Your browser is where you spend most of your working hours. Why not make it work harder for you?
The right Chrome extensions can shave hours off your weekly workflow. The wrong ones slow down your browser and distract you with features you'll never use.
After testing dozens of extensions over the years, I've narrowed it down to seven that genuinely make a difference. These aren't obscure tools—they're battle-tested extensions that developers and designers actually use daily.
No fluff. No sponsored picks. Just tools that work.
Why Browser Extensions Matter for Productivity
Before diving into the list, let's address the elephant in the room: do you really need extensions?
The honest answer: you need fewer than you think, but the right ones are game-changers.
The Case for Extensions
- Eliminate context switching: Do tasks without leaving your current tab
- Automate repetitive work: One click instead of ten
- Access information instantly: No more searching for that tool
- Learn from live websites: Inspect what others are doing
The Case Against Too Many Extensions
My rule: if you haven't used an extension in the past month, remove it.
Now, let's look at the seven worth keeping.
1. Wappalyzer — Instant Technology Detection
Ever wondered what technology stack a website uses? Wappalyzer tells you instantly.
What It Does
One click reveals everything: CMS, frameworks, JavaScript libraries, analytics tools, hosting providers, and more. It's like X-ray vision for websites.
Key Features
| Feature | Free Plan | Paid Plans |
|---|---|---|
| Technology detection | ✅ Unlimited | ✅ Unlimited |
| Categories detected | 100+ | 100+ |
| Technology lookup | ✅ | ✅ |
| Lead generation | ❌ | ✅ |
| API access | ❌ | ✅ |
| Bulk analysis | ❌ | ✅ |
Real-World Use Cases
- Competitive research: See what tools your competitors use
- Learning: Discover technologies behind sites you admire
- Sales/freelancing: Identify prospects using specific tech
- Debugging: Quickly verify what's running on a page
Pros and Cons
- Incredibly accurate detection
- Covers vast range of technologies
- Clean, organized interface
- Free tier is genuinely useful
- Can't detect technologies that hide themselves
- Some advanced features locked behind expensive plans
- Occasionally shows outdated version numbers
Best For: Developers, technical marketers, sales teams, curious builders
Price: Free (paid plans from $149/month for teams)
2. ColorZilla — The Ultimate Color Tool
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For designers and front-end developers, color is everything. ColorZilla makes working with colors effortless.
What It Does
Pick colors from any webpage, analyze color palettes, generate gradients, and access your color history—all from your browser toolbar.
Key Features
- Eyedropper: Pick any color from any webpage with pixel-level accuracy
- Color Picker: Advanced color selection with multiple formats
- Gradient Generator: Create CSS gradients visually
- Palette Viewer: Analyze all colors used on a page
- Color History: Access recently picked colors
- Format Options: HEX, RGB, HSL, and more
Why Designers Love It
Instant Color Picking
See a color you like on any website? Hover over it, click, and the HEX code is copied to your clipboard. No more screenshots and Photoshop color sampling.
CSS Gradient Generator
Visual gradient builder that outputs clean CSS code. Supports linear, radial, and complex multi-stop gradients. Copy and paste directly into your stylesheet.
Page Color Analysis
Instantly see every color used on a webpage. Great for studying color palettes of sites you admire or auditing your own site's color consistency.
Pros and Cons
- 100% free with no limitations
- Pixel-perfect color picking
- Works on any webpage element
- Multiple color format outputs
- Gradient generator is excellent
- UI feels slightly dated
- Can't pick colors from images in some cases
- Doesn't work on browser system pages
Best For: UI/UX designers, front-end developers, anyone working with colors
Price: Completely free
3. WhatFont — Identify Any Font Instantly
Typography makes or breaks design. WhatFont helps you identify fonts on any webpage in seconds.
What It Does
Hover over any text, and WhatFont tells you the font family, size, weight, line-height, and color. It's that simple.
Key Features
| Information Provided | Details |
|---|---|
| Font Family | Full font name and fallbacks |
| Font Size | In pixels |
| Font Weight | Numeric value (400, 700, etc.) |
| Line Height | Computed value |
| Color | HEX value |
| Font Service | Google Fonts, Typekit, etc. |
How to Use It
- Click the extension icon
Activates the font detection mode - Hover over any text
A tooltip appears with font information - Click for more details
See complete typography specs - Click the icon again to exit
Returns to normal browsing
Pro Tip
Pros and Cons
- Dead simple to use
- Identifies font source (Google Fonts, Typekit, etc.)
