Top Smart Contract Development Tools
If you’re embarking on your journey to develop dApps or smart contracts, Ethereum development tools are your best friends. These development tools come with a plethora of functionalities and features that help you automate a lot of your development efforts.
As you can guess, your smart contract or dApp development efforts are not limited to coding and deploying only. You’ll need a dependable debugging tool, libraries, an API, a testnet, and many other things. Only with the best Ethereum development tools, you can have a smooth development cycle for your dApp.
So, let’s begin:
1. Truffle Suite
Development and Deployment Framework
Truffle, the development framework, is certainly one of the best Ethereum Development tools for developing and deploying Ethereum applications. One of the more appealing features of Truffle is that it can perform automated tests both in JavaScript and Solidity. This could help you tremendously if you excel in JavaScript. Plus, Truffle supports both Mocha and Chai test frameworks.
The deployment efforts need your smart contracts to connect to a blockchain network. Truffle offers a personal blockchain that you could store on your local device that doesn’t interact with the Ethereum network. This feature gives you headroom to tweak your projects as per your needs. Furthermore, it acknowledges that your contracts may update or evolve and accepts manageable deployment and migration scripts.
2. MetaMask
Token Wallet and dApp Gateway
MetaMask has gained much traction among the common users over the last few years. Simplicity and convenience are the two pillars that made it one of the most popular Ethereum development tools. MetaMask offers a key vault, login security, token wallet, and exchange facilities — all in one package. Moreover, users can browse and connect with the blockchain applications without jeopardizing their security and privacy.
Due to the simplistic nature of this app, MetaMask has become the go-to token wallet for both veterans and newcomers. Ethereum developers can showcase their applications to a large audience through MetaMask support.
3. Ganache
Personal Blockchain With A Robust Command-Line Tool
When it comes to Ethereum dApp testing, very few top Ethereum development tools come even close to the functionality of Ganache. Ganache gives you a personal blockchain to run on the local device that you can use throughout the development cycle. It helps to develop, test, and deploy your Ethereum smart contracts in a safer environment. So, you can tweak or troubleshoot any issue without connecting to any public testnet or mainnet.
4. Remix IDE
Compiling and Debugging Tool Working on Browsers
Are you looking for a solid debugging and compiling tool for smart contract development? Remix IDE will be the ultimate ETH development tool for you. It is a JavaScript-based, open-source compiler that lets you code straight from your mobile web browser. If you are wondering, it has a different desktop application as well.
You can use this tool for writing, testing, unraveling, and deploying smart contracts either in the browser or locally. While using Remix, you can seamlessly connect to the ETH blockchain through Metamask as well.
5. Geth
Ethereum CLI Client Based on Go
Geth is by far one of the best Ethereum development tools that are a CLI client to implement Go Ethereum as the blockchain protocol. It is a command-line interface that can run as a full node, archive node, or light node. Geth serves as a wallet to store Ether, make transactions, and deploy smart contracts.
6. Parity
A Rust-based Ethereum Client
Parity is not only one of the most popular smart contract development tools, but also an Ethereum client, written in Rust, a programming language. Three core technologies — Substrate, Polkadot, and Parity Signer are the backbones behind this blockchain development framework. So, you can expect reliability, developability, and speed- all in one package.
7. Ethers.js
Ethereum Library Ecosystem
Ethers.js is one of the most complete and compact Ethereum library ecosystems, making it one of the most popular Ethereum development tools. Initially, ethers.js was designed for ethers.io — a wallet and dApp browser. But with time, the library has expanded extensively and is now used as a general-purpose Ethereum library.
8. Infura
API
Among all the Ethereum APIs out there, web3.js and Infura API are two of the best options. But Infura beats web3.js in several decision-making criteria. It supports JSON-RPC over HTTPS and WebSocket with instant access.
One of the strongest features of Infura API is access to an insightful dashboard. The dashboard is full of graphical analytics, such as — bandwidth usage, top method calls, etc.
9. Embark
Development Framework
Embark is another great Ethereum development framework and one of the best Ethereum development tools. It integrates with Ethereum blockchains (EVM), decentralized storage systems (IPFS), and communication platforms. Embark uses Swarm for deployment.
With Embark, you can automatically deploy contracts to a testnet, private net, or the mainnet. Embark keeps track of your contracts and automatically redeploys the contracts and dApps as per your changes. And the best part is that you can develop contracts with JavaScript.
10. Drizzle
A Collection of Front-End Libraries
Drizzle is the third and the final tool in the TruffleSuite. Truffle and Ganache are mainly used for development and testing, respectively. Drizzle offers a collection of front-end libraries — completing the overall development needs with TruffleSuite. This front-end support makes dApp development way more convenient and predictable.
Drizzle should be on your Ethereum tools list as it is one of the few tools to help you with the front-end development efforts.
