Here, we have come up with 10 essential Vue.js development tools that can help you boost your workflow and enhance the quality of your mobile app development services simultaneously.

So, let’s get started with the basics first by knowing what Vue.js is and then move on to a compiled list of Vue.js tools you need to learn about to develop extraordinary and unique single-page applications and user interfaces.

What is Vue.js?

Vue.js is an open-source JavaScript frontend framework used to design user interfaces for web and mobile applications. Known for its flexibility, Vue.js has become an extremely popular framework being used for simple and complex applications, whether small or large. However, it is known for its simple and intuitive API, which makes it a preferred choice for both beginners and experienced developers.

Vue.js is easy to integrate with existing projects, as it allows Vue.js developers to start creating apps with the core library for basic functionality and then gradually move towards adding advanced features as the project progresses. The best thing about Vue.js is that it can make the development process extremely simple and improve the quality of performance and productivity of the entire app development team.

Let’s explore these best Vue.js developments that can be considered to build quality web and mobile apps in less time.

Best Vue.js Development Tools to Consider

Having the right Vue.js development tools can significantly help in boosting productivity and code quality. The best Vue.js development tools to consider in 2025 are explained below, with their pros and cons enabling you to make informed decisions.

#1 Vue CLI

Vue CLI (Command Line Interface) is one of the most popular tools that is used for speeding up the development process. It includes features like instant prototyping that allow developers to build innovative apps without coding from scratch. It is also equipped with readymade templates, allowing developers to develop apps effortlessly in less time.

Additionally, Vue CLI allows interactive project scaffolding that helps accelerate the entire development process. It facilitates the integration of versatile tools and libraries, making it a perfect choice for projects of any type of complexity.

Pros and Cons of Vue CLI

Allows interactive project setup with presets like Babel, TypeScript, Vuex, Router, etc. Includes a visual interface to manage projects, plugins, and tasks, which makes it great for beginners and visual learners. Can handle out-of-the-box optimizations, code splitting, and tree shaking. Perfect for larger apps as it's webpack-based and mature. Tons of documentation in the form of help and tutorials are available.

Builds and hot reloads are slower than Vite, as it is webpack-based, which is not favourable for large projects. It can prove to be bloated for small and simple projects. It is getting obsolete as Vite is now the officially recommended build tool for Vue 3. Customizing pack config can be harder with native ES modules Not suitable for SSR or static websites.

#2 VuePress

VuePress is a Vue.js development tool that includes a static site generator and theming system. Initially, it was created for documentation, but later on, it evolved into a powerful CMS. With the help of VuePress, you can design custom themes from default ones and create new ones from scratch. It also allows you to integrate your Vue.js project into different tools like Google Analytics and supports multiple languages.

The default theme provided by VuePress offers a responsive layout, an optional homepage, a customizable navigation bar, auto-generated page editing, and GitHub links. As VuePress is still in its infancy phase, it is likely to enhance its features and, in the process, to include more features to make the development process quicker and more convenient for the developers.

Pros and Cons of VuePass

It is a perfect blend of simplicity and power. Includes a built-in theme optimized for docs. Allows extending functionality with Vue plugins or custom themes. Ability to generate SEO-friendly static pages. Can transform content into a polished site easily.

Good for documentation, but not preferable for e-commerce sites, blogs, and websites with dynamic content. It provides fewer plugins and themes than Next.js or Gatsby. Developers need to have knowledge of Vue and VuePress if customizing beyond themes is required. Updates and feature additions can be slower than other major mainstream frameworks. It requires high-end knowledge of the language and, therefore, is not beginner-friendly.

#3 Vite

Vite is a next-generation Vue.js tool that can greatly improve development speed and provide developers with a faster and leaner development experience. It applies native ES modules and includes an incredibly quick hot module replacement (HMR). Vite can provide instant updates and, therefore, is much faster than older tools like Webpack. Moreover, it also includes built-in support for common web patterns like TypeScript, JSX, CSS, etc.

