Nitric

An open source universal backend framework. Nitric is a multi-language backend framework that lets you declare infrastructure requirements in code for common cloud resources and provides a convenient interface to interact with them.

Main Features

• Run locally: Fine tune your application offline from your first commit. Prototype, develop, and test your application without incurring cloud costs.
• Convenient APIs: Common tasks should be intuitive and easy, without limiting fine-grained control when you need it.
• Automation plugins: Use existing nitric plugins or build your own. Nitric enhances automation tools like Terraform, Pulumi, and more.

Pros

• Nitric has built-in runtime and deployment plugins for major cloud providers or build your own for any platform.
• Nitric provides plugins for AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud out of the box, then extend or build your own when things get custom.
• Develop and deploy faster by running your apps locally in simulated cloud environments.
• Nitric integrates with existing tools and pipelines to enhance quality, security & automation.

Cons

• Less community support

Pricing

• Free

Prisma

Prisma is an open-source Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) tool primarily used in backend development, particularly with Node.js and TypeScript, that simplifies database interactions by providing a user-friendly way to define data models and generate type-safe queries, eliminating the need to write complex SQL code directly.

Main Features

• Data Modeling with Prisma Schema: Developers define their database schema using a dedicated language within a “schema.prisma” file, describing the relationships between different data models.
• Auto-generated Prisma Client: Auto-generated and type-safe query builder for Node.js & TypeScript.
• Migrations: Prisma Migrate helps manage database changes by generating migration files that reflect schema updates, ensuring data consistency across deployments.
• Prisma Studio: GUI to view and edit data in your database. Prisma Studio is the only part of Prisma ORM that is not open source. You can only run Prisma Studio locally.

Pros

• Type-safe queries generated by Prisma help catch potential errors early in the development process.
• By handling much of the database interaction logic, Prisma allows developers to focus on core application logic, reducing boilerplate code.
• Prisma supports a wide range of databases including PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, MongoDB, and more.

Cons

• It’s quite new in the market. Few complaints have been logged yet, but the most concerning query of Prisma is handling errors with a large number of databases.
  

Pricing

• Starter: Free
• Pro: $49/month
• Business: $129/month
  

Encore

Encore is an Open-Source framework designed to build robust distributed systems with features like APIs, microservices, databases, and queues.

Main Features

• Backend focus: While you can technically host a frontend using Encore, it’s not its primary purpose and most recommend deploying your frontend on dedicated services like Vercel or Netlify for production.
• Type-safe: Encore promotes type safety in your backend code, which can improve development efficiency and reduce errors.
• Distributed systems: Encore is specifically designed to build complex, scalable backend systems with features for managing distributed components.

Pros

• Leverages TypeScript for robust type checking, leading to fewer runtime errors and improved code maintainability.
• Utilizes a Rust-based backend for excellent performance and scalability, especially in high-traffic scenarios.
• Built with cloud-native principles in mind, enabling seamless integration with various cloud providers.
• Streamlines the process of managing cloud infrastructure by automatically provisioning and managing resources based on your application’s needs.
• Allows developers to define infrastructure requirements in a simple, declarative manner, making code easier to read and understand.

Cons

• Due to its unique architecture and features, Encore might have a steeper learning curve for developers unfamiliar with Rust or advanced TypeScript concepts.
• Compared to more established backend frameworks, the Encore community is relatively smaller, potentially limiting available support and resources.
• For developers who need highly customized infrastructure configurations, the declarative approach of Encore might limit flexibility in certain scenarios.
• While growing, the ecosystem of available libraries and integrations for Encore might be smaller than other frameworks.

Pricing

• Free
• Pro: $39/user/month

Appwrite

Appwrite is an end-to-end backend server for Web, Mobile, Native, or Backend apps packaged as a set of Docker microservices. Appwrite abstracts the complexity and repetitiveness required to build a modern backend API from scratch and allows you to build secure apps faster.

Main Features

• Auth: Authenticate users securely with multiple login methods, such as Email/Password, SMS, OAuth, anonymous, Magic URLs, and more.
• Databases: Scalable and robust database backed by your favorite technologies.
• Functions: Deploy and scale serverless functions in secure, isolated runtimes.
• Messaging: Set up a full-functioning messaging service for your application that covers multiple channels under one unified platform.
• Realtime: Subscribe and react to any Appwrite event using the Realtime API.

Pros

• Appwrite’s open-source code allows developers to modify and extend features to fit their specific project needs, offering more flexibility than other backend services.
• Allows for full control over the backend infrastructure by self-hosting Appwrite on your own servers, which can be beneficial for specific deployment needs.
• Appwrite offers secure file storage with built-in encryption and access controls, ensuring data protection.
• A growing community of developers actively contributes to Appwrite, providing support and driving ongoing development.

Cons

• Managing and maintaining your own Appwrite server can add operational complexity compared to using a fully managed backend service.
• The free tier of Appwrite may have usage limits on features like function executions, which could become restrictive for larger applications.

Pricing

• Free
• Pro: $15/month
• Scale: $599/month
• Enterprise: Contact sales

Requestly’s API Client

Requestly is a modern and powerful companion for API Development and Testing. It is an open-source tool purpose-built to speed up and simplify API development workflow for developers and QAs.

Main Features

• Cross-Platform Support: Available as both a web app and standalone app.
• Collections: Group and organize API requests for better workflow management.
• Environment Management: Seamlessly switch between development, staging, and production environments.
• Authorization Support: Manage authentication seamlessly with API keys, bearer tokens, and more.
• Dynamic Scripting: Use pre-request and post-response scripts to automate and modify requests/responses.
• Mock API Responses: Simulate responses for testing incomplete backends or edge cases.
• Collaboration: Share environments and collections with your team for seamless collaboration.

Pros

• Cross-platform flexibility (web app + standalone app).
• Intuitive interface with powerful debugging tools.
• Real-time collaboration with cloud sync.
• Open-source.
• Advanced interception capabilities to modify requests and responses dynamically.

Cons

• Limited advanced features compared to standalone clients.

Pricing

• Free

Postman

Postman is one of the most popular API clients, offering a comprehensive suite of tools for developers. It is designed to cater to both beginners and advanced users, providing features that streamline API development and testing. With its robust interface, Postman has become a standard tool in the API world.

Main Features

• Collections: Organize API requests into collections for better management.
• Automated Testing: Write and run tests using JavaScript.
• Environment Variables: Easily switch between development, staging, and production environments.
• API Documentation: Generate and share API documentation effortlessly.

Pros

• Extensive features for professional API workflows.
• Great for collaboration.
• Supports multiple API types.

Cons

• Heavy resource usage.
• Can feel overwhelming for beginners.

Pricing

• Free
• Pro: $14/user/month
• Scale: $29/user/month
• Enterprise: $49/user/month

Docker

Docker is a free and open-source application containerization technology. Developers may swiftly deploy and scale apps across many environments using Docker containers.

Main Features

• Swarm: It is a Docker container clustering and scheduling tool. Swarm’s front end is the Docker API, which allows us to manipulate it with various devices and manage a cluster of Docker hosts as if they were a single virtual host. It is a self-organizing collection of engines that allows for pluggable backends.
• Mesh Routing: Incoming requests for published ports on accessible nodes are sent to an active container. This feature establishes the connection even if no tasks are executed on the node.
• Security: It enables us to store secrets in the swarm and then pick which services have access to which secrets.

