Key Takeaways
- Google Chrome is used by more than two-thirds of the people using the internet.
- The Chrome Extensions for developers in 2026 have eased the development work in the Information Technology landscape.
- Being a developer, JSON Formatter, Wappalyzer, and Web Developer are a top choice for software development engineers.
- As a designer, Lighthouse and Full Page Screen Capture are used every now and then to capture screenshots.
- For the front-end developers, Redux DevTools, React DevTools, and Vue.js DevTools are must-haves in the Google Extensions.
With a market share of around 59%, Chrome remains a crucial tool for all developers and mobile application development companies. Being available on all the platforms, it provides exciting experiences and integration capabilities with modern frameworks. With AI in action, numerous AI tools are available for the developer community. But Chrome, being the ace, remains the top choice due to the results it generates for any search. Robust development tools, assisted by Chrome, are another factor considered in determining its popularity as a browser. Some basic features, like CSS background blending and SVG filters, are not available with other browsers, while Chrome handles them.
With the technological changes every year, Chrome settings are set and updated. Chrome is being used by more than 2.5 billion people currently, and more than 66% people trust the browser because of its reliability, usefulness, compatibility, and community support.
Top 20 Chrome Extensions for Developers
Chrome extensions enhance the browser by adding extra features and functionalities. In the developer ecosystem, browser extensions are crucial to boost functionality and productivity. Let’s hover over the top 20 Chrome Extensions for developers for a bird’s-eye view.
React Developer Tools
Talking about the React developer tools, Chrome provides world-class functionalities. With some of the features provided by the reactive tools, a developer can create two simple custom components one for a text input which contains a simple label and an input element and a second component for a checkbox input which is essentially going to be the same except for the fact that when we render the input element it will have type checkbox and the props are going to be Boolean instead of being of type string. It provides more powerful functionalities for various browsers like Chrome and Firefox.
Redux DevTools
Developers use the Redux DevTools to inspect and analyze the state and actions of a Redux store in real time. It is a powerful tool available in the Chrome Web Store. With the help of this developer tool, we can inspect the state of our application at any point in time, live, and also we can replay and travel through the actions to observe how the state and UI evolve, and we can manually dispatch the actions for testing purposes. So this Redux devTool is very highly recommended for developers working on Redux applications. This will significantly improve the debugging process, and this will ensure that the correct behavior of the application is there during development.
Vue.js DevTools
Let’s have a brief on the Vue.js DevTools Chrome Extension. With this extension, we have the root and app view. It allows us to check out the props and check the states of the application. Here, you can follow your events in view. Sometimes you want to check what order things are happening, and so if you had multiple things on your page, and you wanted to see what went first and what happened, you come over here to events and check what was triggered. The “Performance” section is available, which shows the performance of the Vue application.
Web Developer
There are many tools out there that are developed to make our lives easier and simpler. One such tool is the Web Developer Toolbar, which has been developed by Chris Patrick. Now this has been around for quite some time; it originally started off as an extension exclusively for Firefox. But there are versions for both Firefox and Google Chrome now.
Now let’s just go through the process of getting this installed, go back over to the Chrome webstore and search for web developer toolbar, let’s click the add to Chrome and get that installed, click add extension, and if all goes well, you’ll see this little cog icon in the top right-hand corner. So this is installed now in the browser.
Lighthouse
People use Lighthouse to speed up the site. It is used in performance accessibility best practices, generating SEO reports, and site optimization. It helps in making the website faster and user-friendly. Lighthouse analyzes your site and rates it across five categories. It then gives you a score from 0 to 100 for each category, and your site is ranked on Google according to your scores. You must be wondering what these reports are all about. Well, a performance report tells you how quickly a website loads and overall how fast it feels, then there’s the accessibility report, which looks at how easily people with disabilities can use your site.
JSON Formatter
The developers out there who use JSON regularly, JSON Formatter by Callum Locke, is an important extension for you guys. With this extension, the JSON given to Chrome will come in a properly formatted and intended way. “Parsed” will help in coming JSON in a better and readable way. There are useful features like closing the indents and trees as per the requirements of a developer. It also makes the links automatically clickable. It is essential for developers or students.
ColorZilla
ColorZilla extension in Chrome is a powerful tool that lets you pick colors from any web page just like a pro designer. Whether you are a developer, a UI designer, or just someone who loves playing with color palettes, this tool is a must-have for you. It’s a very handy tool if you work with colors, websites, or design in general. It is a feature-rich option, has a user-friendly interface, and is cross-platform compatible. Moreover, the extension assures that no user data is collected.
Wappalyzer
Wappalyzer stands for Web Application Analyzer. This tool can be used to gather information about what type of services or what type of features are running on a particular website, like the WordPress version, etc. After adding the Wappalyzer Chrome extension, when you go ahead and open up any kind of website, like for example Google, and just beside this particular URL bar, you can see a small Google sign has appeared, and if you hover your mouse over there, you can see Wife Eliza is coming up. Just tap on it and you will see the different kinds of services that are being used in that particular website, including the technology, version, JavaScript libraries, CMS frameworks, etc.
BuiltWith Technology Profiler
BuiltWith is a professional tool used to analyze and optimize websites for performance, technology stack, and functionality. The tool is used to analyze the technologies used by a website. BuiltWith works by analyzing a website’s source code. The tool encompasses everything from the Content Management System (CMS) that powers the website’s content to the hosting platform, web server, front-end framework libraries, and analytics tools that shape its design and functionality. It maintains a database of thousands of web technologies and tracks over 1.5 billion active websites.