Vite is known for its optimized builds. It uses Rollup for bundling, which ensures highly optimized static assets for production. Vite allows customization and extensions, as it includes Rollup’s plugin interface with Vite-specific options. Basically, it aims to make the web development process simple and easy, ultimately enabling developers to build modern web applications within a minimum time frame.

Pros and Cons of Vite

Preferred for even large projects as it uses native ES modules and starts almost instantly. Includes extremely fast and reliable HMR, which makes local development efficient and smooth. It uses Rollup under the hood, which helps produce optimized output. Requires minimum configuration as it includes reasonable defaults, allowing you to get started quickly. Supports Rollup plugins as it allows a growing ecosystem.

Difficult to use on older browsers as it requires extra configuration or polyfills. Plugin compatibility or edge cases can be an issue, as it is relatively newer than Webpack. Frameworks like SvelteKit and Nuxt 3 provide more SSR capabilities when compared to Vite. Vite is super fast for developers, but large projects might require fine-tuning with Rollup. Some tooling is still thriving to support Vite smoothly.

#4 Vue DevTools

Vue DevTools is a standalone app and a browser extension that simplifies the development process of Vue.js applications. It provides visibility into the app’s internal state and behavior. For example, inspecting components, states, data, and events within your Vue applications becomes easy with Vue DevTools, which ultimately enhances debugging and development processes.

Suppose you are using Vue’s state management library (Vuex); Vue DevTools can provide detailed information about states, getters, mutations, and actions. It even allows you to revert to previous states and actions and debug them, which is popularly known as a time-travel debug process. Additionally, it also shows the events emitted by components, enabling you to analyze how different aspects of your application interact.

Pros and Cons of Vue DevTools

Provides a real-time view of the app’s component hierarchy, data, props, computed properties, and more. You can view state changes and even inspect previous states for debugging. It helps in tracing communication issues as it allows for the viewing of custom events and the emission of data between components. Enables identifying slow renders or unnecessary updates. Supports Vue 2 and Vue 3 actively.

While in production mode, Vue Devtools needs to be explicitly enabled, which is likely to be a security risk. Vue Devtools is unable to capture everything correctly in very large apps or while using advanced setups. Render functions or dynamic component creation might not display cleanly. The Electron app can be slower to start if you are using the standalone version. New developers might experience UI and other features as overwhelming at an initial stage.

#5 Vetur

Vetur is an extension that is a game-changer for developers who want to supercharge their Vue.js development process. This tool enables developers to highlight syntax, autocompletion, and snippets of code, ultimately helping them navigate through their codebase seamlessly. This helps in improving productivity and reducing the chances of errors.

Additionally, Vetur also includes IntelliSense (smart code completion) for Vue.js-based applications, making it easier for developers to write Vue code and find available properties and methods. It also provides inline error checking for Vue files, enabling developers to identify missing properties, syntax errors, and any other issues, if any, in the editor.

Pros and Cons of Vetur

It is an all-in-one extension, as it includes syntax highlighting, snippets, formatting, error checking, and more facilities. Supports .vue files natively and therefore is able to work immediately in VS Code. Vetur parses and provides tooling for template, script, and style blocks in .vue files. Enables consistent code formatting and linting as it supports integration with Prettier and ESLint. Includes a large install base and community, which eventually helps with more guides and tutorials.

Most of the time, Vetur is in maintenance mode and therefore is superseded by Volar. It can become difficult when it comes to handling large and complex projects. Type inference and type checking in Vetur are less robust when compared to Volar. When combining Prettier and Vetur’s internal formatter, formatting behavior can be inconsistent. Cannot fully support all the features of Vue 3, including advanced TypeScript support.

#6 Vue Router

Vue Router is a tool that enables navigation between pages in single-page applications developed using Vue.js. Basically, it is the official router for Vue.js that is required to map URL paths to components. Applying Vue Router helps you to define routes and manage navigation. It makes a single-page app work like a multiple-page website.

Using Vue Router, you can define routes with components, paths, and other parameters and guards. Also, it provides different methods for navigating between routes. As it supports HTML5 history mode and hash mode for older browsers, it becomes easy to control navigation simply by adding logic to routes like authentication checks or data fetching.

