We’ve all been there: people ask for recommendations and are deluged with lots of alternatives. So let’s try to be a bit more exclusive:
If you had just ONE piece of FREE software to recommend - which one would it be?
My vote goes to Quiver as the more I use it, the more I love it:
NO LONGER FREE SO DISQUALIFIED
The one piece of free software that I use the most and adds to my daily workflow?
APPLE SWIFT
hands down
Um, it’s not free.
Interesting. It was free when I got it, and I’m using the latest version without ever having had to pay anything (I don’t even see a price, just an ‘open’ button - and had to open the link from my iPhone to see the price). 
I guess this is a consequence of how the App Store works …
My apologies.
I figured this was the case.
So make the choice be
If you had just ONE piece of software to recommend - which one would it be?
Possibly BBEdit since its my goto Swiss army knife for most anything “text and text like”
Its open nearly all day every day and in use constantly
I use BBEdit in free mode… that is enough for me.
-Karen
my go to Editor is ULTRAEDIT (by IDM software)… it is not free… Although I got a lifetime license for being a responding beta tester when they made the macOS version
Python
I use C++. It’s used by all operating systems and batteries-are-included.
No baling wire, duct tape and gum ?
Pfft how useful can that be 
The editor I seem to to go for everything non-programming related is JOE (Joe’s Own Editor). Its terminal based but when I need to look at or edit a file I always seem to be in the terminal anyway. Its almost always one of the first software packages I install on a new machine.
Firefox, because the alternatives are spyware.
I cannot live without FinderMinder. It positions new Finder windows into the exact location and size that I want them every time. And it’s totally free 
Given that criteria, and the fact this is for Mac computers (which appears to be the focus), then I nominate Path Finder.
Or better, stretch the “ONE” meaning to one purchase, and get Setapp (though it is a monthly/annual subscription). Then you get Path Finder, Bartender, iStat Menus and many, many more great apps for one reasonable price.
Interestingly, the only “free” applications in my dock are seven I wrote myself to resolve needs I had/have. Oh, wait, Plugins Pro was free, wasn’t it? The only other free app I occasionally use, that isn’t in my dock for that reason, is Handbrake.
I dont think Markus MEANT it to be macOS specific
Nominate something on Windows if you care to
Doesn’t have to be Mac, you can recommend one app for each OS …
BUT
… it should be an APP, not a language (developers 
I guess)