CF411: 2,000+ Tools and Resources for CFers

(in over 150 categories) by Charlie Arehart (Last Updated: Jul 5, 2025)

How often do you see a question asked in the community, "does anyone know where I can find CFML resources about xxx", or "what tools are available to do yyy?". Now you have one place you can point people to answer most such questions. See the bottom of this page for additional background information on this service.
This is one long page. See the category links below. You can use your browser "find" feature (ctrl-f or command-f on MacOS/OSX) of course.

The Categories (first resources, then tools)

I don't here recommend any tools (since needs are so different between folks), and I can't offer an exhaustive list of all tools for all developers, but I do want to help list some of the alternatives available in a variety of categories that are either written for, or are useful by, CF developers. In some cases, I am able to offer below links to other sites that offer reviews of some of these tools.

Additions/Corrections

This is a perpetual work in progress. While I don't check the list with any guaranteed regularity, I do run various link check tools occasionally, and also manually review each link in each section on occasion. I will strike out any links which I find no longer work, or when there are many "striken" entries in a section, I will create a new entry tracking seemingly "defunct" tools/resources. If I ever strike out something that you think should not be, just let me know.

If a tool clearly lists when it was last updated, I try to indicate if it has not been updated in more than a few years, and I'll indicate when that check was made.

I welcome additions or corrections to this list. If you have any to offer, please let me know. Be sure to clarify that you're providing additional items for "the 'CF411' list".

CFML-Oriented Resources

Blog Aggregators (and bloggers) for CFML[link]

There are literally hundreds of blogs from CFML/CF developers. Some blogs are popular and known by most, while some less popular ones may well offer some hidden gems. Rather than try to list them all here, and indeed rather than you having to read them all, the following aggregators focus on CF-oriented blogs.

Some blogs are in all the aggregators, but it's worth keeping an eye on more than one. I provide as well a link to the list of all CFML blogs that each aggregator follows. This way, you can find out all the folks who blog about CF.
  • CFBlogs
  • CFnote, which follows these blogs
  • The following are or seem defunct: AXNA (Adobe XML News Aggregator) CF category (feeds.adobe.com/index.cfm?query=byCategory&categoryId=1&categoryName=ColdFusion), CFBlogs (CFBlogs.com), coldFusionBloggers (coldfusionbloggers.org), Feed Squirrel (www.feed-squirrel.com), fullasagoog (fullasagoog.com), Geexoo CF category (geexoo.com/t/coldfusion_1.html),
  • If you're looking for a list of all CF bloggers, note that there is no one list, but again each of the aggregators above offers a list of the blogs that they aggregate, and I've offered the links to those lists above
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Blog/News Highlight Services for CFML [link]

Related to the last section, I want to mention (separately from the aggregators above) that there have been some who tried organizing periodic highlights of what they deemed to be "best of the blogs" or news in the CF blogosphere. It's a tough job, hard for them to keep it up, but let's enjoy (and thank) them for what they do or did.
  • CFBreak, from Pete Frietag, "stay up to date with the latest from the ColdFusion / CFML community. One email, published every friday.", with an available archive (updated in 2022, as of a check in 2022)
  • The following are defuct or have not been updated in years (when I last checked them), with the archive link (if available) for posterity: Akbarsait's "CFML This Week" (tinyletter.com/cfmlweekly), Kay Smoljak's "The week in ColdFusion" (articles.sitepoint.com/category/coldfusion), Matt Gifford's "CFML Weekly" (monkehworks.com/cfml-weekly-newsletter/), Pete Freitag's previous "CFML Weekly News" (tinyletter.com/cfml), Stephen Moretti's "Blog Round Up"" (nil.checksite.co.uk/index.cfm/blog-round-up) with (archive/RSS feed), Steve Bryant's "CF_BlogPicks" (bryantwebconsulting.com/blog/index.cfm/CFBlogPicks) (and his archive/RSS Feed)
Don't forget to consider using a Feed Reader or one of many RSS to Email services to be kept informed of updates to these and/or blogs.

Books on CFML [link]

Following are books that have been written on the subject of ColdFusion or CFML, listed approximately in order of recency. I'm focusing here only those published since CF10, and first with links to those available on Amazon.

Learn Modern CF in 100 minutes, Aug 2018 CF Alive, Oct 2018 Learn with Angular 5 and CF, Nov 2017 Learn with Angular 4 and CF, Aug 2017 Fast Track to CF10/11, Jul 2015 CF Lists, Arrays, Jun 2014 CF10 WACK, Apr 2013 Learn CF in a Week, Nov 2012

While those are books available on Amazon, consider also these which are not: I welcome additions/corrections/feedback.

Certification Preparation Resources for CFML [link]

Adobe did not offer Certification from about 2009-2019, but in 2019 they created the CF Certified Specialist program, which was offered first at the CF Summit 2019 conference, and as of mid-2020 is now offered online.
  • Adobe's online CF certification program (price includes exam and several hours of video prep materials, accessible for 1 year, with volume discounts and discounts for those in education. See the faq for more.)
  • The following are defunct: CF ExamBuster (centrasoft.com), Ben Nadel's ColdFusion Certification Resources (www.bennadel.com/coldfusion/certification-resources.htm), Charlie Griefer's "ColdFusion Questions" (cfquestions.com), Learn by Heart CF Exam Practice (www.learnbyheart.com/ColdFusion-Certification.cfm), uCertify CF certification prepkit (ucertify.com/certifications/Adobe)
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Conferences on CFML [link]

The following conferences have some, if not an entire, focus on ColdFusion and CFML. While I normally list other tools and resources in alphabetical order, in this case it seems useful to list them in order of their occurrence during the year. Note that I present these in the order of the month they typically occur (did or will), regardless of the year, in case either they are delayed in announcing the date for a new year, or I am late in getting that information here. The assumption is that each event tends to repeat around the same time each year. I do bold the year to help warn you of the current information at the time of my last edit here.

About the Strikeouts: I will also strike out the event's date after it passes, removing that when the date for the next year is announced.

Again, see above for the order in which these are presented (by the time of year they are or have typically in the past been) presented:

The following events are (or seem) defunct. (I move items here if I notice there's no announcement of the next event 18 months after the previous event, or of course if an event is announced as no longer happening, or if the URL breaks for an extended time. As for events above not happening since the onset of Covid, I have kept them up still longer than normal.):
  • Adobe ColdFusion Developer Week, online, last held Jul 2022
  • Adobe MAX longer offers ColdFusion content as of 2013. See the Adobe CF Summit above, instead
  • BFlex and BFusion (bflex.info), organized by Bob Flynn, et al (Bloomington, IN, USA), last held Sep 2010
  • BR Conference (brconference.com/en/), Brazilian Adobe products conference, organized by Francisco Paulino (Rio de Janeiro Brazil), last scheduled for 2010 but did not happen
  • CF Dev Camp (www.cfdevcamp.org), organized by Sidney Maestre, Alan Rother, et al (Phoenix, AZ, USA), last held Nov 2010
  • CF Edge Conference, organized by Sys-con (New York, NY, USA), last held Sep 2001
  • CFDevCon (www.cfdevcon.com), organized by Russ Michaels, et al, (London, England), last held 2007
  • cf.Objective(ANZ) (www.cfobjective.com.au), organized by Mark Mandel, et al (Melbourne, Australia), last held Nov 2012
  • cf.Objective() (cfobjective.com, Washington, DC, USA), last held Jul 2017
  • ColdFusion Unconference at MAX, organized by Ray Camden, et al, last held Oct 2011
  • CFUnited (www.cfunited.com), organized by Michael Smith, et al (Washington, DC area, USA), last held Jul 2010
  • Dallas TechFest (dallastechfest.com), a one-day event with many tracks (Dallas, TX, USA), last held Aug 2011
  • D2W (d2wc.com), "designer/developer workflow conference", organized by Dee Sadler (Kansas City, MO, USA; last held Sep 2013)
  • MuraCon (muracon.com), the Mura conference, organized by BlueRiver Interactive (Sacramenta, CA; last held Apr 5-6 2018)
  • NCDevCon (ncdevcon.com), "North Carolina's Premier Web & Mobile Conference", organized by Dan Wilson, et al (Raleigh, NC, USA; last held Oct 2017)
  • OpenCF Summit (www.opencfsummit.org), organized by Matt Woodward, et al (Garland, TX, USA; last held Feb 2012)
  • Open Source CFML for Government Conference (www.opencfmlfoundation.org/events/open-source-cfml-for-government-conference/), organized by Open CFML Foundation (Washington, DC, USA), last held Oct 9 2012
  • PhillyMerge (www.phillymerge.com), organized by Adam Tuttle and Steve Rittler (Philadelphia, PA, USA), last held July 2011
  • Powered By Detroit (poweredbydetroit.org), organized by Cornel Ivanescu (Detroit, MI, USA), last held July 2005
  • RIAAdventure Cruise (riaadventure.com), organized by Joshua Cyr, et al (Western Carribean), last held Dec 2009
  • RIACon (riacon.com), organized by Phil Nacelli and AboutWeb (Rockville, MD, USA; last held Aug 2012
  • RIA Unleashed, organized originally by Brian Rinaldi, (Waltham, MA, USA), last held Oct 2011
  • Scotch on the Road (scotchontheroad.com), organized by Andy Allan, et al (Europe), last held Oct 2009
  • Scotch on the Rocks (scotch-on-the-rocks.co.uk), organized by Andy Allan, et al (Edinburgh, Scotland; last held Jun 2014)
  • Spring <br> ("spring break" sbconference.com), organized by Dave Hannum, et al (Athens, OH, USA), last held Jun 2009
  • WebDU (webdu.com.au), organized by Geoff Bowers, et al (Sydney, Australia), last held May 2012
  • Webmaniacs (webmaniacsconference.com), organized by Fig Leaf Software (Washington, DC, USA), last held 2009

Documentation/Help Tools and Resources for CFML [link]

While the Adobe docs are the best source for CFML documentation, there are online versions of that both from Adobe and others, providing access to the docs in various ways. Please note, though, that while most of the other resources show only the CFML reference, the actual Adobe docs contain more than just the CFML Reference, including a Developer's Guide, Installation Guide, Administration Guide, and more. Don't focus solely on the CFML Reference. You wouldn't learn a language by reading a dictionary, right?

Fiddle Sites (for running CFML code online) [link]

Following are free online services that allow you to run CFML against any of multiple CF versions, and you can generally save the code, share it with others, etc.
  • CFFiddle.org, supports CF2023, 2021, 2018 (run by Adobe)
  • TryCF, supports CF2023, 2021, 2018, 2016, 11, and 10 as well as Lucee 6/5/4, and Railo 4.2 (run by Abram Adams)
  • Check out also various other fiddle sites for languages related to CF, such as jsfiddle (js/css/html), fiddlesalad (js/css/html/markdown), sqlfiddle (and dbfiddle), refiddle (regular expressions, also regex101), codepen (for front-end design/development), and others such as listed here and here
  • Defunct: CF Live (cflive.net), aka "cflive", it supported CF2016 and Lucee 5 and was run by Russ Michaels), TutorialPoint CFML Fiddle (tutorialspoint.com/execute_coldfusion_online.php), supported Railo only
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Help Mechanisms for CFML: Community forums, Social Media, Slack, Stackoverflow, and more [link]

Following are several mailing lists, discussion lists, forums (most support both web-based and email-based dicussion), and other media (facebook and slack-based CFML channels) where you can find ask or find answers to common questions and challenges. Some have come and gone over the years (most notably CF-talk), but several do remain.

Note as well that at the end of the list, I also offer links to several individuals who are open to taking direct questions. (If you use the forums first, though, you may get answers from more people and also help educate more readers.)

Do beware, though, that when reviewing older forum messages or mailing list archives, you may see suggestions or ideas that are dated. They may even no longer apply in later versions of ColdFusion or other CFML engines. Be aware also that even recent comments could reflect misunderstanding from people not aware of newer information, or in today's world of twitter-level answers, often what's shared in these media may not provide enough info for you to make a truly informed decusion on a matter. If you're in need of urgent assistance, you can get direct help from folks focused on providing such troubleshooting assistance.

(If you're looking for CF-based forums, meaning those *written* in CFML, see instead Forums/Bulletin Board Tools (written in CFML) .)

Hosting Alternatives for CFML [link]

This is not an ultimate list of all CF hosts: just some of the more widely-used and -named hosts who have specific CF support listed on their site (some offering Lucee hosting as well). Most offer a choice of either shared, cloud/virtual private servers (VPS), dedicated plans, as I've indicated. I've also offered the latest CF version they support, if I could find it

Job Resources for CFML (Hire/Be Hired) [link]

The following resources can help someone either offering or looking for a CF job/contract. Most let you post a listing for free, and many are CF-specific. For the ones that are more generic, I did a seach for ColdFusion. You may want to try CFML to be more broad, or of course you could try searching for Lucee, etc. And while it's possible that in some cases the different sites show the same jobs, I have seen when they did not.
  • CFML #jobs channel on the CFML slack (showing current jobs as of a check in Feb 2025, though mostly pulled from getcfmljobs.com, below). Signup using this link, and for more on the CFML slack channel, see this blog post
  • Facebook CF Jobs group (showing current jobs as of a check in Feb 2025), free to post or apply for jobs
  • Facebook CF Remote Jobs group Facebook group (showing jobs in 2024 as of a check in Feb 2025), free to post or apply for jobs
  • getcfmljobs.com, from Akbarsait (showing current jobs as of a check in Feb 2025), free to post jobs. With associated twitter account
  • Google Job's list of CF jobs (showing current jobs as of a check in Feb 2025), free to post and apply
  • Indeed's list of CF jobs (showing current jobs as of a check in Feb 2025), free to post (with paid options also) or apply for jobs
  • SimplyHired's list of CF jobs (showing current jobs as of a check in Feb 2025), free to post and apply
  • Upwork's list of CF gigs, for contractors (showing current jobs as of a check in Feb 2025), free to post and apply
  • ZipRecruiter's CF jobs posted in the last 30 days (showing current jobs as of a check in Feb 2025), free to post and apply (hit escape if it pops up asking you to register)
  • Consider also:
  • The following are (or seem) defunct (or have shown no recent CF jobs or none for a long time): Adobe CF General Job Opportunities (adobe.com/cfusion/webforums/forum/categories.cfm?forumid=38&catid=219), Atlanta CF User Group jobs mailing list (www.mail-archive.com/jobs%40acfug.org/), Bay Area (SF) CFUG jobs board (bacfug.groups.adobe.com/resources/179), Ben Forta's jobs category on his blog (forta.com/blog/index.cfm/Jobs), Ben Nadel's Jobs board (bennadel.com/jobs/coldfusion-jobs.htm), CFBlogs jobs (cfblogs.com), ColdBox CFML Jobs (jobs.coldbox.org, was not limited to ColdBox only), ColdFusion Careers (coldfusioncareers.com), ColdFusion Jobs Google Group (groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/coldfusion-jobs), Freelance CF gigs (whousescoldfusion.com/freelance-coldfusion.cfm), House of Fusion's CF Jobs forum/mailing list (houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-jobs/), Getcoldfusionjobs.com (getcoldfusionjobs.com), jobs.cfdevelopers.net (jobs.cfdevelopers.net), JustColdFusionJobs (justcoldfusionjobs.com), Mid-Michigan CFUG list of jobs (coldfusion.org/jobs.cfm), Rob Gonda's list of CF/Flex jobs (robgonda.com/content/jobs.html), Twin Cities CFUG CF job board (colderfusion.com/job_board.cfm), WhoUsesColdFusion Jobs list (whousescoldfusion.com/coldfusion-jobs.cfm)
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Podcasts on CFML, Current and Past[link]

Listen in as folks discuss CF/CFML and related topics.
  • CF Alive podcast, occasional, with Michaela Light and interviewees (with YouTube playlist and podcast RSS feed)
  • Modernize or Die weekly podcast, with Gavin Pickin, Andrew Davis, and others (with YouTube playlist and podcast rss feed)
  • Working Code podcast, with Adam Tuttle, Ben Nadel, Carol Hamilton, and Tim Cunningham (with podcast rss feed)
  • xByte Cloud Experts Unleashed podcast, with Ryan Brown and other xByte employees (with YouTube playlist)
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback
  • The following podcasts seem either no longer to be updated, or have declared to be no longer active, or are no longer focused on ColdFusion.
    • 2 Devs from Down Under (2ddu.com), with Kai Koenig and Mark Mandel (not focused on CF anymore, last CF content in 2015 as of a check in 2018)
    • Aboutcast (podcast.aboutweb.com) ran for a couple of episodes in 2006, hosted by Nic Tunney and AboutWeb
    • BoltTalks (cfmumbojumbo.com/cf/index.cfm/bolttalks/), with Tim Cunningham
    • CFBrew (cfbrew.com), with Mike Chandler (ran for 4 episodes in 2010)
    • CFConversations (cfconversations.com), with Brian Meloche and others (ended in 2011)
    • CF Docs (markdrew.co.uk/blog/archives.cfm/category/podcast), hosted by Mark Drew (ran for 3 episodes in 2009)
    • CFEclipse Videos (web.archive.org/web/20100801110831/http://markdrew.libsyn.com/) offered as a podcast by Mark Drew in 2006 (note the videos were designed to be small enough to view in an iPod) (recovered via archive.org)
    • cfframeworks.com (http://feeds.feedburner.com/Cfframeworks-InterviewPodcast) offered 8 interview podcasts hosted by Nick Tong and Kola Oyedeji, from Jan-Mar 2007
    • CFHour (cfhour.com), with Dave Ferguson and Scott Stroz (no episodes since Jan 2017--as of a check in 2018)
    • CFPanel (cfpanel.com), with Dan Vega and Todd Sharp
    • CFUnited podcast (http://podcast.cfunited.com), was recordings of conference presentations, hosted by Christian Ready
    • ColdFusion Muse (coldfusionmuse.com/index.cfm?mode=cat&catid=75E60574-FB29-7BF8-8F51678633594988), with Mark Kruger (ran from Nov 2005 through May 2006)
    • ColdFusion Show (coldfusionshow.com), with Ryan Stille and Mike Henke (ran for 8 episodes in 2011/12)
    • ColdFusion Weekly (coldfusionweekly.com), with Matt Woodward and Peter Farrell, went off the air in early 2008 after a 2 year run
    • Deductive Developers (deductivedevelopers.com), with Matt Woodward and Peter Farrell, was a hoped-for follow up to their CFWeekly podcast, but ran for only 2 episodes
    • "I'm my own sql" (fusionauthority.com/Techniques/4647-Im-My-Own-SQL-Episode-2-Defining-Business-Rules.htm), hosted by C. Hatton Humphrey, ran out of HouseofFusion.com for just a couple of episodes in late 2006
    • Localhost podcast, with Mark Drew and Rob Dudley (not purely CF, but web-oriented, and sometimes mentioning CF/Lucee and related tech), last episodes in 2019
    • OutLoud (helmsandpeters.com), with Hal Helms and Jeff Peters, ran for 47 episodes from Oct 2005 through Sep 2007, then again for a few episodes in 2011
    • RIAPodcast (riapodcast.com), with John Mason and frequent panelists Josh Adams, Charlie Arehart, and Doug Knudsen (ran for 24 episodes from 2009-2011)
    • Runtime Expectations (codebassradio.net/shows/runtime-expectations), with Adrian Pomilio, Bucky Schwarz, and Ben Farrell (ran for 26 episodes from 2011-2012)
    • The ColdFusion Podcast (coldfusionpodcast.com), with Bryan Kaiser and Michael Haynie, ran for 38 episodes from Oct 2005 through Jan 2007
    • The ColdFusion Show (coldfusionshow.com), with Ryan Stille and Mike Henke, ran for 8 episodes, ending in early 2012
    • The Scotch on the Rocks conference organizers (Stephen Moretti and Andy Allan) did a podcast (scotch-on-the-rocks.co.uk/blog/index.cfm/Podcasts) which ran for one episode in 2007
    • The WebDU conference had a podcast briefly (webdu.com.au/mxsession/feeditunes)
    • This week in ColdFusion (twicf.com), with Brian Carr, Micky Dionisio and Mike Chandler, ran for several epidodes in 2011
    • Steven Erat made two attempts at podcasts in 2005, first with the CFMX 7 podcast (talkingtree.com/blog/index.cfm/2005/4/4/PodcastVol1No1), where he read selected Macromedia Devnet articles about CF7, and then the even shorter-lived CF NewsRadio (talkingtree.com/blog/index.cfm?mode=entry&entry=7A211B47-50DA-0559-A0912B4B32986D8C)
    • And though not technically a "CF" podcast, there was Dee Sadler's D2W podcast (d2wpodcast.libsyn.com/)
    • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Professional CF-oriented Assistance [link]

While there are many resources listed above where you can obtain free support (from mailing lists, to blogs, to user groups, and more), sometimes you just may be more interested in paying someone who provides professional support, whether on-site or over-the-web. I've divided this category into the following groupings:
Note that I don't label these "CFML-oriented" (to be PC/politically correct toward other than Adobe CF servers) because that could be equally confusing. Someone who does "CF-oriented troubleshooting" (resolving problems with CF, Lucee, BlueDragon, or perhaps any other J2EE server) may never really deal with "CFML" as the root cause of problems, as often issues are to do configuration/administration/load/etc. So calling them "CFML-oriented Troubleshooting Consultants" is no more technically accurate. But saying "-oriented", I hope it broadens the scope and that folks will forgive if it's not as PC a moniker as they may like. Same goes for the listing here of trainers, development consultants, etc.

