I need to…

An assistant that lives in the editor, not another chat tab

Coding agents and chat. Pick by whether you want inline diffs or a careful review.

Start with Cursor

Get a transcript of a meeting, interview, or voice note

Live meeting notes, a file you already recorded, or a model you run yourself.

Start with Otter

Generate a picture from a text prompt

Pick by what the image is for: a polished look, readable words, or full control at no cost.

Start with Midjourney

Get an answer I can check, not just a confident paragraph

Use tools that show where the answer came from, then read the source.

Start with Perplexity

Cut a person or product out of a photo

One-click cutout if the subject is clean. Open an editor if the edges need work.

Start with remove.bg

Retouch or composite without installing anything

Browser editors that cover 90% of Photoshop jobs. No Creative Cloud.

Start with Photopea

Make a PNG or JPEG small enough to email or ship on the web

Compress in the browser. No upload farm unless you want batch defaults.

Start with Squoosh

Cut a clip for TikTok, Reels, or YouTube without buying software

Short-form clips want captions and a fast export. Longer edits want a real timeline.

Start with CapCut

Make a logo, poster, or social graphic without being a designer

Template tools get you to something presentable quickly. Pick by what you are making.

Start with Canva

Make a small or low-quality picture bigger and cleaner

AI upscalers add detail to a small image. They cannot rescue one that is badly out of focus.

Start with Upscayl

Merge, split, or compress a PDF without a desktop suite

Browser PDF jobs. Merge a pack, shrink a scan, get it sent.

Start with iLovePDF

Get a large file to someone without a shared drive dance

A link, an expiry, done. No account required for a one-off.

Start with WeTransfer

A second brain that will still open in five years

Files on disk versus a hosted workspace. Pick your lock-in on purpose.

Start with Obsidian

A flowchart or whiteboard without another SaaS login

Boxes and arrows. Save a file. Leave.

Start with diagrams.net

Record a walkthrough, a bug, or a lesson from my screen

A quick shareable link is one job. A long recording you edit afterwards is another.

Start with Loom

See who is doing what, and by when

Boards for simple work, timelines for projects with dates, an issue tracker for software teams.

Start with Trello

Collect sign-ups, answers, or orders from people

Pick by what happens after someone presses submit.

Start with Typeform

Stop the back-and-forth emails about when to meet

Share a link, people pick a slot, and it lands in your calendar.

Start with Calendly

Make two apps talk to each other so I stop copying and pasting

No-code automation: when something happens in one app, do something in another.

Start with Zapier

Stop reusing one password everywhere

A password manager makes a different strong password for every site and remembers them for you.

Start with Bitwarden

Catch grammar mistakes or translate something properly

A checker for English, a checker for other languages, and a translator for everything else.

Start with Grammarly

Change a file into a format something else will accept

Most conversions are one upload. PDFs and images have their own specialist tools.

Start with CloudConvert

Record and edit audio that sounds decent

Free tools cover recording and cutting. Text-based editing saves time on talk shows.

Start with Audacity

See the picks→Fitness & Habits

Build slides quickly that do not look homemade

Start from a prompt or a template, then fix the words yourself.

Start with Gamma

See which exercise hits the muscle I am pointing at

Form first. A visual map beats a random YouTube short.

Start with MuscleWiki

See the picks→Fitness & Habits

Stick to something daily: exercise, reading, or less phone

Pick the one whose nudge works on you. A game, a streak, or a plain to-do list.

Start with Habitica

See the picks→Fitness & Habits

Log meals and stay inside a calorie target

All three log food. They differ in database size and how deep the nutrition detail goes.

Start with MyFitnessPal

Give every pound a job, or at least see where it went

Envelope budgeting versus a bank app that already has the transactions.

Start with YNAB

Bill a client and get paid without accounting software I have to learn

Free invoicing covers most freelancers. Add a payment processor when clients want to pay by card.

Start with Wave

Move money to another country without a bad exchange rate

Banks hide the cost in the rate. These show the fee before you send.

Start with Wise

See the picks→Health & Wellness

Work out who owes what after a trip or in a shared house

Track the shared costs in one place, then settle up with a single transfer each.

Start with Splitwise

See the picks→Travel

See wind, rain, or flights as they actually move

Maps that update, not a three-word forecast.

Start with Windy

See the picks→Travel

Get the lowest fare for a trip I have in mind

Search wide first, then set an alert and wait if your dates are flexible.

Start with Google Flights

See the picks→Travel

Keep the itinerary, bookings, and route for a holiday in one place

One tool to plan what you will do, one to hold the confirmations, one to work out how to get there.

Start with Wanderlog

Wind down at night or get through a stressful day

Guided audio for meditation and sleep. Two are subscriptions; one is largely free.

Start with Insight Timer

A real calculation, not ten blue search links

Math, units, graphs. Use a computer, not a chatbot guess.

Start with Wolfram Alpha

Start a new language and actually keep going

An app builds the daily habit. A tutor gets you speaking. Flashcards make the words stay.

Start with Duolingo

Learn programming from zero without paying for a bootcamp

All three are free to start. They differ in how much they hold your hand.

Start with freeCodeCamp

See the picks→Social Media Management

Memorise a lot of material before a test

Flashcards with spaced repetition beat re-reading. Add a video when a topic will not click.

Start with Anki

Queue up posts for the week instead of posting by hand

Solo creators want simple and cheap. Teams want approvals and reporting.

Start with Buffer

See the picks→E-commerce

Know if this Amazon price is a dip or a joke

History before you click Buy Now.

Start with camelcamelcamel

See the picks→E-commerce

Put a site online without writing code

A one-page link, a template site, or a design tool with a CMS. They are different sizes of job.

Start with Carrd

See the picks→E-commerce

Take payment for a product, a download, or something I made

What you sell decides the tool: a full shop, a single download, or a handmade item on a marketplace.

Start with Shopify

See the picks→Food & Recipes

Turn leftovers and a calorie target into dinner

Skip the life-story recipe blogs. Use what you already bought.

Start with MyFridgeFood

Know if it is you, or everyone

One check before you reboot the router or file a ticket.

Start with Down For Everyone Or Just Me

See if an email sat in a leaked database

Look up the address. Change the password if it hits.

Start with Have I Been Pwned

Which streamer actually has this film tonight

Stop hopping apps. One search, one answer.

Start with JustWatch