Review

Honest reviews of the apps and services we use or considered. Pricing, strengths, limits, and who each tool actually fits.

Notesnook review: end-to-end encrypted notes, tested properly

Notesnook encrypts everything before it leaves your device, which is rarer than the marketing on other apps suggests. The tradeoffs show up in search and sharing.

Sentry review: worth it for a one-person product?

Error tracking feels like a team tool until the first bug a user never reported. Sentry catches those, and its quota model is the part to understand before you install it.

Claude Code review: what it is good at and where it wastes your time

I have shipped real features with Claude Code and watched it flail on others. Here is the honest split, including the tasks where I stopped delegating entirely.

Neon review: serverless Postgres with branching, and what it costs

Neon puts Git-style branching on Postgres, which is genuinely useful for preview deploys. The interesting question is what happens to your bill and your latency once real traffic arrives.

PostHog review: analytics, session replay, and the free tier reality

PostHog bundles analytics, replay, and feature flags into one tool with a generous free tier. The thing to understand early is which of those products quietly eats your allowance.

Standard Notes review: private and minimalist, and what to use when you need more

Standard Notes earns its reputation for privacy and longevity. It also makes deliberate choices that keep it small. This is an honest map for someone deciding whether that trade is right for them.

OpenAI API review: what it costs and what it delivers

The OpenAI API powers most AI features in modern apps. Here is an honest review of what it costs, what it delivers, and where to look instead.

Cursor review: an AI editor that does not get in the way

Cursor is the AI editor everyone is talking about. Here is an honest review of what it speeds up, what it breaks, and whether it is worth the switch.

Vercel AI SDK review: adding AI without the boilerplate

The Vercel AI SDK promises to make AI integration easy. Here is an honest review of what it delivers and where it falls short.

Stripe review for SaaS founders: what you actually pay for

Stripe looks simple until you scale. Here is an honest review of what Stripe costs, what it does well, and where the bill surprises you.

shadcn/ui review: copy-paste components that actually hold up

shadcn/ui is not a component library. It is a different way to build UI. Here is an honest review of whether it actually works.

Tailwind CSS review: utility-first, honestly evaluated

Tailwind CSS is everywhere, but it is not perfect. Here is an honest review of where it helps, where it hurts, and when to skip it.

Vite review: why I moved every project to it

Vite changed how I build frontend projects. Here is an honest review of its speed, developer experience, and where it fits.

GitHub review: still the default, still worth it?

GitHub remains the center of most developer workflows. Here is an honest review of what it does well, what costs more now, and where it falls short.

Resend review: email for developers who have tried everything else

Resend is the developer-friendly email platform. Here is an honest review of its API, deliverability, and whether it lives up to the hype.

Cloudflare Pages review: fast, cheap, and under the radar

Cloudflare Pages is the quiet contender in frontend hosting. Here is an honest review of its speed, limits, and where it fits.

Vercel review: great for Next.js, but not the only choice

Vercel is the default for frontend deployment. Here is an honest review of what it does well, where it costs more than expected, and when to host elsewhere.

What happened to Evernote after Bending Spoons bought it

Evernote did not disappear. It got acquired, stripped down, repriced, and loaded with AI features many users never asked for. Here is what changed and what to do next.

Supabase review: the open-source Firebase, honestly assessed

Supabase gives you PostgreSQL with modern developer tooling. Here is an honest review of what it does well and where it asks more of you.

Convex review: a backend that stays out of your way

I have run Flow on Convex for months. Here is an honest review of what works, what costs more than expected, and who should choose it.

Cloudinary Review: Pros, Costs, and When It Makes Sense to Use

Cloudinary is popular for developers who need reliable media hosting and automatic optimizations. This review covers what it does well, where the credit system bites, and a lower-friction path for some projects.

Wispr Flow review: I was skeptical of the hype

I expected Wispr Flow to be another overhyped AI tool. Then it solved a small but persistent problem in how I capture ideas.

The best OneNote alternative for Linux

OneNote on Linux means the web app and not much else. Here are the alternatives that actually treat Linux as a first-class citizen.

A Logseq alternative for people who want simple notes, not an outliner

Logseq is excellent if you think in outlines and links. If that model never clicked for you, here are the alternatives worth trying.

Alternatives to Google Keep that you actually own

Google Keep is great until you outgrow it or get uneasy about everything living in Google. Here is what to move to, and what it means to own your notes.

ClickUp for note-taking: is it enough, and what to use instead

ClickUp can take notes, but notes are a side feature of a heavy project tool. Here is when it is enough and when it is not.

The best note-taking app for Mac and iPhone (an honest take)

Looking for the best note app across Mac and iPhone? Here is an honest take, including why native is not automatically the right answer.

Anytype review (and a simpler alternative)

An honest Anytype review covering what it does well, where it gets heavy, its pricing, and a simpler alternative if the power feels like complexity.