Best code review tools

Code review is an essential part of the development process. It lets you identify problems with your code before it is implemented and helps reduce the time spent on fixing bugs.

In this blog, we’ll explain what the code review process is and what tools you can use to automate it.

What is the code review process?

Code review is an important process of orderly testing of software to find and remove errors, bugs, overflows, and other vulnerabilities found in the code. A good code review process is constructive, limited, and instructive.

It is important to review code because:

• Improves code readability
• Improves code quality
• Creates better documentation
• Optimizes code for better performance
• Knowledge sharing

This process directly impacts the review time. For example, If reviewers are overloaded with work, they make take time to review the respective code. As a result, the review time will increase which further results in high cycle time.

Why code review tools are important?

• Code review tools automate and streamline the review process. Hence, making it more efficient and decreasing the review time.
• These tools can help in providing a clear structure for the review and ensure code quality and consistency.
• Code review tools help in getting a clear audit trail of the review process. For example, Who reviewed the code, when it was reviewed, and feedback provided.
• These tools facilitate knowledge-sharing and collaboration.

Now, let’s take a look at some of the most popular code review tools:

Top 8 code review tools

Typo

Typo’s automated code review tool identifies issues in your code and auto-fixes them before you merge to master. This means less time reviewing and more time for important tasks. It keeps your code error-free, making the whole process faster and smoother.

Key features:

• Supports top 8 languages including C++ and C#

• Understands the context of the code and fixes issues accurately

• Optimizes code efficiently

• Standardizes code and reduces the risk of a security breach

• Provides automated debugging with detailed explanations

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GitHub

It is a well-known open-source code repository tool with an in-built lightweight code review tool in its pull request. Hence, developers can easily integrate code reviews into their workflow.

Key features: 

• Simple, User-friendly UI

• Includes a code scanner feature to identify vulnerabilities

• Provides detailed oversight of changes in code files

• Allow developers to follow up and revisit past reviews

• Graphic representation of current status

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Price:

Free plan available; paid plans start from $4 per user, per month

Codacy

It is an automated review tool for static analysis. Supporting more than 40+ programming languages, Codacy also integrates with various popular tools and CI/CD workflows.

Key features: 

• Gives a clear picture of how projects are doing and how their quality is changing over time

• Adaptable to your code review process

• Provides code coverage

• Helps in knowing the amount of technical debt

• Can identify duplication and poor code metric areas

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Price:

Free for open source teams; paid plans start from $15 per month

Bitbucket

It is a code hosting and collaboration tool from Atlassian. Bitbucket can easily integrate with other Atlassian tools like Jira, Bamboo, Jenkins, and many more.

Key features: 

• Provides a forum to discuss changes before they are merged into a new project

• Offers built-in issue tracker

• Includes automated pipeline build process

• Creates tasks out of code review comments

• Automatically integrates security scans and test results into the pull request view

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Price:

Free plan available; paid plans start from $3 per user, per month

Gerrit

It is a leading code review tool for projects with large repositories. Gerrit works as a median between a developer and the central repository.

Key features: 

• Incorporates a voting system

• Includes REST-like API that allows customized automation

• Combines the functionality of the review tool and bug tracker into one

• Includes many customization options

• Helps in finding the error in the source code

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Price:

Free plan available

Veracode

It is a code review tool that is built on a SaaS model. It helps in analyzing code from a security standpoint.

Key features: 

• Gives test coverage by using binary code/bytecode

• Automates different workflows with integrated and streamlined testing in SDLC

• Offers set of two code review tools - Static analysis and software composition analysis

• Provides mitigation management

• Integrated into existing debugging systems

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Price:

Custom pricing model as per users' requirements

Rhodecode

It is a code review platform that offers an integrated tool for Subversion, Mercurial, and Git. Rhodecode has in-built security features for secure software development.

Key features: 

• Includes unified repository management

• Provides workflow automation

• Integrates seamlessly with your existing projects

• Helps navigate the history of your project across various branches

• Can provide feedback with inline code reviews

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‍Price: 

Free plan available; paid plans start from $8 per user, per month

Review Board

It is a free, open-source, web-based document review tool that lets you perform both pre-commit and post-commit code reviews based on your requirements.

Key features:

• Offers smart indentation handling for code review

• Private, secure, and in control  

• Integrates seamlessly with a wide range of version control systems

• Allows reviewing code as well as PDFs, documentation, and graphics

• streamlines the review workflow with Slack, Asana, Jenkin, Trello

Price:

Free plan available; paid plans start from $29 per user, per month

How Typo and code review tools are connected?

Code review tools automate your code review process to increase efficiency and decrease review time. Typo provides instantaneous cycle time measurement for both your organization and each development team using your Git provider.

Furthermore, Typo provides automated dev workflows that help in shipping pull requests and code reviews faster. As a result, it helps in saving your time and effort and improving your PR cycle time.

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