Where possible, I've offered any direct link the company/person may have to their coverage of that specific sort of assistance. I've pre-populated the list with several folks but as always I definitely welcome additions/corrections/feedback.

CF-oriented Application Development Consultants [link]

If you're looking for assistance with CFML coding, here are some alternatives: development shops that specialize or mention specific support of CF and/or CFML. See related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.

CF-oriented Trainers [link]

This includes both those who do Adobe CF training and their own CF-oriented training, whether in their own locations, at contract training facilities, or over the web. Some may not be updated beyond older releases of CF (which may still be somewhat valuable), while others tend to be updated to the lastest current release (or would be soon after is release). See related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.

CF-oriented Troubleshooting Consultants [link]

If you need help with CF-oriented consulting services, including troubleshooting, here are some alternatives. Note also that some require a minimum commitment of days, while others (like myself, the CArehart.org listing) have no such minimum. See related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.

Resource Sites for CFML [link]

This site of course has itsef many different kinds of resources, but here are some other sites that try to aggregate other CFML resources. See the list after these for other categories of this site that offer resources.

Security Resources for CFML [link]

Every CFML developer and server administrator should be concerned with security, both in their code and in their server configuration. Following are some resources that are specifically related to security with respect to CFML and ColdFusion server.

Training Resources for CFML (free) [link]

Besides the link link below to actual CF trainers, some may prefer to take advantage of any training that may available online for free. Fortunately, there are several such resources.(Some may be from an older release, but for many folks getting started may still be acceptable. That said, there are some updated even for CF2016.)
  • Getting Started with ColdFusion, 9-hours of free online video training, from Adobe. While it's titled formally "Getting Started with ColdFusion 2016", it's not really about what's new in 2016 but is essentially the Fast Track to ColdFusion class.
  • CFML in 100 Minutes, by Mike Henke (last updated in 2012, as of a check in 2022)
  • Learn CF in a week, a substantial CF10-era free online community-driven training series (and e-book)
  • Learn Modern ColdFusion/CFML in 100 Minutes, free online training/book, from Luis Majano and the Ortus team (updated in 2022 as of a check in 2022)
  • Nafisi's ColdFusion Tutorials, a 25-part series of CF11 video tutorials, about 10-15 mins each
  • Online ColdFusion Meetup recordings. The Online CF meetup is an online CF user group with occasional meetings, and recordings of all 250+ sessions (last updated in 2022, as of a check in 2022)
  • Quackit ColdFusion Tutorial is an entire CF introduction class available online (and tutorials on many other tech topics). Has a mix of CF2018 content, as of a check in 2022 (see the installation section) and what seem some CF5-era screenshot (see the discussion of "CF Archive and Deploy" for instance, though to be fair, the UI for the CAR mechanism has not changed much since then)
  • TryCF Tutorials, a community-driven training resource (last updated in 2015, as of a check in 2019)
  • UGTV, a list of over 700 recorded CF user group presentations and tutorials from over 300 presenters (last updated in 2017, as of a check in 2019)
  • While not free, check out the Adobe Certified CF Developer Certification , with 12 hours of 50 video training modules included, following this course outline)
  • And while it's really dated, I still have a heart for the CF7 manual (that many never noticed) called Getting Started Building ColdFusion MX Applications. Sure, the techniques are also dated, but hey, if you're new to CF, you may be asked to deal with code that is this old, or the techniques used for more recent modifications may not have changed. It was a gentle (yet substantial) introuction to CF which was included in the CF docs for 6 and 7 (but not 8, forward). At over 150 pages, it was neither too short nor too long (in my opinion), walking through development of real apps (from a early/mid-2000's beginner perspective) with lots of screenshots
  • There are still other free training resoruces for more generic web development topics. First are those from W3Schools.com second are others I've blogged about before (in 2008).
  • The following are defunct (no longer work, or not updated in 10+ years): CFPrimer (cfprimer.com), Webucator ColdFusion Tutorial (learn-coldfusion-tutorial.com); Wikibooks ColdFusion book (en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Programming:ColdFusion), a CF9-era introductory resource)
  • See also the categories here on CF-oriented trainers, CFML Tutorial Resource sites, CFML Documentation/Help Tools and Resources, and general CFML Resource Sites
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Tuning/Troubleshooting Resources for CFML [link]

Rather than list specific articles and blog entries (as there are so many), here are resources that are themselves lists of other CFML tuning/troubleshooting resources.

CFML Tutorial/Article Sites [link]

There are many sites which offer tutorials or articles about CF, in general and on particular topics. (Don't confuse this with my CFML Training Resources (free) section, above.

CFML User Groups (active) [link]

The following CFUGs have had meetings within the past year (as of a check in 2022).

Tools (CFML and other)

Blogging Tools (written in CFML) [link]

Over the years there were many blogging tools (tools for creating a blog) that were written in CFML. As the world of blogging (and web design) evolved, nearly all of the former CFML-based blogs have become defunct (or not been updated in years). Tools like Wordpress have added so many features that people would want, that it's hard for a CFML blog engine maker to keep up.

Still, there remain some CFML blogging engines.
  • Galaxie blog (formerly Gregory's blog), open source, a "modern" fork and update to BlogCFC, by Gregory Alexander (see download link on right of blog site)
  • See also my category here, Content Management Systems or CMSes (written in CFML) , as most of them offer blogging features. And some even purport to follow the Wordpress lead, such as Wheelie, which is "inspired by Wordpress"
  • Of course, you can also find blogging tools and CMS's written in many other languages, some of which you may choose to use in/integrate into your CFML-based site. I don't want to try to keep here a list of all such options.
  • These now seem defunct or note updated in several years (as of a last check in 2018): 1ssBlog (1ssblog.riaforge.org), AVBlog (www.avblog.org), BlogCFC (blogcfc.com), BlogCFM (www.blogcfm.org), CFBloggy (cfbloggy.riaforge.org), CFMoBlog (cfmoblog.riaforge.org), cwBlog (cwblog.riaforge.org), CFCPhotoBlog (cfcphotoblog.riaforge.org), Fuseblog (riahsoftware.com/fuseblog) KoldKast (www.koldkast.com), MachBlog (www.machblog.org), Mango (mangoblog.org), My Blog (myblog.riaforge.org), Teapot (teapot.riaforge.org)
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Browser Alternatives [link]

Since most CFML developers build browser-based web applications, it may be helpful to be aware of many of the different browsers out there, which your users may use. There's more than just Firefox and IE (and even Opera and Safari.) This is not an ultimate list. There are a few more I found which I've just never heard of. Can't be an ultimate compendium in every category.

Bug Tracking/Defect Tracking/Issue Tracking/Trouble Ticket/Help Desk Tools [link]

I've split this list of bug tracking/defect tracking/issue tracking/trouble ticket/help desk tools into those written in CFML, and the rest, both open source and commercial. You may also want to consider project management tools, which sometimes incorporate features like this.
Following are the subcategories offered:

Bug Tracking/Defect Tracking/Issue Tracking/Trouble Ticket/Help Desk Tools Written in CFML [link]

See the introduction to the broader category above.
  • BugLogHQ, open source, from Oscar Arevalo (last updated in 2016, as of a check in 2019)
  • See also the next section on such tools not written in CFML
  • See also Error Handling Tools
  • The following seem defunct (dead or not updated in years, as of a last check in 2018): BugConnect Bugzilla connector for ColdFusion (github.com/coreybutler/bugconnect), cfdefect (cfdefect.riaforge.org), CFTicket (www.cornfeed.com/index.cfm/go/products,cfticket), Customer Support Center (mindkeeper.net/products/csc/), Lighthouse Pro (lighthousepro.riaforge.org), Skweegee (skweegee.riaforge.org), Tracking-tools (tracking-tools.com), 2simplifi Help Desk (2simplifi.com/coldfusion-software/index.cfm/page/product/title/2simplifi-Help-Desk)
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Bug Tracking/Defect Tracking/Issue Tracking/Trouble Ticket/Help Desk Tools (not written in CFML) [link]

These are such tools that (unlike those above) are NOT written in CFML. Some are downloadable, others are services; some open source, others commercial. See the introduction to the broader category above. This is not a complete list, but a representative sampling.

Caching Tools for CFML [link]

CF has long had several forms of caching (query caching, page/content caching with cfcache and cfsavecontent, and more), but there were still various alternative CFML caching solutions that were created (and some that are still being updated/supported) to add still more caching options for CFML. Since CF9 added built-in ehcache caching features (and CF2018 Enterprise added memcached and redis caching), many of the older caching solutions are no longer updated, as indicated below.
  • CF9 added built-in ehcache caching features (tags and function), and CF2018 Enterprise added memcached and redis caching
  • CacheBox, open source, from Ortus Solutions: "an enterprise caching engine, aggregator and API for ColdFusion applications" (last updated in 2022, as of a check in 2022)
  • The following seem defunct, dead, or not updated in more than a few years as of a check in 2018: CacheBox (cachebox.riaforge.org), Cache management (cfehcache.riaforge.org), CF_Accelerate (bpurcell.org/blog/index.cfm?mode=entry&entry=963), CF_HyperCache (pixl8.co.uk/index.cfm/pcms/site.products.CF_Hypercache), CF_TurboCache (hotfusion.co.uk/TurboCache/index.htm), cfmemcached (cfmemcached.riaforge.org), fusecache (fusecache.riaforge.org), JohnnyCache (johnnycache.riaforge.org), ScopeCache (scopecache.riaforge.org), SoftCache (blogs.sanmathi.org/ashwin/2006/07/01/memory-sensitive-caching-for-cf)
  • See also the separate categories, Web Server Content Caching/Accelerator Tools and Distributed Caching Tools
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

CF Hotfix Management Tools [link]

Now that ColdFusion 10 and above includes automated hotfix management, the need of alternative tools has been removed. There were several such tools before CF10, which may still help those on CF9 or earlier (but since that has not been updated since 2013, it really is irresponsible from a security perspective to still be running such old CF versions).

And while the update mecahnism in CF10- and above is a simple single-click operation, there can be challenges in some situations. For common problems, see my blog post, How to solve common problems with applying ColdFusion updates (in 10 and above). For more information on various details about the auto hotfix mechanism (from when it came out in CF10), see the elaborate Adobe blog entry with about 50 frequently asked questions
  • Again, ColdFusion 10 and above offers built-in hotfix management capabilities.
  • Still, the following tools can help with those applying/managing ColdFusion hotfixes for ColdFusion 9 or before, though they are otherwise defunct:
    • cfUpdater, open source, from John Mason. "Custom extension tool for the ColdFusion Administrator to make handling and managing ColdFusion updates easier"(last updated in 2009, as of a check in 2019)
    • CF Updates and Patches RSS Feeds, a free feed of CF hotfixes and security patches for CF 7-9, from John Mason (last updated for CF9 in 2013, as of a check in 2019)
    • Unofficial Updater 2, Unofficial Updater 2, from David Epler, "a tool to provide an easy way of consistently applying applicable hot fixes and security bulletins to ColdFusion 8.0.1 or 9.0.1."
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

CFHTTP Replacements/Enhancements [link]

While CFML has long had a cfhttp tag, to call URLs on other servers (or your own), it has had various challenges over the years. Some have been resolved by later improvements in the JVM or the underlying Java library which the tag uses (the Apache httpclient library).

Anyway, there have been other options offered over the years, some free, some commercial. And while some of the features they may offer could be provided for now in the basic cfhttp functionality in later versions of CF, I still want to list these alternatives if they may be helpful..

CFMAIL Replacements/Enhancements [link]

These were tools over the years that supplemented CF's built-in mechanism for generating and sending email, but as later version of CF added those capabilities (such as IMAP, or managing CF's undelivered email folder), those tools/projects were soon no longer updated.

First, the CF9 Administrator added a "View Undelivered Mail" option, with an option to "respool" undelivered emails. And as of CF6, you can even optionally not use the spooling process via an optional CFMAIL SpoolEnable attribute. CF 8 added SSL/TLS support to CFMAIL, while CF9 added CFMAP, to name a few key mail improvements.
  • The following are all defunct or have not been updated in at least a few years, as of a check in 2018: ActivMail (www.zrinity.com/activmail), AWS mail custom tag (gist.github.com/cflove/4957007), cfrespooler (cfrespooler.riaforge.org), CFX_Imap4 (store.newmediadevelopment.net/cfx_tag.cfm?ProductID=15), intelli Mailbot (cfxtras.com/SalesComponentDetail.cfm?componentid=380), Spoolmail (spoolmail.riaforge.org), Undelivrnator (undelivrnator.riaforge.org), InFusion Mail Server (www.coolfusion.com/products/ims/index.cfm)
  • If you may be looking for alternative mail servers, see the separate category for that: Mail Servers/Gateways/Services
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

CFML Engine Alternatives [link]

While ColdFusion was the first CFML engine, there have since been several alternatives from other vendors or teams, most of which that have come and since gone. Lucee stands alone as the open-source alternative (similar to but not identical to CF, or ACF as Lucee folks tend to refer to it).
  • Adobe ColdFusion, free and commercial (free Developer and trial editions)
  • Lucee, open source
  • The following seem or are defunct: BlueDragon (newatlanta.com/products/bluedragon/), Camuffo (sourceforge.net/projects/camuffo/), Coral (pcaonline.com), IgniteFusion (ignitefusion.com), mkfusion (sourceforge.net/projects/mkfusion/), Open BlueDragon (openbluedragon.org/), Railo (getrailo.org, forked to become Lucee), Smith (sourceforge.net/projects/smithos/), tagServlet (n-ary.com, formerly named tagFusion for a time, and which became BlueDragon)
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

CFML Frameworks/Methodologies [link]

There are far more CFML frameworks (or methodologies) than many may realize. I've tried to group these according to the sub-category most would regard a framework to be, but I could get it wrong. Just let me know.

I provide whatever brief description may be found on the respective web site (so if you don't like the description, talk to the site owner and let me know if it changes...and framework owners, you'd do well to have a nice succinct description to help visitors get a quick understanding of the frameworks purpose, goals, intended use, etc.)

Similarly, if there's a name associated with the project on the site, or if a name is commonly known as being responsible for the framework, I list that. As always, I'm open to updates.

Note as well that some of these may be defunct. As long as there was a working site (or some relatively recent site talking about it, even if a third party), I list it. At the end I list some frameworks whose sites seem defunct. Again, updates are welcomed.

Following are the subcategories offered:

CFML Application Frameworks/Methodologies [link]

See other CFML frameworks below and in the introduction to the broader category above.
  • cfFramework, "a CFML MVC Framework", from Jerome Lepage (last updated in 2016, as of a check in 2020)
  • CFWheels, "an open source CFML (ColdFusion Markup Language) framework inspired by Ruby on Rails that provides fast application development, a great organization system for your code, and is just plain fun to use", from the CFWheels Team (last updated in 2019, as of a check in 2020)
  • ColdBox, "a conventions-based HMVC framework for ColdFusion (CFML", from Ortus Solutions (last updated in 2019, as of a check in 2020)
  • FarCry, "a web app framework for the ColdFusion language ", from Daemon Consulting (last updated in 2019, as of a check in 2020)
  • Framework One (FW/1), "a lightweight, convention over configuration, MVC application framework for ColdFusion / CFML", from Sean Corfield and others (last updated in 2019, as of a in 2020)
  • The following seem defunct (site not responding, or app not updated in more than 3 years): Blackbox (cfblackbox.com), CFObjects (sourceforge.net/projects/cfobjects/), cfoo.org, cfoop.com, COAL, coldMVC (github.com/tonynelson19/ColdMVC), coop (coop.riaforge.org), cfrails (cfrails.riaforge.org), Edmund (edmund.riaforge.org/), Fusebox (fusebox.org), FuseboxNG, fusionscript.com, Gliint (Gliint.riaforge.org), HomePortals (homeportals.net), iiFramework (www.infranetcorp.com/iiFramework.html), LightFront (lightfront.riaforge.org), Mach-ii (mach-ii.com), Metro (metro.riaforge.org), Model-Glue (model-glue.com), MXF, mvcf (benorama.com/coldfusion), Neptune (bryantwebconsulting.com/docs/neptune/), objectbreeze.com, onAir (sourceforge.net/projects/onair/), OnTap (ontap.riaforge.org), PiMunkey (millionmunkeys.net/PiMunkey), Plum (productivityenhancement.com/plum), PureMVC_CF (trac.puremvc.org/PureMVC_CF), Quicksilver (quicksilver.riaforge.org), SOS (code.google.com/p/cfsos/), Switchboard (switchboard.riaforge.org), >Switchbox (www.switch-box.org), Tardis (www.illumineti.com), Tartan (tartanframework.org/tartan), TheHUB (codesweeper.com/index.cfm?event=dsp.the_hub), TrafficMunkey (millionmunkeys.net/TrafficMunkey), underscoreframework.com
  • Some folks also see CMSs as frameworks, so see my list of them
  • Similarly, to the degree that code testing/unit testing tools can be regarded also as a "coding framework", see CFML Unit Testing Tools
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

CFML Injection Frameworks [link]

See other CFML frameworks and related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.
  • DI/1 - Inject One , "A very lightweight, convention-over-configuration Dependency Injection framework", from Sean Corfield (last updated in 2021, as of a check in 2022)
  • Wirebox, "Dependency Injection and AOP library for ColdFusion", from Ortus Solutions (last updated in 2020, as of a check in 2022)
  • The following seem defunct (site not responding, or app not updated in more than 3 years): ColdSpring (coldspringframework.org), Lightwire (lightwire.riaforge.org/)
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

CFML REST Frameworks [link]

While there were once several REST framworks for CFML, once CF10 included REST support directly, most of the projects fell into disuse.

See other CFML frameworks and related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.
  • ColdFusion 10 and above add REST support, updated in CF11
  • Taffy, open soruce, from Adam Tuttle, "low friction, extremely simple to get started, and it's compatible as far back as ColdFusion 8" (last updated in 2016, as of a check in 2019)
  • See also REST support within ColdBox ("Relax")
  • The following seem defunct (site not responding, or app not updated in more than 3 years): RESTfulCF (restfulcf.riaforge.org), PowerNap (github.com/dominknow/powernap)
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

CFML ORM Frameworks [link]

While there were once several ORM framworks for CFML, once CF9 included ORM (Hibernate) directly, most of the projects fell into disuse.

See other CFML frameworks and related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.
  • ColdFusion 9 and above includes ORM, based on Hibernate
  • See also the ORM feature of CFWheels
  • The following seem defunct (site not responding, or app not updated for 3 or more years): DataFaucet (datafaucet.riaforge.org), DBMunkey (millionmunkeys.net/FormMunkey), Reactor (www.reactorframework.org), Transfer (www.transfer-orm.com)
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Code Coverage Tools for CFML [link]

Many languages offer tools that allow you to track/confirm what code within your app is "reached" during processing (or not). There have been various efforts to offer that for CFML.