- Shows complete typography details
- Lightweight, doesn't slow browser
- Free
- Can't identify fonts in images
- Sometimes struggles with icon fonts
- Doesn't work on all web technologies
Best For: Designers, typographers, developers matching designs
Price: Free
4. JSON Viewer — Make JSON Readable
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If you work with APIs, you deal with JSON constantly. The default browser view is a wall of unformatted text. JSON Viewer fixes that.
What It Does
Automatically formats JSON data in your browser with syntax highlighting, collapsible trees, and search functionality.
Before and After
| Without JSON Viewer | With JSON Viewer |
|---|---|
| Wall of unformatted text | Color-coded, indented structure |
| Hard to find specific values | Collapsible sections |
| No search capability | Built-in search |
| Easy to miss errors | Error highlighting |
| Impossible to navigate large files | Breadcrumb navigation |
Key Features
- Syntax highlighting: Strings, numbers, booleans in different colors
- Collapsible trees: Expand/collapse nested objects
- Search: Find values in large JSON files
- Raw/Parsed toggle: Switch between views
- Copy path: Get the path to any value
- Dark mode: Easy on the eyes
Recommended Extension
There are several JSON viewer extensions. I recommend JSON Viewer Pro or JSON Formatter—both are excellent and free.
Pros and Cons
- Automatic formatting—no action needed
- Makes API debugging significantly faster
- Search in large JSON files
- Copy path feature is incredibly useful
- Free
- Some versions struggle with very large files
- May conflict with other extensions
- Occasional formatting issues with malformed JSON
Best For: Backend developers, API developers, anyone debugging network requests
Price: Free
5. Responsive Viewer — Test Multiple Screen Sizes
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Responsive design means testing on dozens of screen sizes. Responsive Viewer lets you see them all at once.
What It Does
Opens your current page in multiple device viewports simultaneously. See how your site looks on iPhone, iPad, Android, and desktop—all in one view.
Key Features
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Preset devices | iPhone, iPad, Android, desktop sizes |
| Custom viewports | Add your own dimensions |
| Synchronized scrolling | All viewports scroll together |
| Screenshot | Capture all viewports at once |
| User agent switching | Simulate actual devices |
| Keyboard shortcuts | Quick access |
Why It's Better Than DevTools
Chrome DevTools has responsive mode, but you can only view one size at a time. Responsive Viewer shows multiple simultaneously—catching issues you'd otherwise miss.
Use Case: Client Presentations
Take a single screenshot showing your design on 6 different devices. Impressive for proposals and progress updates.
Use Case: QA Testing
Spot breakpoint issues instantly. If something looks wrong on one device, you see it immediately without switching views.
Use Case: Design Comparison
Compare your implementation against design mockups on multiple breakpoints simultaneously.
Pros and Cons
- See multiple viewports at once
- Synchronized scrolling saves time
- Screenshot all viewports instantly
- Custom device presets
- Free
- Resource-heavy with many viewports open
- Some interactive elements don't work perfectly
- Not a replacement for real device testing
Best For: Front-end developers, designers, QA testers
Price: Free
6. daily.dev — Developer News Feed
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Staying current in tech is a job in itself. daily.dev brings the best developer content to your new tab page.
What It Does
Replaces your new tab with a personalized feed of developer articles, tutorials, and news from hundreds of sources. It's like a curated newsletter that updates constantly.
Content Sources
- Dev.to, Hashnode, Medium (tech publications)
- Official blogs (React, Vue, Google, GitHub)
- Tech news sites
- YouTube channels (as articles)
- Reddit discussions
- Product Hunt launches
Key Features
| Feature | Free | Plus ($5/mo) |
|---|---|---|
| Personalized feed | ✅ | ✅ |
| Tag filtering | ✅ | ✅ |
| Bookmarks | ✅ | ✅ |
| Reading history | ✅ | ✅ |
| Custom feeds | Limited | ✅ |
| AI summaries | ❌ | ✅ |
| Advanced search | ❌ | ✅ |
Customization Tips
- Select your tags carefully
Choose technologies you actually use. Too many tags = noise. - Block sources you don't like
Hide clickbait publications from your feed. - Use bookmarks
Save articles to read later instead of opening 20 tabs. - Set time limits
It's easy to fall into endless scrolling. Be intentional.
Pros and Cons
- Incredible content aggregation
- Learns your preferences over time
- Community upvoting surfaces quality
- Replace wasted new-tab time with learning
- Free tier is fully functional
- Can be addictive and distracting
- Quality varies—some clickbait gets through
- New tab replacement may not suit everyone
- Requires curation to be useful
Best For: Developers who want to stay current without hunting for content
Price: Free (Plus at $5/month)
7. CSS Peeper — Extract Design Assets Instantly
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CSS Peeper is a designer's dream tool. Inspect styles, extract assets, and analyze design decisions without opening DevTools.
