7 Code Review Tools to Balance Quality and Speed

Your developer team has strict code quality standards they need to meet, but other teams have been pestering you lately about when you’ll deliver the latest round of codebase updates. 

Many dev teams must balance quality and speed as two opposing goals—and finding the right balance can mean pushing your product into the market leader position.

Discover how the best code review tools help you meet both goals without burning out your team or missing critical issues. Alongside automations and streamlined workflows, these tools also encourage teams to share knowledge, leading to long-term improvements and happier developers.

4 ways code review tools improve the typical code review process

Here are five ways software engineering teams use Loom and other code review tools during different code review stages:

1. Streamlining productivity

Any code review tool should do one thing really well: help you complete efficient code reviews while maintaining quality standards. Most code review tools achieve this through a handful of different features, including the following:

• Automated static code analysis to flag potential bugs, vulnerabilities, and style violations
• Remote collaboration through comments, notifications, task assignments, and more
• Version control integration with integrated development environments (IDEs) and source control management systems (SCMs)

These features make it easier for each developer to submit their code and begin the review process. In turn, this helps your developer team achieve code quality goals without drawing out the review process.

Once a new review request is submitted, code review tools use these integrations and automations to speed up the approval workflow process and scan for bugs, vulnerabilities, and code style issues.

2. Improving consistency

Along with automating tests and enforcing coding standards, code review software helps your team achieve consistent quality by standardizing workflows, allowing customizable comment templates and review checklists, and linking to relevant files and comment threads.

For example, let’s say your team is working on a web app feature that allows users to reset their passwords via email. Once the developer assigned to write the code is done, they prepare the code for review using your team’s code review tool to complete the following steps:

1. Run automated tests to look for bugs and vulnerabilities
2. Check the code against your team’s style guidelines
3. Resolve any issues flagged by the tool’s static analysis

Next, the developer creates a pull request in the code review tool and provides the following information to their team:

• A description of the code goals and any changes
• Links to the relevant task or user journey
• Who is assigned to review the code and when they need to complete the review

The assigned code reviewers are then notified and can begin their review using the same code review tool to complete the following tasks:

1. Examine the code diff
2. Refer to a checklist of code review action items to ensure a thorough review
3. Leave comments on specific lines of code to request changes or provide feedback

The code author then makes suggested changes or continues the conversation within comment threads. This process continues until the reviewers approve the pull request and the code author merges the finalized code into the main branch. At this stage, the author can use the code review tool to complete a final check, archive the review, and automate task updates within the team’s project management tools.

3. Fostering knowledge sharing

Most code review tools double as collaboration software that allows reviewers and authors to leave comments on specific lines of code. This helps everyone understand what exactly the comment refers to, improving clarity all around.

Most tools also allow reviewers to link to past issues, documentation, or other code locations within comments. This provides valuable context and fosters knowledge sharing, which is a critical part of team growth and enforcing code review best practices. 

4. Providing data-driven insights

Some tools track key performance indicators (KPIs) like average time to review, percentage of code covered by reviews, and defect detection rates. These metrics can help team leaders spot bottlenecks or individual support and training needs.

Code review tools often report on metrics like code style violations, potential bugs, code duplication, and code complexity. By comparing past reports, teams can quickly gauge whether new processes, tools, or training have helped them improve.

1. Loom

Loom enhances the code review process by giving authors and reviewers a visual way to document feedback, provide helpful context, and explain complex code issues and bugs. 

Loom’s screen and webcam recording tool lets you record your screen alongside your webcam. This creates clearer communication, since viewers can see you interact with the code—or anything else pulled up on your screen—while listening to your explanation. Drawing tools and mouse-click highlights help everyone follow along, even if you’re sharing feedback on a few hundred lines of code.

Features: 

• AI-powered video editing: Perfect your videos without lifting a finger. Loom AI automatically removes filler words and pauses for clear, crisp messaging.
• Instantly shareable links: Share high-quality videos the moment you’re done recording—no need to wait for files to upload or agonize over time-consuming video edits.
• On-screen annotations: Highlight your mouse clicks or draw on your screen while you record to help viewers follow along.
• Secure communication: Limit who can view your videos by requiring an email address or adding password protection.
• Comments and emoji reactions: Converse with code authors and reviewers using video comments—or add a quick emoji reaction to indicate understanding.
• Dev tool integrations: Integrate with tools like GitHub, GitLab, Linear, and Jira, so you can easily add Loom to your existing toolkit.