Code Deployment / Package Manager Tools for CFML [link]

Following are tools to assist with code deployment or code package management:
  • Commandbox package mgt, open source, from Ortus Solutions (last updated in 2019, as of a check in 2020)
  • The following seem defunct (site not responding, or app not updated in more than 3 years): Cascade (github.com/ryanguill/Cascade), cfpm (cfpm.io), Ramen (github.com/CFCommunity/ramen)
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Code Formatting Tools for CFML [link]

While CFML is pretty self-documenting, it can certainly help to have code better-formatted (indented, etc.), and there are tools to help with that.
  • As for VSCode, none of the main CFML extensions (in early 2021) support the VSCode "formatter" feature, for formatting of CFML code. There are various formatter extensions that do support CFML. At least 3 are based on the Pretty Diff engine (that supports CFML), including UniBeautify, Pretty Formatter, and Pretty-Diff.
    • (Yet another option to consider for VSCode is extensions which influence the built-in formatting of VSCode, such as EditorConfig and Beautify, both based on the EditorConfig engine. Someone shows configuring that for CFML here, with a key point being to use "cfml" rather then ".cfm" or ".cfc": as the beautify.language settings are expecting the VSCode "language mode" rather than file extensions.)
  • ColdFusion Builder (Edit > Format), which can format either highlighted code or the entire file open in the editor. The formatting configuration can be modified with Preferences>ColdFusion>Profiles>Editor>Formatter>Add. Learn more here. It also supports auto-formatting of code (indentation, closing of tags, braces), more here
    • Someone who did not "care for CFB" or didn't want to pay for it could still use it (and not just as a free trial), simply as a way to format CFML when needed, assuming it's not a task they need to do too often. (Sadly, there seems no provision to format several files or an entire folder at once.)
    • As for how to use it (beyond just the free trial), this formatting feature in CFB is supported even in the free "Express" edition of CFB (what you get if you don't add a license after the 60-day trial). More here.
  • ColdFusion Studio/HomeSite (see Tools>CodeSweeper)
  • Dreamweaver (Commands > Apply Source Formatting)
  • There are also various online services that can provide formatting of HTML, XML, javascript, json, and more. I leave you to google for those.
  • Defunct: HTML formatter (logichammer.com/html-formatter), which has CF support
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Code Generators for CFML [link]

Following are available code generation tools for CFML.
  • cfscript.me, free, hosted service. Converts tag-based CFML to CFScript
  • CodeCharge, commercial, with CFML support (last updated in 2016, as of a check in 2022)
  • ColdFusion Builder (commercial) from Adobe. Includes wizards for generating CFCs and other code
  • The following are defunct (dead or not updated in years, as of a check in 2018): Adalon (www.synthis.com), Apptacular (github.com/tpryan/Apptacular), ColdFusion Application Generator (cf_applicationgenerator.riaforge.org), CFCBlaster (code.google.com/p/cfcblaster), CFProperty (cfproperty.riaforge.org), CF/Flex Generator(completecodegen.riaforge.org), ColdDoc (colddoc.riaforge.org), CRACK (github.com/joshknutson/crack), DBX (dbx.riaforge.org), ICEGen (icegen.riaforge.org), Illudium PU-36 (cfcgenerator.riaforge.org), next-generator(nextgen.riaforge.org), Plum (www.productivityenhancement.com/products/Plum.cfm), Rooibos (rooibos.maestropublishing.com), Skeleton Site Creator (skeleton.riaforge.org), Squidhead (squidhead.riaforge.org), TransferConfig (transferconfig.riaforge.org)
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Code Sharing/Pastebin Tools [link]

Following are free services which allow developers to share code snippets with each other. (While one is actually named PasteBin, the term has become generic.) Some even have integrations within IDEs/editors to make it easy to share code from within your development environment.
  • Github Gist, free hosted service (with support for public/private snippets, multiple language syntax hilighting; snippets are also automatically versioned, forkable and usable as a git repository)
  • Pastebin, free hosted service
  • paste this.in (formerly PASTE and DevStation), free hosted service, offering optional password and time limits
  • Pastiebin, free hosted service (with support for public/private snippets, multiple language syntax hilighting)
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Comparison Tools [link]

There are multiple categories of comparison tools offered here.
Following are the subcategories offered:

Text/File/Dir Comparison/Merge Tools [link]

Following are tools that can compare text, file, and directory comparisons and merging. See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.

Database Comparison Tools [link]

Following are tools that can compare database data and schema. See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.

Content Delivery Networks [link]

Content delivery networks (or "content distribution networks") can be important to the performance, reliability, and scalability of your web site, especially with regard to the more static content of your site (and often even your dynamic content, where that may be appropriate). Rather than serve all such requests from your web server directly, a CDN serves your content to your clients from a distributed network of other servers (generally served transparently to your visitors). While Akamai may have the majority of mindshare when folks think of the term CDN, there are indeed many alternatives. Look closely at each site, to see if they may offer different solutions for static vs dynamic content (and how they may manage that, as it's of course not appropriate to distribute ALL dynamic content, but for some sites some technically "dynamic" content could indeed be distributed).

Content Management Systems or CMSes (written in CFML) [link]

The following are CMSes written in CFML. I've mentioned also portal apps, as those seem close. Of course, you can find a CMS written in many other languages that you may choose to use on your site. I don't want to try to keep here a list of all such CMSes.
  • CommonSpot, commercial, from Paperthin (unable to determine last update date, as of a check in 2021)
  • CONTENS, commercial, by CONTENS (last updated in 2023, as of news shared in 2023)
  • ContentBox, open source, from Ortus Solutions (last updated in 2021, as of a check in 2021)
  • FarCry, open source, from Daemon, et al (last updated in 2019, as of a check in 2021)
  • Masa, open source, formed from Mura (last updated in 2021, as of a check in 2021)
  • Preside CMS, open source, from Pixl8 (last updated in 2021, as of a check in 2021)
  • Wheelie, open source, "Built on CFWheels and Lucee 5 - Inspired by Wordpress" (last updated in 2021, as of a check in 2021)
  • Xindi, open source, from Simon Bingham (last updated in 2016, as of a check in 2021)
  • Of course, there are likely hundreds of non-CF CMSes out there. I don't want to try to keep track of all of them. Consider watching such resources as http://www.cmsmatrix.org/
  • See also:
    • Jetendo, open source, from Bruce Kirkpatrick (last updated in 2014, as of a check in 2021)
    • Mura, commercial from Blue River Interactive Group (no longer downloadable, as of a check in 2021)
    • NQcontent WCM, commercial, from NetQuest (could not determine last update, as of a check in 2021, but the latest "news" was from 10+ years ago)
  • The following seem defunct (dead, or not updated in several years): bluApple (bluapple.riaforge.org), Boomsocket (www.boomsocket.com), Bytespring CMS (www.jmpj.net/jason/page.cfm/BytespringCMS), CAM-II CMS (camiicms.riaforge.org), CFC_Nuke (cfcNuke.riaforge.org), ColdBricks (coldbricks.com), ContentMonger Pro ( www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange/index.cfm?event=extensionDetail&extid=1002557), DA-Content (dynapp.com/da-content.da), Ektron (www.ektron.com), Hot Banana ColdFusion CMS (www.hotbanana.com), Katapult (codfusion.com), MindsEye Element (www.mindseyeelement.com), Mojito (mojito.riaforge.org/index.cfm), Sava (not defunct but renamed to Mura), Savvy (besavvy.com) , ShadoCMS (www.shadocms.com), Simple Content Editor (contenteditor.riaforge.org), Speck CMS (speckcms.org), Splash CMS (splashcms.riaforge.org), Synergy (www.synergyanywhere.com), Tapestry (www.turnkey.to/432.cfm), TeamworkCMS (digital-crew.com), Thrive CMS (cabbagetree.co.nz), WebOS 'Carbon 14', Yet Another ColdFusion CMS (yacc.riaforge.org)
  • The following seem no longer to based on CF (that I can tell from their site): Affino (affino.com), IFactum (ifactum.com), LightHouse (modernsignal.com), SiteExecutive (siteexecutive.com), WebPress Pro (ecomenterprises.com)
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Database Engines [link]

There are many database engines, and I split the list into two main categories, free and paid. (As I note below, some commercial DBMSs do offer free editions.) I have also added a category for Redis-compatible DBs, given that CF supports using Redis as a session storage mechanism (but there are indeed many alternatives to Redis itself). FWIW, I do mention other nosql db alternatives as a final point in the first section on free DBs.
Following are the subcategories offered:

Free/Open Source DBMSs [link]

These are free/open source database alernatives (focused primarily on traditional SQL-oriented databases).

See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.
  • Berkely DB, open source, multi-platform (from Oracle)
  • Db2 Express-C, free Community edition of commercial DB 2 Express, listed below (from IBM)
  • Derby, open source, multi-platform (which used to be known as IBM Cloudscape, also multi-platform and free, and Derby is now known also as Java DB). Note as well this resource I've created on getting started with Derby as a CFer
  • Firebird, open source, multi-platform
  • Frontbase, free with commercial support, for MacOS
  • h2, open source, Java-based (multi-platform)
  • HyperSQL (aka hsqldb), open source, java-based (multi-platform)
  • InfluxDB, "An open-source distributed time series database with no external dependencies", free to download (for *nix) or available via commercial hosting
  • InfoBright, open source and commercial data warehousing
  • MariaDB, open source and commercial, a fork of MySQL (from one of the original MySQL developers)
  • MaxDB, Community edition, multi-platform (formerly SAP DB: see a 2009 blog entry I wrote on it when it was known by that name). Also available commercially, listed below
  • McKoi, open source, Java-based (multi-platform)
  • MySQL, Community edition, multi-platform (also has commercial editions, listed below)
  • Oracle Express Edition, multi-platform (also has commercial editions, listed below)
  • PostGreSQL, open source, multi-platform
  • Sedna, open source, multi-platform XML database engine
  • SQLite (sometimes misspelled as SQLLite or SQL Lite), open source, multi-platform
  • SQL Server CE (Compact Edition), free, embeddable, for Windows
  • SQL Server Express, free, for Windows (and here's a nice set of resources on it from Pinal Dave)
  • Consider also the rise in popularity of non-relational, "nosql", and often distributed databases, such as Cassandra, CouchDB, hBase, MongoDB, and others.
  • There is also the notion of key/value data stores, which have sometimes been classified as caching solutions (for which I have a related category here), and include also options like Infinispan.
  • See also the Commercial DBMSs category below
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Commercial DBMSs [link]

These are commercial database alernatives (focused primarily on traditional SQL-oriented databases).

See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.

Redis-compatible Implementations and Alternatives [link]

These are Redis-compatible implementations and alernatives (focused on separately from noSQL db's because of CF's support of storing sessions in Redis). Some are cloud services offering Redis, some are installers or Redis separate from Redis itself, and some are alternative Redis-compatible DBs meaning they should work fine instad of Redis as they implement the Redis Serialization Protocol (RESP) and can be called from rest clients like Jedis (the Java Redis client API).

Again, for those who wonder about other NOSQL or key/value DB alternatives (not necessarily designed to be compatible with Redis), see the final point in the previous section on free DBs.

See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.

CSV file management (viewers/editors) [link]

I used to have these within the log file viewer category but moved them to their own section

Database Tools [link]

There are many kinds of database tools.
Following are the subcategories offered:

Database Coding Tools [link]

See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.

Database Comparison Tools

See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.

Database Migration Tools [link]

The following tools assist with database migration/conversion, change migration, synchronization, conversion of stored procedures, and more. See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.
  • AccesstoSQL, free tool, from Microsoft. Also known as "SQL Server Migration Assistant for Access" or "SSMA". As of 2022, it supports converting databases in Access versions 97 through 2010 to SQL Server versions 2005-2019, including Azure SQL DB
  • DBConvert is a line of commercial conversion tools
  • Embarcadero Change Manager, commercial, multi-platform and multidatabase (seems to have replaced former product, DT/Studio)
  • ESF Database Migration Toolkit, commercial, for Windows, with support for most databases
  • Full Convert, commercial tool for converting among any of several databases, for Windows
  • Redgate SQL Compare, commercial, can be used for database migration
  • SQL Manager Data Pump, Data Export, and Data Import lines of products, with different editions for each of many databases. Commercial, for Windows
  • SQL Script Builder, commercial, for Windows, with support for most databases
  • SwisSQL Stored Procedure Migration Tools, commercial, see links on this page to several conversion options among the major databases
  • The following SwisSQL tools are being discontinued: Data Migration Tool (swissql.com/products/datamigration/data-migration.html), DBChangeManager (swissql.com/products/database-compare-synchronize-tool/index.html), SwisSQL Console (Query Translation / Conversion Tool, swissql.com/products/sql-translator/sql-converter.html)
  • See also Database Comparison tools
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Database/SQL Monitoring Tools

Database Query/Explore Tools [link]

This category includes both tools to help you build SQL statements as well as to explore your databases and their tables, columns, indexes, data, etc. Some are CF-specific tools, some are generic. See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.
I have divided this list of tools into those which support multiple database engines, and those which support only specific ones:

Database Query/Explore Tools supporting multiple databases [link]

Following are tools with support for multiple database engines.
  • Aqua Data Studio (aka AquaData Studio), commercial (last updated in 2021, as of a check in 2021)
  • dbforge, commercial and free
  • DB Solo, commercial, multi-platform
  • DBeaver, free and commercial, multi-platform
  • DBVisualizer, commercial, multi-platform
  • Eclipse SQL Explorer, an open source Eclipse plugin (aka EclipseSQL, SQLExplorer)
  • EMS SQL Manager free and commercial), for Windows; and EM SQL Management Studio, commercial, for Windows
  • Froq, commercial, for MacOS
  • iSQL-Viewer, free, multi-platform
  • Navicat, commercial, multi-platform (last updated in 2023, as of a check in 2024)
  • Oracle SQL Developer, free, multi-platform (and does support multiple database engines, despite its name)
  • Query Express, free, for Windows
  • Query Tool (using ODBC), free, for Windows
  • QuantumDB, free Eclipse plugin
  • RapidSQL, commercial (last updated in 2020, as of a check in 2021)
  • RazorSQL, commercial, multi-platform (last updated in 2024, as of a check in 2024)
  • Sqlectron, open source, multi-platform (last updated in 2022, as of a check in 2024)
  • SQL Editor, commercial, for MacOS
  • SQL Grinder, commercial, for MacOS
  • SQL Workbench, a free, multi-platform SQL query tool (not related to MySQL Workbench) (last updated in 2023, as of a check in 2024)
  • Squirrel, free, multi-platform (last updated in 2024, as of a check in 2024)
  • Toad, free, multi-platform. Free and commercial implementations also available from Dell, such as Toad for MySQL (free), and Toad for Oracle and SQL Server (all free and commercial)
  • WinSQL, free and commercial, with partner product JaySQL for JDBC (also free)
  • You can find other DB UI tools, as listed by the DB Vendor Firebird, showing tools that support it but also generally support other DBs
  • See also Database Query/Explore Tools supporting only specific databases
  • The following seem or are defunct:
    • ColdFusion Database Explorer (cfdbexplorer.riaforge.org), a free CFML-based query tool from Ray Camden
    • ColdFusion Table Profiler (cf_tableprofiler.riaforge.org), a free CFML-based database exploration tool from Jason Presley
    • DataRoamer (dataroamer.com), commercial with free trial. An interesting tool, to help explore databases via their relationships, both in terms of viewing their design and their data
    • cf_xquery (cfxquery.co.uk), a free set of custom tags from William Greenly providing a means to run XQuery compliant statements against a datasource or url. Also includes the open source Sedna XML database engine. (No longer available)
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Database Query/Explore Tools supporting only specific databases [link]

Following are tools with support for only certain specific database engines.

Database Testing Tools

See the category on this within Testing tools.

Debugging Output Template Alternatives/Mods for CFML [link]

Many don't realize that the CF debugging output (optionally displayed at the bottom of the page, as enabled in the CF Admin) is actually created by a CFML template that can be modified ([cf]\wwwroot\WEB-INF\debug\classic.cfm). Fortunately, several people have offered various resources that explain how to work with this file and offer packaged alternatives with specific features to resolve particular problems (where people wish the debugging output did more, or could be seen differently than at the bottom of the page).

While most of these are quite dated, you may still be able to use the cod as-is, or can get ideas from them. You can just drop these in to add to or replace the default classic.cfmfile, or better name it as a new file, and then you can select it as an alternative in the CF Admin Debugging Output page (which offers a choice for "Select Debugging Output Format", which points to the classic.cfm by default). Of course, since it's CFML source code, all the options mentioned here are free and open source.
  • "Another hack job", a 2008 article from Ray Camden offering code that adds total query time, improved number formatting for individual query times, and highlighting queries that a given duration
  • CF-FireLogger, open source from Maxim Paperno. ColdFusion server-side library for use with the FireLogger extension for Firebug (last updated in 2012, as of a check in 2022)
  • ColdFusion Debug Templates, "in case you want to try something different than the default template", from Josh Knutson (last updated in 2018, as of a check in 2022)
  • Lucee Performance Analyzer, from Zac Spitzer, open source, for Lucee (last updated in 2021, as of a check in 2021)
  • Mark Kruger's Improved CF debugging template, showing cfqueryparam info (2012 blog post)
  • Note as well that there is also an alternative to showing debugging output at the bottom of the page. See the available "dockable" option in the choice for "Select Debugging Output Format". While the aforementioned classic.cfm is the default, the dockable.cfm instead shows the debugging output as dockable/movable/floatable pane instead
  • See also the next category, CFML Debugging Tools, for other kinds of CFML debugging tools
  • The following are or seem defunct:
    • CF Debug Copy(cfdebugcopy.riaforge.org) open source from Nathan Mische, allow you to easily copy and paste the SQL query output generated by the classic ColdFusion debug template, parsing the query parameters
    • CF Debug Enhanced (ajas_cf_debug.riaforge.org), open source from Ajas Mohammed (with a focus on providing extended info on querys and SP results)
    • CF No Debug (http://cfnodebug.riaforge.org), open source from Nathan Mische, Firefox Extension and Servlet Filter to Disable ColdFusion Debugging
    • ColdFire, open source from Nathan Mische et al, a Firefox/Firebug extension to aid in viewing CFML debugging output by way of a new alternative debugging output template, coldfire.cfm
    • CF websocket debugger (cfwsdebugger.riaforge.org), open source from Kunal Saini, Debugging tool for CF10 websocket
    • Improved Classic CF debugging template, from Aaron Longnion. (This is a version of the page recovered using the archive.org "wayback machine".) Changes list of templates executed to show in order executed, rather than by order of duration. Also adds cfqueryparam variable values for queries shown
    • IP Ranger, open source, "ColdFusion administrator extension to allow IP ranges to be added to the debugging IP addresses list", from Nathan Mische
    • StarFish (www.coldfusionjedi.com/projects/starfish), from Ray Camden, a profiling tool built on the CF debugger. Stores debugging output in server scope, and adds an Admin customization interface to view reports based on gathered information
    • Stiletto, from John Mason (last updated in 2009, as of a check in 2021), for logging CF debugging output to a file (inspired by a 2008 blog entry by Bilal Soylu)
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Debugging Tools for CFML [link]

Separate from the previous category on extending the CF debug output feature, there are still other tools to help with debugging CFML.

Distributed Caching Tools for CFML [link]

Again, as mentioned above, CF already has caching features built-into it, and there are various alternatives (mentioned there), but many will want to take advantage of more enterprise-capable distributed caching solutions, discussed here.

Docker/container image alternatives for CFML [link]

While one can create their own Docker/container images from scratch (as with any technology), there are also pre-built Docker/container images for ColdFusion and Lucee, whether from Adobe or the Lucee team, or via Ortus Commandbox images. They each have their differences (and advantages or disadvantages), which anyone using either engine should at least be aware of.

Editors/IDEs [link]

This list offers both editing tools (editors, IDEs) which focus on CFML (either are specific to CF, or generic but have CFML support), and then I list "other editors" which don't support CFML directly but may still interest some CFers. I then also offer links to various CFML-oriented plugins for Eclipse (upon which CFBuilder is based).

(For times when you just want to view files, rather than edit them, see the available file viewers listed under Generic File View/Log Analysis Tools.)
Following are the subcategories offered:
See also WYSIWYG/Rich Text Content Editors.

