Tools I Use.
Production-use reviews of the dev and SaaS tools I run daily. No vendor PR. No "10x productivity" promises. Just what works, what doesn't, and what to pick when you're trying to ship without burning a weekend reading docs.
Some links on this site are affiliate links. I only link tools I actively use in production (and pay for). If I write that I picked tool A over tool B, it's because I picked it — not because the affiliate rate is higher. Vendor PR is what I'm trying to escape, not become.
-
Cloudflare vs Vercel for a SaaS in 2026 — which one I actually pickedAfter running production workloads on both, the cost + DX difference is bigger than the marketing pages suggest. Here's the decision matrix I'd actually use.
-
Resend vs Postmark vs SendGrid — three production accounts laterAll three deliver email. The differences matter at scale and during incidents. What I'd pick for a new project starting today.
-
Cursor vs Claude Code vs Aider — which AI coding tool actually saves timeI pay for all three. They're not substitutes. Here's the decision tree for when to reach for which.
-
Astro vs Next.js vs SvelteKit for content sites in 2026If your site is mostly content (blog, marketing, docs), which framework is actually worth the build overhead? I've shipped all three in production.
-
Supabase vs Neon vs PlanetScale for SaaS Postgres in 2026Three managed Postgres providers. Different positioning. Different pricing traps. What I run in production and what I'd pick for a new project.
-
Stripe vs Lemon Squeezy vs Paddle for indie SaaS billing in 2026Stripe is the obvious pick — until you realize what Merchant of Record providers actually do for you. The tax question most comparisons skip.