Pros: 

• Loom improves feedback clarity through webcam and screen recordings.
• Visual communication simplifies complex explanations and bug reports.
• Loom doubles as a knowledge-sharing tool, allowing teams to record best practices.

Cons: 

• The free plan maxes out at 25 videos of up to five minutes each.
• Loom stores videos in the cloud by default, so users must configure security settings and permissions.

Pricing: Offers a free plan; paid plans start at $15 per user per month when billed annually.

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2. GitHub

A popular cloud-based code review platform, GitHub offers a streamlined way to review, collaborate on, and improve code through pull requests.

Features: 

• Side-by-side diffs: Quickly see what’s changed with diffs that highlight newly added, edited, or deleted code alongside your original code.
• Customized workflow: Add required status checks—GitHub’s Status API even enforces those checks and won’t let you complete a merge until the code passes.
• Searchable commit history: Save all commits, comments, and references for each pull request—you can search for them later.

Pros: 

• You get a comprehensive history of code changes and review comments.
• GitHub integrates with a variety of third-party tools, including Microsoft Teams, Slack, Jira, and more.

Cons:

• The free tier only offers 2,000 CI/CD minutes per month and 500 MB of Packages storage.
• The tool can quickly become overwhelming when sending pull requests with a large number of files or comments.

Pricing: Offers a free plan; paid plans start at $4 per user per month.

3. Atlassian Bitbucket

Bitbucket is a Git-based coding platform that seamlessly integrates with Atlassian’s project management tool, Jira. This allows teams to easily create tasks from code review feedback.

Features: 

• Automated checks: Run tests and security scans to ensure teams meet internal coding standards and compliance requirements.
• Custom merge conditions: Let reviewers know what to check so every code review consistently meets your quality goals.
• Informative dashboard: Gain at-a-glance context while reviewing code—Bitbucket shows passed checks and builds, open tasks, and related files.

Pros:

• Critical test and security scan reports help you ensure no bugs are missed.
• The Jira integration allows task and ticket creation within your pull request.
• The self-managed option, Bitbucket Data Center, gives teams tighter security and more control.

Cons: 

• The free plan only allows five users and 50 minutes of build time per month.
• You’ll need the most expensive plan for advanced features like enforced merge checks.

Pricing: Offers a free plan; paid plans start at $3 per user per month.

4. JetBrains Space

Describing itself as a code collaboration platform, JetBrains Space includes multiple tools for achieving fast code reviews without risking quality.

Features: 

• Enforced quality checks: Prevent merges until critical code areas get approved by reviewers.
• IDE integration: Let your developers comfortably review code within their favorite JetBrains IDEs like PhpStorm, CLion, and IntelliJ IDEA.
• Automated assignments: Trust JetBrains Space to suggest and assign reviewers based on code ownership or file activity.

Pros: 

• JetBrains Space integrates with other JetBrains tools like TeamCity and YouTrack, as well as Slack and Jira.
• Your team can see who needs to take action on what task with clear code review statuses.
• Auto-links issues to commits and merge requests.

Cons: 

• There’s a learning curve to get the most out of all features.
• Alternative code review software options offer more third-party integrations.

Pricing: Contact JetBrains for pricing.

5. GitLab

An open-source Git repository, GitLab’s integrated tool set includes a helpful set of code review and collaboration features.

Features: 

• Required change requests: Send a change request to the code author and block the merge until your requested changes are completed.
• Project approval rules: Select expert reviewers based on the project approval rules to shorten the time to approval.
• Multiple compliance and security scans: Audit your code quality, scan for vulnerabilities, and check dependencies, then create Jira tasks to resolve issues.

Pros: 

• GitLab supports custom review policies and user permissions.
• You can automate tasks like building, testing, packaging, and deploying software.
• Multiple third-party integrations keep you synced with Jira, Bitbucket, OmniAuth, Jenkins, and more.

Cons: 

• GitLab costs more than alternative code review platforms.
• Advanced features, like protected branches and merge request approval rules, require a paid plan.

Pricing: Offers a free plan; paid plans start at $29 per user per month when billed annually.

6. Azure DevOps

Microsoft’s Azure DevOps is a comprehensive platform that lets teams review pull requests through its Azure Repos service. 

Features: 

• Individual branch policies: Enforce code quality and change management standards at the branch level to protect important code.
• Review checklists: Create custom code review checklists to ensure consistent quality checks.
• Custom statuses: Customize your pull request workflow with unique statuses so your team always knows the next step to take.

