This is a list of software that I regularly enjoy using, that I have used in the past, or that I want to use sometime in the future. I have compiled this list purely subjectively according to my own taste. But maybe you can find some inspiration or help. YMMV.
If you know a replacement for a tool on this list, you are more than welcome to provide a pull request. Thank you very much!
- Affinity Publisher: Professional desktop publishing software.
- BibDesk: Open-source reference management software package.
- calibre: Cross-platform open-source suite of e-book software.
- glow: Render markdown on the CLI, with pizzazz! 💅.
- JabRef: Open-source, cross-platform citation and reference management tool.
- MindForger: Thinking notebook and Markdown editor.
- pandoc: Universal markup converter.
- Scribus: Open Source Desktop Publishing.
- Scrivener: Word-processing program and outliner designed for authors.
- Zettlr: A Markdown Editor for the 21st century.
- conda: Open-source, cross-platform, language-agnostic package manager and environment management system.
- Dash: Instant offline access to 200+ API documentation sets.
- exercism: Command-line tool to interact with exercism.io.
- Git: Distributed revision control system.
- git-lfs: Git extension for versioning large files.
- git-delta: Syntax-highlighting pager for git and diff output.
- GNU Octave: High-level interpreted language for numerical computing.
- Hex Fiend: A fast and clever hex editor for Mac OS X.
- hexyl: Command-line hex viewer.
- HxD: Freeware Hex Editor and Disk Editor.
- jq: Lightweight and flexible command-line JSON processor.
- Neovim: Ambitious Vim-fork focused on extensibility and agility.
- Strawberry Perl for Windows. Perl environment for MS Windows.
- Sublime Merge: Git client, done Sublime.
- Sublime Text: A sophisticated text editor for code, markup and prose.
- tig: Text interface for Git repositories.
- VSCodium: VS Code without MS branding/telemetry/licensing.
- WinMerge: Tool for data comparison and merging of text-like files.
- xsv: Fast CSV toolkit written in Rust.
- CloudCompare: 3D point cloud and mesh processing software.
- Fiji: A "batteries-included" distribution of ImageJ.
- FreeCAD: General-purpose parametric 3D CAD modeler and a building information modeling (BIM) software with finite-element-method (FEM) support.
- gnuplot: Command-driven, interactive function plotting.
- meshlab: Mesh processing system.
- ParaView: Data analysis and visualization application.
- Affinity Designer: Professional Graphic Design Software.
- Affinity Photo: Professional Image Editing Software.
- FileOptimizer: Advanced file optimizer featuring a lossless (no quality loss) file size reduction.
- gallery-dl: Command-line program to download image-galleries and -collections from several image hosting sites.
- GIMP: Free and open-source raster graphics editor.
- HandBrake: Transcoder for digital video files.
- ImageOptim: GUI for lossless image optimization tools.
- Inkscape: Free and open-source vector graphics editor.
- IrfanView: Image viewer, editor, organiser and converter program.
- Pixelmator: Powerful, full-featured image editor.
- PngOptimizer: Optimize PNG images and convert other lossless format (BMP, GIF, TGA...) images to PNG.
- Trimage: Cross-platform GUI and command-line interface for optimizing PNG and JPG files.
- Smyck Color Scheme for terminals and text editors.
- Diverging color map: "Cool To Warm" (Diverging Color Maps for Scientific Visualization)
- Sequential color map: "Viridis" (matplotlib colormaps)
- 2048.c: Console version of the game "2048" for GNU/Linux.
- cowsay: Configurable talking characters in ASCII art.
- Good Sudoku by Zach Gage: Sudoku that loves you.
- lolcat: Rainbows and unicorns in your console!
- mednaffe: A front-end (GUI) for mednafen emulator.
- OpenEmu: Multiple Video Game System.
- ASCIIQuarium: Aquarium animation in ASCII art.
- Auphonic: Audio post production web service for podcasts, broadcasters, radio shows, movies, screencasts and more.
- DaVinci Resolve: Color correction and non-linear video editing (NLE) application.os
- FFmpeg: Play, record, convert, and stream audio and video.
- MediathekView: Durchsucht die Online-Mediatheken verschiedener überwiegend deutschsprachiger öffentlich-rechtlicher Sender.