Pros and Cons of Vue Router

As it is developed and maintained by Vue’s core team, tight integration with Vue and consistent updates can be ensured. Easy to manage and reason about navigation as routes are defined in a simple and declarative way. Can support nested routes, enabling complex UI layouts with components inside components. Enables dynamic route matching and route params, which is great for apps with dynamic content. As it includes built-in lifecycle hooks, it lets you control access, run middleware, or fetch data.

When dealing with lazy loading, guards, and nested routes, it can add another layer of complexity. Vue Router needs additional setup and care for server-side rendering. In bigger applications, route config files can become large and complex unless modularized. The server needs to be configured to redirect all routes to index.html; otherwise, if you are using history mode, you can get 404 errors. Things like file-based routing or advanced meta handling are required to be manually added.

#7 Vuex (State Management)

Vuex is an open-source state management library used for applications built using Vue.js. The main purpose of Vuex is to provide a centralized storing system for managing the state in Vue.js-powered applications. It makes it simple and effortless to handle and synchronize data across multiple components. In the applications using Vuex, data flows in one direction as it follows a unidirectional data flow pattern.

In the Vuex State Management Library, data is stored in a JavaScript object, and every component in the application can access the store and update its state. The biggest advantage of using Vuex is that it reduces the amount of duplicated code in an application, which not only improves the performance of the application but also saves developers’ time and enhances their productivity.

Pros and Cons of Vuex (State Management)

Data flow is predictable and easier to debug as it provides a single source of truth for application state. Provides excellent documentation and community support as it is maintained by the Vue core team. Enables time travel debugging and mutation tracking. Follows a structured pattern that promotes maintainability and scalability. Supports modules, which allow you to split store logic into manageable, reusable pieces for large applications.

Not preferable for small and mid-sized apps as it requires a lot of actions, mutations, getters, etc. Increases complexity and needs verbose type declarations if TypeScript is integrated. When state isn’t heavily shared for small apps, Vuex adds unnecessary complexity. It can slow down development for simple changes. It can possibly be intimidating for developers who are unfamiliar with global state management.

#8 Nuxt.JS

Nuxt.js is an intuitive Vue framework that makes creating server-side rendered web applications, static websites, and single-page applications easy. It includes a set of conventions and tools that make building Vue.js apps more efficient and seamless, especially when it comes to handling routing, server-side rendering, and complex configurations.

Nuxt.js provides some of the most powerful features, like automatic code splitting, server-side rendering, and static site generation. Basically, Nuxt.js is a must-have tool if you are planning to build an SEO-friendly Vue application.

Pros and Cons of Nuxt.JS

The ability to perform server-side rendering and static site generation with minimal configuration improves online performance and SEO. Includes a systematic file-based routing system. Includes a huge ecosystem of modules that simplify common tasks and integrations. Automates the optimization of your app by splitting code, lazy-loading routes, and more.Provides excellent documentation that enhances productivity.

Can be confusing for beginners or those not familiar with SSR concepts. More configuration is required, and increased pitfalls are expected, especially when deploying SSR or hybrid applications. SSR apps are more complex and heavier to host/deploy than SPA or static apps. Nuxt can be slow for large static sites with many dynamic routes. File-based routing can be limiting in very dynamic or unconventional routing scenarios.

#9 Bit

Bit is a Vue.js developer tool that is known for eliminating problems of sharing and collaborating on UI components across repositories. Bit makes it easy for developers to host and manage components. One of the biggest advantages of using Bit is that it can help developers to push the independent components from any local project to a collection on Bit.dev.

When developers apply Bit for Vue.js projects, they can extract Vue components from the Vue.js project and then share them as standalone components, ultimately reusing them across different app development projects. It follows a systematic approach to more efficient code reuse, leading to better modularization and improved workflow during the development process.

Pros and Cons of Bit

Fosters easy development, upgradation, and sharing of UI across multiple projects or teams. Reduces side effects and improves the quality of components as each component is developed and tested in isolation. Unlike traditional monorepo setups, Bit allows flexible updates and rollbacks. Provides a visual component hub to explore, test, and document components with interactive playgrounds. Can support multiple frontend frameworks like React, Vue, Angular, and more.