Pros

• Each program is isolated from the others.

Cons

• Managing many containers can be complicated.
• Docker does not provide cross-platform compatibility, which implies that if an application is built to run in a Docker container on Windows, it will not operate in a Docker container on Linux.

Pricing

• Free
• Pro: $5/month
• Team: $7/month
• Business: $21/month

Kubernetes

Kubernetes (K8s) is an open-source container orchestration technology that can launch, scale, and manage contemporary online applications. It groups application containers into logical units to facilitate discovery and administration.

Main Features

• Bin packing is done automatically: Automatically scales each container depending on defined metrics and available resources.
• Load balancing and service discovery: It defaults to containers with their DNS names and IP addresses. It also allows for load balancing during traffic surges to maintain stability.
• Self-monitoring: Kubernetes performs health checks on your applications to identify and prevent potential problems.
• Storage management: It mounts your preferred storage system to reduce latency and improve user experience.
• Capabilities for self-healing: Improves application performance by monitoring and replacing unhealthy containers.

Pros

• Kubernetes can help reduce infrastructure costs by optimizing the use of hardware and cloud investments.
• Kubernetes can help businesses scale and improve microservices performance.
• Automation can speed up deployment, reduce human errors, and ensure consistent configuration.
• Kubernetes can enable infrastructure to self-heal, which can help ensure reliable operation.

Cons

• Delays in managing containers can affect application performance.

Pricing

• Free

Vercel

Vercel is a cloud platform that helps developers build and deploy web applications. It’s designed to simplify the process of hosting, scaling, and deploying web apps. If you’re building a NextJS application and you’re looking for a quick way to deploy it, then there is probably no better place than Vercel (the owner of NextJS).

Main Features

• Fluid compute: combines the efficiency of servers and the flexibility of serverless, enabling real-time, dynamic workloads like APIs, streaming, and AI.
• Rendering: Manage Global rendering for dynamic web apps.
• Observability: Detect and diagnose issues in your web applications by surfacing errors, traffic, and performance data with built-in Monitoring.

Pros

• Automatically updates your web app after each code commit.
• Helps multiple teams work together on projects.
• Automatically scales to meet traffic fluctuations.
• Globally distributed infrastructure reduces latency and speeds up loading times.

Cons

• Limited features in Free plan.

Pricing

• Hobby: Free
• Pro: $20/month
• Enterprise: Contact sales

Nhost

Nhost is an open-source backend and development platform that streamlines backend development by providing a comprehensive suite of tools and services. It enables developers to build and scale web and mobile applications efficiently, focusing on delivering robust features without the complexity of managing backend infrastructure.

Main Features

• PostgreSQL Database: Utilize the world’s most advanced relational database for reliable and scalable data storage.
• GraphQL API: Access an instant, real-time GraphQL API based on your database schema, facilitating seamless data interactions.
• Authentication: Implement role-based permissions and authentication mechanisms to secure your applications effectively.

Pros

• Easy to set up and configure.
• Nhost automatically creates RESTful APIs for your data model, simplifying frontend integration.
• Can scale to handle increasing traffic with minimal configuration changes due to its cloud-based architecture.
• Provides access to the source code, allowing for greater transparency and potential customization.

Cons

• Relying on Nhost’s infrastructure could lead to challenges migrating to another backend solution in the future.
• Depending on usage, the pricing model could become expensive for large applications.
• Understanding the Nhost data model and its functionalities may require some learning time.

Pricing

• Starter: Free
• Pro: $25/month
• Team: $599/month
• Enterprise: Contact sales

The post 10 must-have backend development tools first appeared on Requestly.

Responsively

Responsively is an open-source browser, based on Electron which helps you test your sites for multiple devices. It is a versatile tool designed to simplify the workflow of developers and designers by enabling real-time previews and testing of web applications across various devices.

Main Features

• All devices at once: See all devices at once, side-by-side. No more fiddling around with the dev tools resizer. It’s all there, at a glance.
• Quick context switching: Save your favorite device combinations as Preview Suits and quickly switch between them when you’re testing.
• Extensive Device Profiles: Responsively comes with a large collection of device profiles out of the box. You can also add your own custom devices.

Pros

• Its ability to simultaneously display multiple devices side-by-side.
• By seeing different screen sizes at once, developers can more easily ensure consistent layout and content presentation across devices.

Cons

• While the app simulates different devices, the exact rendering might not perfectly match the actual user experience on each device due to browser variations.

Pricing

• Free

Grunt

Grunt is a JavaScript task runner, a tool for automatically performing frequent tasks such as minification, compilation, unit testing, and linting.

Main Features

• Automation: Grunt is primarily used to automate tasks that need to be performed routinely.
• Integration with NPM: Developers can even create their own Grunt plugins by using the grunt-init plugin and publish them to NPM using the npm publish command.
• Customisable: It allows developers to add, extend, and modify custom tasks to fit their personal needs.

Pros

• All task runners have the following properties: consistency, effectiveness, efficiency, repeatability, etc.
• Allows users to customize tasks using predefined plugins.
• Allows users to add their own plugins and publish them to npm.

Cons

• The initial setup may involve more work compared to simpler solutions like shell scripts.
• Grunt normally only handles one task at a time.
• There is little compatibility with previous versions.

Pricing

• Free

Cursor AI

Cursor AI is an AI-powered code editor designed to make software development easier. As a fork of Visual Studio Code (VS Code), it retains the user-friendly interface. Cursor AI integrates advanced AI capabilities through OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Claude.

Main Features

• Multi-Line Edits: Cursor can suggest multiple edits at once, saving you time.
• Smart Rewrites: Type carelessly, and Cursor will fix your mistakes.
• Cursor Prediction: Cursor predicts your next cursor position so you can seamlessly navigate your code.

Pros

• Can generate code across multiple files simultaneously, enhancing productivity for complex projects.
• Allows developers to adjust AI behavior to match their coding style and project requirements.
• Works with a variety of programming languages, catering to diverse developer needs.

Cons

• Paid subscription plans may be a barrier for some developers, especially for casual users.
• As with any AI tool, there could be potential privacy risks when working with sensitive code, requiring careful consideration of data handling practices.
  

Pricing

• Hobby (Base plan): Free
• Pro: $20/month
• Business: $40/user/month
  

Requestly’s HTTP Interceptor

Requestly is a lightweight, browser-based tool designed for web developers and testers. It allows users to modify network requests and responses on the fly. This includes capabilities like redirecting URLs, modifying headers, and injecting scripts.

Main Features

• Modify and mock API responses in real-time: Develop the frontend without a backend or modify existing API responses in the production environment.
• Inject custom JS and CSS: Allow users to add custom JavaScript and CSS snippets to any webpage without altering the source code.
• Replace URL Strings: It allows the user to Redirect API Calls from local to a production environment or vice-versa
• Modify Headers: The user can add, remove, and override HTTP headers in the request or response header.

Pros

• Works seamlessly within your web browser, offering convenient access.
• Allows for live observation of HTTP requests and responses.
• Ideal for quick troubleshooting and testing API endpoints.

Cons

• Some users report occasional bugs or performance hiccups.
  

