Great apps, tools, software... What do you use?

[MattL]

Inspired by @Andy Black mentioning Descript.com in some other thread and it looking like a fantastic solution...

I thought we'd put all these recommendations and suggestions into one thread?

Easier to find and share.

Here are some I've heard good things about/used myself:

• Descript.com
  
  Others who have used can describe it better, but from the looks of it, it makes editing videos and podcasts easier.
  
  
• Streak
  
  Apparently it's a fully-fledged CRM that's built into Gmail. I've only used it for tracking email opens.
  
  
• ClickUp (for project management)
  
  Back when I was searching for project management apps most were difficult to use, clunky, or simply lacking some key features. ClickUp was the one that stood out to me.
  
  
• MailerLite (Email Service Provider)
  
  Why not the more popular ones? Well, I remember @Lex DeVille cursing MailCheat(Chimp) at some point, ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign were incredibly slow for me (writing, editing flows, etc.) and I didn't need anything special. This one has worked flawlessly for me so far.
  
  
• Canva (for simple infographics, visual content)
  
  No need to pay ridiculous fees to Adobe when you're only using 5% of its features. Canva's free plan is good enough for most things. I was subscribed to the paid plan for a while but noticed I didn't really need it.
  
  
• WordPress (Content Management System)
  
  I know there are a number of alternatives out there nowadays, but most businesses still use WP. It works well enough for me and I see no reason to switch to an alternative.
  
  
• Carrd.co (Simple one-pager websites)
  
  Haven't used myself because everything is already set up. It does look quite simple, however.
  
  
• frontpagemetrics.com
  
  I use this to figure out when a specific subreddit has the most active users. Important information for promoting on the site.
  
  
• Crisp (Freemium chatbot)
  
  The chatbot space seems to be completely saturated and the competition looks quite cutthroat. Crisp looks like the best of the freemium alternatives.

Feels like I'm forgetting something... I'll try to update this at a later time.

Anyhow, post yours!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Andy Black]

• Loom
  
  Record little videos on your screen or phone and send to people. Get notified when they’re watched.
  
  
• Calendly
  
  Stop the email ping-pong trying to schedule a call. This has saved soooo much time.
  
  
• Zoom
  
  We probably all know this one by now. I pay for it so group chats don't get cut off at 40 mins.
  
  
• Snagit
  
  Grab and annotate screenshots.
  
  
• Telegram
  
  Great for sending messages, including voice and video. Can create a broadcast channel people can subscribe to.
  
  
• Google Sheets
  
  I've not used Excel in a couple of weeks. I may soon switch to Google Sheets going forward.
  
  
• Otter.ai
  
  Create a voice message that's transcribed as you speak. Send a link to the message.
  
  
• Socialblade
  
  Great tool for viewing Twitter growth (and other social media platforms).

 

[MJ DeMarco]

For me, Canva has a been a godsend.

 

[ProcessPro]

Roam Research
A note-taking tool for networked thought.

Lastpass
To remember all my password and auto-fill on any site.

Cold Turkey
To set up blocks on my computer to keep me productive.

Tomighty
A little Pomodoro app that helps me alternate between work and breaks.

Fences
An application that allows me to group off icons on my desktop.

Groupy
An app that allows me to group different apps into one window, the result of which looks like a browser window with tabs...it's just that each tab is an app, or folder, etc.

Powertoys
Snap windows to pre-defined window sizes on my PC for the best layout.

NoiseGator
Applies a noise gate to my mic to cut out background noise when I'm not speaking.

 

[Xavier X]

Looking for something that would resemble Prager U videos.

You said you like Canva earlier, so if that kind of interface is what you like, then I think Animaker is a good option. It's intuitive like Canva, and very similar overall, but for animation. You can customize the characters, and it's web based too.

Unlike Canva though, the free version has a watermark. Paid version starts at $10/month.
Threw this together real quick on the free version. This is just a gif version of the video, for easier posting here.
Obviously, you can add music, voice overs and all that good stuff.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Devampre]

Photopea - Online Photo Editor

For fans of Canva that wish it had more features to make it on par with something like Photoshop

 

[mdot]

From an electronics/hardware prototyping perspective:

KiCAD
KiCad EDA
Open source and very capable EDA software for laying out electronic schematics and designing circuit boards. Large amount of community support and tutorials.

Falstad Circuit Simulator
Circuit Simulator Applet
Easy and intuitive electronic circuit simulator. Great for visualizing how circuits work and performing first-order testing on designs.

Fusion 360
Fusion 360 | 3D CAD, CAM, CAE & PCB Cloud-Based Software | Autodesk
Solid modelling program, great free/low cost alternative to SolidWorks. Used to design 3D models and drawings for 3D printing, machining, injection moulding etc and has simulation and rendering build in. It also has an integrated PCB designer called Eagle but I personally prefer KiCAD.

