Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

DevToys VS Ably

Compare DevToys VS Ably and see what are their differences

DevToys logo DevToys

A collection of converters, formaters, encoders, generators and other tools for your Windows desktop.

Ably logo Ably

The realtime platform that just works. We power more WebSocket connections than any other pub/sub platform, serving over 2 billion devices monthly.
  • DevToys Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-01-20
  • Ably Ably homepage
    Ably homepage //
    2024-08-05

We help teams deliver resilient AI UX and high-performance live experiences that stay fast and in sync worldwide. We provide the global realtime layer for AI agents, chat, notifications, live dashboards, and collaboration - engineered to handle peak demand without self-managed infrastructure.

Teams like HubSpot and Intercom use Ably to avoid the cost and complexity of building and operating realtime systems, while still getting predictable performance at serious scale, handling 2T+ API operations per month. Ablyโ€™s Pub/Sub, Chat, and AI Transport products are unified by design, with developer-friendly APIs and SDKs that integrate across your stack.

DevToys

Pricing URL
-
$ Details
Release Date
-

Ably

Website
ably.com
$ Details
freemium
Release Date
2016 January
Startup details
Country
United Kingdom
Founder(s)
Matthew O'Riordan, Dr. Paddy Byers
Employees
50 - 99

DevToys features and specs

  • Comprehensive Toolset
    DevToys offers a wide range of developer tools in one package, allowing easy access to utilities like JSON formatting, JWT decoding, and text encoding without switching applications.
  • User-Friendly Interface
    The application features an intuitive and clean interface, making it accessible for both novice and experienced developers to quickly find and use the tools they need.
  • Free and Open Source
    DevToys is free to use and open source, allowing users to benefit from community contributions and transparency, while supporting developers who refine and expand its features.
  • Offline Access
    DevToys can be used offline, which is beneficial for developers who need tool access without reliable internet connectivity.

Possible disadvantages of DevToys

  • Platform Limitations
    As of now, DevToys is primarily available for Windows users, limiting accessibility for developers on other operating systems, such as macOS or Linux.
  • Limited Advanced Features
    While DevToys offers a broad range of basic tools, it may lack some advanced features that specialized standalone applications provide, which might be necessary for more complex tasks.
  • Dependency on .NET
    DevToys requires the .NET 5 or higher framework which may be a drawback for users who prefer to limit dependencies or need a lightweight solution.
  • Potential Redundancy
    Developers who already use a variety of specialized tools or integrated development environments might find some of DevToys' tools redundant, preferring their existing solutions.

Ably features and specs

  • Scalability
    Ably is designed to handle a massive number of concurrent connections and messages, making it scalable for both small and large applications.
  • Real-time Messaging
    Ably provides robust real-time messaging capabilities with low latency, supporting use-cases like live chat, gaming, and real-time data streaming.
  • Global Presence
    Ably has a globally distributed network, ensuring low latency and high availability for users around the world.
  • Advanced Features
    It offers advanced features such as message history, presence, and push notifications, which can enhance the functionality of real-time applications.
  • Security
    Ably includes built-in security features such as TLS encryption, token-based authentication, and private channels to ensure secure communication.
  • Extensive Documentation
    The service provides extensive and well-organized documentation, making it easier for developers to integrate and utilize its features.
  • SDKs and Libraries
    Ably offers a wide range of SDKs and libraries for different programming languages and platforms, easing the development process.
  • Reliable Delivery
    It ensures reliable message delivery with features like message queuing and message de-duplication.

Possible disadvantages of Ably

  • Complexity
    Due to its wide range of advanced features, the initial learning curve can be steep for new users.
  • Cost
    For large-scale applications or extensive use of advanced features, the costs can add up, making it potentially expensive.
  • Vendor Lock-in
    Relying heavily on Ablyโ€™s platform-specific features may result in vendor lock-in, making it challenging to switch to other services in the future.
  • Dependence on Internet Connection
    As a cloud-based service, Ablyโ€™s performance is highly dependent on the quality and reliability of the internet connection.
  • Third-party Integration
    While Ably offers various integration options, integrating certain third-party services may require additional custom development or may not be as seamless.

Analysis of DevToys

Overall verdict

  • DevToys is a valuable tool for developers, providing a wide range of utilities in a single, easy-to-use application. It is well-received for its functionality and convenience.

Why this product is good

  • DevToys is considered good because it offers a suite of handy developer tools integrated in one application, eliminating the need to search for different tools online. It includes utilities for text manipulation, data formatting, image conversion, and more, all designed to streamline the workflow of developers.

Recommended for

  • Software developers
  • Web developers
  • Data analysts
  • IT professionals
  • Anyone who frequently manipulates data or code

Analysis of Ably

Overall verdict

  • Ably is a reliable and efficient real-time messaging platform, well-suited for applications requiring high performance and scalability. It is generally well-regarded within the developer community for its ease of use and robust feature set.