Pricing

• Free
• Lite: $8/month
• Basic: $15/member/month
• Professional: $23/member/month
• Enterprise Plan: Starts at $59 (Contact Sales Team)
  

Tailwind CSS

Tailwind CSS is a free, open-source framework for building websites using HTML and utility classes instead of writing CSS. It’s designed to make it faster and easier to create responsive websites.

Main Features

• Utility classes: Combine pre-defined classes to style your site.
• Responsive design: Create responsive layouts with built-in utilities and a mobile-first approach.
• Automatic CSS removal: Automatically removes unused CSS when building for production.
• Variants: Apply utility classes only in certain situations, such as when hovered or when the browser is in dark mode.

Pros

• Saves time by allowing developers to create designs quickly without writing CSS manually.
• Provides code reusability and easier maintenance.
• Allows developers to customize designs further by creating their own classes.

Cons

• Due to its heavy use of utility classes directly in the HTML, It faces criticism for its “ugly markup”.
  

Pricing

• Free

Coolors

Coolors is the super fast color palette generator loved by 2.5 M users. It allows users to generate random color schemes on click.

Main Features

• Generate color palettes: Users can generate color palettes randomly or based on a logo or manually entered colors.
• Adjust colors: Users can adjust colors by shade, hue, and saturation.
• Pick colors from a photo: Users can pick colors from a photo using the Image Picker.

Pros

• Coolors has a simple, easy-to-navigate design, making it accessible to both beginners and experienced designers.
• Quickly generates a wide variety of color palettes with just a few clicks, allowing for rapid exploration of options.
• Users can export color palettes in various formats like HEX codes, CSS, and Adobe color palettes for easy integration into design software.

Cons

• The free plan has restrictions on saving palettes and accessing advanced features.
• Random generation might produce similar color combinations repeatedly.
  

Pricing

• Free (With limited usage)
• Go Pro: $231/month
  

LottieFiles

A Lottie is a JSON-based animation file format that allows you to ship animations on any platform as easily as static assets. These small files work on any device and can scale up or down without pixelation.

Main Features

• Customise animations: Create, edit, and test animations using the Lottie format, which is open-source, JSON-based, and small in size.
• Collaboration: Work together on projects with private workspaces, team members, and permission settings.
• Integration: Use Lottie plugins to create, edit, render, design, collaborate, and implement Lottie animations with ease right inside your favorite design and development tools.

Pros

• Lottie files are much smaller than other animation formats like GIF or MP4.
• Lottie animations are based on vectors, which means you can scale them up and down without worrying about resolution.
• Multi-platform support and libraries.
• Easy to share animations across different platforms and devices.

Cons

• It is not completely free. Their pricing might affect solo users, but overall, it is worth giving a try.

Pricing

• Individual Plan: $19.99/user/month
• Team Plan: $24.99/user/month
• Enterprise Plan: Only for teams larger than 10 members(Contact sales team for pricing)

Supabase

Supabase is an open-source Backend-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform that helps developers build web and mobile applications. An alternative to Firebase for those who are looking to switch.

Main Features

• Real-time Data Updates: Real-time database capabilities using a subscription model to instantly update applications when data changes.
• User Authentication: Built-in user management system with features like email/password login, social logins, password resets, and custom authorization rules.
• Serverless Functions: Ability to run custom backend logic without managing server infrastructure.
• Storage: Secure file storage with features like image transformations, resumable uploads, and content delivery network (CDN) for efficient file distribution.
• Secrets and encryption: Encrypt sensitive data and store secrets using their Postgres extension, Supabase Vault.

Pros

• Built-in authentication and storage.
• Auto-generated REST API via PostgREST and GraphQL API via pg_graphql
• User-friendly dashboard for managing database and authentication settings.
• Ability to host Supabase on your own infrastructure for greater control.

Cons

• Requires understanding of SQL and PostgreSQL concepts, which can be challenging for developers new to relational databases.
• Compared to other BaaS solutions, Supabase’s serverless functions might have fewer advanced features.
• While growing, the community around Supabase may be smaller compared to established BaaS platforms.

Pricing

• Free
• Pro: $25/month.
• Team: $599/month.
• Enterprise: Contact sales.

Prisma

Prisma is an open-source Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) tool primarily used in backend development, particularly with Node.js and TypeScript, that simplifies database interactions by providing a user-friendly way to define data models and generate type-safe queries, eliminating the need to write complex SQL code directly.

Main Features

• Data Modeling with Prisma Schema: Developers define their database schema using a dedicated language within a “schema.prisma” file, describing the relationships between different data models.
• Auto-generated Prisma Client: Auto-generated and type-safe query builder for Node.js & TypeScript.
• Migrations: Prisma Migrate helps manage database changes by generating migration files that reflect schema updates, ensuring data consistency across deployments.
• Prisma Studio: GUI to view and edit data in your database. Prisma Studio is the only part of Prisma ORM that is not open source. You can only run Prisma Studio locally.

Pros

• Type-safe queries generated by Prisma help catch potential errors early in the development process.
• By handling much of the database interaction logic, Prisma allows developers to focus on core application logic, reducing boilerplate code.
• Prisma supports a wide range of databases including PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, MongoDB, and more.

Cons

• It’s quite new in the market. Few complaints have been logged yet, but the most concerning query of Prisma is handling errors with a large number of databases.

Pricing

• Starter: Free
• Pro: $49/month
• Business: $129/month

Encore

Encore is an Open-Source framework designed to build robust distributed systems with features like APIs, microservices, databases, and queues.

Main Features

Main Features

• Backend focus: While you can technically host a frontend using Encore, it’s not its primary purpose and most recommend deploying your frontend on dedicated services like Vercel or Netlify for production.
• Type-safe: Encore promotes type safety in your backend code, which can improve development efficiency and reduce errors.
• Distributed systems: Encore is specifically designed to build complex, scalable backend systems with features for managing distributed components.

Pros

• Leverages TypeScript for robust type checking, leading to fewer runtime errors and improved code maintainability.
• Utilizes a Rust-based backend for excellent performance and scalability, especially in high-traffic scenarios.
• Built with cloud-native principles in mind, enabling seamless integration with various cloud providers.
• Streamlines the process of managing cloud infrastructure by automatically provisioning and managing resources based on your application’s needs.
• Allows developers to define infrastructure requirements in a simple, declarative manner, making code easier to read and understand.

Cons

• Due to its unique architecture and features, Encore might have a steeper learning curve for developers unfamiliar with Rust or advanced TypeScript concepts.
• Compared to more established backend frameworks, the Encore community is relatively smaller, potentially limiting available support and resources.
• For developers who need highly customized infrastructure configurations, the declarative approach of Encore might limit flexibility in certain scenarios.
• While growing, the ecosystem of available libraries and integrations for Encore might be smaller than other frameworks.

Pricing

• Free
• Pro: $39/user/month

Docker

Docker is a free and open-source application containerization technology. Developers may swiftly deploy and scale apps across many environments using Docker containers.

Main Features

• Swarm: It is a Docker container clustering and scheduling tool. Swarm’s front end is the Docker API, which allows us to manipulate it with various devices and manage a cluster of Docker hosts as if they were a single virtual host. It is a self-organizing collection of engines that allows for pluggable backends.
• Mesh Routing: Incoming requests for published ports on accessible nodes are sent to an active container. This feature establishes the connection even if no tasks are executed on the node.
• Security: It enables us to store secrets in the swarm and then pick which services have access to which secrets.

Pros

• Each program is isolated from the others.