CFML Editors (specifically for CF, or supporting CFML) [link]

Following are editors which either specialize in CFML editing inherently (ColdFusion Builder, CFEclipse) or which offer CFML support, perhaps as a plugin. (There are some editors which list "ColdFusion" or "Cold Fusion" support. If I could not determine a date of last udpate of the CFML support, I have moved those down to the "other editors" category.)
  • ColdFusion Builder, CFML IDE from Adobe, free and commercial. The traditional Eclipse-based implementation was replaced in 2022 with a new VSCode-based implementation. Documentation on the VSCode extension start here. The VSCode extension is free. The Eclipse-based implementation had also offered free version.
  • Eclipse, free (for CFML support, see discussion of CFEclipse and other plugins below in the subcategory Eclipse plugins)
  • IntelliJ IDEA, commercial (Ultimate) and open source (Community edition). Also free access to Ultimate edition via Early Access Program. IDEA supports CFML (in the Ultimate edition only) with an available CFML plugin, last updated in 2021, as of a check in 2021)
  • Sublime Text, commercial, multi-platform, with CFML support (last updated in 2021, as of a check in 2022), which replaces the older ColdFusion Package, and now supports CF and Lucee (though for Sublime Text 3 only)
  • Visual Studio Code (aka "VS Code" or VScode), free, multi-platform, with multiple extensions for CFML support. See the discussion of the new Adobe CFML extension for VS Code, listed in the first bullet of this list.
  • While some would want me to list Atom, open source, multiplatform (with CFML support, which was last updated in 2022, as of a check in 2022), note that the tools end of life has been announced as being Dec 15 2022. In time, I will move it to the list below after that time.
  • The following seem defunct (no longer updated):
    • Note that some editors USED to have support for CFML, but that has not been kept updated (Komodo and NotePad++). I have moved them down to the "other editors" list immediately below, with a clarification about their defunct CFML support.)
    • Brackets, free, multi-platform [End of Life Sep 2021] (with CFML support, last updated in 2014, as of a check in 2021)
    • Coda, commercial, for MacOS (with CFML support, last updated in 2015, as of a check in 2018)
    • D20 (d2o.riaforge.org), open source, from John Farrar. An IDE for developing COOP-based CFML apps (coop.riaforge.org)
    • Espresso (macrabbit.com/espresso), commercial, for MacOS, with an available ColdFusion Sugar plug-in, free from Scott Mebberson, providing complete syntax highlighting and code hinting for ColdFusion
    • nocCode (noccode.riaforge.org), open source, web-based IDE from Thomas Stiegler
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Other Editors (without CFML support) [link]

Unlike those listed in the previous category, these don't list specific support for ColdFusion (or have not indicated updated CFML support in years), but they may still be useful for some. Note that some favorite editor of yours may be listed already in the preceding category on CFML editors, immediately above.
  • AWS Cloud9, free with AWS account, multi-platform
  • bbedit, commercial, for MacOS (which says it supports CFML with CF "clippings" support)
  • CodeLobster, free and commercial, multi-platform
  • Cream, free, multi-platform
  • Crimson, free, for Windows
  • Dreamweaver, commercial, from Adobe (no longer supporting CFML since the CC releases in 2013
  • EditPad, for Windows, available in Lite (free) and Pro (commercial) editions
  • EditPlus, shareware and commercial, for Windows
  • EditRocket, commercial, multi-platform
  • EmEditor, free and commercial, for Windows (See more on the free edition)
  • Emerald, free, multi-platform (fork of Crimson editor)
  • GNU EMACS, free, multi-platform
  • Espresso, commercial, for MacOS
  • HTML-Kit, free and commercial, for Windows
  • JDeveloper, free, multi-platform
  • JEdit open source, multi-platform, which does list "ColdFusion" support (can't readily tell date that CFML support was last updated)
  • Komodo, commercial and free (which USED to have support for CFML via a project called Komodo-CFML, which no longer seems to exist or can be found as of a check in 2021)
  • Notepad++, free and multiplatform. (It used to have free "ColdFusion Lexer" plugin available via Plugin Manager or as found at nppColdFusion, but it's not been updated since 2013, as of a check in 2021 (the original developer of that nppColdFusion plugin has stopped supporting it, in favor of his working then with Sublime)
  • Notepadqq, open source, for Linux
  • NotePad 2, free, for Windows
  • NoteTab, free and commercial, for Windows
  • nova, commercial, for MacOS
  • PSPad, free, for Windows
  • PrimalScript, commercial, for Windows
  • ShiftEdit, commercial, browser-based, hosted editor
  • TextMate, for MacOS, which in the past had offered CFML support via CFTextMate (last updated in 2010, as of a check in 2022), and coldfusion.tmbundle (last updated in 2018 as of a check in 2022)
  • TextPad, shareware, for Windows (and see related WildEdit tool for editing across files/folders)
  • TSW WebCoder, commercial, for Windows
  • UltraEdit, commercial, multi-platform
  • Vim ("Vi Improved"), free, multi-platform
  • Visual Studio, commercial and free, multi-platform (see info on web development features)
  • XML Copy Editor, open source, for Windows and Linux
  • The following seem defunct: AptEdit (aptedit.com), E (e-texteditor.com), GridinSoft Notepad (notepad.gridinsoft.com), JBuilder (oracle.com/technetwork/developer-tools/jdev/) Jext (jext.org), TextWrangler (barebones.com/products/TextWrangler), WebMatrix (microsoft.com/web/webmatrix)
  • Again, if you feel that I'm missing something from this list, be sure to see other text editors that are listed instead CFML Editors, including some not traditionally thought of as CFML editors. They're listed there if they DO support CFML

Eclipse Plugins [link]

There are plugins for the Eclipse framework, which can work with CF Builder or just plain Eclipse. I divide the list into two categories.

Eclipse Plug-ins for CF or with support for it [link]

See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.

Other Eclipse Plug-ins of interest to CFers [link]

See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.
  • Aptana, free, for its support of HTML, JavaScript, AIR, and more
  • Eclipse SQL Explorer, free, query and browse any JDBC compliant database
  • egit, free, Eclipse Team provider for Git
  • Mylyn, free, offers integration to popular defect tracking tools
  • MyEclipse, a commercial addon which adds Javascript editing and debugging, CSS editing, database explorer, ajax tools, image editing, and much more
  • QuantumDB, free, for database access
  • Subclipse, free, offering support for Subversion
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback
If you're looking for WYSIWYG/Rich Text Content editors, they have their own category here

Error Handling Tools [link]

The following are tools/projects to help manage errors within your application/server. Have you ever been frustrated that typical error handling code sends an email for EVERY error, even if it's 100 in a minute with the same error? Eror handling frameworks can handle errors more intelligently. And even if you don't want to implement any of these for some reason, you can still get good ideas from them which you might implement yourself. ("Frameworks are never good enough for my specific needs anyway", some would say, right?!)

Currently I've split this list into error hanlding tools written in CFML, and those which are not. You may also want to consider Bug Tracking/Defect Tracking/Issue Tracking/Trouble Ticket/Help Desk Tools.
Following are the subcategories offered:

Error Handling Tools (written in CFML) [link]

The following are tools/projects to help manage errors, which are written in CFML.
  • BugLogHQ, open source, from Oscar Arevalo, et al (see more info. Last updated in 2016, as of a check in 2022)
  • Hoth, open source, from Aaron Greenlee, et al. Last updated in 2016, as of a check in 2022. See more info. Aaron indicated in July 2016 that it would no longer be updated but remains stable and available)
  • IronGate (formerly Kakapo), open source, from Saman W Jayasekara (see more info, recovered from archive.org. Last updated in 2014, as of a check in 2022)
  • Those using the ColdBox framework should know also about the whoops error handler framework which is included now with ColdBox 6, as discussed here.
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Error Handling Tools (not written in CFML) [link]

The following are tools/projects to help manage errors, which are NOT written in CFML.

Excel File Processing Tools [link]

Following are approaches for reading or creating Excel files from CFML. Note that they're in alphabetical order (like the rest of the tools in this list), not in any preferred or recommended order of consideration. Some are much easier than others, while others offer greater power and capability. Some are for creating XLS files from CFML, some are for reading them into CFML, and others are for populating a spreadsheet with data from a CFML request. Consider them all to find the best to suit your needs.

BTW, one may argue that I could have a generic category on processing all sorts of file types (or even just all kinds of MS Office) file types, but there are so many requests for Excel file processing specifically, and so many approaches/tools to suit those needs, that I just figured I'd start out with this and consider other filetypes later (and may rename this category then). It's also certainly true that most of the techniques/tools shown here can be used with any spreadsheet tool that reads xls files or processes CSV/HTML table files in a similar way (like OpenOffice).
Following are the subcategories offered:
  • CFML [link]: CF9 added a CFSpreadsheet tag, which can both read and write Excel (xls) files, as well as about 40 spreadsheet-related functions. For more info on the tag (and links to more on the functions), see the CF9 CFML Reference on it, or see the the CF9 Developer's Guide coverage of it
  • COM [link]: Since CF on Windows can integrate with COM, there are solutions available using that interface. There are a number of tools that uses the approach in the CFCOMET tools list (www.cfregex.com/cfcomet/utilities/, seems defunct), including CF_Excel2CSV, CF_ReadXLS, HTML2Excel, and SQL_export.cfm. (Note that you'll often find references to a site called CFCOMET, but sadly the CFCOMET site is no more. It was resurrected at www.cfregex.com/cfcomet/ back in 2002, but is also no more.) As you contemplate working with COM, if performance is an issue, consider these Adobe technotes: 1, 2, and 3 (via archive.org). See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above
  • CSV [link]: You can both create Excel files using CSV, as well as read in CSV (or other delimited files) to create a query, such as from an Excel file. To create an Excel file, you can simply send to the browser a CSV (or other delimited) file. There are UDFs to ease converting a query to a CSV, such as QueryToCSV2, by Qasim Rasheed. See also a tweaked version of this by Aaron Longnion. There are also the UDFs GenerateExcel UDF (cftopper.com/index.cfm?page=blog&blogId=1&blogpostid=180)(defunct) from Topper, and CSVFormat and GetTabTextFeed from cflib.org. When you do this, you need to use CFCONTENT to set the mime type to "application/msexcel" (and may want to use CFHEADER to set a filename to be chosen for the user, and may need to use CFSETTING to turn off debugging.)

    To create a CF query result by reading a CSV (or other delimited) file, as might be exported from Excel, you can use CFHTTP. See the CF docs on CFHTTP, specifically the subsection "Building a query from a delimited text file", as well as blog entries such as those by Ben Nadel 1 2, and Alex Le. There's yet another approach of reading a CSV using a DSN as discussed by Mark Kruger. See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above
  • HTML Table [link]: Another long-existent, simple way to create output to Excel from CFML is creating an HTML table, again prefaced by a CFCONTENT setting the mimetype for Excel and such. Many have written on this useful, simple approach, including Jeremy Petersen (in the ColdFusion Cookbook) and Jehiah Czebotar. It's also covered in the docs, such as these CF6 and CF8 pages on CFContent (and notice all the comments in the older CF6 one, for additional info). There are UDFs and custom tags to do it for you, too, such as Query2Excel in the cflib site. A still more elaborate approach is discussed in this blog entry by Ben Nadel. See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above
  • Java (including JExcel, JXLS, and POI) [link]: There are many Java APIs for manipulating Excel files. Since CF6 and above are built atop Java, it's easy to leverage such Java libraries. See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.
    • (Don't miss the relatively straight-forward JDBC-oriented options in the ODBC/JDBC category, below.)
    • JEXCEL- CF Product Manager Jason Delmore has released a JXLCFC that integrates with JExcel, and he blogged about it in Jan 08. Both Ben Nadel and "Denny" also blogged about JExcel/CF integration in 2006
    • JXLS - Matt Williams has written on a couple of blog entries on this. I figure I'd just point you to his Excel category, which lists entries that discuss both jXMS and a beef he had with using POI (discussed next here). In case you miss his reference to a zip file in his "enclosures" link in one of the entries, here is the link directly. BTW, you may find references on the web to his stuff being at http://mattw.mxdj.com/, but that domain is no longer functioning. Fortunately, he moved his stuff to the new mattjanell.com domain
    • Also, many have written about POI/CF integration, including Dave Ross; Ben Nadel, who has written a POIUtility CFC wrapper that makes it easy to use POI (and here are a couple of other entries by him 1 and 2, 3, with more info on the approach.) Still more interesting for some will be this entry of his on Populating An Existing, Formatted Excel Document Using ColdFusion And POI. Ben Forta also discusses POI in Chap 27 of his CF7 Advanced book and has an example available in this zip file. There is yet another CFC that helps use POI in CFML, cfHSSF, as well as a few custom tags: the free CFX_ExcelQuery in the JavaCFX library at OpenXCF project, and the following commercial tags: CFX_Query2Excel and CFX_Excel in the Adobe Developer's Exchange; and CFX_Query2Excel and CFX_Excel2Query from Ryan Emerle.
  • .NET [link]: Now that CF8 can directly integrate with .NET, it should be possible to perform interaction with Excel files directly using .NET. I've not yet found any articles by anyone doing that. Both the CF docs and Ray Camden have hinted at the possibility. See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above
  • Office Automation [link]: While you may read some articles talking about doing "Office automation", by trying to run MS Office apps on the server, this is something that even Microsoft cautions against, saying
    CAUTION: Automation of any Office application from an unattended, non-interactive user account is risky and unstable. A single error in code or configuration can result in a dialog box that can cause the client process to stop responding (hang), that can corrupt data, or that can even crash the calling process (which can bring down your Web server if the client is ASP).
    WARNING: Office was not designed, and is not safe, for unattended execution on a server. Developers who use Office in this manner do so at their own risk.
    See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.
  • ODBC/JDBC [link]: it's long been possible to open more than just database files using ODBC (and the Jet Engine) as well as JDBC. It's been written about by many over the years, including the CF5 docs, a CFDJ article (whose title has a mistake and should be "ColdFusion Techniques: Text & Excel ODBC"), and a blog entry by Christopher Wigginton (via archive.org), to name a few. Just note that there have been changes in ODBC processing: before CF6, you could create such datasources directly in the CF Admin. In CF6 and above, you would create them in the Windows ODBC administrator and then point to them using the ODBC/JDBC bridge option when creating a DSN in the CF Admin. Ben Forta also has an example of using this approach in his ReadExcel.cfm, available in this zip file (as discussed in Chap 27 of his CF7 Advanced CF book).

    Still other solutions leverage Java calls to enable this capability via JDBC, such as Kyle Hayes who has written about it in both the ColdFusion Cookbook and on his own site.

    Another curious one is the jacoZoom driver, which uses a DSN-less connection to get to the file. Though those are technically not supported since CF5, Adobe has a technote (via archive.org) on how to get around this limitation when reading an Excel file, using a "passthrough" DSN. Finally, see other Java-oriented options under the "Java" category, above.
  • Report Builder [link]: Don't forget that the ColdFusion Report Builder (in CF7 thru 2016) can export its results as Excel, and of course can generate its data from CFML. See more in the archived Adobe DevNet articles, Building Reports with ColdFusion MX 7 and Using the ColdFusion Report Builder. See more on reporting solutions under Reporting and Report Builder Tools. See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above
  • WebQueries [link]: a reverse approach is to obtain data from for an Excel spreadsheet from within Excel, and using the Excel Web Query feature to point back to the server to get data. A Dec 2001 CFDJ article discussed this. See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above
  • XML [link]: The final approach is to use XML, which offers the simplicity of the HTML table approach above, but with greater control. A couple of blog entries on this approach are those by Ben Nadel and Todd Sharp. There's also a tutorial by Kris Brixon.

    Finally, you can also use OOXML (Office Open XML) with CFML, which is discussed in considerable detail in Volume 3 of the CF8 Web App Construction Kit, Advanced Application Development, specifically Chapter 76 on integrating with Office. The source code for the book (and these examples) is available online via a link at Ben's site for the book. See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

File Find/Search Tools [link]

While most operating systems have built-in file find/search tools (such as Windows search feature and grep on Linux/Unix), alternatives exist (and may be much better. In the case of Windows search feature, it may not look in all file types, depending on the version of Windows. With Linux grep being a command-line tool, some may prefer a UI). These alternatives (free and commercial) offer both enhanced functionality, speed, and user interfaces (some also add regular expression support, and more).

File Sharing and Online Storage Tools/Services [link]

This space is a meld of services, some of which are focused solely on remote personal (or business) online storage, and some of those offer desktop or mobile apps for syncing with local storage. Many support file sharing with others, and some of those may offer only very short-term remote storage for that.

Some vary levels of service based on payment options. Nearly all have at least some level of free services. The space is changing too rapidly for me to try to keep up and indicate which offer which of the above services. But I have noted, for the services with free levels, how much storage they offer at that free level. I also list some more server-oriented cloud storage options, in the "see also" at the end of the list.
  • ADrive, commercial
  • Box, commercial
  • DropBox, commercial
  • Google Drive, free and commercial (15gb free as of check in 2021)
  • Ge.tt, free and commercial (2gb as check in 2021)
  • Hightail, free and commercial (2g free, 100mb/file, as of check in 2021; formerly YouSendIt)
  • iCloud, from Apple, free and commercial (5gb free as of check in 2021)
  • IDrive, commercial (5gb free as check in 2021)
  • Jungle Disk, commercial (focused on backup)
  • LiveDrive, commercial
  • pCloud, free and commercial (10gb free as of check in 2021)
  • OneDrive, from Microsoft, free and commercial (5gb free, 1TB with Microsoft365, as of check in 2021)
  • SpiderOak One, commercial (focused on backup)
  • SugarSync, commercial
  • Syncplicity, free and commercial (10gb as of check in 2021)
  • wikisend, free (for file transfer of up to 100mb, rather than cloud storage)
  • For server-oriented file storage in the cloud, consider Amazon S3 service and Amazon Glacier (which are both commercial and free, some aspects being only free for the first year to new AWS customers, others are free to new and existing customers with no expiration), as well as Azure Blob Storage, and others
  • While Amazon Drive used to support file storage (free and commercial), but was changed to support only photos and video
  • See also Content Delivery Networks
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Folder/Directory/File Synchronization Tools [link]

Often developers and administrators will want to keep files within folders in sync, whether across different machines (as in a cluster), or within a machine (perhaps only part of a subfolder structure) for some reason.

Form Creation/Validation Tools [link]

There have been several tools created to assist in creation of CFML forms.
  • Hyrule ColdFusion validation using annotations, from Dan Vega (last updated in 2016, as of a check in 2019)
  • ValidateThis!, "an object oriented validation framework", open source, originally from Bob Silverberg (last updated in 2019, as of a check in 2019)
  • ValidatorCFC, "validates the data in an object according to custom rules you set up", open source, from Sean Coyne (last updated in 2015, as of a check in 2019)
  • See also other non-CF-based alternatives, like Wufoo
  • The following seem or are defunct (not responding or not updated in a few years):
    • cf_sebForm (within sebtags kit, sebtags.riaforge.org), "Open Source custom tag set for easy forms", from Steve Bryant
    • CFUniform, "library of custom tags for quick and easy form generation", open source, from Matt Quackenbush (last updated in 2012, as of a check in 2019)
    • qForms, open source, from Dan Switzer (last updated in 2007, as of a check in 2019)
    • Thor, open source, from John Mason (last updated in 2009, as of a check in 2019)
    • Validat data validation engine, open source, from Alagad
    • Validation.cfc, "server-side validation", open source, from Ryan Heldt (last updated in 2008, as of a check in 2019)
    • As well as ErrorMunkey (millionmunkeys.net/FormMunkey), FormMunkey (millionmunkeys.net/FormMunkey)
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

File Upload Tools [link]

There was a time when file upload tools were all the rage, especially to allow multiple file uploads. But then HTML 5 added support for that, and CF9 also added built-in support for uploading multiple files.