VSCode
Visual Studio Code - Code Editing. Redefined
Clean and powerful code editor, with hundreds of plugins, including...

Platform.io
PlatformIO is a professional collaborative platform for embedded development
Plug-in for VSCode among others that allows for easy development of code for tons of different microcontroller platforms and APIs.

Git
Version control system that tracks and backs up changes to code and allows multiple people to work on the same code at the same time. I bet most of software you use wouldn't exist if the developers didn't use version control.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Madame Peccato]

Joplin

Open source tool made to take notes. I use it for writing content too. Markdown is very simple to use, and you can synchronise it with the cloud to have your notes on every machine.

I use it on a windows pc + a linux laptop and it works flawlessly. It took some tinkering and help from @DMNinja to get it to sync properly. The Linux installation is a bit F*cky if you go with the typical "Windows" way, but if you install it via the shell script it works out of the box.

You can make notebooks and sub-notebooks. Very organized and simple.

Shoutout @Black_Dragon43 and @Speed112 for introducing me to the software. I love it so far! I've been using it for a little over a month. The only downside is that importing text on Google Docs / Word's docx requires minor editing, but it's such a small thing that I don't mind.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Brian Fleig]

Camtasia for editing videos, adding or subtracting audio and effects. Freakin love it after hating the video editing process with a passion on every other platform I tried.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Libby app ... gets you library ebooks for free, and without driving to the Library.

 

[Kid]

My recent discovery:

Sketchboard

Online Whiteboard for Software Diagramming - Sketchboard

Free collaborative whiteboarding solution to get things done on Sketchboard's infinite canvas. Improve your productivity by visualizing your work.

sketchboard.me

It's great to do decision trees, very fast and easy to use.
I was using Umlet earlier but Sketchboard 3x better.
It has generous free (unlimited in time) tier.

Edit:
Sketchpad

Sketchpad - Draw, Create, Share!

Sketchpad: Free online drawing application for all ages. Create digital artwork to share online and export to popular image formats JPEG, PNG, SVG, and PDF.

sketchpad.app

This app is also free and is good for any kind of
doodles or semi-hand drawings.
It allows to export to pictures without watermark
and syncs with Google Drive for saving your work.
(Just noted that coincidentally it's name starts with 'Sketch' too)

 

[BizyDad]

Crisp (Freemium chatbot)

The chatbot space seems to be completely saturated and the competition looks quite cutthroat. Crisp looks like the best of the freemium alternatives.

I would pay someone to teach me how to get Crisp to send Google analytics chat events. I've been testing this chat software for about a month now, and it's a little rough around the edges on some features. If you know how to code, probably not a big deal. But it's not exactly intuitive for the lay person.

I'll add to the list:

Callrail for call tracking and recording.

Google Assistant for notes and reminders.

Trello + Gmail for storing client tasks/emails.

Pocket for bookmarking. It will also read an article to you. Big timesaver.

Feed.ly as an rss reader

Also, for times when you wish an email alert was a text message instead, use your phone's native feature (sorry, I don't know if this works outside the US)

AT&T: phonenumber@txt.att.net
T-Mobile: phonenumber@tmomail.net
Sprint:
phonenumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com
Verizon: phonenumber@vtext.com

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Kid]

Cryptomator
Cryptomator - Free Cloud Encryption for Dropbox & Co
This neat free tool creates folder that works like normal folder but
when you "save" any file in it, it gets totally encrypted.
Point this folder to Dropbox and
you get synced, encrypted and backed up
files that are most important to you.
(No one,even Dropbox,can read them without a password).

I use it daily for data that can be retrieved
in case of dysk or whole computer failure
and setting up new device.

 

[S.Y.]

Todoist / Google Calendar are core for me

Evernote: where I archive notes

Obsidian: my thinking tool. The linking feature is gold. And pen/paper. Journaling has been amazing to me.

Notion: I turned it into a relationship (personal) management system.
(anyone suggestion for a tool dedicated for that?

Alfred for Mac. A very useful tool for navigating for navigating MacOs

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Xavier X]

As I'm in a perpetual state of travel, here are some travel-related tools I use. Many here travel for business and leisure, so they might be handy.


1. Finding flights: Skyscanner, Google Flights.
I like to use the calendar view on both, to see the dates with the best deals. In this pandemic world, Skyscanner has a nice tool that shows travel restrictions and requirements for all countries, on a nice interactive map tool.

2. Finding most efficient transit route: Rome2rio.
This does a decent job of giving me the transit combination options from point A to B. As well as the average cost of each option. So something like: Take a 2-hr train to A, then 1-hr bus to B, and a boat to C. Average total cost and time = $X.

3. Phone Calls: Text Now, Rynga.
Unlimited free calls and text to the US, Canada and Mexico, including 1-800 numbers. And you can choose your own number. You can receive unlimited calls too. It's easier for family and friends to reach you on a US number, as you travel. I've used this to make a ton of calls over the years, calling family, friends and customer care.