Cons

• Managing many containers can be complicated.
• Docker does not provide cross-platform compatibility, which implies that if an application is built to run in a Docker container on Windows, it will not operate in a Docker container on Linux.

Pricing

• Free
• Pro: $5/month
• Team: $7/month
• Business: $21/month

Kubernetes

Kubernetes (K8s) is an open-source container orchestration technology that can launch, scale, and manage contemporary online applications. It groups application containers into logical units to facilitate discovery and administration.

Main Features

Main Features

• Bin packing is done automatically: Automatically scales each container depending on defined metrics and available resources.
• Load balancing and service discovery: It defaults to containers with their DNS names and IP addresses. It also allows for load balancing during traffic surges to maintain stability.
• Self-monitoring: Kubernetes performs health checks on your applications to identify and prevent potential problems.
• Storage management: It mounts your preferred storage system to reduce latency and improve user experience.
• Capabilities for self-healing: Improves application performance by monitoring and replacing unhealthy containers.

Pros

• Kubernetes can help reduce infrastructure costs by optimizing the use of hardware and cloud investments.
• Kubernetes can help businesses scale and improve microservices performance.
• Automation can speed up deployment, reduce human errors, and ensure consistent configuration.
• Kubernetes can enable infrastructure to self-heal, which can help ensure reliable operation.

Cons

• Delays in managing containers can affect application performance.

Pricing

• Free

NGINX

NGINX is a free and open-source web server that may function as a load balancer, HTTP cache, and reverse proxy. Because it can manage many connections rapidly, this backend web development tool is excellent for creating resource-intensive websites.

Main Features

• Security features are included: NGINX security settings include rate-limiting, which protects your server from DDoS assaults by restricting the number of requests made by users. It limits their access by allowing or rejecting access depending on their IP addresses.
• Memory use is minimal: NGINX uses less RAM since it processes requests asynchronously.
• Excellent resources: There is a wealth of information available on how to use NGINX, including eBooks, webinars, glossaries, and video tutorials.

Pros

• Distributes traffic across multiple servers, which helps apps scale.
• Caches static files, which can improve performance.
• NGINX is good at acting as a reverse proxy.
• It can handle thousands of simultaneous connections while using less memory than Apache.

Cons

• NGINX is excellent for providing static websites, but it requires third-party applications like FastCGI to provide dynamic content.
• NGINX has restricted capabilities while running on Windows since its central operating systems are Linux and Unix.

Pricing

• Free

Github

GitHub is an open-source, cloud-based Git repository hosting service with a graphical user interface for backend development that allows users to store, manage, and share code.

Main Features

• Automation: You can use GitHub to automate operations like CI/CD, testing, project management, and onboarding
• Integration possibilities: Extend the functionality of GitHub using a variety of third-party web applications available on the GitHub Marketplace. Many integrations, such as Zenhub, Azure Pipelines, and Stale, are available only to GitHub members.
• Code review and pull requests: You can assign up to ten individuals to work on a single issue or pull request on GitHub. This makes it easier to monitor the development of a project.
• Codespaces: Includes a text editor, issue tracking tools, and Git commands, as well as everything you need to start a repository. It may be accessed using Visual Studio Code or other browser-based editors
• Support for mobile devices: Users may manage their projects on the move using GitHub’s mobile app, which is available for iOS and Android.
• Extensive security features include a code-scanning tool for detecting security problems and a security audit record for tracking team members’ activities. GitHub is also SOC 1 and SOC 2 certified.
• Tools for managing users: Set multiple degrees of access and permissions for different contributors to your account and resources.
• Copilot on GitHub: This AI-powered tool proposes code completions and functions based on your coding style. It also auto-fills repetitious code and allows you to run unit tests on your projects.

Pros

• GitHub’s core functionality is version control, which allows developers to track changes, compare versions, and revert to previous versions.
• GitHub allows developers to add collaborators to their projects.
• GitHub has a help section and guides with articles for nearly any topic related to git.

Cons

• New users may need time to learn how to use version control systems, branching, merging, and conflict resolution.

Pricing

• Basic: Free
• Team: $44/year
• Enterprise: $231/year

Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code redefines AI-powered coding with GitHub Copilot for building and debugging modern web and cloud applications. Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is a free, cross-platform source code editor that supports many programming languages.

Main Features

• Editing: Syntax highlighting, bracket-matching, auto-indentation, and more.
• Debugging: Built-in support for debugging Node.js applications.
• Version control: Support for Git, viewing pending changes diffs, and more.
• Extensions: A rich ecosystem of extensions for other languages and runtimes.
• Search: Search across files, including regular expression searching.
• Terminal: An integrated terminal.

Pros

• VS Code is a free software.
• It runs on multiple operating systems and hence caters to all developers no matter what the device’s operating system is.
• It is a lightweight software, hence doesn’t require advanced hardware features to run or perform well.
• It supports numerous programming languages, hence support for multipurpose development.
• It is highly flexible and customizable hence easy to use and personalize.
• Promotes collaborative development. VS Code also promotes open-source development.

Cons

• VS Code requires manual setup for debuggers, compilers, and profilers.
• VS Code is not the ideal software for development in near-low programming languages like C++ and C.
• In VS Code, even common functionalities like code linting, syntax highlighting, and more require the time-consuming installation of extensions.

Pricing

• Free

Sublime Text

Sublime Text is the most fantastic choice for novices who have just recently begun learning to code. It’s a text editor that can handle code, markup, and prose. Sublime Text is regarded as one of the most outstanding text editors for front-end due to its extensive keyboard shortcuts.

Main Features

• Multiple selections: Users may find multiple code lines changed, renamed, and manipulated.
• Allows users to move between files and functions fast.
• Minimap: Users may see the density and form of the code. This is useful for modifying long lines of code.
• Cross-platform compatibility: Its single software license is compatible with any machine and operating system.
• Support for the JavaScript ecosystem: Typescript, JSX, and TSX make it simple to use Sublime Text’s innovative syntax-based capabilities.
• Python API allows users to install additional plugins to enhance the capabilities of Sublime Text.

Pros

• Sublime Text is fast and efficient, even with large files and projects.
• You can extend Sublime Text’s functionality with packages and plugins.
• The minimalistic interface helps you focus on your code.

Cons

• Users need help to prevent the constant pop-up prompting them to buy or upgrade their licenses.
• Users can only index files by slowing down the speed of the code editor.

Pricing

• Personal use: $99/year
• Business: $65/year

Atom

Atom is a free and open-source text and source code editor developed by GitHub (Atom – A Hackable Text and Source Code Editor for Linux). Its developers call it a “hackable text editor for the 21st Century” (Atom 1.0).

Main Features

• Hackable: Atom is highly customizable using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
• Supports many languages: Atom supports many programming languages, including C, C++, C#, CSS, HTML, Java, and JavaScript.
• Integrated Git control: Atom has embedded Git control.
• Terminal shell: Atom has powerful features in the terminal shell, such as autocompletion, snippets, and linter support.
• Package manager: Atom has a built-in package manager that helps you find and install packages from the community.

Pros

• Atom allows users to extensively tweak its interface and functionality through packages and settings, giving a high degree of personalization.
• Developed by GitHub, Atom is free to use and its source code is accessible, enabling community contributions.
• Works seamlessly on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
• A vast library of community-developed packages is available to add features and functionality for various programming languages.

