Tools

Beehiiv

Send newsletters, grow subscribers with referral and recommendation tools, and monetize with ads or paid tiers. Best for founders building an audience as a marketing channel. Free up to 2,500 subscribers, then paid from $49 a month.

ElevenLabs

Turns text into natural-sounding speech and can clone a voice from a short sample. Best for voiceovers on demo videos, product walkthroughs, and audio content without hiring a narrator. Free tier to test, paid from $5 a month.

Framer

A visual builder where you design a site and publish it live on a fast host, with animations and a CMS built in. Best for founders who want a polished marketing site or landing page without touching code or hiring a developer. Free to start; paid plans add custom domains and more pages.

Supabase

A ready-made backend giving your app a Postgres database, user login, file storage, and APIs without building them from scratch. Best for founders and AI coding tools that need a real database behind an app. Free tier to start, Pro at $25 a month per project.

Webflow

Design and launch a professional website visually, with a built-in content system for blogs and dynamic pages. Best for marketing sites you want full control over without hand-coding. Free to build; paid plans from $15 a month to publish on your domain.

Ahrefs

Research what people search for, see who links to competitors, and track your rankings. Best once you have a site and want organic traffic to grow it without paying for every click. Free Webmaster Tools for your own site; paid plans from $29 a month.

Aider

Aider is a free, open-source CLI that edits your local code with the model of your choice and commits each change to git so every step is reviewable. It shines at focused edits and large-codebase refactors, and it works with Claude, GPT, or local models. The tradeoff is that it is terminal-first with no editor UI, and since it is bring-your-own-key you pay the LLM provider directly, usually cents per small task.

Amp

Amp is Sourcegraph's agentic coding tool that works inside popular editors and as a CLI, and it is where the company now sends individual developers after retiring consumer Cody. It has a free tier plus no-markup pay-as-you-go for individuals, so casual use can cost nothing. The tradeoff is that the free tier is ad-supported and requires sharing data in training mode, and it is barred from enterprise workspaces and automated pipelines.

Anthropic Console

The Anthropic Console (creators of Claude) provides a prompt generator which follows prompt engineering best practices as well as a platform to refine existing prompts.

Awwwards

A gallery of the best-designed websites on the internet, judged and awarded daily. Best for pulling visual direction and animation ideas before you brief a designer or build a site yourself. Free to browse; Pro unlocks filtered collections and case studies.

Base44

Base44 turns a description into a working app with a database, user auth, and hosting handled for you, so non-technical builders can ship internal tools and simple products fast. Wix acquired it in 2025, which adds backing and distribution. The tradeoff is a credit-based model where heavier apps push you up the tiers, and the all-in-one approach gives you less control than writing and hosting the code yourself.

Bolt.new

Bolt.new, from StackBlitz, prompts a full-stack app into an in-browser environment where you can edit, run, and deploy it. It is good for quickly turning an idea into a working front end plus backend without local tooling. The tradeoff is a token-consumption model where costs scale with project size, so a large or heavily-iterated app can chew through the monthly token allowance faster than you expect.

Canva

Fast way to make social posts, ads, pitch decks, logos, and simple graphics from templates. Best for founders who need marketing visuals quickly without learning real design software. The free plan is generous; Pro adds brand kits, background removal, and more assets.

Claude Code

Claude Code is a command-line agent from Anthropic that lives in your terminal, reads your whole repo, edits files, runs tests, and commits. It is best for real multi-file work and refactors where you want the model to plan and execute, not just autocomplete. The tradeoff is that it runs in the terminal rather than a full editor UI, so it suits people comfortable with a CLI more than point-and-click builders.

Cline

Cline is an Apache-2.0 agent that scaffolds features across files, runs your test suite, reads errors, and iterates until things pass, all inside VS Code. Because it is open source and bring-your-own-key, you see exactly what it does and pay only the LLM provider for tokens, usually a few cents per task. The tradeoff is you manage your own API keys and costs, which can add up on large tasks, though a pay-as-you-go Cline provider now exists if you would rather skip key setup.

Cody

Cody is Sourcegraph's AI coding assistant that uses its code-search graph to pull accurate context from large, sprawling codebases. It is strongest for big engineering orgs that already value code search and want AI grounded in the whole repo. The tradeoff is that Sourcegraph retired the free and individual plans in 2025, so Cody is now enterprise-only at around $59 a user per month, and solo developers are pointed to its newer Amp tool instead.