- Mixxx: Free DJ software that gives you everything you need to perform live mixes.
- mpv: 🎥 command line video player (with GUI).
- OBS Studio: Free and open source software for video recording and live streaming.os
- OpenShot Video Editor: Free, Open, and Award-Winning Video Editor.os
- REAPER: Digital audio workstation and MIDI sequencer software.os
- Shotwell Photo Manager: Digital photo organizer.
- Ultraschall: Eine leicht bedienbaren HighEnd-Podcast-Aufnahmesoftware auf Basis von Reaper.os
- youtube-dl: Download YouTube videos from the command-line.
- bat: Clone of cat(1) with syntax highlighting and Git integration.
- Carbon Copy Cloner: Backup utility that can create bootable backups.
- Double Commander: file manager with two panels side by side.
- dupeguru finds duplicate files.
- Everything: Locate files and folders by name instantly.
- fd: Simple, fast and user-friendly alternative to find.
- fzf: Command-line fuzzy finder written in Go.
- Listary: Desktop search utility.
- lsd: Clone of ls with colorful output, file type icons, and more.
- Marta: Dual pane file manager for macOS.
- Midnight Commander: Terminal-based visual file manager.
- Ncdu: disk usage analyzer with an ncurses interface.
- ranger: File browser.
- ripgrep-all: Ripgrep, but also search in PDFs, E-Books, Office documents, zip, tar.gz, etc.
- ripgrep: Ripgrep recursively searches directories for a regex pattern.
- Total Commander: Orthodox file manager.
- WinDirStat: Graphical disk usage analyzer.
- 1Password: Password manager.
- 7-Zip: File archiver with a high compression ratio.
- Alfred: Quicklaunch application.
- AltTab: Windows alt-tab on macOS.
- AppCleaner: Small application which allows you to thoroughly uninstall unwanted apps.
- AquaSnap Window Manager: Dock, snap, tile, organize.
- Arq backs up your files securely to your cloud account or NAS.
- AutoHotkey: Macro-creation and automation-oriented scripting utility.
- cask-repair: Quickly repair outdated/broken Casks from homebrew-cask.
- DisplayCAL: Display Calibration and Characterization powered by ArgyllCMS.
- Duet Display: Use your iPad as a second display for your Mac.
- EagleFiler: Collect notes, e-mails, and Web pages on your Mac, and search them instantly.
- ExifTool: Perl lib for reading and writing EXIF metadata.
- homebrew-cask-fonts: 🖋 Casks of Ｆ🅾𝓝𝐓𝚂.
- homebrew-cask: 🍻 A CLI workflow for the administration of macOS applications distributed as binaries.
- Homebrew: The Missing Package Manager for macOS (or Linux).
- htop: Improved top (interactive process viewer).
- icalBuddy: Get events and tasks from the macOS calendar database.
- iStat Menus: An advanced Mac system monitor for your menubar.
- iThoughtsX: Mind mapping app.
- KeePassXC: Cross-platform community-driven port of the Windows application "Keepass Password Safe".
- Keyboard Maestro: Automation tool for macOS which uses macros to automate workflows.
- mas: Mac App Store command-line interface.
- MoneyMoney: Online banking for macOS.
- MonitorControl: 🖥 control your external monitor brightness & volume on your Mac.
- Moom: Move and zoom windows.
- p7zip: 7-Zip (high compression file archiver) implementation.
- powerlevel9k: A badass zsh theme with more power than a normal earthling.
- PowerToys: Windows system utilities to maximize productivity.
- Receipts sammelt und verwaltet Belege.
- TableTool: A simple CSV editor for the Mac.
- Taskwarrior: Commandline Task Management.
- tldr: Simplified and community-driven man pages.
- tmux: Terminal multiplexer.
- topgrade: Upgrade all the things.
- unrar: Extract, view, and test RAR archives.
- yabai: A tiling window manager for macOS based on binary space partitioning.
- z: Tracks most-used directories to make cd smarter.
- zsh-autosuggestions: Fish-like fast/unobtrusive autosuggestions for zsh.
- zsh: UNIX shell (command interpreter).