Cons

• Take longer to launch compared to other editors.
• The extensive customization options can be overwhelming for new users.
• The ability to deeply customize can lead to a complex setup for some users.
• Slower than other editors, particularly when dealing with large files, due to its Electron framework.

Pricing

• Free

Eclipse

Eclipse is a free, open-source platform for developing applications in many programming languages. You can customize Eclipse with plug-ins to add features like syntax highlighting.

Main Features

• Language support: Supports many programming languages, including Java, C/C++, Python, Perl, and Ruby.
• Extensibility: Supports plug-ins to customize the environment.
• Refactoring: Supports refactoring.
• Testing and debugging: Supports integrated unit testing and debugging.
• Compilation: Supports incremental compilation and build.
• Team development: Supports team development.

Pros

• Users can easily add functionality through a vast marketplace of plugins, tailoring Eclipse to specific development needs.
• A large user base provides ample support, tutorials, and readily available solutions for issues.
• Eclipse supports development in various languages like Java, C++, PHP, and more, making it versatile for diverse projects.
• Eclipse handles complex projects with multiple files and dependencies well.

Cons

• Eclipse can become slow and resource-intensive, especially with many plugins installed, potentially affecting system performance.
• With many plugins, the Eclipse interface can become complex and difficult to navigate.
• Eclipse’s interface might feel less intuitive for beginners.

Pricing

• Free

The post Best Web Development Tools in 2025 first appeared on Requestly.

Introduction

When working with APIs in API clients, authentication tokens are often used for testing multiple endpoints. Typically, an auth token is requested from the server in one request and then used to perform various operations across different endpoints.

A common challenge is handling token expiration and reusability without manually copying and pasting the token each time it refreshes. A Stack Overflow question highlights this issue.

Instead of manually copying and pasting the token every time it refreshes, you can use variables and authorization in Requestly to apply the same authentication across all requests in a collection.

Using Authentication in Requestly

Let’s say we’re working with a mock API that provides an authentication endpoint:

Requesting an Auth Token

We first send a POST request to the authentication endpoint to obtain an access token.

				
					{
  "access_token": "<access_token>",
  "expires_in": 1800
}
				
			

Extracting and Storing the Token

We use a post-response script to extract the access_token from the response and save it in an environment variable:

				
					const authToken = JSON.parse(rq.response.body)['access_token'];
rq.environment.set("authToken", authToken);
				
			

Using the Stored Token for API Requests

Now that we’ve stored the token, we can use it in subsequent API requests. Instead of manually copying the token, we reference it dynamically in our requests.

Case 1: Setting a Collection Authorization

If you’re working with multiple requests in a collection, you can set an Authorization at the collection level. This ensures that all requests in the collection automatically include authentication without needing to manually add it to each request.

To learn more about authorization in Requestly, refer to the official documentation.

Case 2: Using variables in Request

You can reference any stored environment variable using the {{variable_name}} syntax in:

• Request Headers (e.g., Authorization: Bearer {{authToken}})
• Query Parameters (e.g., ?token={{authToken}})
• Request Body (for JSON payloads that require an access token)

Case 3: Using Variables in Pre/Post Scripts

For more advanced use cases, you can retrieve an environment variable in pre-request or post-response scripts using:

				
					const token = rq.environment.get("authToken");
				
			

This is useful when you need to modify or validate the token before sending the request.

Conclusion

Automating authentication in Requestly’s API Client saves time and ensures seamless API testing. By storing tokens as environment variables and using collection-level authorization, you can avoid manual updates and streamline workflows.

The post How to use access token from another API response first appeared on Requestly.

About Cyrisma

Cyrisma is a multi-feature SaaS platform that optimizes cyber risk management. It is a provider of cybersecurity solutions dedicated to helping organizations protect their digital assets and maintain compliance in an ever-evolving threat landscape. With tools for sensitive data discovery, vulnerability management, threat detection, and incident response, Cyrisma serves clients across various industries, ensuring network and data security.

As Cyrisma’s product portfolio expanded, so did the complexity of its API ecosystem. Supporting numerous private, partner, and public APIs, the company recognized the need for a solution to manage discovery, testing, and collaboration on APIs.

The Challenge

With the growth of its API portfolio – driven by a microservices architecture – Cyrisma faced several challenges:

• API Discovery and Duplication: Thousands of APIs were created across multiple teams, leading to difficulties in discovering existing functionalities. This fragmentation resulted in duplicated efforts, as developers inadvertently built similar APIs independently.
• Environment Configuration: Developers worked across multiple environments (development, staging, and production) to ensure stability and security before deployment. However, switching between these environments was error-prone and time-consuming. Manual updates to API keys, URLs, and other settings slowed development. They increased the risk of misconfiguration — such as accidentally using production credentials in a staging environment — potentially causing security alarms and downtime.
• Onboarding Inefficiencies: The onboarding process for internal and external developers was cumbersome due to a lack of standardized API documentation and tools. Every onboarding seemed like a separate project.
• Need for API Mocking: The services were interdependent and lacked stability in development & staging environments. Cross-dependence of teams was a major blocking factor for most teams. An integrated API mocking solution could be helpful and enable parallel working of teams.

The Solution

Requestly’s API Client provides efficient API management with workspaces, collections, and tests. Requestly’s Bulk Mocking solution can create 100s of API mocks of an existing service.

Exploring various API tools like Postman and Insomnia led us to choose Requestly for its seamless web integration and intuitive interface. Working directly in the browser, along with features like request modification and mock responses, has made our workflow smoother and more efficient. It’s a modern, developer-friendly solution that truly stands out..

Will Sokolowski

CTO at Cyrisma

Requestly allows Cyrisma to collaborate in real-time during the API design phase, there is no need to share static files and communication through different channels. APIs can be easily organized in different workspaces and collections for easy discovery and sharing across teams.

• API Discovery and Duplication: Cyrisma team was onboarded on a central web-based platform to organize APIs using workspaces for different teams and collections for different projects.
• Environment Configuration: Environment support enabled configuring different environments(like staging, pre-prod, and production) to manage configurations and secrets centrally. Engineers can organize and switch environments quickly without code changes. Observed significant drop in configuration errors and setup time.
• Onboarding Optimization: Onboarding and deboarding a user becomes an easy and 1 step process, now adding a user to the relevant team workspaces gives then easy and up-to-date definition of APIs.
• API Mocking: Bulk mocking feature of Requestly enabled creating local and cloud-based mocks of existing services by recording and mocking API traffic from a service. Teams can work in parallel and isolation.
• Web-Based API Client: A browser-based API tool was crucial for Cyrisma, as their teams preferred a lightweight, zero-installation solution that could be accessed across devices without the overhead of maintaining standalone desktop applications. 

With Requestly, we’ve not only improved API discoverability and collaboration across teams but also enhanced our security posture by eliminating misconfiguration risks. It’s been a game-changer for our development workflow.

Will Sokolowski

CTO at Cyrisma

The Outcome

The use of Requestly played a role as a catalyst in Cyrisma’s development cycles. Engineers gained more control over APIs, Environments, and Mocks accelerating overall development workflows by 20%.

Better API Management: Engineers have access to all the APIs, drastically reducing time spent searching through 125k API endpoints. All the API definitions are available inside Requestly – 2 clicks away. 