Postman Interceptor
Postman Interceptor is a top-notch browser extension. It is used for recording web requests and cookies. The Postman Interceptor extension is used in desktop apps to replay web APIs captured from network traffic when a user surfs the internet. Interceptor can also be used to continuously sync your browser’s cookies with the Postman cookie jar, allowing you to reuse those cookies when making requests in Postman. Use this Chrome developer tool, i.e., Postman Interceptor, which is a browser extension that works in tandem with the Postman desktop app, allowing you to debug, reverse engineer web APIs, and handle cookie-based authentication within Postman.
Clear Cache
A developer can clear the cache for a particular website in some sessions or cookies. So, if you need to refresh that and if you are in an environment where you know someone else is also using your browser, and you need to clear all the cookies available on that one, it can be done using this extension. There is an option to add Clear cache. Cookie downloads anything, and to remove it, Clear Cache is a very useful extension. It offers one-click and clearing options. It is often recommended to refresh the page after clearing the cache.
Window Resizer
The Window Resizer allows you to build your own presets for the same size and position as your windows. After adding the Window Resizer Chrome extension for web developers, when a user clicks on the icon on the top right, we see many options for different screen sizes and resolutions. Using it, the size can be set, and the screen resizes as per the mentioned dimensions. It does not require any hardware to resize. Developers can also perform multiple tasks by splitting the screen or setting the screen to a small size, and enhance productivity by side-by-side viewing.
WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluator
WAVE is a Web Accessibility Evaluator tool, the summary of which shows the errors, contrast errors, alerts, features, structural elements, etc. It can be used online by entering the URL of the tool and thus generating a report. Using this report, we can fix the issues on the webpage. It is a kind of evaluation of the content on the website. WAVE, the popular Chrome developer tool, shows the order of interactive elements and all similar web essentials. By integrating this extension, a user can have enhanced accessibility to the website.
Font Finder
The Font Finder extension is an easy-to-use font inspector to get the CSS styles of the selected element on the page. The Font Finder is a tool designed specifically for designers, developers, and typographers. The user can analyze the font information of any element on a page and copy any pieces of that information to the clipboard. It allows inline editing to instantly see the updates. We can demonstrate this extension directly inside the add-on website. So the first thing that we can do is we can start highlighting content, so on right-click, we see three options. We see, analyze, select copy, font details, or replace font width. Please choose the option that we want.
Lorem Ipsum Generator
While creating a website, generating a document, or giving a presentation, a user might need dummy content. It can be input at the desired place via a Lorem Ipsum Generator. It’s a generic passage of text and is written in Latin. It is used for filling out the content, maybe a certain number of paragraphs or sentences, or words that one needs. Simply by entering the values and selecting from the dropdown (paragraphs, sentences, words), you will get the piece of content ready with a text that is dummy text. It is used by developers in various projects.
Full Page Screen Capture
To get a screenshot of the website or any lengthy page, the Full Page Screen Capture extension is used. To install this, search for Full Page Screen Capture and, on clicking on its available extension, click on “Add to Chrome”. The Full Page Screen Capture extension has now been added. To capture the screen, simply click the three dots in the top-right corner and select the extension. A full-page screen has been captured; it can now be saved as a PNG, JPEG, or other format.
Session Buddy
Session Buddy is a super productive extension that is used in all domains and industries. The tool is a go-to for teachers, students, admins, business owners, etc. It saves so much time by saving all the tabs in the Google Chrome window. Once installed, it will appear in Chrome Extensions. It will pull all the current activities of a session that will be saved for the future. A user can create as many sessions as they want. You need not always open tabs every time, and it will save you from frustration.
Talend API Tester
A tool for calling, changing, and testing HTTP and REST APIs is called Talend API Tester. It is considered a part of a Talend Cloud subscription or as a free extension, along with restrictions. You may produce, recoup, cancel, and partake in your API test systems using the Talend Cloud API Tester operation API. It can be used with CI/ CD channels and command line scripts to automate this conditioning. A user may induce the test scripts and requests for your APIs using Talend Cloud API Tester. Talend API allows you to create, describe, test, implement, and deploy your APIs in conjunction with Talend Cloud API Designer, Talend Studio, and Talend Management Console.
Privacy Badger
Privacy Badger is an open-source extension that is both free and learns on its own how to turn off tracking and advertisement features on the web. It was created by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) with the intent of protecting a user’s privacy by utilizing automated tracking thwarting methods that block third-party trackers. Unlike most ad blockers that use a list of known trackers to disable them, Privacy Badger dynamically learns to disable tracking features by analyzing the user’s browsing history. Furthermore, it honors the Do Not Track signal, offers link cleansing, and click-to-activate replacements on some beneficial tracking elements. You can install Privacy Badger on Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Opera.
GraphQL Network Inspector
The GraphQL Network Inspector is an extension for the browser and a part of Chrome DevTools, providing the capability to analyze and troubleshoot GraphQL queries and mutations at the network level. It helps track GraphQL requests as it shows the query and variable details, responses, and performance metrics. You cannot find a “free download” of the Standalone inspector as a “download” simply because it is a part of other developer tools. In order to use it, open your developer tools, go to the network tab, and filter for GraphQL requests. It has a special view for GraphQL requests, which helps in the detailed examination of the data.
Conclusion
These Chrome extensions, which offer powerful features straight into the browser, are essential for enhancing contemporary development workflows. Without having to switch between different tools or platforms, they assist developers in debugging faster, testing APIs more effectively, monitoring performance, analyzing website structures, and optimizing UI/UX. These extensions increase productivity, cut development time, and improve code quality, whether you’re experimenting with frameworks like React, managing RESTful services, or optimizing for accessibility and SEO. In other words, they transform Chrome into an intelligent, full development environment developed for the rapidly changing web projects of today. For every use, there are different extensions available that ease the development work for developers.
