JavaScript is one of the popular scripting languages used to design and develop dynamic and interactive web pages. However, while developing Javascript projects, there might be cases when a function is not working smoothly due to an error occurring in the code. Hence, to prevent mistakes and spot errors before execution, most developers look for JavaScript debugging tools.
Debugging is not an easy task, but you can find various tools online that will help you in spotting errors and bugs at different development stages. The main role of these popular debugging tools is to identify, examine, and fix the errors by locating their cause.
Here, we will discuss some trusted JavaScript Debug and Monitoring tools and what factors to look for when selecting one for your Javascript project.
Here is our list of the best JavaScript Debugging and Monitoring tools:
- Sentry.io A JavaScript tool that helps users to monitor and track all bugs and issues. It supports multiple languages and allows developers to detect where the bugs generate each time.
- Theseus Another debugging tool that tracks and detects bugs across several platforms including, JavaScript, Node.js, and Chrome.
- Postman A console-based debugging and error tracking solution that allows developers to tweak requests and analyze codes. It is compatible with all major operating systems including Windows, Linux, and macOS.
- ESLint A basic tool that identifies and fixes basic syntax problems and catches errors in the code before execution. It allows developers to customize and write their own rules.
- JS Bin A simple and easy-to-use JavaScript debugging tool used for testing and debugging JavaScript code. It allows developers to track real-time changes.
- SplineTech A simple and one of the most popular debugger tools used to debug JavaScript and VBScript inside HTML and DHTML pages.
- Airbrake A lightweight and fast error tracking and performance monitoring solution and it has an agentless and serverless architecture that makes the error detecting process much easier.
- Raygun An error monitoring tool that helps to assess the impact of JavaScript bugs and other problems responsible for degrading performance.
- The Firefox JavaScript Debugger One of the most popular debugging tools that allows developers to examine JavaScript and debug code running locally in Firefox or remotely.
- Edge Developer Tools A built-in tool for Microsoft Edge used to debug and inspect web pages and applications. It is used by developers to debug and automate the browser.
What should you look for in JavaScript Debug and Monitoring tools?
Developers write thousands of codes to develop a web-based application. But, hoping everything will go perfectly is the biggest mistake you might make. You might often face difficulties in the production environment, such as the code not working or not behaving in the manner you wanted it to run.
Many issues arise when developers design and develop a project which often frustrates them. Hence, it is recommended to install debugging tools. These tools will help figure out the root cause of the problem, identify its cause, and eliminate the reason behind its unexpected behavior.
But before buying one for your project, make sure to check if the selected tool supports a rigorous testing phase. Under this phase, developers can easily locate where bugs are found.
Also, make sure it includes intelligent debugging utilities and spot errors and bugs faster as and when they crop up.
Further, look into the error reporting solutions. A debugging tool with an insightful reporting feature will massively expand the Javascript bug monitoring performance.
The Best JavaScript Debug and Monitoring Tools
Indeed, Javascript is mainly used for designing web pages and developing web-based applications, but its services can be extended to other areas of software development as well. If you are looking for tools that help in debugging and monitoring Javascript projects, you have come to the right place.
Have a look at some of the top Javascript debugging and monitoring tools available online:
1. Sentry.io
Sentry is an error tracking software that helps identify, examine and respond to bugs and crashes in real-time. The open-source software aggregates and adds significant context to stack traces and allows developers to set priorities based on business-critical issues.
Key Features
- Tracking bugs and errors
- Monitors overall performance
- Provides log data insights
- Available for free with premium features
- Fault aggregation workflows
- Visualize end-to-end distributed trace
- Breadcrumbs
- Application Management
- Workflow Management
It does not matter whether you use JavaScript, PHP, or any other language, Sentry provides visibility to all language codes and enables users to detect where the bugs generate each time.
Also, with the help of Sentry, you can uncover insights for different teams. From performance monitoring to tracking all the bugs and issues, developers can view all the information and deliver quick remediations.
Pros:
- Quickly diagnoses and resolves JavaScript issues.
- It helps spot unusual readouts and diagnose problems using the performance monitoring tool.