Continue

Continue is an open-source extension for VS Code and JetBrains that lets you wire up any model, local or hosted, and build custom assistants and rules around your own workflow. It is best if you want an autocomplete-plus-chat setup you control, without vendor lock-in. The tradeoff is that the flexibility means more setup than a turnkey tool, and you pay separately for whatever LLM API you point it at.

Cursor

Cursor is a fork of VS Code with an AI agent and autocomplete baked in. Best for developers who want AI help while staying in control of the codebase. Free tier, Pro from $20/mo.

Devin

Devin, from Cognition, is a cloud agent you assign tickets to, and it plans, writes, tests, and opens pull requests on its own while you review. Since Devin 2.0 the entry price dropped to $20 a month plus pay-as-you-go compute, making it far more accessible than the old $500 tier. The tradeoff is that fully autonomous runs still need careful review, compute units add up on bigger jobs, and it works best on well-scoped tasks rather than open-ended exploration.

Figma

The standard tool teams use to design app screens, websites, and prototypes together in real time. Best if you want to lay out how a product looks before anyone builds it, or hand a clean design to a developer. The free tier covers most solo founders.

GitHub Copilot

GitHub Copilot gives you inline code completions plus a chat and agent mode across most major editors, with a free tier that covers casual use. It is the safest default if you already work in VS Code or JetBrains and want autocomplete plus light agent help without leaving your setup. The tradeoff is that its agent is less aggressive than dedicated tools like Cline or Claude Code, and in 2026 it moved to usage-based billing with monthly AI credits, so heavy use can cost more than the sticker price.

Google AI Studio

Google AI Studio is a free web app for testing prompts against Gemini models, tuning settings, and exporting the code plus API key to use them in your own project. It is the fastest way to try Gemini and build a quick prototype before committing to a build. The tradeoff is that it is a prototyping surface, not a coding agent or editor, and moving to production means paying standard Gemini API rates for usage.

Google Antigravity

Google Antigravity is an agent-first development platform with an editor view and a manager surface where you spawn and watch multiple agents work across a codebase, powered by Gemini plus Claude and other models. It is free in public preview with a personal Google account, which makes it easy to try the multi-agent workflow. The tradeoff is that it is new and still in preview, so expect rough edges and shifting features, and the pricing once it leaves preview is not yet known.

Ideogram

An image generator that is unusually good at putting legible text into images, which most models get wrong. Best for logos, posters, ad creative, and mockups that need real words in them. Free tier to try, paid from $8 a month.

Kilo Code

Kilo Code is an open-source agent that works in VS Code, JetBrains, and the terminal, with access to 500-plus models and per-model cost visibility. Pricing is transparent: individual use is free, and you pay providers at their exact rate with no Kilo markup, or bring your own keys. The tradeoff is that, like other bring-your-own-model agents, you manage model choice and token spend yourself, which is more setup than a single fixed subscription.

Land-book

A large, filterable collection of landing pages across industries and styles. Best when you're building a landing page and want proven layouts for hero sections, pricing, and social proof. Free to browse; cheap Pro tier adds better filtering.

Looka

Answer a few questions and Looka generates logo options plus matching colors, fonts, and social assets. Best for founders who need a decent logo and brand starter kit quickly and cheaply. Pay only when you download.

Lovable

Lovable is a prompt-to-app builder aimed at non-engineers who want a real, live web app fast, with a free tier of a few credits a day. It is best for founders validating an idea or shipping a first version without touching code. The tradeoff is the credit-based pricing, where complex features burn credits quickly, and the generated app can get harder to steer as it grows, so many builders eventually export the code and continue elsewhere.

Lucide

A large library of clean SVG icons with ready-made packages for React, Vue, and Svelte. Best as the default icon set for any web project, and it is what many AI-generated apps already use. Completely free.

MCP.so

This is a hub where MCP servers are uploaded. You can search and filter to make it easier to find one you are looking for.

Midjourney

Generates striking, high-aesthetic images from text prompts. Best for concept art, moodboards, and marketing visuals where look matters more than precise control. No free tier; plans start at $10 a month.

Mobbin

Thousands of real screens from shipping apps, organized by flow (onboarding, checkout, settings). Best for seeing how good products actually solve a UI problem instead of guessing. Free with limits; Pro removes them.