Collaboration & Onboarding: Teams now collaborate using workspaces and new developers are onboarded from a central place. Leading to the reduction of TTFC to less than a minute from weeks.

Reduced Interdependence: Available API Mocks under workspaces don’t need teams to spin up local services during development. Even staging services can be isolated using local mocks for better testing flows.

Enterprise-Ready Security: Requestly’s SOC 2 compliance reassures Cyrisma’s leadership that their API development and testing workflows meet the highest security and compliance standards.

The post Organized 125k APIs and improved productivity by 20% using the Requestly API Client: Cyrisma first appeared on Requestly.

FastAPI is a Python web framework that makes building high-performance APIs a breeze. It’s designed to be fast, efficient, and developer-friendly, so you can create APIs with minimal code while keeping things scalable and reliable.

But once your API is up and running, testing it is just as important as building it. You need to make sure everything works as expected. While there are many ways to test APIs, the Requestly API Client makes the process smooth and hassle-free. It lets you send requests, tweak request data, and debug issues—all in one place.

In this article, we’ll dive into how you can use Requestly to test your FastAPI endpoints efficiently and why it might just be a better option than traditional testing methods.

Why and When to Use FastAPI

FastAPI is becoming a popular choice for API development due to its speed, simplicity, and modern features. But when should you use FastAPI over other web frameworks like Flask or Django? Let’s break it down.

Why Use FastAPI?

1. High Performance – FastAPI is one of the fastest Python web frameworks, thanks to its asynchronous capabilities and efficient request handling.
2. Easy to Use – With a clean and intuitive syntax, developers can build APIs quickly with minimal code.
3. Automatic Data Validation – FastAPI uses Pydantic to validate request and response data, reducing the chances of errors.
4. Built-in Async Support – Unlike Flask, which requires additional libraries for async programming, FastAPI natively supports asynchronous operations.
5. Type Safety – With type hints in Python, FastAPI ensures better code quality and catches potential issues early.

When to Use FastAPI?

• When you need high-speed API performance – If your application requires handling a large number of concurrent requests efficiently, FastAPI is a great choice.
• For real-time applications – FastAPI is ideal for WebSockets, chat applications, live data streaming, and similar use cases.
• If you prefer modern Python features – With support for type hints, async/await, and automatic data validation, FastAPI is perfect for developers who want to leverage the latest Python capabilities.
• When working with microservices – FastAPI is lightweight and integrates well with containerized environments, making it a strong candidate for microservices-based architectures.
• For machine learning and AI applications – Many AI and ML engineers use FastAPI to expose their models as APIs due to its speed and ease of integration.

If you’re building a modern, scalable, and high-performance API, FastAPI is one of the best frameworks to consider.

How to Test FastAPI with Requestly

Testing is essential to ensure your app behaves as expected. While FastAPI provides some built-in tools for testing, Requestly API Client offers a more powerful and flexible way to test, debug, and modify API requests effortlessly.

Setting Up Your FastAPI Application

Before testing, ensure you have a running FastAPI application. Here’s a simple example of a FastAPI app:

from fastapi import FastAPI

app = FastAPI()

@app.get("/hello")
def read_root():
    return {"message": "Hello, FastAPI!"}

Run this FastAPI app using:

fastapi dev main.py

Your API will be available at http://127.0.0.1:8000/hello.

Installing Requestly API Client

To test this API, install Requestly by downloading the browser extension or using the standalone desktop app. Requestly allows you to send requests, modify parameters, and inspect responses easily.

Sending API Requests Using Requestly

1. Open Requestly navigate to API client

2. Here create a New Request.

3. Name your API Request and enter the FastAPI endpoint URL (http://127.0.0.1:8000/hello).

4. Click Send to see the response.

Requestly makes it easy to simulate different testing scenarios:

• Changing Query Parameters – Modify request parameters dynamically to test different cases.
• Altering Headers – Test authentication or different content types by adding/modifying headers.
• Sending Payloads – Easily test POST or PUT requests by sending JSON data in the request body.
• Simulating Errors – Modify request responses to test how your application handles failures.

Using Requestly API Client, you can efficiently test and debug your FastAPI endpoints without relying solely on code-based testing tools

Conclusion

FastAPI is a powerful and efficient web framework for building APIs in Python, offering high performance and ease of use. However, testing your API is just as important as building it to ensure it works as expected in real-world scenarios.

By using Requestly, developers can test FastAPI endpoints more efficiently, simulate different scenarios, and debug issues quickly—all within an intuitive interface. If you’re looking for a hassle-free way to test your APIs, Requestly is a great tool to add to your workflow.

Try Requestly today and streamline your FastAPI testing process!

The post How to Test FastAPI Efficiently with Requestly API Client first appeared on Requestly.

The post How to Export Postman Collection first appeared on Requestly.

Isolation testing is a software testing technique where a specific component or module is tested independently, without relying on external dependencies. The goal is to ensure that the component works correctly on its own before integrating it with other parts of the system.

Isolation testing focuses on individual pieces of code in a controlled environment. This approach helps developers pinpoint issues faster, reduce debugging complexity, and improve test accuracy.

How Isolation Testing Works

To isolate a component during testing, developers use techniques like:

• Mocking – Creating fake versions of dependencies (e.g., a mock API response instead of calling the real server).
• Stubbing – Replacing parts of the code with predefined responses to avoid reliance on external systems.
• Service Virtualization – Simulating third-party services to test an application without needing live connections.

By using these methods, isolation testing ensures that any failures in a component are due to issues within that component itself—rather than external factors.

Benefits of Isolation Testing

Isolation testing provides several advantages that improve the overall quality and reliability of software. Here are some key benefits:

1. Early Defect Detection By testing components individually, defects can be identified at an early stage before integration. This reduces the cost and effort required to fix issues later in the development cycle.
2. Faster Debugging & Easier Fault Localization Since isolation testing focuses on a single component, it’s easier to pinpoint the root cause of a failure without interference from other parts of the system.
3. Improved Test Reliability By eliminating external dependencies, tests become more stable and predictable. Changes in other modules or third-party services won’t affect the component under test.
4. Better Test Automation Isolation testing makes it easier to automate tests since dependencies are simulated using mocks or stubs. This leads to faster test execution and better continuous integration (CI/CD) workflows.
5. Increased Development Speed Developers can work on and test individual components independently, reducing bottlenecks caused by waiting for other parts of the system to be completed.
6. Enhanced Code Maintainability Since each module is thoroughly tested in isolation, refactoring and updating code become safer and more manageable, reducing the risk of introducing unintended bugs.
7. Supports Parallel Development Teams working on different parts of a project can test their modules independently, allowing for smoother collaboration and faster delivery.