- Debugs all discover mistakes and enable developers to track the source of the generation of bugs.
- Sentry enables developers to trace slow database queries.
- Developers can discover the root cause faster.
- Uses Breadcrumbs to check the trail of events.
- Offers visibility to errors.
- Improves the efficiency of deployments and user experience.
- Monitors JavaScript, Python, Java, PHP, Ruby, etc.
- Allows integration with existing tools.
Cons:
- Breadcrumbs need to be properly set up and require attention.
- Delay with the error reporting in a few cases.
Pricing: Sentry offers a free tool with a limited user capacity. You can upgrade to the Team package for $26/month and the Business package for $80/month.
Website Link: https://sentry.io/for/javascript/
2. Theseus
Theseus is another JavaScript debugging tool used by many developers to monitor and track bugs across several platforms, such as JavaScript, Node.js, and Chrome. It is a free extension of the Brackets code editor released under an MIT License.
Key Features
- Free extension released under an MIT license
- Bug Tracking and Monitoring
- Supports Rewriting of JavaScript code
- Error tracking on JavaScript, Node.js, and Chrome
After the User Design Interface Group at MIT and Adobe Research collaboration, the JavaScript debugging tool was created that provides a real-time understanding of each function call.
Developers also find it easy to rewrite JavaScript code using the tool. It comprises various features that make it a great option when looking for a performance monitoring and debugging tool.
Pros:
- It offers a real-time understanding of each function call.
- Rewriting JavaScript code for tracing is much easier with Theseus.
- Allows developers to inspect different parameters and exceptions provided by each function.
- Debugs functions running on JavaScript, Node.js, and Chrome.
- It helps analyze complicated control flow in languages.
Cons:
- No cons found in Theseus
Pricing: Theseus is free, open-source, and is released under MIT License.
Website Link: https://github.com/adobe-research/theseus
3. Postman
Most developers trust Postman for it helps troubleshoot requests and responses and debugs all problems. The error tracking solution is compatible with all Windows, macOS, and Linux systems.
Key Features
- Troubleshoot response and requests
- Postman is compatible with macOS, Windows, and Linux platforms
- Debug issues and analyze responses
- Supports collection feature
- Advanced reporting
- Supports integrations
- Offers advanced analysis
With the help of the collection feature, developers can save sets of requests and responses of their APIs. It is also great at performing repetitive testing tasks.
Developers can use the perfect tool to tweak requests and analyze codes. Postman is a free tool with premium options. It supports integrations, advanced reporting, analytics, and other features.
Pros:
- Developers can tweak requests and analyze codes faster using Postman.
- It helps troubleshoot all responses and requests.
- Allows conducting repetitive testing tasks.
- The premium versions support 100 integrations.
Cons:
- The free tool is available only for three members.
Pricing: Postman offers a free version that supports up to three members. Postman offers three pricing plans. The Team plan costs $12 per user per month, the Business plan costs $24 per user per month and the Enterprise plan costs $69 per user per month.
Website Link: https://identity.getpostman.com/signup
4. ESLint
ESLint helps identify and fix basic syntax problems. It is great at catching errors in the code before execution. Also, it can be set up as a plugin for different code editors.
Key Features
- Configurable rules
- Supports write your own plugins and rules
- Quick detects errors and fixes them automatically
ESLint is quick at analyzing codes and fixing problems. It requires Node.js for smooth functioning and supports custom parsers. Further, it is highly compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms.
Pros:
- Detects errors and fixes problems automatically.
- Allows developers to customize and write their own rules.
- Supports preprocessing of code.
- Perform thorough analysis to detect faults and errors.
- Highly flexible and easy to use.
- ESLint performs all functions well with Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms.
Cons:
- No cons found yet for ESLint
Pricing: ESLint is open-source and absolutely free.
Website Link: https://eslint.org/
5. JSBin
JSBin is another JavaScript tool that helps developers in testing and debugging JavaScript code. Debugging JavaScript codes can be a challenging task, but with JSBin, you can make the debugging process simple and easy.
