The blog.
Deep dives, comparisons, and roundups on the AI tools worth paying for. Only what we'd actually buy — no SEO sludge, no influencer demos.
Replit alternatives: 8 picks, and what a real build cost
Eight Replit alternatives ranked by job. I ran one identical prompt on three: Bolt built it for $0.25, Lovable $0.30, Replit would not say what it cost.
Replit pricing: what $20 of credits actually buys
Replit cut Core to $20 in February and most guides still say $25. A credit is exactly one dollar, and here is what a real measured build cost.
Lovable pricing: what a credit actually costs
Lovable pricing decoded: one credit costs 25 cents, a measured real build cost thirty cents, and Business charges double per credit for the same 100 a month.
Replit review: I gave it the same brief I gave Lovable
Replit review from a measured build. The same six-requirement prompt I gave Lovable, scored the same way, plus the checkpoint maths that decides your bill.
Bolt.new review: the best build, the worst reviews
Bolt.new review from a measured build: the same six-requirement prompt I gave Lovable and Replit, 100,000 tokens, and the 1.4-star gap nobody explains.
Lovable review: six requirements, six passes, 109 seconds
Lovable review from a real build. One prompt, six requirements, a working app in 109 seconds — and an honest look at what it got right and where it stops.
Cursor alternatives: I left after $510.70, here's where I went
Cursor alternatives from someone who actually cancelled. Real invoices, what each option does about the metered bill, and which ones I've tested.
Claude Code alternatives: 7 tools, and what switching costs
Claude Code alternatives ranked by what they actually cost. Real invoices, the vendors' own $150-250 figures, and which ones I've tested versus only read about.
Cursor vs Codex: I paid for one and quit the other
Cursor vs Codex from someone who cancelled Cursor after $510.70 and walked away from Codex too. What each actually costs, and which one I'd go back to.
Claude Code vs Cursor: I paid for both for a year
Claude Code vs Cursor, decided on invoices rather than vibes. They have converged on capability. Three axes still separate them, and only one decided it for me.
Cursor review: I paid for 11 months, then cancelled
Cursor review from someone who actually paid: $510.70 across 11 months, a third of it metered usage. What it does well, and what I got wrong about the bill.
Claude Code pricing: what it costs and what it really costs
Claude Code pricing is $20, $100 or $200 a month. Anthropic's own docs put enterprise usage at $150–250 per developer per month. Here's why the gap matters.