You’ve all got dozens of searches like “subnet mask calculator”, “json formatter” or “cron expression” in your browser history. You always end up on sites stuffed with ads, with interfaces stuck in 2009, and sometimes you’re not even sure the result is reliable. IT-Tools fixes this once and for all: it’s a collection of utility tools for developers, clean, fast, open source, and all gathered in one place.
Technical sheet#
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Type | Web utility collection for developers |
| Open Source | Yes (MIT) |
| Access | Online at it-tools.tech or self-hosted |
| Dependencies | None, it’s a website |
| Use cases | Encoding, formatting, generation, conversion, cryptography… |
| Alternatives | CyberChef, DevUtils (macOS, paid) |
Pros / Cons#
All in one: about a hundred tools gathered in a single interface. No more need for 15 different tabs for basic tasks.
Clean and fast: no ads, no aggressive tracking, no captcha before you can access the result. You show up, do what you need to do, and leave.
Everything runs locally: no data is sent to a server. All the processing happens in your browser. That matters for tokens, keys or sensitive data.
Self-hostable: a Docker image is available so you can host it on your own infra. Handy if you want to make it available to your whole team, or simply keep it always within reach on your homelab.
Regularly updated: new tools are regularly added by the community. The project is active on GitHub.
No history: no saving of your last operations. Close the tab and it’s gone. Worth keeping in mind for complex transformations.
English-only interface: labels and descriptions are in English, but it stays very intuitive and isn’t really a blocker.
Why I use it daily#
IT-Tools covers dozens of categories, but four tools keep coming back in my daily routine:
- JSON formatter & validator: to make a raw API response readable or validate a config file before committing it
- IPv4 subnet calculator: essential for easily working out subnet masks
- Crontab generator: to clearly see what a
*/5 * * * *actually does before deploying it on a server, rather than crossing your fingers - MAC address lookup: to quickly identify the manufacturer of an unknown device that’s just shown up on the network
For everything else I rediscover it as needs come up, and that’s exactly what makes it handy: everything’s in the same place, I no longer have to remember where I saw a particular tool last time.
Useful links#
My take#
IT-Tools is the kind of tool that doesn’t make any noise but is always there. Since I bookmarked it, I’ve stopped hunting for third-party sites for basic manipulations, and I know my sensitive data doesn’t go through some unknown server. The fact that everything is processed locally in the browser is something that really matters to me.
My tip: if you have a homelab (or even just locally on your PC), deploy it internally with Docker. You’ll get access to the same tools without depending on an external connection, and you keep full control over what’s being used.
