How this site works

How a tool gets on the site

For each category we build a long candidate list from developer forums, comparison articles, open-source registries and search, including smaller and regional providers. We keep the ones that are operating now, publish pricing or documentation, and have users. Resellers, abandoned projects and anything that looks like a scam are left out.

Where the numbers come from

Prices, limits and free-tier details come from the vendor's own website, usually its pricing page, and are shown with a link to that page. Some vendors show prices only after a page runs scripts or behind a sign-in; for those we used a dated secondary source, and the tool's page names it. We do not estimate prices. They are shown as published, in the vendor's currency and excluding tax.

What happens at the limit

For each free tier we record what the vendor says happens when you pass a limit: it stops, it slows down, it pauses your project, or it bills the card on file. We also note catches such as apps that sleep when idle, free databases that expire, and plans that forbid commercial use. Where a vendor does not say, the site shows "Not stated" instead of a guess.

The first version of the data was gathered by AI research agents working to a written brief, reading vendor pages, and every record is checked against a schema before the site builds. We are now checking it by hand, starting with prices and with the records that relied on a secondary source. Until that is done, treat any single number as something to confirm on the vendor's page before you commit money; the link is always there. Tools without enough checked detail for a full profile page have a row in the tables until we have it.

Independence

• Tables are A to Z. Nothing else sets the order.
• Stack recommendations are editorial and grouped by kind of project. Each stack names one tool per job for a kind of project, with the $0 route beside it. They come from the data and change when the data does.
• No position is for sale. Some links are affiliate links (tools with one are shown first in the homepage Spotlight) and the site may show ads; neither affects a table, a pick or a comparison. If we ever sell a sponsored placement, it will sit in a separate box labelled "Sponsored". Details: how we make money.

Stages

Each tool is also tagged with the stages it suits:

• Hobby ($0–10/mo): Side projects, learning and weekend builds. Free where the free tier is good, a few dollars a month where it is not, and nothing that can send you a surprise bill.
• Indie (up to ~$50/mo): You work alone and have real users, or charge money. Cheap, little upkeep, and fine for paying customers.
• Startup (up to ~$500/mo): A few people with a product in production. Team seats, backups, and room to grow without moving everything.
• Scale-up (usage-driven): Traffic and the team are growing. Support you can reach, uptime guarantees, and prices that hold up at volume.
• Enterprise (contracts): Large companies: compliance reports, company sign-in (SSO), audit logs and contracts. Listed for completeness.

Keeping it current

Prices and free tiers change often. We re-check records against vendor pages and log the changes we find, with sources, on the change log. If you spot something out of date, tell us. We check each correction against the vendor's page before changing anything.