Plausible

A simple, cookie-free alternative to Google Analytics that shows your traffic in one clean dashboard. Best if you want quick visitor numbers and sources without the complexity or privacy baggage. No free tier, from $9 a month after a trial.

PostHog

See how people actually use your product with event tracking, session recordings, funnels, and A/B tests. Best for founders who want to understand user behavior and improve conversion, not just count pageviews. Generous free tier, then usage-based.

Relume

Describe your business and Relume drafts a full sitemap and wireframe you can export to Figma or Webflow. Best for skipping the blank-page stage of a marketing site and getting a sensible structure fast. Pairs naturally with Webflow.

Replit

Replit runs a full development environment in your browser and pairs it with an Agent that can build, run, and deploy apps end to end. It is a strong pick if you want one place to prompt, edit, host, and share without local setup. The tradeoff is effort-based pricing on top of the base plan, and many active builders report spending well beyond the subscription once agent usage and credits kick in.

Resend

Sends your app's emails (receipts, password resets, welcome messages) reliably with a simple developer setup. Best when your product needs to send email and you want good deliverability without wrestling with old email services. Free for 3,000 emails a month.

Runway

Generates and edits short video clips from text or images, plus tools like background removal. Best for product teasers, social clips, and quick motion without a video editor. Free tier to try, paid from $12 a month.

Saas landing page

Shots

Drop in a screenshot and get a clean mockup on a phone, laptop, or browser frame with nice backgrounds. Best for landing page hero images, app store shots, and social posts that need to look finished. The free tier exports without a watermark.

Stripe

The default way to accept card payments, run subscriptions, and send invoices online. Best for any product that needs to charge customers, with no monthly fee and strong developer support. You pay per transaction.

Tabnine

Tabnine is an AI code assistant built around control and privacy, with options to self-host, keep your code out of model training, and run across most editors. It is aimed at teams and enterprises with compliance requirements more than solo hobbyists. The tradeoff is that it now leads with paid team and agentic plans starting around $39 a user per month, so it is pricier and less consumer-friendly than free-tier rivals.

Tailwind Plus

Hundreds of production-ready UI components and full page templates from the makers of Tailwind CSS (formerly Tailwind UI). Best for shipping a good-looking site or app fast without designing every section yourself. A one-time purchase, no subscription.

Trae

Trae is an AI-first editor from ByteDance that bundles chat, an agent, and premium models like Claude and GPT into a familiar VS Code-style interface, with a genuinely usable free tier. It is a low-cost way to get a Cursor-style experience, with paid plans starting around $10 a month. The tradeoff is ByteDance ownership, which raises data and privacy questions for some teams, and heavier AI use is still metered by usage on the paid tiers.

Unsplash

A huge library of professional photos you can use for free in websites, decks, and marketing. Best for backgrounds, hero images, and blog visuals when you don't have your own photography. The free tier covers nearly everything.

V0

It is a 'full stack Ai web developer' which excels in UI design.

Warp

Warp is a rebuilt terminal that adds AI agents which can run commands, fix errors, and edit files, while all core terminal features stay free. It suits developers who live in the command line and want agent help without switching to an IDE. The tradeoff is that the AI features run on a monthly credit allowance, so sustained agent work needs a paid plan, and the terminal reimagining takes some habit changes to get used to.

Windsurf

Windsurf is a standalone editor built on VS Code, with an agent called Cascade that edits across files and runs tasks while you keep working. Unlimited tab autocomplete on every plan, including free, makes it an easy trial for anyone wanting a Cursor-style experience. The tradeoff is that its March 2026 switch from credits to daily and weekly quotas can throttle heavy agent sessions, and the company has been through ownership turmoil that unsettled some users.

Zapier

Link tools together so actions happen automatically, like adding new signups to a spreadsheet or sending a Slack alert on a sale. Best for removing repetitive manual work without writing code. Free for basic automations, paid from about $20 a month.

Zed

Zed is a Rust-based editor built for speed, fully open source, with AI features and edit prediction baked in and the ability to plug in external agents like Claude Code. The free tier includes the whole editor plus unlimited use with your own API keys. The tradeoff is a smaller extension ecosystem than VS Code, so if you depend on niche plugins you may find gaps, though its raw speed and native feel win a lot of people over.

shadcn/ui

A collection of well-built, accessible React and Tailwind components you copy into your own project rather than install as a dependency. Best if you (or your AI coding tool) are building in React and want a clean, customizable design system for free. It is the default component set most AI builders reach for.