As has often been the case in the history of CFML, when Adobe added built-in support for this functionality, most of the open source projects below stopped being updated.
  • Again, see the ColdFusion built-in support for multi-file upload tools, first with the cffileupload tag, which presents a javascript-based interface to name multiple files, and the cffile action="uploadall", which allows CF to accept and process multiple files uploaded (whether with that cffileupload tag's control, or simply multiple input type="file" lines on a form).
  • Consider also the HTML 5 "multiple" attribute for input tag. More info
  • Finally, see also ColdBox FileBrowser, open source, HTML-based (uses FCKEditor) (last updated in 2016, as of a check in 2019)
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Forums/Bulletin Board Tools (written in CFML) [link]

There was a time when CFML-based forum and bulletin board software was all the rage. That time has passed, with social media and other online forum services taking their place. The list of defunct tools below is left for posterity.
  • Seem defunct: BoardFusion/cfopenbb (boardfusion.org), CFBB ( adersoftware.com/index.cfm?page=cfbb), CF Forum (cfcode.com/index.cfm/fuse/forumdetails.htm), CFMBB (cfmbb.org), CF4EM (cf4em.riaforge.org), FuseTalk (fusetalk.com), galleon (github.com/cfjedimaster/galleon), ontopic (ontopic.riaforge.org), Rinium (rinium.com)
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

FTP Tools (clients and servers) [link]

When you need to transmit files back and forth from one machine to another, you typically need some FTP (or SFTP or SFTPS) client, to talk to some FTP/SFTP/FTPS server. Following are tools for both kinds of processing, first client, then server.
Following are the subcategories offered:
FTP Clients [link]
See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above. FTP Servers [link]

Graphing/Charting Tools [link]

Here are various charting solutions for web applications, some specifically for CF and others more generic. Some are free, some commercial. Some are based on Flex, some on Javascript, and so on. Some are server-side solutions, some client-side.

HTTP Debugging Proxies/Sniffers/Web Client Test Tools [link]

HTTP debugging proxies/sniffers allow you to watch (and sometimes even modify) the http-level communications between your browser (or other http client app on your workstation) and the web server. It helps you see the request/response stream, which can be very helpful in resolving some problems. A good overview of the concepts is available here. There are a wide range of differnt kinds of such tools offered here.
I offer them in the following subcategories:

Built-in HTTP Debugging Proxies/Sniffers/Web Client Test Tools [link]

Note first that the more modern versions of most browsers now have built-in tools that can provide this sort of functionality. Just right-click on whitepace in your browser content and choose "inspect element", which will exist in most modern browsers. Then look for Network tab. Or use the following menu options:
  • In Chrome, see the Developer Tools, available under the Chrome>More tools>Developer Tools
  • In Firefox, see the "Network Monitor" feature in the "Web Developer" tools, available under the Tools menu
  • In Internet Explorer, see the F12 Developer Tools which are built into IE 8+ (in the Tools menu)
  • In Opera, see Opera menu>More Tools>Show developer menu, then use Opera>Developer>Developer Tools
  • In Safari, see the "Web Inspector" feature of the Develop menu, under Advanced preferences
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

General-purpose HTTP Debugging Proxies/Sniffers/Web Client Test Tools [link]

Beyond that, there are proxy tools that can be added on, and the following are supported at least both IE and Firefox, if not also any web browser. (See also IE-only and Firefox-only proxies/Sniffers/web client test tools offered in the next categories.)
  • Achilles, free (indicated on the site as "Though it was the first, it is no longer the best, and we recommend using Burp Suite, WebScarab, or Paros as they offer more features.")
  • Burp Proxy, commercial and free, multi-platform
  • Charles, commercial (with free trial), multi-platform, with support for Ajax as well as AMF/Flash Remoting
  • DynaTrace Ajax edition, free and commercial, with support for Ajax (obviously)
  • Fiddler, free, from Microsoft
  • FriendlyGhost, commercial, focused on Flash/AMF and Ajax
  • HTTP Debugger commercial, with free trial
  • HTTP Analyzer, commercial, with support for AMF/Flash Remoting and JSON (despite company name, it's available in a standalone edition that is not IE-dependent)
  • HTTPNetworkSniffer, free, for Windows (from Nirsoft. See also related tools, WebCookiesSniffer tool to monitor all cookies communicated between browsers and servers, and NetworkTrafficView tool to monitor all communications on a given network adapter.)
  • HTTPWatch, commercial, with free edition
  • Membrane SOAP/HTTP Monitor, open source with support for JSON (with both command-line, GUI, and Eclipse-based functionality)
  • Paros, free
  • ServiceCapture, commercial, with support for JSON and AMF/Flash Remoting
  • WebScarab, free from OWASP
  • Wireshark, free, multi-platform. The granddaddy of network packet sniffing tools (previously known as ethereal). For simple http proxy/sniffing as above, it may be overkill, but since I use the term sniffing in the category, I give a nod to the tool
  • See also Firefox-only and IE-only proxies below
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback
  • See also a server-side alternative, Sniffer/TCPMon, built into CF 6+ and found in either [coldfusion]\runtime\bin or [JRun]\bin. For more info, see also this Adobe Technote, the CF documentation, and JRun documentation. The tool is also available from Apache, and you may find more information on that

Firefox-only Proxies/Sniffers/Web Client Test Tools [link]

See also generic http proxies (which work on multiple browsers) as discussed in the introduction to the broader category above.

IE-only Proxies/Sniffers/Web Client Test Tools [link]

See also generic http proxies (which work on multiple browsers) as discussed in the introduction to the broader category above.
See also the category here, Page Testing Tools, for still other tools that perform related web page analysis.

Image Processing Tools [link]

Tools to manipulate images in CFML.
  • CF8 added many new image processing features: CFIMAGE tag and image* functions
  • The following seem defunct (site not responding, app not updated in 3 or more years, or site no longer references ColdFusion): Alagad Image Component (alagad.com/projects.imageComponent), AutoResize (zrinity.com/products/productdetail.cfm/id/6), Image CFC (opensourcecf.com/imagecfc), imagecr (efflare.com), imagemagick.org, Inspector (alagad.com/projects.flashInspector)
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

IP Address Reporting Tools [link]

Tools to help you identify your IP address (and some that allow you to get info on a given IP address, programmatically.)

Log Analysis Tools [link]

There are multiple categories of monitoring tools offered here, from generic log analysis tools (for any sort of log) to analysis of specific files (such as SQL Server logs) or for a specific purpose (intrusion detection or web site analytics). See also monitoring tools, which includes to monitor log files such as the Windows event log.

Following are the subcategories offered:

Database Log Analysis Tools [link]

These include both tools for analyzing DB logs regarding transactions and analyzing the logs for operational information. See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.

Generic File View/Log Analysis Tools [link]

(This list is within the larger category of log analysis tools tools, but among the following are tools that could be useful for viewing any kind of text files, and in some cases for especially large ones.)
  • AQTRONIX Log Analysis, free for Windows (last updated in 2017, as of a check in 2023)
  • ASQL, free tool for Linux to query Apache log files via SQL (similar to, though not as powerful as, LogParser below)
  • BareTail, free and commercial, for Windows (last updated in 2006, as of a check in 2023)
  • ELM Log Manager, commercial tool for monitoring Windows Event Logs and much more (last updated in 2023, as of a check in 2023)
  • glogg, open source, multi-platform (last updated in 2017, as of a check in 2023)
  • klogg, open source (fork of glogg), multi-platform (last updated in 2022, as of a check in 2023)
  • Large Text File Reader, open source (last updated in 2016, as of a check in 2023)
  • LogMeister, commercial, for Windows ("Powerful, Flexible Server Log Monitoring Tool") (last updated in 2022, as of a check in 2023)
  • LogMX, free and commercial, multi-platform (last updated in 2023, as of a check in 2023)
  • Log Parser, free from Microsoft (last updated in 2005, as of a check in 2023). I've got a meta resource/microsite about it, including things I and others have written about using it. See also visal/GUI tools for working with it: Log Parser Lizard UI and Visual Log Parser, as well as the related PAL tool that extends LogParser, for analyzing Windows Performance Monitor (PerfMon) logs
  • LogViewer Pro, commercial, free for home use, for Windows (from the makers of UniversalViewer, listed later in this category) (last updated in 2018, as of a check in 2023)
  • Logwatch, free, for Linux (last updated in 2023, as of a check in 2023)
  • LogViewPlus, commercial, for Windows (last updated in 2023, as of a check in 2023)
  • SawMill, commercial, multi-platform, log file analysis and reporting (last updated in 2021, as of a check in 2023, but "no longer in business" as of 2021)
  • Sematext Logs free and commercial, "Cloud Log Management & Analytics" ("Hosted ELK as a service")
  • Universal Viewer free and commercial, large file loading tool (last updated in 2012, as of a check in 2023)
  • xlogmaster, open source, for Linux/Unix (last updated in 2012, as of a check in 2023)
  • XpoLog Center, commercial, multi-platform
  • See also other lists of log analysis tools, such as this
  • See also information on log rotation tools
  • See also Reporting and Report Builder Tools, including discussion of online reporting solutions that can import CSV and other files for analysis and reporting
  • And of course, if you're looking to analyze a particular kind of log, see the other Log Analysis Tool categories here
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Web Server Log Analysis Tools [link]

(This list is within the larger category of log analysis tools. See also the separate list of Web Server Analytics Tools, which provide site tracking via a different approach.)
  • Analog, open source, multi-platform (with some support for filtering spiders) (Last updated in 2021, as of a check in 2021)
  • Apache Log Analyzer, free and commercial, for Windows and Linux (Last updated in 2022, as of a check in 2022)
  • AWStats, open source, multi-platform (with support for filtering spiders). Requires perl to operate, such as is available for free as ActivePerl (Last updated in 2020, as of a check in 2021)
  • goaccess, open source, multi-platform (last updated in 2023, as of a check in 2023)
  • http Logs Viewer (formerly ALV or "Apache Log Viewer"), free and commercial, for Windows, supports reading Apache, IIS, and nginx logs, including analytics reports (some features unlocked with low-cost donation) (couldn't determine last update as of a check in 2021)
  • IIS Logs Analyzer, free and commercial, for Windows and Linux
  • SmarterStats, free (for one site) and commercial, for Windows (supporting multiple web server log formats) (couldn't determine last update as of a check in 2021)
  • Webalizer, open source, packaged binaries for Linux, Solaris (last updated in 2013, as of a check in 2021)
  • WebLog Expert, commercial, for Windows (last updated in 2019, as of a check in 2021)
  • Web Log Storming, commercial, for Windows (supporting IIS, Apache, and nginx logs) (last updated in 2020, as of a check in 2021)
  • WebTrends, commercial (downloadable and SaaS) (couldn't determine last update as of a check in 2021)
  • See also Generic File View/Log Analysis Tools, which includes many tools (like Log Parser) that can analyze web server logs and many more types of logs
  • See also Web Server Analytics Tools, which work differently, not analyzing log files but instead tracking site visits via a remote service
  • These seem no longer to be updated for over a decade. They may still work well, or may not:
    • Alterwind Log Analyzer, free and commercial, for Windows (but supports many log formats) (Last updated in 2008, as of a check in 2021)
    • IIS and Apache Log Analyzer, free, for Windows (Last updated in 2011, as of a check in 2021)
    • Obsessive Website Statistics, open source, multi-platform(with support for filtering spiders/bots). Stores log files in MySQL for its analysis (Last updated in 2007, as of a check in 2021)
    • Report Magic, open source, multi-platform (Last updated in 2003, as of a check in 2021)
    • Visitors, open source, multi-platform (but Windows binary of full version sold separately for small fee) (Last updated in 2007, as of a check in 2021)
    • WebLog Expert, for Windows (last updated in 2009, as of a check in 2021)
    • W3C LogValidator, free, multtplatform (Perl-based), "combines a Server Log analysis engine with batch validation, link checking and other quality-oriented processing, for step-by-step improvement and maintenance of Web Site Quality." (last updated in 2007, as of a check in 2021)
  • These seem or are defunct:
    • Funnel Web Analyzer (quest.com/funnel-web-analyzer), defunct
    • Sawmill, commercial, out of business as of May 2021 (site remains for support, but can't buy or download tool)
    • Summary, commercial, multi-platform
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Log Centralization Tools/Services [link]

Tools to help centralize and provide centralized viewing/analysis of logs, whether web server logs, ColdFusion logs, system logs, etc. Most are expanding to also track metrics and other telemetry. Some also additional features, such as alerting, live tailing, LogQL searching, SIEM (Security information and event management), and other features.

Log Management Tools [link]

Tools to help manage (archive/rotate) logs, such as web server or ColdFusion logs. (Some web servers may rotate logs on a daily but not offer any means to auto-archive/zip/delete them after some period of time.)
  • LogFileCleaner, a page describing and offering a VBS script to "Set Up Scheduled Log File Cleaning for Windows Servers Running IIS"
  • LogRotate, open source, for Linux
  • rotatelogs - Piped logging program to rotate Apache logs, built-in Apache command
  • ZipLogs Log File Management Utility, free, for Windows, "makes IIS log file management simple and easy"
  • Note that while IIS does not offer means to archive/delete its log files, it does offer a means to control the interval at which they are rotated
  • Consider also that the Microsoft LogParser tool can also be used to not only analyze but also perform some management of logs. For more information, see my LogParser Resources page
  • Note that for ColdFusion Logs, the CF Admin>Debugging & Logging>Log Files page offers a button for each log to download, archive, delete, and disable each log
  • See also the several subcategories under Log Analysis Tools, related instead to analyzing (rather than "managing") log files of all sorts
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Mail Servers/Gateways/Services [link]

If you're unhappy with your current mail server, whether due to performance, need to handle larger volumes, adding better spam handling, mail lists, security, whatever, there are alternatives. Some are servers, some are gateways, some are identified as MTAs (message transfer agents). Some are free, some commercial; some downloadable, some run as hosted services. Here are some alternatives to consider.
Following are the subcategories offered:

Mail Server Software [link]

Whatever your operating system, you may have a default SMTP mail server provided that you may wish to reconsider. For instance, on Windows, there is the SMTP mail server associated with IIS, as well as Microsoft Exchange. On MacOS, there's sendmail. Here are downloadable alternatives. Note that most are MORE than JUST an SMTP server (for delivering email, such as out of ColdFusion), and may also offer mail receiving/post office capabilities, including pop and imap, which is more than most need):
  • Free SMTP Server, free, for Windows (last updated in 2015, as of a check in 2024)
  • Hermes SEG (Secure Email Gateway), free open source) and commercial (last updated in 2024, as of a check in 2024)
  • hMailServer, free, for Windows (no longer updated since 2022, but more updated than the IIS 6 SMTP mail server many folks use)
  • mailEnable, free and commercial, for Windows (last updated in 2024, as of a check in 2024)
  • SmarterMail, free and commercial, for Windows (last updated in 2024, as of a check in 2024)
  • SurgeMail, free and commercial, multi-platform (last updated in 2024, as of a check in 2024)
  • Zeams, free and commercial, multi-platform
  • Note that on Windows editions that have IIS (or where IIS can be enabled), there is also an optional SMTP server associated with IIS (specifically run as IIS 6, even on more modern Windows when using later IIS versions for your web site). The means of enabling/configuring it will vary depending on the version of Windows/IIS, but will be enabled the same way that IIS itself would be enabled. Here's a 2023 blog post showing enabling/configuring it, though I found it no longer launches on Windows Server 2022
  • See the other subcategories in this category related to hosted mail management, as well as the related category, CFMAIL Replacements/Enhancements elsewhere
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Mail Sending Services [link]

This section is about mail sending services, for managing the sending of email, such as you may want to use when sending email from your server to customers (via SMTP or REST). (The previous section is about mailbox hosting--with access via POP and/or IMAP.)
  • Amazon Simple Email Service (SES), free and commercial hosted mail sending service ("free tier" for one year and 3000 messages/month, as of a check in 2024)
  • Brevo (formerly SendInBlue), commercial and free hosted mail sending service (300 free emails per day, US$15/mo for 20k emails, as of a check in 2024)
  • Gmail, commercial hosted mail server service
  • Mailgun (from Sinch), free and commercial hosted mail sending service (5,000 free emails per month to only 5 authorized recipients, and US$35/mo for 50k emails, as of a check in 2024)
  • Mailjet, free and commercial hosted mail sending service (200 emails per day/6,000 free emails per month, as of a check in 2024
  • Postmark SMTP Service, free and commercial hosted mail sending service, for transactional email only (100 free emails per month, US$15 for 10,000 emails per month, as of a check in 2024)
  • SendGrid, commercial hosted mail sending service (100 free emails per day, and US$19.95 for 50k/month, as of a check in 2024)
  • TurboSMTP, commercial and free hosted mail sending service (200 free emails per day/6000 per month, and $US14.95 for 20k "relays", as of a check in 2024)
  • See the other subcategories in this category, especially Mailbox Services, as well as Hosted Email Marketing/Newsletter Services
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Mailbox Services [link]

You can also outsource your mailbox management. This would be for sending and receiving of email (via POP and/or IMAP). See the previous section about mail sending services, for managing the sending of email such as from your server(via SMTP or REST).)

Hosted Email Marketing/Newsletter Services [link]

If you're looking solely for alternative solutions for mailing list management, consider such options as

Monitoring Tools/Services [link]

There are many different kinds of monitoring tools that could be of value to CFers.


Following are the subcategories offered:

Application Monitoring (APM) Tools [link]

The following tools can be used to monitor web applications (primarily as Java SPM tools), and they can be used (some more easily than others) to monitor CF applications. See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.

ColdFusion Monitoring Tools [link]

See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.
  • ColdFusion Performance Monitoring Toolkit (available as of CF 2018, both Standard and Enterprise versions)
  • ColdFusion Enterprise Server Monitor (available in CF Enterprise from CF8-2016). For still more, see my 4-part series of articles on the monitor, from 2007. It's not changed much since then.)
  • FusionReactor, commercial, from Intergral. For still more, see over a dozen FR webinars, most of which are from 2017 and which I presented. See also the related FusionAnalytics.
  • SeeFusion, commercial, from Webapper
  • See also the helpful code in Dan Switzer's blog post on a ColdFusion JVM memory monitor, code that still works in CF2016 and Java 8.
  • The following are defunct (dead, or not updated in several years): CFStatShot (defusion.org.uk/code/cfstatshot-cfstat-yahoo-desktop-widget/, last updated in 2007), CFTracker (cftracker.riaforge.org), CFWatcher (http://www.1smartsolution.com), ColdFusion AJAX System Monitor (www.fusioncube.net/?p=37, getting 404 and not found on site), FlexMon (cflex.net/flexmon, no longer on site and riaforge project not updated since 2006), MerlinManager (merlinmanager.com, not updated since CF9), ServerStats (learnosity.com/techblog/2006/11/hacking-cfmx-pulling-it-all-together-serverstats, no longer on site)
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Database/SQL Monitoring Tools [link]