Best Tools for Isolation Testing

Isolation testing requires specialized tools depending on the component being tested—whether it’s unit testing, API testing, database testing, or UI testing. Here are some of the best tools categorized by their use case:

1. Unit Testing Frameworks
   Unit testing frameworks help test isolated functions, methods, or classes without dependencies.
   • Jest (JavaScript) – A popular testing framework for JavaScript with built-in mocking and snapshot testing.
   • Mocha + Chai (JavaScript) – Flexible test framework with assertion libraries for behavior-driven testing.
   • JUnit (Java) – Standard testing framework for Java applications, widely used in enterprise projects.
   • PyTest (Python) – A powerful testing framework with easy-to-use fixtures and mocking.
   • NUnit (C#/.NET) – A widely used testing framework for .NET applications.
2. Mocking & Stubbing Tools
   These tools help replace real dependencies like databases, APIs, or third-party services with mock versions.
   • Requestly – Create mocks for HTTP responses, useful for API isolation and testing.
   • Sinon.js (JavaScript) – Provides spies, stubs, and mocks for unit tests.
   • Mockito (Java) – A widely used mocking framework for Java applications.
   • unittest.mock (Python) – Built-in Python library for mocking objects.
   • FakeItEasy (C#) – A simple, intuitive mocking framework for .NET applications.
3. API & Service Virtualization Tools
   When testing APIs without real dependencies, these tools help mock external services.
   • Requestly – Create mocks for HTTP responses, useful for API isolation and testing.
   • WireMock – A robust tool for mocking APIs and simulating external service behavior.
   • MockServer – Allows creating mock HTTP services for backend testing.
   • Postman Mock Server – Simulates API responses for testing API clients.
4. Database Mocking & In-Memory Databases
   These tools allow database testing without using real data, improving test speed and isolation.
   • SQLite – A lightweight in-memory database for testing database operations.
   • H2 Database – In-memory testing database for Java applications.
   • Testcontainers – Runs temporary, isolated databases inside Docker containers.
   • Faker.js – Generates fake data for testing without relying on real databases.
5. UI Component Isolation Testing
   These tools help test UI components independently before integrating them into the full application.
   • Storybook – A tool for isolating and testing UI components in React, Vue, and Angular.
   • Testing Library – Helps test UI behavior rather than implementation details.
   • Cypress – Primarily an end-to-end testing tool, but also supports isolated UI component testing.

Leveraging Requestly for Isolation Testing

Isolation testing requires controlling dependencies like APIs, services, or external data sources to test components independently. Requestly, a powerful request interception tool, enables developers to modify, mock, and isolate API responses without changing backend code. It simplifies testing in various scenarios, from modifying responses to simulating entire services.

Below are key ways Requestly can be leveraged for isolation testing:

1. Modify API Response for Controlled Testing

In isolation testing, modifying API responses helps simulate different scenarios without relying on actual backend changes. Requestly allows users to intercept and modify API responses dynamically to test different edge cases.

• Change response status codes to test how the application handles errors (e.g., 500 Internal Server Error).
• Modify JSON responses to simulate different outputs (e.g., returning an empty user list for pagination testing).
• Test failure scenarios like API timeouts or incorrect responses without modifying server-side code.

Example Use Case:

Suppose you’re testing an order tracking feature in an e-commerce app. The backend API isn’t ready, but you can use Requestly to modify the response and return fake tracking data, allowing frontend testing without backend dependency.

2. Bulk Mocking to Simulate an Entire Service

Instead of modifying individual API calls, bulk mocking allows testers to create a fully mocked API service for testing without real backend dependencies.

• Simulates an entire microservice response instead of individual endpoints.
• Helps test frontend applications before backend services are developed.
• Reduces dependency on external APIs that may have rate limits or downtime.

Example Use Case:

Imagine you’re testing a hotel booking app, but the external API for availability checking is unreliable. With Requestly, intercept the requests once and you can mock all endpoints of the API, allowing seamless frontend and integration testing.

3. Mock server for Team Collaboration

Testing in distributed teams often requires access to shared test data. Requestly’s Mock server allow teams to create and share API mocks, ensuring consistency in testing across different environments.

• Teams can create, save, and share mock APIs via the cloud.
• Ensures consistent test results across different developers and testers.
• No need to set up local mock servers—just use cloud-based endpoints.

Example Use Case:

A remote QA team testing a finance app can use Cloud Mocks to simulate API responses for stock price updates, ensuring consistent data across all test cases.

Conclusion

Isolation testing is a crucial technique for improving software reliability by testing individual components independently before integration. By using the right tools—whether for unit testing, API mocking, database virtualization, or UI component isolation—developers can identify issues early, streamline debugging, and ensure a smooth development process.

With various tools available, selecting the right one depends on your project type, language, automation needs, and ease of integration. By incorporating isolation testing into your workflow, you can build more robust and maintainable applications with confidence.

The post What is Isolation Testing? Best Tool for Isolation Testing first appeared on Requestly.

Let me walk you through the journey of a SaaS product from an Idea to a Successful Product, with insights and practical tips at every stage. Though this guide is a 10,000 ft view only, it will equip you with enough knowledge to easily drive through it.

I. Ideation and Validation

Every product starts with an idea, either you are solving it for yourself or you see someone struggling with it regularly. The success of the SaaS product is somewhat related to the intensity and frequency of the problem. If it’s bugging once a month and has a workaround that needs a few hours, do you think someone will pay for it?

• Brainstorm & Identify: Use techniques like SWOT analysis and customer journey mapping to uncover gaps in the market.
• Validate Early: Write down your core idea on a page — capture the problem, proposed solution, and a preliminary business model. Next, talk to potential customers, conduct surveys, and interviews, or even create a simple landing page to gauge interest.

II. Planning and Architectural Design

Once you’ve validated your idea, it’s time to get your hands dirty. Plan the technical and business strategy that will drive your startup.

• Define Your Business Model: Find similar players in the market and see which type of model they are following(freemium, subscription, or usage-based pricing model), in most of the cases you start your experiment with the same model.
• Map Out Your Architecture: Do not over-engineer here, keep the architecture lean and as basic as possible. Draw a simple diagram of your planned system and select your technology stack—languages, frameworks, and cloud providers.
• Cost Management Strategy: Outline measures to control expenses. Regularly review vendor contracts and spending. (For instance, platforms like Spendbase can offer insights to optimize SaaS costs.)

III. MVP of SaaS Product

The Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is often misunderstood. It’s the product that is able to solve the primary problem only, not very polished, not very efficient, just demonstrates that it solves the core problem. Expansion of MVP will be derived using customer feedback and experimentation.

• Focus on Essentials: Build only the features that are critical to solve the core problem. Don’t get sidetracked by “good-to-have” features in MVP.
• Integrate Tools Early: Use version control, CI/CD pipelines, and API integrations to streamline development.

Tip: Launch a beta version of your MVP to a limited audience. Use feedback collected from early adopters and refine your product. Tools like Requestly can help with API testing and debugging during this phase.

IV. Launch and GTM

Once your product can solve the core problem, and your early adopters are using it regularly, it’s time to launch and get more users to use your product. There are multiple GTM Strategies, that depend on the nature of product and the way you want to try them first, eventually, you will try all the GTM strategies and stick to the one that generates the most results for you.

GTM Strategies for SaaS Product

• PLG + Inbound SEO → Best for B2C and self-serve SaaS (e.g., Canva, Zoom).
• Outbound Sales + ABM→ Best for Enterprise SaaS (e.g., Salesforce, Snowflake).
• Partnerships + Affiliate → Best for SaaS with integrations & referral incentives.
• Community-Led Growth → Best for SaaS products with strong engagement potential.

Launch

• Plan your launch on multiple platforms, just search “product hunt alternatives” and launch your products on all of these platforms, messaging, and media are generally reusable across all the platforms.
• Plan to give a launch offer to further accelerate the launch.

