> Developers are somewhat reluctant to pay for tools but I think you can get them to pay for things that are worth it. I've been paying for code editors for years.

Especially when you don't market to developers in general, but freelancers/contractors specifically. It might be hard to sell to salaried developers (they'll buy because it's nicer to work with good tools), but it's easy to sell tooling to anyone who makes more money when they get more done.