Content Management System (CMS), a Blog, a Web Editor and an Online Site Builder?
- How to Centre a DIV Block Using CSS
- What is MySQL? What is a Database? What is SQL?
- What is HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP and Perl? Do I Need to Learn Them to Create a Website?
New Pages on HowToHaven.com
- Two Ways to View a Binary File on Windows Without Installing Anything
- How to Get the Hash (MD5, SHA1, SHA256, SHA512) of a File on Windows Without Installing Anything
- How to Solve the 0x80092004 Error When Installing a Windows 7 Security-Only/Monthly Update
- How to Record a Game Video
- How to Boot a CD or DVD in Windows 8.1
- How to Set Up a Standard User Account (or Limited Account) on Windows Vista and Windows 7 for Daily Use
- How to Back Up Your Hard Disk in Windows
- How to Securely Prepare Your Old Computer for Disposal
Popular Pages
- How to Create/Start Your Own Website: The Beginner's A-Z Guide
- How to Create a Blog
- Hard Disk Backup and Restore, Hard Disk Image and Cloning Utilities
- Free DVD Authoring and Creation Software
- Free Data Recovery, File and Partition Recovery, Undelete and Unformat Software
- Expression Web Tutorial: How to Design a Website with Microsoft Expression Web
- Dreamweaver Tutorial: How to Design a Website with Dreamweaver CS6
- BlueGriffon Tutorial: How to Design a Website with BlueGriffon 3
- How to Design and Publish Your Website with KompoZer
What's New
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Note: for historical reasons, this What's New column also includes information from
thesitewizard.com's news feed
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- A new open source program has been added to the Free Static Code Analyzers page. This one analyses C programs on Linux, macOS and Windows (via WSL).
- New article: How to Convert Your Website from XHTML 1.0 to HTML5 the Quick and Easy Way. This guide takes you through the process of converting a website from XHTML 1.0 to HTML5 using the Fiverizer software. (Fiverizer is a program that I wrote to convert my own websites, all of which were also in XHTML 1.0. It may be downloaded and used free of charge.)
- New software: Fiverizer: convert a website from XHTML 1.0 to HTML5. If you have one or more websites written in XHTML 1.0, this program (which may be downloaded and used free of charge) lets you convert them to HTML5 without having to muck around with rewriting HTML and adding CSS.
- The Feedback Form Wizard has been fixed so that it can now, once again, create the CAPTCHA versions (ReCAPTCHA and hCaptcha) of the script. Apparently, somewhere along the line, I seem to have broken it during one of my internal updates. I'm very sorry for the inconvenience. Note: you do not have to recreate your script if you successfully generated it before. (The problem was that under certain conditions, the wizard choked and died before it could generate a script. So if you actually received a script, you are fine.)
- Updated: The Free Mobile-Friendly Layout Wizard has been updated. It will now place the meta charset tag before the title in the head section (so that it will be in the first 1 KB of your page even if you have a long title). In addition, if you select HTML5 as the output type, the shorter meta charset tag will be used.
- Steam Audio has been added to the Free Audio Libraries and Source Code page. This is an open source, cross-platform C library with plugins for Unity, Unreal Engine and FMOD Studio.
- Added Intel's open source monospace font to the Free Programmers' Fonts page. This one is designed to reduce developers' eyestrain and fatigue, and was made with people with poor eyesight in mind as well.
- A cross-platform open source C++ GUI library has been added to the Free GUI Libraries and Source Code page. It lets you code applications that can be compiled on Windows, macOS, Android, etc.
- A new Python compiler has been added to the Free Python Compilers and Interpreters page. This one compiles your code to native machine code, without any runtime dependencies.
- The script generated by the Feedback Form Wizard has been updated to improve compatibility with PHP 8 (eg, 8.0, 8.1, etc). Note: if you have generated your form and script after 1 January 2023, you already have this version (ver 3.2.0).
- Another service has been added to the Free File Sharing and Storage page. This one lets you upload up to 2 GB and set an expiry date for your files.
- A cross compiler that generates code for AmigaOS, Atari TOS/MiNT/Jaguar, WarpOS and MorphOS has been added to the Free C/C++ Compilers and Interpreters page. (You can also find the usual compilers for Windows, macOS and Linux there.)
- Have you ever wanted to use a font for (say) designing a particular picture but not wanted to install it permanently into your system? The newest addition to the Free Font Managers page lets you do just that. It allows you to temporarily install a font that will be available to all programs running in the system, as long as the manager is active.
- A new free, open source photo editor for Windows has been added to the Free Drawing and Painting Software, Image and Photo Editors page. This one does not even need to be installed, and can be placed on a USB stick.
- A cross compiler for Z80, 8080, 8085 (etc) has been added to the Free C/C++ Compilers and Interpreters page. The development system itself runs on Windows and macOS. Note that if you simply want to write Windows or macOS programs, you can also get normal compilers for those tasks from that page.
- A new Windows resource editor has been added to the Free Resource Editors, Compilers and Icon Editors. For those unfamiliar with what this is, a resource editor (in this context) is a type of software that lets you create dialog boxes, icons, cursors and other "resources" needed in a Windows program. They are usually used by programmers when they create a program, but can also be used by (say) webmasters to create icons (sometimes known as favicons) for their website.
- A new Eiffel compiler has been added to the Free Compilers and Interpreters for Miscellaneous Programming Languages page.