- K2pdfopt: Optimizes PDF/DJVU files for mobile e-readers (e.g. the Kindle) and smartphones.
- PDFtk: The PDF Toolkit.
- QPDF: Tools for and transforming and inspecting PDF files.
- Skim: PDF reader and note-taker for macOS.
- Sumatra PDF: PDF, ePub, MOBI, CHM, XPS, DjVu, CBZ, CBR reader.
- FileZilla: Free software, cross-platform FTP application.
- freerdp: X11 implementation of the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).
- Jump Desktop: Remote desktop app.
- PuTTY: Free and open-source terminal emulator, serial console and network file transfer application.
- Transmit: File transfer client program for macOS.
- WinSCP: SFTP, FTP, WebDAV, Amazon S3 and SCP client.
- Firefox: Free and open-source web browser.
- lynx: Text-based web browser.
- ungoogled-chromium: Google Chromium, sans integration with Google.
- w3m: Pager/text based browser.
- Bibliogram: a website that takes data from Instagram's public profile views and puts it into a friendlier page that loads faster, gives downloadable images, eliminates ads, generates RSS feeds, and doesn't urge you to sign up.
- cawbird: A fork of the Corebird GTK Twitter client that continues to work with Twitter.
- invidious: Alternative front-end to YouTube.
- nitter: Alternative Twitter front-end.
- Tweetbot: Third party client application for the social networking site Twitter.
- MailMate: IMAP email client for macOS featuring extensive keyboard control, Markdown integrated email composition, and much more.
- SpamSieve: Powerful spam filtering for e-mail clients on macOS.
- aria2: Download with resuming and segmented downloading.
- httpie: User-friendly cURL replacement (command-line HTTP client).
- Integrity: Free link checker.
- speedtest-cli: Command-line interface for https://speedtest.net bandwidth tests.
- transmission: Fast, easy, and free BitTorrent client.
- wakeonlan: Sends magic packets to wake up network-devices.
- ffsend: Fully featured Firefox Send client
- Exercism: Crowd-sourced code mentorship. Practice having thoughtful conversations about code.
- Regex101: Online regex tester and debugger.
- wallabag: Self-hostable application for saving web pages: Save and classify articles. Read them later. Freely.
- Nextcloud: ☁️ Nextcloud server, a safe home for all your data.
- Pinboard: Social bookmarking for introverts.
- FreshRSS: A free, self-hostable aggregator…
- RSS-Bridge: The RSS feed for websites missing it.
- Discogs: Music Database and Marketplace.
- MediathekViewWeb: Einfache Browser-Oberfläche für den Zugriff auf die Filmliste des MediathekView Projekts.
- searx: Privacy-respecting metasearch engine.
- Pi-hole: A black hole for Internet advertisements.
- Framadate: Make your polls.
- Syncthing: Open Source Continuous File Synchronization.
- CanvasBlocker: Allows users to prevent websites from using some Javascript APIs to fingerprint them.
- Cookie AutoDelete: Control your cookies!
- Decentraleyes: Protects you against tracking through "free", centralized, content delivery.
- elevate tracks your fitness and progressions on Strava over time. Analyse deeper your activities & segments. And more...
- HTTPZ: Fat-free hardenable opportunistic encryption.
- Invidition: Redirects YouTube and Twitter to their alternative ads-free, privacy-friendly, interfaces.
- Open Access Button: Helps you get the research you want right now, and adds papers you still need to your wishlists.
- uBlock Origin: Finally, an efficient blocker.
- uMatrix: Point & click to forbid/allow any class of requests made by your browser.
- Unpaywall: Get free text of research papers as you browse, using Unpaywall's index of ten million legal, open-access articles.
- unshort.link: Prevent short link services from tracking you by unshortening the urls for you.
- DB Navigator: Vom Stadtbus bis zum ICE, von der Auskunft bis zur Ankunft – der DB Navigator hält für jede Situation einen Service parat.
- Geofency: Automatic Location-based Time Tracking.
- Pocket Earth: Offline Maps & Travel Guides.
- Öffi: The King of Public Transit!
- ÖPNV Navigator: Auskunft für den Nahverkehr.