The following tools monitor databases. While some monitor the databases themselves, some instead monitor SQL going into the database via JDBC from application servers (like ColdFusion). Some also offer profiling, meaning an ability to see not just some but all currently running queries, including details about the query such as an explain plan. I do not list here DB monitoring tools that are available only from within the commercial edition of a DB itself. For more monitoring alternatives, see also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader monitoring category above.
  • Brent Ozar's First Responder Kit, free, for SQL Server (last updated in 2024, as of a check in 2024)
  • Database Health Monitor, free, for SQL Server (some features require free registration) (last updated in 2024, as of a check in 2024)
  • Datadog Database Monitoring, free, for Postgres, MySQL, SQL Server, and Oracle, to be implemented with the Datadog agent on the DB host (unable to determine last update, as of a check in 2024)
  • DBmarlin, free and commercial, for MySQL/MariaDB, PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, CockroachDB, and more, (last updated in 2024, as of a check in 2024)
  • dbForge Monitor, free plugin for SQL Server Management Sudio (last updated in 2023, as of a check in 2024)
  • dbForge Event Profiler for SQL Server, free, for Windows, plugin for SQL Server Management Sudio (last updated in 2023, as of a check in 2024)
  • dbWatch, commercial for SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL, MySQL/MariaDB, and Sybase (last update in 2023, as of a check in 2024)
  • Erik Darling's tools, free, for SQL Server, including sp_humanevents and sp_HumanEventsBlockViewer, sp_PressureDetector, sp_QuickieStore, sp_HealthParser, and sp_LogHunter (last updated in 2024, as of a check in 2024)
  • explain.dalibo.com, free online tool, PostgreSQL execution plan visualizer
  • EverSQL, free and commercial, for MySQL/MariaDB, PostgreSQL
  • Idera Precise for Databases, commercial, for Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, and SAP Sybase ASE (unable to determine last update, as of a check in 2024)
  • Idera SQL Check, free, for SQL Server (last updated in 2024, as of a check in 2024)
  • Idera SQL Diagnostic Manager, commercial, for SQL Server and MySQL and Maria DB (MySQL version is the former Monyog tool) (last updated in 2024, as of a check in 2024)
  • Idera SQL Doctor, commercial, for SQL Server (last updates in 2018, as of a check in 2024)
  • Jet Profiler for MySQL, free and commercial, for MySQL, multi-platform (last updated in 2022, as of a check in 2024)
  • ManageEngine ApplicationsManager Database Monitoring, free and commercial tool (which includes specific support for MySQL, Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and more; as well as memcached and Redis; and NoSQL DBs like mongoDB, cassandra, and Couchbase; and cloud databases like AWS Aurora, Azure SQL Database, and Oracle Autonomous Database) (unable to determine date of last update, as of check in 2024)
  • MyOra, free, for Oracle, for Windows (written in Java) (last updated in 2024, as of a check in 2024)
  • MySQL Enterprise Monitor, for Oracle, included in MySQL Enterprise (unable to determine last update, as of a check in 2024)
  • Navicat Monitor, commercial, service-based, for "MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, and SQL Server, and compatible with cloud databases like Amazon RDS, Amazon Aurora, Oracle Cloud, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure" (last updated in 2023, as of a check in 2024)
  • Neor Profile SQL, free, for MySQL, multi-platform (last updated in 2017, as of a check in 2024)
  • New Relic SQL Server Plugin, free, for use with their commercial hosted Infrastructure service, requires agent install on DB server (with other plugins for other DB platforms, including MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, MongoDB, as well as cassandra, couchbase, elasticsearch, redis, and more. See their Plugins page listing them all) (unable to determine last update, as of a check in 2024)
  • PMM (Percona Monitoring and Management), open source, for Linux (and Docker), for MySQL, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, Amazon RDS and Aurora, and more (last updated in 2024, as of a check in 2024)
  • Percona Toolkit open source, CLI tools for MySQL, Mariadb, MongoDB, and PostgreSQL (last updated in 2023, as of a check in 2024)
  • pg_activity open source, CLI tool for PostgreSQL (last updated in 2024, as of a check in 2024)
  • pgAdmin open source, for PostgreSQL (last updated in 2024, as of a check in 2024)
  • pganalyze commercial, for PostgreSQL (unable to determine last update, as of a check in 2024)
  • Redgate pgNow free, for PostgreSQL (unable to determine last update, as of a check in 2025)
  • PRTG Database Monitoring, free and commercial, for MySQL, Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and more (last updated in 2024, as of a check in 2024)
  • Quest Foglight, commercial, for Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, DB2, SAP ASE, MongoDB, and more (last updated in 2024, as of a check in 2024)
  • Quest Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise, commercial, for SQL Server (unable to determine last update, as of a check in 2024)
  • Quest Spotlight cloud, free and commercial hosted solution for SQL Server (free for 5 servers), with available Spotlight Tuning Pack with query plan analysis via SQL Server Mgt Studio, also free and commercial (unable to determine last update, as of a check in 2024)
  • Redgate SQL Monitor, commercial, for PostgreSQL and SQL Server (last updated in 2023, as of a check in 2024)
  • SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer (DPA), commercial, for SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and more (last update in 2023, as of a check in 2024)
  • SolarWinds Plan Explorer, free, for SQL Server (unable to determine last update, as of a check in 2024)
  • sp_whoisactive, open source, or SQL Server (stored procedure that can produce copious performance information) (last updated in 2021 as of a check in 2024)
  • SolarWinds SQL Sentry for SQL Server, commercial (unable to determine last update, as of a check in 2024)
  • SQLGrease, commercial hosted service, for SQL Server (unable to determine last update, as of a check in 2024)
  • SQL Health Monitor, free, for SQL Server (unable to determine last update, as of a check in 2024)
  • These are in addition to built-in tools to monitor databases, such as MySQL Enterprise Monitor, SQL Server Activity Monitor and Profiler, or logging features in most DBMSs. Note also the available category here, Application Monitoring (APM) Tools, many of which include JDBC logging, monitoring, and/or profiling, as well as ColdFusion Monitoring Tools, which also include JDBC logging/monitoring features
  • The following are or seem defunct (no longer available, or not updated in several years): BEZ (bez.com), DBTuna (dbtuna.com), jiql (jiql.org), mytop (jeremy.zawodny.com/mysql/mytop/), QOT (ritmark.com), Sentry-Go Quick SQL Server Monitoring (sentry-go.com), SpiceWorks SQL Server Monitor (spiceworks.com/free-sql-server-monitoring-tool), SQL Heartbeat (sqlsolutions.com/products/Heartbeat/), SQLite Profiler (samsaffron.com/blog/archive/2007/08/08/17.aspx), sqlprofiler (sqlprofiler.googlepages.com), SQL Ultimate Performance Monitor (sqlsolutions.com/products/IO%20Activity%20Monitor/), Tiny SQL Profiler, xSQL Profiler

    As well as:
    • ApexSQL Monitor, commercial for SQL Server
    • DB tools for Oracle 6.1, commercial, for Oracle, for Windows (last updated in 2009, per a check in 2021)
    • JDBCSpy, open source, for any JDBC database (last updated in 2008, per a check in 2021)
    • jdbcGrabber, open source, for any JDBC database (last updated in 2010, per a check in 2021)
    • P6Spy, open source logging for any JDBC database (last updated in 2013, per a check in 2021)
    • JDBC SQL Profiler, open source, for any JDBC database (last updated in 2013, per a check in 2021)
    • jdbcdslog, open source, for any JDBC database (logs JDBC-based activity) (last updated in 2010, per a check in 2021)
    • log4jdbc, open source, for any JDBC database (logs JDBC-based activity) (last updated in 2015, per a check in 2021)
  • See also other meta resources on DB tuning, such as this one for MySQL
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Event Log Monitoring [link]

The following tools can monitor the Windows Event Log. See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.

Network Monitoring Tools [link]

The following tools can analyze network traffic, such as into your CF server, or out from your CF server to things like database servers, api servers, mail servers, etc. Of course, there are simple network monitoring features built into Windows, Linux, and MacOS. (Windows folks often are unaware of the built-in and capable "Resource Monitor" tool and its Network tab.) Some of these tools add the capability to track the monitoring over time, or across restarts. See also related monitoring subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.

Java Monitoring/Profiling Tools [link]

The following tools can analyze Java, and as such can often be used to analyze Java-specific aspects of ColdFusion (which is based on Java). Some allow you to watch what operations are happening in the underlying JVM, including code or jvm profiling, while some focus on reporting statistics. Som focus on thread dumps or heap dumps, or garbage collection analysis. Some could be used to monitor the underlying java classes that CF calls. Some may work only with more modern Java versions (CF11/2016 can run with Java 8, CF2018/2021 with Java 11). Check out each to observe what it does, how it works, and whether it may be of value for your skill level. Some require no specific Java experience at all. See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above, especially the closely related Java APM category here.

SAN or NAS Monitoring Tools [link]

The following tools track the health of your attached storage solutions (SAN or NAS). See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.

System Monitoring Tools [link]

The following tools track the health of your server overall (and/or network), ranging from small tools (such as task manager alternatives) to full-scale/full-stack enterprise monitoring. Some follow process execution through an entire transaction across multiple subsystems. See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.

VM/Virtualization Monitoring/Mgt Tools [link]

Within the sphere of system monitoring tools is the subset of them devoted to monitoring/configuring VMs. Most work only with a specific VM hypervisor platform, and they are to be used by those managing VMs (they are not helpful for those whose applications and servers are hosted WITHIN a VM, though you may want to ask your VM host if they use any such tools to watch your and/or other VMs on the host server).

Web Server Analytics Tools [link]

It can be very useful to understand the traffic patterns and other visitor statistics for your web site. While Web Server Log Analysis Tools are one appprach, another is to use tools which instead track site visits via a remote service, where you drop code (often referred to as "tags") into your site which reports back to a hosted service. You then review the analysis on that remote site. Following are examples of that.

(For more on the debate between the two approaches, see such classic articles as this discussion, or this one (recovered from archive.org).)

There are many such services. Here are just a few. See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.

Web Server Request Monitoring Tools [link]

Not to be confused with Web Site Uptime Monitoring Tools, the following tools track requests being made to your server and/or other information about the health of your web server. The general focus is tools which monitor any web server requests, but also listed are tools that monitor web requests which ultimately get run by ColdFusion (the focus of most of this CF411 resource). See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above, especially Application Monitoring (APM) Tools.

Web Site Uptime Monitoring Tools [link]

The following tools track, report, and alert on whether your server is up or down, typically by sending frequent, repeated requests to some page on your site. Most are free hosted services, some are commercial. (While such tools are useful to know "if" your server is perhaps having troubles, they do not really help you to know "why". For that, see also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.)

Beware also that when automated tools visit pages on your site often (including such monitors, as well as load balancer pings, spiders, bots security scanning tools and more), there can be a negative imapct from them due to their creating new sessions (and processing your session startup code) for EVERY page they visit. For more, see my blog post on the topic, Suffering CPU/DB/memory problems in CF? Spiders, monitor pings may be to blame.

PDF Generation Tools for CFML [link]

There are solutions to help generate PDF from HTML, both provided within CFML and available as tools that can be called from CFML. Some do a better job than others with CSS and other HTML feature (fonts, images, etc.)
  • CFDocument has existed since CF6 and is available also in Lucee. The Adobe CF implementation has long been asserted to be based on the iText open source library, but it's actually based on a commercial tool called IceBrowser, which is bundled into CF and that's what calls upon iText. That ICeBrowser component is quite dated (even in 2022), which contributes to it sometimes not handling or properly rendering some HTML/CSS into PDF.
  • CFHTMLtoPDF was added in CF11 and is not offered in Lucee (as of a check in 2022). Unlike cfdocument, it works based on a separately implemented "coldfusion add-on service", such that the PDF generation happens out of process from ColdFusion itself. In CF2023, the underlying engine has been changed to the licensed PDFReactor product. When it came out in CF11, it was said (in the CF docs page) to be based on the open source webKit (wkhtmltopdf) tool.
  • wkhtmltopdf.cfm custom tag, from James Moberg (last updated in 2019, as of a check in Aug 2022). The tag calls wkhtmltopdf via cfexecute, which assumes you have installed it, and it's discussed a bit in his blog post offering the tag.
    • Do beware, though, that the blog post does not show or discuss use of the tag. He presumes you will read the code of the tag, which has cfparam tags at the top that indicate the various attributes, what they expect, whether they are required, and what their defaults are if not specified.
    • I offer a working example below. See also below for more on the key attributes, such as pageurl and filename which are the minimum required. See the custom tag code for the others, including Timeout, HeaderURL and FooterURL, ShowDebug and DebugVar (to display the generated call to the wkhtmltopdf binary), and several more.
    • James' post also does not clarify that you must install wkhtmltopdf, in a folder accessible to CF. It offers an attribute you can pass in to name that folder, wkhtmltopdfEXEPath, which defaults to c:\Program Files\wkhtmltopdf\bin\wkhtmltopdf.exe (which is where the wkhtmltopdf installer will install itself to in Windows, by default)
    • The post also does not clarify that (unlike the two built-in CFML tags), this custom tag does not let you pass in the HTML (or CFML that generates CFML) to the tag. Instead, it presumes you will name (in a PageURL attribute) the URL of a file holding the HTML whose content you want rendered into PDF (which could be a CFM page generating that HTML, of course). The PageURL value needs to be complete URL, not just a relative file name/folder path. Again, I offer a complete example showing this below.
      • To be clear, this is a limitation of wkhtmltopdf itself, that it does not provide for a means to pass it html, like the cfdocument and cfhtmltopdf tags.
      • That said, note that wkhtmltopdf itself DOES allow you to name a filename instead of a URL, such as if you had a file with just HTML and no CFML. But note that the customtag currently uses cfparam validation for that incoming PageURL attribute, requiring it to a match of type="url". You could change it to type="string", to get around this.
      • Even then, the wkhtmltopdf tool then expects that filename to be specified as an absolute path: if that html file was in the same directory as the code calling the custom tag, you could use the CFML expandpath('.') function identify that current directory. See a discussion of that in the following discussion of the Filename attribute, naming where the resulting PDF file should be placed.
      • (Note also that while the http protocol of file:// can be used to point to a file, sadly, the cfparam url validation does not support that--which makes sense, since normally a file:// protocol request would never make it to a CF page.)
      • One thing I noticed, in switching to a file instead of a url: the production of the PDF might suddenly become very slow, if there are any problems with the URLs used in such html tags as link href (such as using an http protcol that would redirect to an https, or missing the protocol entirely).
    • Finally, that custom tag also requires that you pass in a Filename attribute, naming the file to which the PDF should be saved.
      • Beware that if you provide only the file name or a relative path, in my testing on CF2021 it was saved into my ColdFusion2021\cfusion\bin\ folder. To be clear, that's NOT the location indicated by the CFML getTempDirectory() function, but since CF2018 that location is available instead via the server.system.properties["user.dir"] variable.
      • A way to avoid the above (and following) problems is to indicate an absolute path. If you wanted to have the PDF saved in the same directory as the code calling the custom tag, you could use the CFML expandpath('.') function, as in Filename="#expandpath('.')#/wktest2.pdf"
      • Note also that if you specify a relative folder name before the filename in the Filename attribute, my experience with CF2021 was that if that folder did not already exist in that coldfusion2021/cfusion/bin folder, the custom tag did nothing (without any failure). If I created the named relative folder in that directory first, then the PDF WAS created there
      • And beware that if you call the template a second time, with the same value for the Filename attribute, the code will default to trying to delete that file, but a problem? is that the code uses the cffile action="delete" tag, which DOES NOT default to looking for files (indicated by a relative path) in that same cfusion/bin folder, but instead it DOES look in the location indicated by the getTempDirectory folder. As such, you may get an error indicating something like: "File C:/ColdFusion2021/cfusion/runtime/conf/Catalina/localhost/tmp/[filename] specified in action delete does not exist." Either always specify an absolute path (or CFML function that resolves to one), or be prepared to deal with this problem if you may use a relative path.
    • If you may not be familiar with using CFML custom tags like this one, you can either put James' offered wkhtmltopdf.cfm file in the directory from which you are calling it (see example below), or in the default CF customtags folder (such as coldfusion2021/cfusion/customtags), or in a folder named in the CF Admin "custom tag paths" page, etc.
    • An example of using it (presuming the html file with the PDF was accessible in my localhost site's demos folder) could be:
      <cf_WKHTMLTOPDF pageurl="http://localhost/demos/PDFDemo_Page.htm" Filename="#expandpath('.')#/wktest.pdf" >
  • See also the available ForgeBox wkhtmltopdf module, which leverages the open-source Docker image offering wkhtmltopdf as a web service
  • As for other tools that can create PDFs from HTML (which could perhaps be called from CFML), see:
    • wkhtmltopdf, open source, cross-platform (last updated in 2020, as of a check in 2022) [See the site's "status" page, discussing how it's no longer being updated for various reasons, as of a check in Aug 2022)
    • WeasyPrint, open source, cross-platform (updated in 2022, as of a check in 2022)
      • Weasyprint works similarly to wkhtmltopdf, in terms of being able to be called from the command line (and thus via cfexecute, and such that a cf_weasyprint custom tag could be created, for example). That said, its installation process is not a single install file like wkhtmltopdf, but a few steps.
    • See also this 2022 article discussing such generic HTML to PDF alternatives, though from a Linux perspective
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Registry (Windows Registry) Tools [link]

When solving some challenges, you need to work with the Windows registry, whether to search it, manipulate it, monitor it, and so on. There are tools to help with each of these.
  • Regedit, built-into Windows. The classic tool for viewing, searching, and editing registry entried. Sure, it's always there, but it's rather anemic in its search functionality, and offers no monitoring features
  • RegFileExport, free, for Windows (from NirSoft). Console application to extract data from a noffline Registry file, including a remote one (it cannot export from the registry hive files of a running Windows system, as they are locked)
  • RegFromApp, free, for Windows (from NirSoft). Report on-the-fly what registry entries are being added by a given app/process. It supports selecting the process to watch from a UI or from the command line. If it doesn't find a process that you know is running, use "run as administrator" to launch RegFromApp
  • RegScanner, free, for Windows (from NirSoft). If you need to search the Windows registry and find Regedit's search to be a bit anemic, check out this great free tool. Not only does it show all results at once (as opposed to searching one at a time as in RegEdit), it also shows the keys being searched as it progresses. Adding features over the base refedit tool, you can also search by date modified or by "type" or length of a value, use wildcards, exclude keys from searching, and more. You can do a case-sensitive search (the default is insensitive), search using regex, search from the command line, search a remote computer, and more. You can limit how many results are displayed, see the size of all or selected result keys, export the found results, copy the keys, create an HTML report of the results, and more. You set it to be the tool opened when reg: links are clicked, switch it to "run as admin" from within the tool, save and reload configuration files of the above settings, and more. You can delete the found results from the registry, whether interactively (ctrl-del) or by creating a .reg file of delete commands. You can of course limit it to search only keys, values, and/or data, and you can limit it search only parts of the registry (excluding some keys/hives) rather than the entire registry. The default option ("scan the following base keys") limits it to certain base keys/hives, but if you uncheck that option you can then choose a value in the "base key" drop down at the top of the interface or type in a key name. All in all, a powerful tool, and free! For more tips on the tool, see the bottom of its download page, its readme, or the help file (.chm) that comes with it
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Regular Expression Generation/Testing Tools [link]

Working with regular expressions can certainly be challenging. Using a tool to help generate a regex will generally be better than crafting one by hand, at least until you become proficent with them, and following are several such tools. Still, beware that since different tools with use regex's (editors, servers/languages like ColdFusion, Java, .NET, Javascript) use different regular expression engines and syntax, some tools won't suit all needs. As for these below, some are CF-specific, but most are not. Choose/use/test appropriately to your needs.

Remote Desktop Connection Tools [link]

You may need to connect to and manage remote computers/servers. There are multiple ways to do that, from protocols like VNC, RDP, SSH, and telnet, to web-based alternatives.There is also a class of tools/services where you can arrange remote/unattended access to your servers without using those standard protocols. See both types below.
Following are the subcategories offered:

Remote Desktop Alternatives [link]

For those using the RDP (Remote Desktop Control) protocol to connect to a remote computer/server, while there may be an RDP client built-into your OS, to connect easily to one computer/server, the following tools help manage remote connections to multiple machine/servers (allowing grouping of related servers, managing of passwords, and more), as well as sometimes offering remote protocol support beyond just RDP to include also VNC, SSH, telnet, etc.
  • CoRD, open source, for MacOS. Supports RDP (last updated in 2012, as of a check in 2019)
  • mRemoteNG, open source, for Windows. Supports multiple protocols (last updated in 2019, as of a check in 2019; fork of mRemote, which is no more)
  • Remote Desktop Connection Manager (RDCMan), free, for Windows (from Microsoft). Supports RDP (last updated in 2014, as of a check in 2019)
  • Remote Desktop Manager (RDM), free and commercial, for Windows. Supports multiple protocols
  • RDPMan, open source, for Windows. Supports multiple protocols (last updated in 2015, as of a check in 2019)
  • RD Tabs, free for Windows. Supports RDP (last updated in 2018, as of a check in 2019)
  • RemotePC, commercial for Windows and MAc. Supports RDP (last updated in 2022, as of a check in 2022)
  • Rocket Remote Desktop, free and commercial, for Windows. Supports multiple protocols (last updated in 2019, as of a check in 2019)
  • Royal TS, free and commercial for Windows, MacOS as well as iOS and Android. Supports multiple protocols (last updated in 2017, as of a check in 2019)
  • Terminals, open source, for Windows. Supports multiple protocols (previously at terminals.codeplex.com) (last updated in 2017 and indicated as "no longer maintained", as of a check in 2019)
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Remote/Unattended Access Tools [link]

The following tools provide web-based alternatives to traditional RDP/VNC client access to remote machines (like those in the "remote desktop alternatives" category above). With the following tools, you typically install

See also the related "one-to-one support" category below, for controlling/supporting someone else's computer (or allowing them remote control/support of yours).