Key Features
- Drag and drop editing
- Supports keyboard shortcuts
- Supports SSL embeds
- Asset and private hosting
- View real-time changes
- Supports custom templates
Once you have familiarized yourself with the tool and its features, everything will become so easy for you. Developers can archive or delete code bins as per their requirements.
Further, it is much easier to run the JavaScript code under JSBin. Also, it allows developers to view the results on the debug console.
Pros:
- JSBin supports code clones, sandbox mode, Vanity URLs, and other features.
- It allows developers to change templates and default preferences at any time.
- Track real-time changes.
- Conflicting codes running in other applications cause no impact.
- Easy to run the JavaScript code and track bugs using JSBin.
Cons:
- Saving the original bin is not possible.
- All settings are not visible in the user interface.
Pricing: JSBin is entirely free and open source. There is a Pro subscription available for $126 per year or $16 per month.
Website Link: https://jsbin.com/
6. SplineTech
SplineTech is a popular JavaScript editor and debugger tool compatible with all Windows operating systems. Using the tool, developers can easily debug JavaScript and VBScript inside HTML and DHTML pages. Further, it can modify supported languages.
Key Features
- 100% independent, standalone full-featured JavaScript debugger
- Full visibility into function calls
- Monitors local variables
- Pop-Up debugging
- SplineTech supports all windows operating system
Users can debug JScript, ExtJS, JQuery events, and both simple and complex JavaScript via SplineTech.
Pros:
- Allows debugging Debug jQuery, Ext-js, Prototype.js, etc.
- Allows debugging HTML and JavaScript pages.
- There are no portability issues.
- Users can debug remote JavaScript files easily via Splinetech.
Cons:
- No cons found in SplineTech
Pricing: SplineTech is open-source and available for free.
Website Link: https://splinetech-javascript-debugger.soft112.com/download.html
7. Airbrake
Airbrake is a frictionless error and performance monitoring solution designed ideally for developers to track bugs and errors. It is one of the fastest and most lightweight error monitoring tools that support all major languages and frameworks.
Key Features
- Deployment tracking
- CI/CD integration
- Airbrake is compatible with multiple languages
- Real-time notifications
- Performance Monitoring
- Error Monitoring
- Supports breadcrumbs and backtraces plugins
It has an agentless and serverless architecture that supports code snapshots and breadcrumbs. Thus, making the process of examining and detecting errors in the code easy and quick. With the help of this tool, developers gain full visibility into the health of the entire stack.
It also provides real-time notification to users on critical errors. Further, you can integrate it into Slack, Trello, Github, etc.
Pros:
- It helps discover the root cause of software errors
- Offers in-depth error reports
- Allows integration with project management solutions like Github, Trello, Slack, etc.
Cons:
- Difficult to backtrace all log files
Pricing: Airbrake provides a free trial for 30-days with all features. The product price depends on the Tiers. The Tier 1 package supports 25k errors and costs $19 per month. The Tier 4 package supports up to 1 million errors and costs $299 per month.
Website Link: https://airbrake.io/error-monitoring
8. Raygun
Raygun is an error monitoring tool that helps assess the impact of JavaScript bugs and other problems responsible for degrading performance. Raygun requires only a few lines of code for the setup.
Key Features
- Real-time code level insights.
- Quick identification and fixing of errors.
- Full visibility into the tech stack.
- Raygun is quick to install and easy to use software.
- Real-time deployment monitoring.
- Supports integrations.
- Uses smart filtering options.
Using the tool, developers get the advantage of generating code-level insights in real-time. If you are looking for a debugging tool that detects errors and fixes issues fast, go with Raygun.
Further, you don’t have to go through each log as it provides full visibility into the entire stack and saves your time. Get insights on the main cause of the error and crashes using Raygun.
Pros:
- Using Raygun, developers can prioritize errors and fix them before they create any negative impact on the end-users.
- Offers insightful reports for analysis.
- Integrates with third-party tools like Jira and Zendesk.
- Provides real-time alerts to end-users on fault detection.
- Raygun helps reduce MTTR.
- Access to add contextual information as per the need.
Cons:
- Users find it difficult to understand the user interface.
- Trouble sending notifications if an error reoccurs.