Measure

• Monitoring becomes your special tool from this point onwards, every decision you make will be derived from the metrics.
• Define KPIs like customer acquisition cost, engagement metrics, activation rates & retention rates.
• Use these metrics to adjust your strategy in real-time.

Tip: Organize a soft launch or pilot program that allows you to test your marketing messages and product-market fit on a small scale before a full-scale launch.

V. SaaS Product PMF and Iteration

Product-Market Fit doesn’t have as clear a definition as the word PMF sounds. Different people define it differently. But I heard it somewhere and totally agree with it till today that you achieve a PMF when you have 10 customers that do all these 3 things — pay you, give you feedback, and refer you.

• Gather and Act on Feedback: Use customer interviews, usage data, and support chats to understand where your product meets expectations—and where it falls short. For example, a similar query coming from multiple users asking about how to use a particular feature means there is a gap in the product. It can be in onboarding, product experience, or docs.
• Iterate Rapidly: Continuously refine features and improve the user experience based on feedback. Set up a regular cadence for product updates (e.g., weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly).

VI. Growth and Scaling

Once you’ve achieved product-market fit, it’s time to scale — Grow your user base and scale your product to support those users.

Growth of a SaaS Product

• Identify ICP: Remember those 10 customers I mentioned in PMF. Learn as much about them as you can, where they hang out, what they aspire to, how they search, where they live, how they solve problems, and where they seek help.
• Growth Process: Growth is all about experimenting with new ideas, measuring impact, refining, scaling success, and repeating.
• Growth Framework: Breakdown growth in these steps – Awareness, Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Revenue & Referral. Search about AAARRR growth framework. This will help in establishing above process for all the steps.

Tip: Always keep a balance between activities based on their short-term and long-term result.

Scale

• Setup Monitoring: Set up enough metrics and alert systems to monitor the performance of the system 24/7.
• Scalable Infrastructure: Set up your infrastructure that scales automatically based on the load. At this stage consider CI/CD, Scalability, High Availability, Latency & disaster recovery(DR) to create a war-ready infrastructure.

VII. Conclusion: Your Roadmap to SaaS Success

This framework for developing a SaaS Product will guide you through your journey in navigating through the tough terrains of building a successful Product and Startup.

Create a checklist based on these stages, begin with a small pilot project to test your concept, and gradually invest in scaling. Focus on learning and iteration on each step, don’t stick to one idea if it’s not working out, dump it, and start working on a new idea.

If you work with APIs consider using Requestly for API development, API testing, and debugging. Requestly is useful for front-end developers, QAs, Backend Developers as well as Sales teams in SaaS products use Requestly.

The post How to develop a SaaS Product? From Idea to Scale first appeared on Requestly.

The post What is an API Client? Best Tools & Use Cases first appeared on Requestly.

API tools have become essential for developers and testers to streamline their workflows. Insomnia, Bruno, and Requestly are three prominent names in this space, each offering distinct features. In this article, we’ll compare these tools and explore which tool might be the right choice for your needs.

Insomnia

Insomnia is known for its minimalistic design and developer-friendly features. It’s particularly popular among those who value simplicity without compromising on functionality.

Key Features:

• Intuitive UI: Clean and straightforward interface.
• GraphQL Support: First-class support for GraphQL queries.
• Plugins: Extend functionality with community-built plugins.
• Environment Variables: Simplify switching between environments.

Strengths:

• Lightweight and fast.
• Open-source version available.
• Excellent for individual developers.

Limitations:

• Documentation cannot be made public
• Offers basic mock servers that cannot be shared publicly

Bruno

Bruno is a relatively new API client, focused on simplicity and open-source principles. It offers an elegant interface and caters to developers who prioritise ease of use.

Key Features:

• Open-Source: Open source and community-driven.
• Clean UI: Offers an intuitive interface for sending API requests.
• Environment Management: Supports variables for switching between environments.
• Offline Mode: Works seamlessly offline for local testing.
• Lightweight: Minimalistic design, ensuring fast performance.
• Git Integration: Enables collaboration through Git, allowing teams to version control and share API collections easily.

Pricing

• Free plan: Provides basic features for individuals or small teams, including sending requests, managing environments, and using GraphQL.
• Pro Plan: Starts at $12/month for additional features such as RBAC and Native Git support
• Professional: Starts at around $29/user/month and adds more features such as private workspaces, multi partner workspace, and more integrations
• Enterprise: Starts at around $49/user/month and adds more advanced features such as monitoring, and User Groups.

Strengths:

• Completely free to use.
• Lightweight and offline-friendly.
• Open-source, enabling customization.
• Git-based collaboration makes it team-friendly.

Limitations:

• Lacks advanced features like request interception and mock APIs.
• No built-in collaboration tools beyond Git integration.

Requestly

Requestly’s API client is a unique tool that combines traditional API testing with powerful request interception and modification capabilities, providing developers with unparalleled control over their API workflows. It can be seen as a combination of Postman + Charles Proxy, offering both API request handling and network debugging capabilities.

Key Features:

• Request Interception & Modification: Intercept outgoing API requests and modify headers, query parameters, and request bodies before they are sent to the server.
• Mock APIs: Create mock APIs to simulate real server responses when the actual backend is not available.
• Request Logging & Replay: View detailed logs of your API requests and responses. Replay requests with just a click for repeated testing.
• Cross-Browser Support: Available as a browser extension for Chrome and Firefox, allowing you to interact with APIs directly within the browser.
• Environment-Specific Settings: Configure different rules for different environments (e.g., staging, production), making testing smoother.
• Easy Import/Export: Users can seamlessly import and export configurations, including directly importing Postman collections.
• API Client Features: Includes environment variables support, detailed request history, and workspace organization for enhanced productivity.

Pricing

• Free Plan: Includes all core features of API client like collections, requests, environments etc.

Strengths:

• Real-time debugging and interception capabilities.
• Available as both a browser extension and a standalone desktop app.
• Lightweight and browser-integrated for quick access.
• Powerful rule-based approach to modify and test APIs.
• Effortless migration from other tools through import/export functionality.

Limitations:

• Newer compared to Hopscotch and Bruno, so fewer third-party integrations.

Head-to-Head Comparison

Feature	Hopscotch	Insomnia	Requestly
Cross-platform Support
Desktop and Browser Support	(Both)	(Desktop only)	(Both)
Collaboration Tools			(Git integration only)
Environment Variables
API Design and Documentation
Scripting with JavaScript
Collection Sharing
Pricing (Free Tier)
Lightweight and Minimalist
Mock Servers
Team Workspaces
Quick Import for Other Tools
Interceptor
HTTP Rules

Why Choose Requestly?

While Hopscotch and Insomnia are excellent API tools, Requestly offers unique capabilities that cater specifically to developers who need real-time request interception, debugging, and rule management. Its lightweight design and browser-first approach make it an excellent choice for modern development workflows.

Additionally, Requestly’s quick import feature and user-friendly interface make it ideal for teams looking to streamline their API testing and request debugging processes.

Conclusion

Choosing the right API tool depends on your specific needs. For those who value simplicity, Insomnia is a great option. Bruno is an excellent open-source option for those seeking a lightweight and free API client, if you’re looking for a tool that combines request modification, API testing, and debugging in an intuitive package, Requestly is the way to go.

Give Requestly a try today and experience a modern, efficient approach to API management!

The post Insomnia vs Bruno vs Requestly: Which One Is Best for You? first appeared on Requestly.