Newcomers are likely to perceive concepts like component isolation, scopes, and dependency to be complex. Bit.dev encourages the use of their platform instead of self-hosting, which can potentially introduce vendor lock-in concerns. Performance of tooling issues can arise in large ecosystems because of working with many independently versioned components. Frameworks like Vue or Angular may have less mature tooling or community support when compared to React. Debugging can be trickier as components in isolation can sometimes behave differently.

#10 Vuetify

Vuetify is one of the most interesting Vue.js tools that include a huge set of 80+ crafted components based on the material design specifications, which can be used to create a successful application in less time. Whether it is about creating SSR applications, SPA mobile apps, or even progressive web apps, Veutify can be applied seamlessly.

Vuetify includes free and premium themes that are customizable. Moreover, it comes with a flexible grid system based on Flexbox, enabling developers to build clean and responsive layouts efficiently without rigorous efforts. Vuetify can integrate tightly into the Vue ecosystem and support features like Vuex, Vue Router, and Vue’s reactivity system, making it the most reliable tool ever for building Vue.js applications.

Pros and Cons of Vuetify

Offers more than 80 pre-made customizable components, which saves developers’ time. It allows the implementation of Google’s Material Design 3, which was earlier known as Material Design 2, enabling a familiar modern UI aesthetic. Includes in-built 12-point grid system and layout utilities, making it easy to create responsive and mobile-first layouts. Allows easy customization of colors, dark mode, and design tokens across your app. Includes well-documented community resources and a strong developer base. Also offers paid support options for enterprises.

Version updates may require critical migration steps due to the underlying structure and changes in component APIs. Has the potential to increase bundle size compared to lighter frameworks. Material design specifications can prove to be too generic for some use cases and so cannot be beneficial for all brands or industries. Slower runtime performance because of heavier DOM structures. Customizing components beyond conventions can require digging into the library’s internals, which often proves to be time-consuming.

Conclusion: Empowering App Development Team With the Right Tools

A strong team of experienced developers with high-end skills can do wonders if they are equipped with the right tools.

Here, we have learned about the most essential Vue.js development tools that can help you boost your workflow. So, whether it is about efficient state management, flawless debugging, or improved code quality, these Vue.js tools can help you elevate your entire app development process and offer you the assurance that the final outcome will excel in delivering extraordinary user experiences, and we all know that delivering exceptional user experiences is the key to the success of any app development project.

Still have questions? The FAQs given below might help.

FAQs

What is the difference between Vue 2 and Vue 3?

When it comes to Vue 2 and Vue 3, below are the differences:

• Vue 2 is based on Object.defineProperty(), whereas Vue 3 uses proxies, which are more powerful and efficient.
• Vue 2 needs a plugin and is not available by default. Vue 3 is built-in and allows for more flexible code reuse.
• When it comes to performance, Vue 2 is slower when compared to Vue 3
• Vue 2 offers partial and less intuitive TypeScript support, whereas Vue 3 offers first-class TypeScript support.

Which one is better, Vite or Vue CLI, for new projects?

Vite is modern, faster, and more suitable for Vue 3, whereas Vue CLI is based on Webpack and can incur more configuration overhead. Therefore, Vite is recommended for new Vue projects.

How to use Vue DevTools?

Below are some steps that you can follow to use Vue DevTools.

Step 1: Install Vue DevTools, a browser extension or a standalone application.

Step 2: Enable Vue DevTools in your application.

Step 3: Open and use DevTools and click the Vue tab.

Step 4: View and inspect all your Vue components.

Step 5: Inspect and modify data, computed values, and props.

Step 6: If you are using Vuex or Pinia, you can see state, mutations, and actions.

Step 7: Track custom-emitted events.

Step 8: Inspect Vue router state.

Step 9: View performance and lifecycle hook events.

Which browsers support Vue Devtools?

Browsers that support Vue Devtools are Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Edge.

Which are the best testing tools for Vue.js?

The best testing tools for Vue.js are unit testing, component testing, and E2E testing.

Can I use TypeScript with Vue.js?

Yes, Vue 3 has full TypeScript support.