Pros: 

• Numerous integrations are available, including Kubernetes, AWS, Ansible, and JFrog.
• There’s a comprehensive set of developer tools and features.
• The free plan allows up to five users.

Cons: 

• Customizing advanced settings like custom workflows and policies may require a learning curve.

Pricing: 

Offers a free plan; paid plan costs start at $36 for six users per month.

7. Crucible

Another code review tool by Atlassian, Crucible offers user-friendly code review tools that support version control systems and discussions.

Features:

• Multi-repository support: Use Crucible with multiple version control systems like Git, SVN, and Mercurial.
• Automatic Jira syncs: Update Jira issues based on review activity—or you can create new Jira issues from review comments.
• Informative reports: Track metrics like lines of code committed, volume of project changes, top committers, and more.

Pros:

• Crucible integrates with other Atlassian tools to improve workflow efficiency.
• Pre-commit reviews ensure quality standards are met before code goes into production.
• Custom review processes and multi-repository support can flex to your team’s needs.

Cons: 

• Crucible lacks an intuitive user interface, making it difficult to find certain features or settings.

Pricing: Paid plans start at a $10 one-time fee for up to five users.

5 types of code review tools and how to choose the right one

There are multiple types of code review apps available, and they tend to be categorized based on their functionality, integration capabilities, and deployment models. 

For example, you might choose a VCS-integrated tool to reduce your team’s need to context switch between multiple applications. Instead, they can conduct code reviews directly within your version control workflow.

On the other hand, you might choose a static code analysis tool if your team’s goals include improving code quality. These types of code review tools enforce coding standards, best practices, and styles, and also flag risks to help your team improve code security.

The main types of code review software include:

1. Stand-alone code review tools: These dedicated software applications are made specifically for code review and often include specialized features like custom approval workflows and checklists, side-by-side diff views, and activity reports.
2. VCS-integrated tools: These tools work in tandem with version control systems to add additional capabilities to your workflow, including pull and merge requests.
3. IDE-integrated code review tools: These tools combine your IDE with code review functionality, allowing developers to complete code reviews and merges without leaving the development environment.
4. Static code analysis tools: You can use a static analysis tool to review code without running it. These tools help reviewers spot potential issues, bugs, vulnerabilities, and code standards violations.
5. AI-powered code review tools: These are ideal for automated code review, including checks for vulnerabilities, style issues, and bugs.

Each type of tool offers unique features and capabilities that help it fit into your existing software development process while improving peer review efficiency.

How to choose the right code review tool

When choosing a new code review tool for your developer team, keep the following items in mind:

• Collaboration features: Look for tools that support collaboration with inline commenting, real-time notifications, and linked files and resources.
• Integrations: Ensure your new tool works with any existing developer tools and workflows, including your existing VCS, IDEs, issue trackers, CI/CD pipelines, project management software, and communication platforms.
• Automations: Speed up your code review process with automated checks and tests.
• Customization options: Choose a tool that lets you customize your review workflows, checklists, and approval processes, as well as permissions and automations.
• Access control: Secure sensitive code by choosing a tool with granular permissions and audit logs.
• Programming language support: Ensure your chosen tool supports the languages used by your team, such as Java, Ruby, and Python.
• Scalability and cost: Search for tools that scale with team and project growth, and don’t forget to check upfront and ongoing costs—including the cost of adding more users.
• Reporting and metrics: Gain valuable insights by choosing a tool that tracks and reports on review activity, code quality trends, top committers, and more. This data can also help you gain stakeholder buy-in and more support for your team.

The best source code review tool depends on your team’s specific needs, size, developer processes, and budget. If you’re still stuck between a few options, you could try a free plan or trial to see which one successfully streamlines your existing workflows.

Enhance knowledge sharing and code review efficiency with Loom

Knowledge sharing is a crucial part of effective code reviews. By enabling team collaboration and peer-led learning, you can improve overall code quality and consistency over the long term.

Loom is a vital tool for delivering review feedback and sharing knowledge. It provides helpful visual context that goes beyond the typical text-based comments most code review tools rely on. Recording your screen while you walk through code changes and your reasoning helps authors better understand the changes and why you’re requesting them.

Integrate Loom directly with platforms like GitHub and GitLab to reduce context switching and allow reviewers to embed videos for easy reference. Additionally, Loom videos are ideal for onboarding new team members and introducing them to team processes and how your codebase has evolved. 

Sharpen your team’s code reviews and try the free Loom screen recorder today.

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