Pricing: Raygun JavaScript debugging tools can be found in the Error Monitoring & Crash Reporting application, which costs $4 per month. The price for each product is scalable based on the required capacity.
Website Link: https://raygun.com/languages/javascript
9. The Firefox JavaScript Debugger
Firefox JavaScript Debugger is another powerful tool that helps track down bugs. It is used by many developers to examine JavaScript and debug code running locally in Firefox or remotely. It supports various web development tools that help in inspecting cookies, and errors, checking missing features and analyzing the site’s responsiveness and layout performance.
Key Features
- Debug HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
- Accessibility inspector
- Supports Storage Inspector to inspect cookies
- DOM Property Viewer
- Style editor support
- Examine and modify source code
- Identify and fix code errors
Earlier the best features of the Firefox development tools were integrated into the browser. Hence, you can still find all its tools, but not as a separate plugin. The Firefox JavaScript Debugger is free-to-use software that runs tests step by step to track bugs and spot errors.
Pros:
- Developers find it easy to search and access pages using these tools.
- Developers can examine the code and modify its state to track bugs.
- It helps debug code running locally or remotely.
- Allows developers to pause code execution for monitoring.
- Allows debugging worker threads and eval sources.
- Enables developers to visualize different aspects of a page.
- Using its web console, you can track web pages and make changes to them.
- It helps analyze the site’s responsiveness and layout performance.
- The accessibility inspector helps check missing features.
Cons:
- Frequent updates are not supported.
Pricing: It is completely free. You can use it without any cost.
Website Link: https://firefox-source-docs.mozilla.org/devtools-user/debugger/
10. Edge Developer Tools
Microsoft Edge comprises built-in web development tools that are available for free and aid in inspecting and debugging web pages and applications. With the help of these tools, developers can make changes to the source files and create website projects.
Key Features
- Offer best-in-class extensions
- Web Compatibility
- The tool is compatible with different versions of Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android
- Allows developers to debug and automate the browser
- Supports a new feature – quiet notification requests
To use the developer tools, all you require is to press the F12 or Ctrl+Shift+I key on the keyboard. You can also go to the settings in Microsoft Edge, select More tools, and click Developer tools.
There are many advantages of using Edge, but it lacks extension support. But, a developer must not worry as it comprises various developer tools that can be useful for their project work.
Pros:
- It supports several virtual machines for testing and development procedures.
- You can perform free testing with Azure Remote App using RemoteIE.
- Supports tools like screenshot generator that help view how their generated pages look across several browsers.
- It helps manage and detect installed apps and sites.
- Allows developers to scan the website with tools like WebHint.
- It helps developers find and fix accessibility issues with insightful reports.
Cons:
- Lacks plugin support.
- Lacks add-ons.
Pricing: The Microsoft Edge browser comes with built-in web development tools, called Microsoft Edge DevTools. You can use it without any costs.
Website Link: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/devtools-guide-chromium/overview
Conclusion
No doubt, JavaScript is a popular scripting language and is mostly used for developing websites and web-based applications. But, at the time of coding, developers may face problems in the production environment, such as the code not behaving in the manner you wanted it to run.
To identify and fix code errors and other problems, developers switch to monitoring and debugging tools for your JavaScript project. While selecting one for your project, make sure to check if the tool supports intelligent debugging utilities and error reporting features.
These features will help expand the Javascript bug monitoring performance.
Here, we have listed some of the best JavaScript Debug and Monitoring Tools that will help examine and respond to bugs and crashes in real-time. Further, most of the tools will help uncover insights for different teams.
Each debugging tool has its advantages and disadvantages. Check and compare all the above-listed JavaScript Debug and Monitoring Tools and then select one for your Javascript projects.
Most of the tools support breadcrumbs, provide workflow management features, and aid developers in quickly performing diagnoses and resolving JavaScript issues. If you are looking for a similar tool that offers full visibility into the entire tech stack, go through our list.
Debugging is a critical part of an application’s performance and each developer must test codes, look for errors and fix them in real-time to deliver a better performing website or web-based application. Hence, compare their features and look if the tools are free or support premium options before making a final call.