Remote Support/Presentation/Shared Desktop/Web Conferencing/Webinar Tools [link]

While the previous category of tools was focused on you controlling some computer of your own, the following are more for sharing your computer with others, such as to show them a presentation for instance (and typically one-to-many), or to obtain support from them or offer it to them (typically one-to-one, possibly with the option for one to let the other take control of their screen). Some are free, some are commercial.

Most do not require the observers to install anything, instead using just a browser. In some cases, the presenter must install something extra.

While some of the services include computer-based audio (VOIP) or phone-based teleconferencing services, if you'd like alternative phone support for these web conferencing tools, there are many free and commercial teleconferencing services available to consider. Simply do a Google search for free conference call or teleconferencing.
Following are the subcategories offered:

One-to-One/Support Tools[link]

The following remote sharing tools are more oriented toward one-on-one sharing. See below for tools focused more on one-to-many sharing, but which can of course be used for one-to-one sharing. (Again, if you need to remotely access a computer or server of your own, see the previous section on remote desktop connection tools.)
  • Bomgar, commercial, multi-platform appliance
  • Copilot, commercial hosted service
  • Remote Utilities, commercial hosted service
  • RescueAssist, commercial hosted service (formerly GotoAssist)
  • ScreenHero, closed for new signups (1/2017) while integrating with slack
  • Skype, free
  • SolarWinds Take Control, remote support, commercial hosted service (formerly MSP Aywhere)
  • Splashtop, free and commercial hosted product
  • TeamViewer, free and commercial hosted service
  • Wayk Now, commercial hosted service
  • Zoho Assist, free and commercial hosted service, for Windows, MacOS, and Linux
  • Zoho Meeting, free and commercial hosted service (free for one-on-one), for Windows, MacOS, and Linux
  • The following are or seem defunct: CrossLoop (www.crossloop.com)
  • Note that the tools listed in the following category as one-to-many sharing tools can of course also be used for one-on-one sharing
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

One-to-Many/Webinar Tools [link]

The following remote sharing tools are more oriented toward one-to-many sharing (though can of course also be used for one-on-one). See other aspects and related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.
  • Adobe Connect, commercial hosted service from Adobe
  • Anymeeting, commercial hosted service
  • appear.in, free and commercial hosted services (free for 4 attendees, as of check in 2019)
  • Amazon Chime, commercial hosted services (free only to attend, not to host meetings, as of check in 2019)
  • BlueJeans, commercial hosted service
  • Eblvd, commercial hosted service (free only for one-to-one, see previous category above, as of check in 2019)
  • Free Conference Call, free hosted service --supports up to 1,000 participants, without time limit, via voip or phone, as of check in 2019 (from the same people offering StartMeeting)
  • Glance, commercial hosted service
  • Globalmeet, free and commercial hosted service (free for 125 participants, phone and voip, as of check May 2019)
  • GotoMeeting, free and commercial hosted service (free for up to 3 participants and 40 minutes, as of a check in 2019--despite the site saying "now free unlimited meetings", which a rep said was about the "number" of them); See also related GotoWebinar
  • Google Hangouts, free hosted service, and related Hangouts Meet, commercial hosted service
  • HPE MyRoom, commercial hosted service
  • IBM Connections Meetings Cloud, commercial hosted service
  • join.me, commercial hosted service (for Windows, MacOS, IOS, Android, but still not Linux as of a check in 2019), free option removed as of May 2019
  • Live Webinar, free and commercial hosted service (free for up to 5 participants, computer audio only, as of check in 2019)
  • LoopUp, commercial hosted service
  • Mikogo, free and commercial hosted service (free for one-one meetings, as of a check in 2019) (BeamYourScreen was merged with it)
  • ReadyTalk, commercial hosted service
  • RingCentral Meetings, free and commercial hosted service (free for 1:1 meetings and group meetings of up to 100 participants for 40 mins, as of a check in 2019)
  • Skype for Business, free and commercial hosted service (free for up to 3 attendees, and up to 10 for the first 3 months, or up to 250 with an Office 365 subscription, as of a check in 2019)
  • Spreed, free and commercial hosted service (free for up to 3 attendees, as of a check in 2019)
  • StartMeeting, commercial hosted service
  • TeamViewer Blizz, free and commercial hosted service (free for up to 5 participants including phone audio, and no seeming time limit, as of a check in 2019)
  • UberConference, free and commercial hosted service (free for 10 participants, voip only, for up to 45 mins, as of a check in 2019)
  • WebEx, free and commercial hosted service (free for up to 50 participants, with 40 min time limit, via voip only, as of a check in 2019. And note that the former Cisco Spark was merged into webex.)
  • Zoho Meeting, free and commercial hosted service (free for up to 3 meeting participants with voip-only, as of a check in May 2019)
  • Zoom, free and commercial hosted service (free plan includes phone audio, and without time limits for up to 2 participants, or with a 40 min limit for up to 100 participants, as of a check in Sep 2019)
  • The following seem or are defunct: BlueTrain (mybluetrain.com, formerly webtrain.com), ConferencingNow (conferencingnow.com), Dimdim (dimdim.com), Genesys (intercall.com/genesys/go/), MeetingBurner (meetingburner.com), Unyte (unyte.net), Yugma (yugma.com), Yuuguu (yuuguu.com)
  • See also the preceding category's list of one-to-one sharing tools
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Reporting and Report Builder Tools [link]

ColdFusion has had a built-in report builder since CF 7, and embedded Crystal Reports support since CF 3 (at least), but what if you are on another version or CFML engine, or just care to consider alternatives? There are many, free and commercial.

RSS to Email Tools [link]

Are you someone who reads or publishes RSS feeds? Did you know there are tools to permit people to receive notifications without using RSS Readers? Some just prefer email. The following services offer tools both for readers (add a URL and you'll get an email when a site's RSS feed changes) and publishers (add a widget to your site to let others easily register to receive your feed via email). Note as well, after the list, some tools to monitor any page for content changes, not just RSS-fed ones. (Useful to watch this site, until I get an RSS Feed on it!)
  • blogtrottr, free hosted service
  • Inoreader, free and commercial hosted service (only commercial plan offers email notification)
  • Defunct; BlogAlert (shootthebreeze.net/blogalert), botablog.com, feedmailer.net, feedmyinbox.com, feedwhip.com, quickthreads.com, reblinks.com, rssfwd.com, RSSForward.com, rssforward.net, RssWatcher.com, sendmerss.com, squeet.com
  • See also the available rss feed to email applet for IFTTT, and the Get RSS feed updates via email app for Zapier
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback
Something taking a slightly different approach are tools that can notify you of changes to pages on any site, not just RSS-fed ones, such as these following. Some watch an entire page, some can watch a portion of a page, and some can even perform a "visual" compare rather than being based on underlying html/css/js. Again, sure, some browsers include such a page change detection feature, but these tend to offer notification by email and more. (Useful to watch this site, until I get an RSS Feed on it!)
  • Follow That Page, free and commercial (free version checks up to 20 urls per day--40 would take 2 days, etc--or 20 per week)
  • Fluxguard, free and commercial (free for 50 crawls per month)
  • sken.io, commercial
  • Versionista, free and commercial (free for 5 urls, 450 crawls total per month)
  • VisualPing, free and commercial (free for 2 checks per day / 62 checks per month)
  • WatchThatPage, free and commercial (free for 70 checks per week) (was previously changedetection.com)
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Screen Capture tools [link]

I've divided the list here into still and a/v image capture tools. All of these can be great for creating tutorials, training, demos, etc.
Following are the subcategories offered:

Still Screen Image Capture Tools [link]

See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.
  • CaptureWizPro, commercial, for Windows
  • Clip2net, free and commercial, multi-platform (and mobile apps); focused on sharing screenshots over the web
  • DropLr, free and commercial, multiplatform
  • Extensoft Screeen Capturer, freeware, for Windows
  • FastStone Capture, commercial for Windows
  • FireShot, free add-in for Firefox
  • Gadwin PrintScreen, freeware, for Windows
  • Greenshot, open source freeware, for Windows
  • HyperSnap, commercial, for Windows
  • LICEcap, free, for Windows and MacOS, "can capture an area of your desktop and save it directly to .GIF", including an animated gif
  • MadCap Capture, commercial, for Windows
  • MWSnap, freeware, for Windows
  • Screen Dash, free and commercial, for Windows
  • ScreenShot Captor, freeware, for Windows
  • SnagIt, commercial (widely regarded as king of this market segment)
  • Winsnap, commercial, for Windows
  • A review of both commercial and free tools is offered at toptenreviews.com
  • Don't forget as well that in many operatings systems, the PrntScrn button on your keyboard will copy the current screen to your clipboard. In Windows, using Alt-PrntScrn will capture just the current application
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

A/V Capture (screencast/screen share/screen record/demo) Tools [link]

The following tools can be used to capture any screen content and record it. Some produce AVI, some SWF, some FLV, and so on. Some can capture video on screen, while some cannot. There are free and commercial options, for multiple platforms. See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.
  • AllCapture, commercial, for Windows
  • Camtasia, commercial, for Windows and MacOS
  • CamStudio, free (GPL), for Windows (last updated in 2013, as of a check in 2020)
  • Captivate, commercial, for Windows, from Adobe
  • Capture (formerly Jing), free, from the makers of Camtasia, for Windows, MacOS
  • CaptureWizPro, commercial, for Windows
  • Debut Video Capture, commercial and free (for non-commercial use), for Windows and MacOS
  • DropLr, commercial, for Windows, MacOS, and as browser extensions
  • Front Cam, commercial, for Windows
  • HyperCam, free, for Windows
  • HyperSnap, commercial, for Windows
  • IShowU, commercial, for MacOS
  • MadCap Flare, commercial, for Windows
  • ManyCam, free and commercial, for Windows and MacOS
  • Presenter Video Express, commercial, for Windows, from Adobe
  • RecordMyDesktop, open source, for Linux
  • ScreenCam, commercial, for Windows
  • ScreenCamera, commercial, for Windows
  • Screencast-o-matic, free and commercial hosted service (and downloadable app for Windows)
  • ScreenFlow, commercial, for MacOS
  • ViewletBuilder and ViewletCam, commercial, for Windows, MacOS, and Linux
  • Wink, freeware, for Windows and Linux
  • Another option to consider in this space, though more for creating news-cast like video with green-screen (chroma-key) technology is Visual Communicator, commercial from Adobe
  • There are various resources that list and/or review such tools as these, including 30 Screencasting Software with download link
  • The following are or seem defunct: Expression Encoder (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=27870), Screen Capture Video Recorder (lesoftrejion.com/screen-recorder.aspx),Screenr (screenr.com), Snapz Pro X (ambrosiasw.com/utilities/snapzprox), StartMeeting Studio (startmeeting.com/studio), Total Screen Recorder (totalscreenrecorder.com), WinCAM (wincam.net/wincam.htm)
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Security/Protection Tools [link]

There are a range of security concerns for CF shops, from SQL Injection, to Cross Site Scripting (XSS), to Cross Site Request Forgery (CSRF), ClickJacking, CRLF injection, xPath injection, and more, as well as denial of service attacks. The first three are related: attempts by hackers to get data into your application (whether to affect your database, or to have you store and present back to future viewers).

There are several levels at which you can detect and prevent such attempts. The lowest level is your CFML code, then your CFML application, then the web server, then web application firewalls, etc. Some features let you specify what to block, while others try to determine that automatically based on heuristics (observed patterns of behavior for requestors), and so on.

This category is broken into subcategories, depending on the level at which the attack is detected/prevented, from the inner-most code level to the outer-most hardware firewall level. I also offer a sub-category on file change and intrusion detection tools, as further aids in addressing security problems.
Following are the subcategories offered:

CFML Code-level Injection Protection Tools [link]

See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader Security category above.
  • Recent releases of CF have introduced more and more features to assist with protection at the coding and other levels. CF10 added the several EncodeForxxx functions to encode input string (for XSS protection) and a canonicalize function to decode strings, the CSRFGenerateToken/CSRFVerifyToken functions for CSRF, and the CFClickJackFilterDeny/CFClickJackFilterSameOrigin elements in web.xml for clickjacking, as well as built-in protection against CRLF injection for several tags. See this article from Adobe for more on CF10 security enhancements. CF11 added new XSS support, in the guise of Anti-Samy support, with new functions isSafeHTML and getSafeHTML, and support for Xpath injection protection with the new encodeForXPath function. See this article from Adobe for more on CF11 security enhancements
  • Note that starting with CF2016, Adobe added the Security Analyzer tool, a feature of CF Builder (which works only with the Enterprise edition of CF2016 and above) to help review your code for such opportunities for improvement regarding security.
  • CFQueryParam, a tag whose main job is to support query parameterization, aka "bind variables", but is used by folks to *help* with sql injection protection, as it supports datatype checking of values passed to a CFQUERY. For instance, if the tag was used to check an incoming url (query string) variable for cfsqltype="CF_SQL_INTEGER" (because it should be a number) then if that value had any kind of string in it, it would be rejected.

    To be clear, this tag's job is NOT sql injection protection. If the cfsqltype were set to "CF_SQL_VARCHAR", that would simply confirm that the incoming value was a string. It would NOT look for and remove threatening strings. Be very careful relying solely on cfqueryparam for sql injection protection.

    Note that while the CF Builer 2016 Security Analyzer would help identify places where you are vulnerable to SQL Injection (among many other vulnerabilities), there is also an open-source CFML tool to help identify such places where CFQUERYPARAM is missing from your CFML-based. See the Queryparam Scanner tool from Peter Boughton .
  • CFArgument, a tag whose main job is to support datatype checking of variables passed to CFC methods and user defined functions. Like cfqueryparam, it could be used as a meager form of protection
  • See also ESAPI4CF, open source, from Damon Miller, a "web application security control library that makes it easier for programmers to write lower-risk applications" (last updated in 2015, as of a check in 2021)
  • db-dot-cfc, a cfc called "db", created by Bruce Kirkpatrick, which "Enhances cfquery by analyzing SQL to enforce security & framework conventions." (last updated in 2013, as of a check in 2021)
  • Again, there are several other levels of injection protection that you can consider, extending out first to your CF application, to then your web server, to then a web application firewall, and so on, as discussed in the following sub-categories.
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

CFML Application-level Security/Web Application Firewall (WAF) Tools [link]

These are solutions that you might implement in your application.cfm file, or the onrequeststart method of application.cfc. See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader Security category above.
  • FuseGuard, commercial, from Pete Frietag, of Foundeo (last updated in 2021, as of a check in 2022)
  • See also other security protection tools at other levels
  • Seemingly defunct: XSSblock (illumineti.com/blog/index.cfm?mode=entry&entry=959D55B6-C09F-25C5-83E39DC95F4D2BA4)
    Note also these, available but not updated in years:
    • cfFirewall, open source, from Ed Tabara (last updated in 2010, as of a check in 2021)
    • CFXSSDefender, open source, from Randy Smith (aka WisconsinWildcat; last updated in 2014, as of a check in 2021)
    • Portcullis, free, a CFC that detects/protects against XSS and SQL injection (last updated in 2010, as of a check in 2021)
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Web Server-level Security/Web Application Firewall (WAF) Tools [link]

See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader Security category above.
  • Atomic Security for Linux (AS/L), commmercial, for Linux
  • DotDefender, commercial, for IIS and Apache
  • ironbee, open source, for Apache and Nginx
  • mod_evasive, open source, for Apache, "an evasive maneuvers module for Apache to provide evasive action in the event of an HTTP DoS or DDoS attack or brute force attack."
  • ModSecurity, open source, for Apache, IIS, Nginx, and as a Java servlet filter, "can monitor the HTTP traffic in real time in order to detect [and prevent] attacks". See also the free OWASP ModSecurity Core Rule Set and/or the commercial ModSecurity Rules from Trustwave SpiderLabs
  • NAXSI, open source, for Nginx
  • NGINX WAF, commercial, for Linux
  • OWASP Stinger, open source, multi-platform
  • ThreatSentry for IIS, commercial, for IIS
  • Trustwave WebDefend, commercial, multi-platform, downloadable or hosted
  • URLScan 3.1, free, for IIS 6/7 (but supplanted mostly by IIS7's "Request Filtering" feature). Supports protection against various request attacks
  • WebKnight WAF, open source, for IIS (last updated in 2019, as of a check in 2023)
  • The following tools are limited in their focus, in blocking by IP address (either listed ones, or those generating excessive traffic). Since IP addresses can be spoofed, and/or bad guys could spread their attacks across a farm of compromised machines, these are nut nearly as powerful as the WAF tools above.
  • The following seem defunct: SecureIIS (beyondtrust.com/Products/SecureIISWebServerSecurity), ServerDefender VP (port80software.com/products/serverdefendervp), Stingray Application Firewall (riverbed.com/products-solutions/products/application-delivery-stingray/Stingray-Application-Firewall.html)
  • See other alternatives, as well as this Web Application Firewall Evaluation Criteria from the Web Application Security Consortium (which discusses both web server-based and hardware firewalls)
  • See also URL Rewriting Tools, many of which add specific SQL injection protection features
  • See also Site Security Testing Tools and Database Testing Tools, to assist with testing for vulnerabilities, before or after using these protection tools
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Runtime Application Self-Protection (RASP) Tools [link]

RASPs represent the next generation of web application protection, with a focus on running WITHIN the application (application server) rather than operating at the perimeter as WAFs do.

See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader Security category above.

Cloud/SAAS-level Application Firewalls [link]

The following services can be easily enabled for your site (with minor DNS adjustments) and often provide more than just web application firewall capabilities but also DDOS protection, CDN/caching capabilities, and more.

See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader Security category above.

Bot Mitigation Protection Tools [link]

This is similar to the previous section on WAFs, but these services focus on protecting your site against unexpected, excessive bot/spider traffic. See related subcategories in the introduction to the broader Security category above.

Hardware-level Web Application Firewall (WAF) Tools [link]

See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader Security category above.

File Change Detection Tools [link]

File change detection systems can be used to watch your application folders, to warn you when unexpected file changes have been made. And some tools also let you track simply if a file was accessed (not "changed"), which can be useful also.

Intrusion Detection/Protection/Prevention Tools [link]

Intrusion detection systems (IDS) (also intrusion protection or prevention systems) watch your perimeter for attempted intrusions.

Session Tracking/Management Tools [link]

ColdFusion sessions can be tracked/managed using various tools, though note that some tools only track J2EE/Java EE sessions (an option that can be configured in the ColdFusion Administrator>Memory Variables page.)
  • ColdfFusion 2018 and above offers the optional PMT (Performance Monitoring Toolset), which if installed, enabled, and configured to monitor a CF2018 or higher instance can show counts of CF sessions.
  • Those running ColdFusion 2016 or earlier (down to CF8), were able to get such a count (if running CF Enterprise) via the ColdFusion Enterprise Server Monitor, though because it was Flash-based it no longer functions in modern browsers. It offered a session monitor, showing a list (and could show a count) of all current sessions, whether Java EE or not.
  • Otherwise, a simple count of ColdFusion sessions is available though a number of other means, whether graphically or in logs:
    • ColdFusion has an undocumented internal sessiontracker object, which has been documented in various places, such as this blog entry from Steven Neiland. Before hacking together something yourself, see the next tool, ServerStats
    • ServerStats, open source, from Mark Lynch. Provides count of current number of ColdFusion sessions (whether J2EE sessions or not), including a count per application. Uses the CF sessiontracker object internally, and since the code is open source, you can review it for some advanced uses of the object
    • FusionReactor, commercial, for ColdFusion, Lucee, BlueDragon, and any Java EE server/servlet engine. FusionReactor 5 (technically, 5.0.6) offers a graphical count of sessions in its UEM & Sessions link (or in older versions, the Metrics>Custom Series page and its ActiveSessionCount option in the drop-down at the top right of the page), which tracks sessions whether J2EE or not. It also offers a count of sessions as a column in its realtimestats.log. That log is built-in as of FR 5, or can be enabled with FR5 via the FusionReactor Extensions for ColdFusion
    • ColdFusion's optional metrics log (in CF10 and above) tracks CF sessions, again regardless of whether set to use J2EE or not
    • For CF6-9, the JRun Metrics feature could be enabled to log a count of sessions, though it only tracked ColdFusion sessions if J2EE sessions are enabled
  • Those running ColdFusion 10 or above (which runs on Tomcat), or running CF or Lucee on Tomcat, should note that there are tools specifically for monitoring Tomcat sessions, such as MessAdmin, open source, though again it would only work if J2EE sessions are enabled in ColdFusion. And while the built-in Tomcat Manager application does offer session tracking, that manager app is not enabled (or even provided) in CF10
  • J2EE sessions can also be tracked using Java tools such as sessionmon (which would be implemented as a servlet, using instructions offered on the page), as well as using as one of many Java EE monitoring tools which offer session trackins among many other features, such as JavaMelody, InfraRED, and psi-probe, to name a few
  • For more on tracking sessions in ColdFusion, see this 2009 blog post "Tracking number of CF sessions per application easily, and why you should care", from Charlie Arehart
  • For more on J2EE sessions in ColdFusion (why they were created, what they enabled, how they work, and some gotchas), see this article from the CF6 timeframe, when they were introduced
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Source Code Control [link]

Source code control (or version control) systems are an important tool for tracking code (and other file) changes.
Following are the subcategories offered:

Source Code Control Tools [link]

Following are some of the more popular source code control repository tools, including multiple "distributed" source control tools. Note that many of the tools bundle (or have available) client access tools. You can also avoid installing a source code repository locally and instead use any of the many available Remote Source Code Repositories, discussed in the next category here.

