tools i use daily that are 1000% worth it

claude code (max plan $100/month but worth every dollar)

whisper (free open source transcription)

remotion (free open source video creation in react)

blotato ($29/month social media scheduler 250+ posts/week)

playwright (free browser automation and testing)

n8n (free self-hosted workflow automation)

airtable (free tier covers most needs)

you don't need a $10,000/month software stack to build a business