- A new open source Amiga emulator has been added to the Free Amiga Emulators page. This one runs on ARM-based boards like the Raspberry Pi, but if you can also find emulators for Windows, macOS, and Linux on the page.
- New page: How to Set the Height of a DIV Relative to a Browser Window (CSS). This article answers a visitor's question on how to set the height of a DIV (or even other elements) so that it is a percentage of the browser window/viewport. And no, using the percent unit (ie, "%") won't work the way you think.
- A new open source script has been added to the Free Content Management Systems (CMS) PHP Scripts page. This is a CMS that does not depend on any database server but saves its data in a text file. Amazingly, the entire download is only 48 KB and has only 7 files.
- A new open source software has been added to the Free Password Managers and Password Savers page. This latest one is a Windows program, but there are other programs on the page for macOS and Linux if you use those systems.
- If you are thinking of starting your own social networking website, take a look at the Free Social Network / Media Software page, where a new open source program has been added. This one lets you create a microblogging platform (like Twitter) where your users can post text, pictures, videos, and audio.
- Another open source program for Windows and macOS has been added to the Free Video Converters or Transcoders. Such software lets you convert video or movies between different formats.
- A parser generator (used by programmers who want to create language compilers and interpreters) that generates C# and Java source files has been added to the Free Compiler Construction Tools: Lexer and Parser Generators page.
- 4 new open source XML parsing libraries have been added to the Free XML Parser/Generator Libraries page. These programming libraries make it easier for you to write computer programs that handle XML files (whether they are configuration or data files).
- A new web hosting control panel has been added to the Free Web Hosting Control Panel Software page. Note that such software are only useful if you are running your own web server and want something convenient to manage it. If you merely want to start a website, see How to Set Up a Website instead.
- Another open source BASIC interpreter for Windows, Linux and Unix-like systems has been added to the Free BASIC Compilers and Interpreters page.
- New page: How to Give Alternate Table Rows a Different Colour (HTML/CSS). Give alternate rows of your tables a different colour ("color") to make it easier for your readers to distinguish which row is which. This article shows one way of doing this using CSS.
- Two replacement distributions for CentOS (with ready-to-use downloads) have been added to the the Free Linux Distributions page. These, like the CentOS of old, let you install systems that are binary compatible with the commercial Red Hat Enterprise Linux, thus letting you run programs (etc) that were designed for that system.
- New page: Free EPUB Readers (Ebook Viewing Software). If you have obtained ebooks in the EPUB format, you are not restricted to reading it on your hardware ebook device or mobile phone. This page lists many free (and open source) EPUB viewers that you can install on your computer to read them.
- New page: How to Generate the Free Let's Encrypt SSL Certificate on Your Own (Windows) Computer. Find out how to generate an SSL certificate for a website on your own computer. (For those wondering, SSL certificates are needed so that your site can be accessed using HTTPS instead of HTTP.)
- A new program has been added to the Free Font Editors page. This software lets you create your own TrueType or SVG fonts, and it runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, OpenBSD and FreeBSD.
- New page: How to Insert Meta Tags into a Web Page with BlueGriffon. This article answers a question from a visitor on how to insert meta tags into a website using the free BlueGriffon web editor.
- Another Windows program has been added to the Free CD, DVD and Blu-Ray Burning Software page. This one lets you create ISO files from files/folders on your computer, burn them to CD, DVD or Blu-Ray media, copy discs, among other things.
- New page: How to Play a Song (or Some Other Audio Clip) from a List on a Website. One of my visitors wanted his users to be able to choose a song from a list, and have it play in an audio player on his web page. This article provides the JavaScript and HTML code for the task.
- The formerly-commercial DarkBASIC Professional, now free and open source, has been added to the Free BASIC Compilers and Interpreters page. If you are interested in writing computer games in the BASIC programming language, or any other type of program for that matter, check it out.
- A portable, open source C library that provides utility functions dealing with data structures, thread management, character set conversion, internationalization, and lots more, has been added to the Free C/C++ Libraries page. The library comes from the GNOME project, but is written to be independent of GNOME, and can be used on Linux, macOS, Windows and Unix-like systems.
- Two new lexical analyzer generators for Java have been added to the Free Compiler Construction Tools: Lexer and Parser Generators page. For those wondering, these are tools that make it easy for you to write computer programs that have to parse text input.
- New page: Two Ways to View a Binary File on Windows Without Installing Anything. This article shows you how to view a binary file, with hexadecimal code and its ASCII equivalent side-by-side, on Windows without having to install a third-party binary/hex viewer.
- New page: How to Restore Expression Web's Design Panel and Layout to its Initial Default State. This article deals with how you can reset the default positions and sizes of the various panels/sections in Expression Web so that the web editor appeared as it did when you first ran it.
- Four new email software for Windows, macOS, Android, and Linux have been added to the Free Email Clients page. These programs allow you to send/receive email directly from your own computer (or phone), without having to log into a web mail service.
- A C/C++ compiler suite from NVIDIA, offering support for parallel computing that use NVIDA GPUs, and full C++17 support, has been added to the Free C/C++ Compilers page. (C and C++ are popular programming languages used by many to write computer programs.)
- New page: How to Draw a Horizontal Line on a Web Page with Expression Web. This article shows you 2 different methods to draw horizontal lines on your web page (whether as a decoration or to separate content) using the free Expression Web editor.