- AdGuard: Ultimate adblock for mobile.
- Affinity Publisher: Professional desktop publishing software.
- Affinity Designer: Professional Graphic Design Software.
- Affinity Photo: Professional Image Editing Software.
- atWork: Work Hours Tracking, Time Card.
- BeFocused: Focus timer for work and study.
- Better: Blocks all the tracking things.
- Calendars 5: A smart calendar app.
- Charcoal: Visualize Your Ideas.
- Documents: File manager, media player.
- FE File Explorer: Access files on computer & NAS.
- Firefox: Private, Safe Browser: Fast and Secure Web Browsing.
- Gladys: Your drag & drop assistant.
- iThoughts: Mindmapping.
- Nextcloud: A safe home for all your data.
- Office Lens: PDF scanner, Docs, Whiteboard.
- Opener: Open links in apps.
- Prompt 2: SSH to your servers with style.
- Scanbot: Document, Bar & QR-Code Scan.
- Scrivener: Combines all the writing tools you need to craft your first draft, from nascent notion to final full stop.
- Taskmator: Plain Text To-Do List & Tasks.
- Textastic: Advanced code editor with support for syntax highlighting, remote file transfer, and SSH.
- Working Copy: Powerful Git client for iOS that clones, edits, commits, pushes & more.
- Dash: Instant offline access to 200+ API documentation sets.
- GoodNotes: Single place for all your handwritten notes and formerly paper-based information.
- Pythonista: A Full Python IDE.
- Shapr3D: Mobile 3D Design App for iPad.
- AutoSleep: Auto Sleep Tracker & Monitor.
- CodeCheck: Produkt Scanner: Scan barcodes & shop healthy.
- GPSBabel: convert, upload, download data from GPS and Map programs.
- HealthFit: Export your workouts.
- iSmoothRun: The ultimate app for runners.
- RunGap: Free Workout Data Manager for iOS.
- YAZIO: Welcome to a healthier life.
- AntennaPod: A podcast manager for Android.
- detektor.fm: Listen to detektor.fm radio.
- Halide: Premium RAW & Manual.
- IP Cam Viewer: Remotely view, control and record your IP camera, webcam, DVR and NVR.
- NewPipe: A libre lightweight streaming front-end for Android.
- Pocket Casts: Powerful podcast player.
- Reeder 4: News Reader.
- Triode: Enjoy all of your favorite Internet radio stations wherever you go.
- Pixelmator: Powerful, full-featured image editor.
- Procreate: Sketch, paint, create.
- VLC: Play all your movies and shows in most formats directly without conversion.
- Die MausApp: Interaktiv die MausWelt entdecken.
- Signal: Say "hello" to privacy.
- Threema: Seriously secure messaging.
- Toot!: Client for the Mastodon social network.
- Tweetbot: Award-winning Twitter client for iOS and the Mac.
- Twitterrific: Award-winning, elegant Twitter client that’s easy to understand and a delight to use.
- 1Password: Generate & keep passwords safe.
- Banking4: Banking für Profis.
- F-Droid: Free and Open Source Android App Repository.
- Jump: Remote desktop.
- MobileData: Mobile data usage.
- Mocha WOL: Use your iPhone or iPad to power up a sleeping Mac or PC on your network.
- MoneyStats: Track your expenses & income.
- NINA: Warnt Sie deutschlandweit vor Gefahren, auf Wunsch auch für Ihren aktuellen Standort.
- ParcelTrack: Track all carriers in one app.
- Splid: Split expenses the easy way.
- WarnWetter: Detaillierte Informationen zur aktuellen Warn- und Wetterlage.
- diyHue: A Hue bridge emulator.
- homebridge: HomeKit support for the impatient.
- Hue Essentials: Discover ways to get the most out of your smart lighting.
- RaspBee: The Raspberry Pi Zigbee gateway.
- rrcc: RoboRock Control Center.
- Valetudo: Cloud-free control webinterface for vacuum robots.
| Logo | Description |
|---|---|
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Android |
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Google Chromium |
 |
Command-line interface |
 |
Mozilla Firefox |
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Apple iOS |
 |
Linux |
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Apple macOS |
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Open Source |
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Microsoft Windows |
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