The Dev Tools Everyone Loves — But I Stopped Using (And What I Use Instead)

Not every tool in your stack deserves to stay forever. Some outlive their usefulness.

The Dev Tools Everyone Loves — But I Stopped Using (And What I Use Instead)

From Chrome DevTools to Postman and Docker Desktop — here’s why I said goodbye to the usual favorites and what replaced them in my daily dev life.

If you’re like most developers, you’ve built up a stack of tools that feel like second nature — tools that practically define your workflow.

But just because a tool is popular (or was helpful once) doesn’t mean it still deserves a place in your toolkit today.

Over the years, I realized I was clinging to a few tools out of habit — not necessity. In fact, replacing them made me faster, more focused, and a lot less frustrated.

This post isn’t about trashing your favorite tools. It’s about offering alternatives that might work better for you, too.

1. Postman → HTTPie + Curl + VS Code REST Client

Postman was my go-to for API testing during the early stages of my career. It’s powerful, feature-rich, and widely loved — but with that comes bloat.

I noticed it was consuming more memory than my IDE. Worse, syncing collections across workspaces started feeling like more work than writing the actual API calls.

What I use now:

• HTTPie: A beautifully simple CLI tool with human-readable syntax:

http GET https://api.example.com/users Authorization:'Bearer <token>'

• VS Code REST Client Extension: Lets me keep .http files alongside my code. No context switching, no tabs. Just quick, version-controlled API tests.

Why it works better:

• Lightweight and lightning fast
• Works well with Git (you can commit your API tests)
• Fully terminal/IDE integrated, no app-hopping

2. Chrome DevTools → Firefox Developer Edition

Chrome DevTools is solid — but over time, it felt… noisy. Especially with extensions interfering, performance throttling, and rendering quirks.

Firefox DevTools offered cleaner debugging, better CSS grid/flexbox inspection, and most importantly — no performance dip when inspecting memory-intensive apps.

What’s better in Firefox:

• CSS Grid & Flexbox visualizers are best-in-class
• Font editor for live tweaks
• Precise performance tools with less noise

Plus, using a browser not hooked directly to your Google account feels a bit more privacy-respecting, doesn’t it?

3. Docker Desktop → Podman + Colima

After Docker changed its licensing, things got messy — especially for teams using the free tier commercially.

But more than the license, Docker Desktop started eating up CPU like it was mining Bitcoin in the background.

My alternative stack:

• Podman: A daemonless container engine that’s a drop-in Docker replacement
• Colima: A lightweight container runtime for macOS (with VM support)

Together, they give me:

• Lower system resource usage
• No need to sign in or manage Docker accounts
• CLI-first experience that actually feels dev-friendly

Podman supports rootless containers, which makes it easier to lock down permissions.

4. Git GUI Clients → Terminal Git + Lazygit

I used to swear by Sourcetree and GitKraken. But over time, I found myself switching between mouse and keyboard far too often. The flow felt interrupted.

My new tools:

• Plain Terminal Git: Once you memorize key commands, it’s like muscle memory.
• Lazygit: A terminal UI for Git that gives me a visual overview — without ever leaving the terminal.

brew install lazygit

It’s fast, minimal, and perfect when you’re working across multiple branches or resolving merge conflicts.

5. Notion → Obsidian (for technical notes)

Notion is great, no doubt. But once I started using it for everything, it became a maze.

Worse, the offline performance was… well, not great. I needed a local-first, markdown-friendly tool that could handle my code snippets and workflows better.

Obsidian wins because:

• Works entirely offline
• Markdown-based (easy version control)
• Supports graph view and backlinks
• Customizable with community plugins

No more waiting for a page to load just to jot down a quick Docker command.

6. VS Code Extensions (Some of Them) → Leaner, Manual Setup

Installing every cool-sounding VS Code extension I came across.

I had linters, formatters, icons, themes, Git helpers, productivity boosters — you name it. But at some point, my editor became slower than Chrome.

What changed:

I now only install what I actually need, like:

• Prettier
• Python or TypeScript LSPs
• REST Client (as mentioned earlier)

The result? Faster load times, fewer bugs, and zero “extension conflicts.”

The Pattern I Noticed

Across all these changes, one theme kept showing up:

The simpler the tool, the better I worked.

I realized that comfort isn’t the same as efficiency. Just because something’s familiar doesn’t mean it’s still the right fit. And often, the “cool” tools distract more than they help.

Before You Ditch Your Favorite Tools…

Here are a few things to consider:

• Are you using the tool daily, or has it become shelfware?
• Does it make you faster — or just feel like it does?
• Is there a simpler or more focused alternative?

You don’t need to go minimalist overnight. Just evaluate your stack the same way you do your code — refactor it when it gets bloated.

Final Thoughts: Your Stack Should Serve You, Not Slow You Down

Tools evolve. So should we.

If your current dev stack feels more like a burden than a boost, it’s time to rethink what belongs in it.

You don’t have to quit all the fan favorites — but trimming the fat might make you fall in love with coding again.

So… what dev tool are you still using just out of habit?