What It Does
A visual CSS inspector that shows styles in a clean, designer-friendly format. Plus, it extracts colors, images, and other assets from any webpage.
Key Features
- Visual style inspection: See CSS without code noise
- Color palette extraction: Get all colors used on a page
- Asset export: Download images, SVGs, and icons
- Typography details: Fonts, sizes, spacing
- Spacing visualization: See margins and padding
- Copy CSS: Grab specific style properties
CSS Peeper vs. DevTools
| Aspect | DevTools | CSS Peeper |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | Developer-focused | Designer-friendly |
| Learning curve | Steep | Minimal |
| Asset extraction | Manual, complex | One-click |
| Color palette | Not available | Automatic |
| Export options | Limited | Extensive |
| Power features | Comprehensive | Focused subset |
Perfect For
Design Research
Quickly analyze competitors' design choices. Extract their color palettes, see their typography stack, understand their spacing system.
Asset Collection
Found an icon or image you need for reference? Extract it in seconds without digging through network requests.
Design Handoff Verification
Check if developers implemented your designs correctly. Compare actual CSS values against your specifications.
Pros and Cons
- Beautiful, intuitive interface
- One-click asset extraction
- Color palette generation
- No DevTools knowledge required
- Lightweight
- Less powerful than full DevTools
- Some advanced CSS properties not shown
- Can't modify styles (inspect only)
- Doesn't work on all websites
Best For: UI/UX designers, design-focused developers, design researchers
Price: Free
Quick Comparison: All 7 Extensions
| Extension | Best For | Primary Users | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wappalyzer | Tech stack detection | Developers, Marketers | Free (paid tiers) |
| ColorZilla | Color picking & gradients | Designers, Developers | Free |
| WhatFont | Font identification | Designers | Free |
| JSON Viewer | JSON formatting | Developers | Free |
| Responsive Viewer | Multi-device testing | Developers, QA | Free |
| daily.dev | Developer news | All developers | Free (Plus $5/mo) |
| CSS Peeper | Visual CSS inspection | Designers | Free |
How to Choose the Right Extensions
You don't need all seven. Choose based on your role:
If You're a Front-End Developer
Essential: Wappalyzer, JSON Viewer, Responsive Viewer
Nice to have: ColorZilla, daily.dev
If You're a Back-End Developer
Essential: JSON Viewer, Wappalyzer
Nice to have: daily.dev
If You're a UI/UX Designer
Essential: ColorZilla, WhatFont, CSS Peeper
Nice to have: Responsive Viewer
If You're a Full-Stack Developer
Essential: JSON Viewer, Wappalyzer, Responsive Viewer
Nice to have: ColorZilla, daily.dev
Extension Management Best Practices
Even good extensions can cause problems if mismanaged.
Performance Tips
- Disable when not in use: Right-click the extension icon and disable extensions you use occasionally
- Use profiles: Create Chrome profiles for different tasks with different extension sets
- Audit regularly: Remove extensions you haven't used in 30 days
- Check memory usage: Chrome's Task Manager (Shift+Esc) shows extension memory consumption
Security Considerations
- Only install extensions from the Chrome Web Store
- Check reviews and user count before installing
- Review permissions carefully—does a color picker really need access to all your data?
- Remove extensions that haven't been updated in years
- Be wary of extensions that suddenly change ownership
Honorable Mentions
These didn't make the top 7 but are worth knowing about:
| Extension | Purpose | Why Consider It |
|---|---|---|
| Lighthouse | Performance auditing | Built into DevTools, but extension version is convenient |
| React/Vue DevTools | Framework debugging | Essential if you work with these frameworks |
| Grammarly | Writing assistance | Catches errors in documentation and communications |
| Muzli | Design inspiration | Alternative to daily.dev for designers |
| Fonts Ninja | Font identification | Alternative to WhatFont with more features |
| Fake Filler | Form testing | Auto-fills forms with test data |
Final Thoughts
The right Chrome extensions don't just save time—they change how you work. They turn tedious tasks into one-click actions and surface information you'd otherwise spend minutes hunting for.
But remember: extensions are tools, not solutions. A color picker won't make you a better designer. A JSON viewer won't make you a better developer. They just remove friction so you can focus on what matters.
Start with one or two extensions from this list. Master them. Add more only when you have a genuine need.
"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." — Leonardo da Vinci
The most productive developers and designers I know use fewer tools, not more. They've just chosen the right ones.
Now you can too.