Remote Source Code Repositories [link]

Note as well that there are various available remotely hosted repositories (Subversion, Git, Mercurial, and others), some free and some commercial. See more on those source code tools in the the category above.

Spell Checkers [link]

There are both client- and server-side spell checkers available, including one written for CFML ("Spell Checker for ColdFusion" below, which does not leverage any outside "services").

There are certainly many more client-side spell checking tools in recent years, which would of course be generic to any server platform, and are really too numerous for me to track. But I list a couple of them to consider.

Finally, note that modern browsers often offer built-in spell-checking for free, checking as you type into a text input or textarea field. (As of a check in 2019, I find that Chrome [77] checks in both, while Firefox 69 and IE 11 check only textareas.)

Testing Tools/Services [link]

There is a wide range of available testing tools, of many kinds.
There are multiple categories of testing tools offered here.
Following are the subcategories offered:
CFML Code Testing Tools [link]
See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.
  • CodeChecker, open source, by Chris Weller ("a code review automation tool that helps take away the tedious (and boring) aspects of reviewing code.") For more info, see his blog post
  • CodeCop, by Steve Bryant, "ColdFusion code checker."
  • QueryParam Scanner, open source, by Peter Boughton (finds code where CFQUERYPARAM could be added for improved security, performance)
  • Singleton Leak Detector, open source, "A debugging module to help detect var scoping issues in your singletons", which works with ColdBox and Wirebox
  • VarScoper, open source, by Mike Schierberl. A var scope checking tool to help identify where you're creating local variables in CFCs without var scoping them
  • Note as well the CFML Syntax checker available in the ColdFusion Admin
  • See also additional generic code testing tools
  • See also CFML Fiddle Sites (for running CFML code online)
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback
CFML Unit Testing Tools [link]
See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above. Database Testing Tools [link]
See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above. Functional Testing Tools [link]
The following tools test the functionality of web pages, such as for regression (or even performance) testing. See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above. HTML Validation Tools [link]
The following tools can check your site or a page for the validity of your HTML, CSS, etc. Link Checking Tools [link]
The following tools can check your site or a page for the validity of hyperlinks. Some are online services, others are downloadable tools. Network Bandwidth Testing Tools [link]
The following tools test your network bandwidth. Some are tools you run once, others are tools that monitor your bandwidth continuously. Load, Stress, and Application Testing Tools [link]
There are many load testing and/or stress testing tools, free and commercial. (See also the newly created functional testing category, with tools that can also be used for load testing.) See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.

Note as well that I indicate here which tools indicate they support Flex or Flash testing (I use whatever words they do, not wanting to presume they mean one for the other.)
  • Apache Bench (ab), free, downloadable (command-line driven tool), multi-platform (built into Apache HTTP server, but can run stand-alone). Learn more from a CFers's perspective here
  • AppPerfect Load Test and Web Test, free, downloadable, multi-platform
  • Automai AppLoader, commercial hosted service
  • Automai AppWatch, commercial hosted service
  • BlazeMeter, free and commercial hosted service (formerly PerformanceXpert), free for 50 users and 10 tests
  • Flood.io, free and commercial hosted service
  • httperf, open source, downloadable, for Linux
  • Gatling, open source and commercial, downloadable, multi-platform
  • Jetty Load Generator, open source, downloadable, multi-platform (java-based, accessible via API or command line)
  • JMeter (from Apache), open source, multi-platform. (Here's an article on setting up JMeter and using it)
  • k6, free and commercial, downloadable or Grafana Cloud K6 hosted service (free for 500 virtual user hours/month, 10k metrics, 50GB logs, 50GB traces, 50GB profiles, and more).
  • Loader.io, free and commercial hosted service (free limited to 2 urls, 1 minute)
  • LoadNinja, commercial hosted service
  • LoadView, free and commercial hosted service
  • NeoLoad, free and commercial, multi-platform (free for 50 virtual users)
  • Netling, open source, for Windows
  • Neustar website load testing, commercial, hosted service
  • OctoPerf, free and commercial hosted service (free for 50 concurrent user testing, for an unlimited number of 20 min tests, and with data retention for 2 years, as of a check in 2019)
  • OpenLoad, commercial downloadable and hosted service
  • Parasoft SOATest, commercial, multi-platform (formerly WebKing)
  • PureLoad, free and commercial, downloadable, multi-platform (free for 100 virtual users), and related PureTest (functional testing)
  • ReadyAPI, commercial, downloadable multi-platform (with a focus on API testing)
  • Redline 13, free and commercial hosted service, testing of AWS server (free for unlimited virtual users)
  • Siege, open source, downloadable for *nix
  • The Grinder, open source, downloadable multi-platform (Java)
  • Tsung, open source, downloadable multi-platform (erlang)
  • WAPT, Web APplication Testing tool (at loadtestingtool.com), commercial, downloadable for Windows, and with available WAPT Cloud solution
  • WCAT (Microsoft Web Capacity Analysis Tool), free, downloadable for Windows
  • WebLoad, free and commercial, downloadable for Windows (free for 50 vusers)
  • Web Performance Load Tester, commercial and free, hosted ("On-demand") and downloadable multi-platform
  • WebServer Stress Tool, free, downloadable for Windows (formerly commercial, but released as freeware in 2014)
  • Websurge, free and commercial, for Windows, from West Wind (Rick Strahl)
  • Seemingly defunct (gone or not updated in several years): Apache Flood, Astra QuickTest/LoadTest (formerly from Mercury Interactive; seemingly folded into other HP products), E-Test Suite, from www.empirix.com (formerly from RSW Software), FSMax (mcafee.com/us/downloads/free-tools/fsmax.aspx), jcrawler (jcrawler.sourceforge.net), loadstorm, OpenSTA (opensta.org), QEngine (manageengine.com/products/qengine/index.html), StressTester (reflective.com/stresstester), StressIT (synametrics.com/SynametricsWebApp/StressIT.jsp), Web Application Stress Tool (WAST) from Microsoft, WebMetrics (www.webmetrics.com)
  • See also other lists of load testing tools, such as OpenSourceTesting.org's list of performance tools, as well as SoftwareQATest's list, and so on
  • On the subject of load testing, check out the 221 page Performance Testing Guidance for Web Applications, from the MSDN: patterns & practices series.
  • Consider also HeavyLoad, free, for Windows, though it and other tools like it are focused on stressing system resources versus web applications
  • Finally, see also other categories here, such as Functional Testing Tools, as those tools can often also be used for load testing
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback
Page Appearance Testing Tools [link]
The following tools test how web pages appear on different browsers. (See the next category for tools to test how pages perform in browsers.) See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.
  • BrowserLing, free and commercial service (free is quite limited)
  • Browserstack, commercial service (free for open source projects)
  • Browsershots, free service (sadly, seems not to have been updated since 2018, in terms of browsers it can simulate, and its ssl cert)
  • Crossbrowsertesting, commercial service (free for open source projects, from SmartBear)
  • IE NetRenderer, free tool and service which "allows you to check how a website is rendered by Internet Explorer" on many different IE verions
  • SiteImprove, commercial hosted service
  • See also Litmus, for showing appearance of emails instead, over different clients (commercial hosted service)
  • Consider also "accessibility testing tools" like WAVE Web Accessibility Tool
  • See this list of other browser page render test services
  • The following seem defunct: Adobe Edge Inspect (https://www.adobe.com/products/edge-inspect.html), Browsercam (browsercam.com), BrowserLab (browserlab.adobe.com), Browsrcamp (browsrcamp.com), Gomez Cross-Browser Website Compatibility Test (www.gomez.com/cross-browser-website-compatibility-test)
  • See also the category here, Page Performance Testing Tools, for tools that test the performance of pages within the browser
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback
Page Performance Testing Tools [link]
The following tools test how web pages perform, and most identify opportunities for improvement. See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above. The following tools test response time from a hosted service: how quickly web pages are returned when requested. (See the previous category for tools to test page performance from WITHIN your browser.) See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above. Regex Testing Tools [link] Site Security Testing Tools [link]

This list offers a range of different tools for testing the security of your site. Most test (from the outside) for classic vulnerabilities like SQL injection, XSS, CSRF, etc., either to identify them (to help you) or to penetrate them (to help a hacker, or you, by learning what they can learn.) Over the years, they have evolved into classes of applications with the acronyms SAST (static app sec testing: whitebox/insider code scanning), DAST (dynamic, blockbox/outsider site scanning), IAST (interactive/instrumented within app), etc. See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above.

For CF users, note especially the nifty (and CF-specific) HackMyCF service listed below, from Pete Freitag and Foundeo. It's not focused on assessing your code nor assessing your server "from the outside" but rather from the inside--inside your CF engine, and primarily about configuration vulnerabilities. And as for analyzing CFML code from within, see his related Fixinator as well as the free Adobe CF Builder Security Analyzer, both listed below.

If you're looking for protection against vulnerabilities identified by such testing tools, see several forms of Security/Protection Tools that are cataloged elsewhere here. Site Testing Tools [link] Web Services Browsing/Testing Tools [link]

Tools to browse web services, to see their available methods, arguments, return types. (If you're looking at these tools when a web service you're calling is failing, and you'd like a URL that shows how the tool works when the URL is valid, here is a web service WSDL URL that you can test with the tools below, which has worked for a few years: http://soap.amazon.com/schemas2/AmazonWebServices.wsdl .)
  • Dreamweaver - Don't miss the feature in the Application Panel, Components tab, to select "web services" from the drop down (if you have a CF page opened within a CF site), where you can provide a WSDL URL and DW will browse the web service, showing its available methods and their arguments, etc
  • Eclipse - soapUI (see below) or Adobe Services Browser (in ColdFusion Builder and Adobe ColdFusion Extensions for Eclipse). Use Window>Show View>Other>ColdFusion>Services Browser. Then click the icon just left of the minimize icon ("Show Web Services"), then click red + to add a new WSDL URL
  • GMorpher (gmorpher.com/Morph/dynamo/main.jsp) (defunct) free, web-based, and Dynamo Invoker (free, downloadable)
  • Liquid XML Studio, for Windows (commercial, free trial), "an advanced XML Development Environment and XML toolkit containing all the tools needed for designing and developing XML schema and XML applications, including web services testing and browsing. For XML novice or expert, the intuitive interface and comprehensive features will help you save time and money developing a successful XML project."
  • SoapClient (free, web-based)
  • soapUI (free, open source downloadable, both standalone and as Eclipse plug-in, from SmartBear)
  • Web Service Call Composer (Web Service Tester) (downloadable, commercial), part of commercial Stylus Studio XML IDE
  • Xmethods WSDL Analyzer (free, web-based)
  • XMLSPY IDE web service tester (commercial, downloadable)
  • See also related subcategories in the introduction to the broader category above
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Time Tracking/Invoicing/Billing Tools/Services [link]

Following are online or downloadable tools to provide time tracking, invoicing, and billing services (not necessarily written in CFML, but of value to CF developers).
  • 14Dayz, free and commercial hosted service (free for 1 user, 4 clients, 4 projects, as of check in 2021)
  • 88 Miles, commercial hosted service
  • Billings Pro, commercial downloadable tool (for MacOS)
  • Cashboard, commercial hosted service
  • Clicktime, commercial hosted service
  • eBillity, commercial hosted service
  • FreshBooks, commercial hosted service
  • Fanurio, commercial, multi-platform
  • Harvest, free and commercial hosted service (free for "1 seat and 2 active projects", as of check in 2021. This is the tool I have used happily for years)
  • Noko, commercial hosted service (formerly Freckle)
  • Paymo, commercial hosted service
  • ProWorkFlow, commercial hosted and downloadable service
  • Senomix Timesheets, commercial hosted service
  • Tick, free and commercial hosted service (free for 1 project and unlimited users, as of check in 2021)
  • Tiktrac, free and commercial hosted service (free for 5 projects and 5 users, as of check in 2021)
  • Timesheets, free and commercial hosted service (free for 1 user, as of check in 2021)
  • TimeSnapper, commercial, for MacOS and Windows
  • Toggl Track, free and commercial hosted service (free for 5 users,as of check in 2021)
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

URL Rewriting Tools [link]

These tools can help solve many problems, from dealing with handling changed URL patterns for your site, to even masking the fact that your pages are dynamic (to make them look static, which can be helpful for search engine friendly URLs/SEO).

Note to users of IIS: As you may know, as of IIS 7 and above Microsoft has made available a free URLRewrite feature, the last tool listed below (which is not installed in IIS by default, but takes only seconds to install and offers a feature to import apache-style rewrite rules). This has dramatically lessened the need in IIS for 3rd party rewrite tools, and you will see that most of those related to IIS have not been updated in several years. Still, some may add value so I have left them, but note that most of them have not been updated to support anything later than IIS 7.
  • Helicon APE, commercial, for IIS 7 (can be made to work for IIS 6), "Provides support for Apache .htaccess configuration for IIS" (last updated in 2017 as v. 3.1.0.256, per a check in 2020)
  • Helicon Isapi_rewrite, free and commercial versions, for IIS 5, 6, and 7, an "Apache mod_rewrite compatible URL rewriter for IIS" (last updated in 2014 as v. 3.1.0.105, per a check in 2020. Free editions in their version 3 and version 2 products)
  • Ionics Isapi Rewrite Filter (IIRF) (also forked by someone to github here), free, for IIS 6 and 7 (last updated in 2011, per check in 2020)
  • Mod_rewrite, free, for Apache 2+ (last updated in 2019, per check in 2020)
  • Tuckey URLRewrite, free, multiplatform, "A Java Web Filter for any compliant web application servers (such as Tomcat, JBoss, Jetty or Resin), which allows you to rewrite URLs before they get to your code". (Last updated in 2019, per a check in 2020.) For more on using Java filters with CFML, see my Feb 2003 CFDJ article, "Fun with Filters". See also a more specific resource on using this filter with Railo, whose info generally applies also to ColdFusion as well.
  • URL Rewrite, free, for IIS 7+ (from Microsoft, not installed by default)
  • Users or rewrite tools (for IIS, Apache, or nginx) may appreciate a resource devoted to the topic: www.rewriteguide.com
  • The following are defunct: PageExchanger (port80software.com/products/pagexchanger), Streamcatcher (streamcatcher.com), URL Replacer (motobit.com/help/url-replacer-rewriter/iis-mod-rewrite.asp), UrlRewritingNet (www.urlrewriting.net)
  • See also:
    • Helicon LinkFreeze, commercial, for IIS 4, 5, and 6, "a fast and easy solution to optimize dynamic or database-driven websites for search engines. It transforms all dynamic links on your site removing all unwanted characters and making links look like static."
    • ServerMask, commercial for IIS 6 and 7, can eliminate file extensions from URLs, to help with preventing information leakage/deter hacking
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Web Server Content Caching/Accelerator/Reverse Proxy Tools [link]

Tools to cache content within web servers, to help speed web page processing for clients and on the server. While they are not CF-specific, they would work in caching/accelerating CF-based web sites.

Web Site Archive Repositories [link]

These services offer historical presentations of how web sites have appeared over time. The classsic is archive.org, but there are others, and I wanted to list them here.

Web Site Chat Services [link]

Want to add chat features to your site? There are various services offering that, some for free, some commercial.

Web Site Design Repositories [link]

These sites offer web site designs, most free, some commercial.

Windows Admin Tools [link]

I share here some tools I often help folks use when dealing with various Windows admin tasks. There are certainly many other tools in other categories that ARE also useful for server admin tasks, but these are ones that don't fit will into any of those other categories.

Wireframing/Prototyping/Mockup Tools [link]

While most of these are not CF-specific, they can of course be used to create UI wireframes for CFML-based apps.
  • Balsamiq Wireframes, commercial, downloadable and hosted service
  • Gliffy Diagrams, commercial hosted service
  • proto.io, free and commerical hosted service
  • Invision, commercial, downloadable and hosted service
  • WireframeSketcher, commercial, downloadable
  • The following seem defunct *or not updated in several years): Adalon (synthis.com), CFPrototype (cfprototype.riaforge.org), FormMonkey (millionmunkeys.net/FormMunkey), Fusebox Wireframe Editor (wireframe.riaforge.org), FuseBuilder (fusebuilder.net), FuseMox( fusemox.com), Rebar (cfopen.org/projects/rebar), Wireframe Viewer/Editor (sourceforge.net/projects/wireframetool
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

WYSIWYG/Rich Text Content Editors [link]

When you want to make it easy for your users to enter text into a form, and permit them to mark it up (bold, italics) or add HTML (hyperlinks, images), that's where a WYWIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor, or a Rich Text Content editor, comes in handy. And while some JS framework libraries may offer such an editor within them, there are also specific tools devoted to the task, as listed here.

With respect to the editors below, note that the reference to platform may refer to either client or server requirements. Rather than detail them, I offer simply whatever platform information I could easily glean from the site. To confirm details for your needs, see the respective product site (such as system requirements pages) for more details.
  • CKEditor, open source and commercial, multi-platform (open source project last updated in 2025, as of a check in 2025); formerly known as FCKEditor
  • Quill, open source, multi-platform (last updated in 2025, as of a check in 2025)
  • TinyMCE, open source, multi-platform (last updated in 2025, as of a check in 2025)
  • See still other alternatives, as offered in a comparison kept by TinyMCE
  • Finally, again, consider also that various js/ajax libraries/frameworks may offer a rich text editing feature within them. There are too many of those for me to try to keep up with here.
  • The following seem defunct: ActivEdit (zrinity.com/activedit, formerly from CFDev), eKit (hexidec.com/ekit.php), EWebEditPro (ektron.com/Products/Web-CMS/eWebEditPro/), KTML (interaktonline.com/Products/Online-HTML-Editor/), SOEditor (siteobjects.com/pages/soeditor.cfm), TTW HTML Editor (koivi.com/WYSIWYG-Editor/), XStandard (XStandard.com)
  • I welcome additions/corrections/feedback

Background

I started this list back in 2002, which I hosted on my older Systemanage site. You can even see the original page, via the good ol' Internet Wayback Machine in this view of the page as of April 2002. Of course, I've updated it substantially since then, bringing it over to my carehart.org site in mid-2007 (and I continue to do so: last updated on Jul 5, 2025.) It now has over links to over 2,000 tools/resources in over 150 categories. I welcome additions/corrections/feedback. I've gathered most of them myself but I welcome community participation.

Again, with regard to any of the above, I welcome additions/corrections/feedback.

If you're a keeper of lists yourself, I'd ask that you please do not just copy/paste this page and its categories to your own site. Of course, the information I link to is public info. I'm referring to the organization of it. I certainly welcome people pointing others to this list, including deep-linking to a specific category. I may ultimately also create an RSS feed to track new entries on the whole list or in certain categories.

Disclaimer: Finally, for the lawyers and suit-happy, note that the information, including but not limited to hyperlinks, product names shown, descriptions offered, categorization, and characterizarion, is provided for educational purposes only. There is no warrantee of the truth or accuracy of the information above, nor of its fitness for a particular purpose. Because information about companies, product names, links, and so on can change over time, and I cannot guarantee to keep it updated, it is the reader's responsibility to confirm the accuracy and validity of any information presented here.



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