Why this product is good

  • Features
    Ably provides a comprehensive suite of features such as pub/sub messaging, presence, and history.
  • Security
    It implements robust security practices including TLS encryption, token-based authentication, and private channels.
  • Integration
    Supports numerous protocols and provides SDKs for various programming languages, making it easy to integrate with different systems.
  • Reliability
    Ably offers high availability and low latency, ensuring messages are delivered in real-time.
  • Scalability
    The platform can handle millions of active connections and is designed for horizontal scaling.

Recommended for

  • developers building real-time applications like chat apps, dashboards, or multiplayer games
  • businesses in need of a scalable solution for live updates and notifications
  • teams looking for a platform with strong security and compliance credentials
  • organizations requiring integration with existing development workflows and tools

DevToys videos

DevToys - Review and How to Install | The Swiss Army Knife for Developers

More videos:

  • Review - Quick shout-out to DevToys
  • Review - DevToys: All in One Developer Tools for Windows

Ably videos

How to build a collaborative environment around your product

More videos:

  • Demo - How to build an avatar stack with Ably Spaces
  • Demo - Ably 101: Serverless WebSockets at scale

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to DevToys and Ably)
Developer Tools
71 71%
29% 29
Productivity
100 100%
0% 0
Realtime Backend / API
0 0%
100% 100
Utilities
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Ably should be more popular than DevToys. It has been mentiond 26 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

DevToys mentions (16)

  • Show HN: Prism.Tools โ€“ Free and privacy-focused developer utilities
    There are lots of these, but this is the first that I've seen that focused on frontend dev a bit more. I've saved it to my list of tools for reference. Here's another with a more local / backend / IT flavor: https://it-tools.tech I have a couple more local apps with similar functions. Here's one that's cross platform[0]. This one appears to be Mac only[1]. Someone else mentioned not being able to remember these... - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
  • 12 Developer Tools That Keep My Workflow Smooth
    Think of DevToys as the developer equivalent of a multi-tool. Itโ€™s a desktop app with dozens of handy utilities. - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
  • XYPlorer Is Written in VB6
    Devtoys is great and open-source and .NET and cross-platform * https://devtoys.app/ and in context to the thread files-community/files is great and open-source and .NET and cross-platform * https://files.community/. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • DevHub.app โ€“ Developer Utilities for macOS
    The open-source (MIT license) DevToys is a similar toolkit and it's available for macOS, Linux, and Windows: https://devtoys.app. - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
  • DevUtils vs. DevToys vs. OpenDev: Which Developer Utility Tool Is Right for You?
    DevToys is a free, open-source utility for Windows users. It's often referred to as the "Swiss Army knife" for developers, providing a broad range of tools in a single, accessible application. DevToys is particularly appealing due to its simplicity and the wide array of functionalities it offers. - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
View more

Ably mentions (26)

  • AWS us-east-1 outage: How Ablyโ€™s multi-region architecture held up
    During this weekโ€™s AWS us-east-1 outage, Ably maintained full service continuity with no customer impact. This was our multi-region architecture working exactly as designed; error rates were negligibly low and unchanged throughout. Any additional round trip latency was limited to 12ms, which is below the typical variance in any client-to-endpoint connection, and well below our 40โ€“50ms global median; this is... - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • Real-Time Sync Alternatives: Vaultrice vs. localStorage, DIY, Firebase, Pusher
    Services like Pusher and Ably are experts in real-time messaging. They provide robust APIs for pub/sub channels, allowing you to broadcast events to clients reliably. - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • CometChat Alternatives โ€“ Comparing the Top 10 Competitors
    Ably is a real-time infrastructure platform that focuses on delivering low-latency, reliable messaging across global distributed systems. It's designed for developers building event-driven applications, including chat, but also supports broader use cases like live dashboards, GPS tracking, and collaborative tools. - Source: dev.to / 12 months ago
  • Real-Time Authorization in a Chat Application with Permit.io and WebSockets
    For our web socket-based application, weโ€™ll be using Next.js and Ably, a service that allows us to easily integrate and manage real-time capabilities in our apps powered by web socket. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Curiosity: Using Ably.io Realtime Messaging as a Lightweight Database
    Ably offers various solutions for developers, with their most popular being realtime messaging based on the pub/sub model. When you publish a message to a channel, all devices connected to that channel receive it instantly. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing DevToys and Ably, you can also consider the following products

CyberChef - The Cyber Swiss Army Knife

Pusher - Pusher is a hosted API for quickly, easily and securely adding scalable realtime functionality via WebSockets to web and mobile apps.

JSONFormatter.org - Online JSON Formatter and JSON Validator will format JSON data, and helps to validate, convert JSON to XML, JSON to CSV. Save and Share JSON

Socket.io - Realtime application framework (Node.JS server)

DevToys for Mac - DevToys For mac. Contribute to ObuchiYuki/DevToysMac development by creating an account on GitHub.

PubNub - PubNub is a real-time messaging system for web and mobile apps that can handle API for all platforms and push messages to any device anywhere in the world in a fraction of a second without having to worry about proxies, firewalls or mobile drop-offs.