Rynga is decent too, but unlike TextNow, it's not completely free. You need to buy credit, but get access to free calls to US, Canada and many other countries, without using the credits. You only use it for non-free calls.

4. Accommodation: Airbnb
This might sound like a no-brainer, but I've met too many people staying in sub-par accommodation like hostels, for long periods. When they could find a much better option on airbnb, at the same cost (when 28+ day monthly discount is added). Only reason to stay in a hostel for long periods is social reasons.

5. Destination Research: Mapees (I own this one)
I have a thread in my signature, where I go into detail on this. However, if you've ever wondered what the different neighborhoods at your destination are like, then this is for you. It helps you choose your ideal area to stay, based on map doodles and input by other travelers who have been, or live there. I've lived in/been to 30 countries so far, and researching the different areas of a new city is always a pain. That's why I created this. It's not a "travel blog," or something. The content is provided by the users.

 

[pähkinäkauppias]

These I'm researching at the moment, not used yet:
- Odoo: open source ERP + CRM
- Mautic: open source marketing automation
- Calendso: open source Calendly alternative
- MojoAuth: free passwordless login provider
- Stacky: micro websites

These I have used and can recommend:
- Kdenlive: open source video editor
- OBS: open source broadcasting software
- Inkscape: open source vector graphics drawing software
- Krita: open source digital painting tool
- GIMP: open source image manipulation software
- Slack: communication
- Signal: secure communication
- Vivaldi: better browser with builtin adblock and vertical tabs
- Visual Studio Code: maybe the most used IDE today
- KeepassXC: cross-platform password manager
- Zim: desktop wiki
- Postman: API development and testing tool
- GitKraken: Git GUI
- DBeaver: free database tool
- Darktable: open source virtual lighttable and darkroom
- Geany: lightweight IDE
- GnuCash: open source accounting software
- Adobe Scan: actually working mobile document scanner

Web apps:
- Favicon Generator: create favicons for all platforms at once
- Splitwise: expense splitting
- Trello: simple todo/kanban
- Figma: design tool
- Seobility: SEO, I've only used the free version and don't have much experience in this area

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Nick Kadutskyi]

My stack:

1. ClickUp
   • Project and task management
   • CRM
   • Customer Feedback and communication
2. Loom
   • Quick videos for SOPs, F.A.Q.s etc
3. Zoom
   • For communication and recording calls
4. Calendly
   • Makes it much easier to set an appointment
5. Telegram, Slack
   • Communication
6. Fastmail, Postbox
   • Fastmail because I avoid Gmail
   • Postbox is a great desktop email client
7. Adobe Suite, Sketch
   • For prototyping, ux design, ui design and sometimes presentations
8. JetBrains PhpStorm, DataGrip and Intellij IDEA
   • I think these are the best tools for programming
9. Nova for Mac
   • This is supplemental tool for programming but it's only for Mac
10. Paw
    • API testing
11. MAMP
    • Local servers
12. Tresorit, Dropbox
    • Tresorit is very secure since it's zero-knowledge meaning no one can read your data without your password
      • I store everything there personal and business stuff.
    • Dropbox only for certain clients that won't get rid of it
13. n8n
    • It's great self-hosted tool for integrations. Replaces Zapier and Integromat.
    • I use it for connecting ClickUp with zoom, Asana and Google Sheets. I run it in Google Cloud and at this point it costs me just $3.5/month.
14. Obsidian
    • For knowledge organization
    • I use it according to Zettelkasten principles
15. Cold Turkey blocker
    • A great way to block any app or website on your computer. And it's really hard to delete the app so you won't be able to easily get access to what you blocked.
    • Supports scheduling and different kinds of blocks

 

[inputchip]

Does anyone have a good app to clip and bookmark various sources on the internet? From articles, to tweets, to anything I might stumble upon. The app should also have an easy way to "clip" information via Firefox browser.

Please do NOT recommend Evernote as its Firefox plugin is trash. Right now I'm using MS One Note but I really don't like the look or feel.

For creative projects check out Milanote - Milanote - the tool for organizing creative projects

Otherwise, you could look at using something like these:

• Pocket - Home | Pocket
• Raindrop - Raindrop.io — All in One Bookmark Manager
• Notion - https://www.notion.so/web-clipper

Personally, I drop things onto my bookmarks bar into folders never to be seen again.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Kak]

Want a great tool to find contact information for decision makers for large b2b dealings?

Sales automation & acceleration at scale | Snov.io

Need a CRM to upgrade your sales process? Close more deals with Snov.io sales tools. Snov.io - lead engagement tools for B2B companies, SDRs, and sales teams.

snov.io

It's also basically free if you make your outreach count. I don't use any of the CRM stuff, but I love the domain search.

I found 9 regional buyers across two companies that use what I sell, whom I am not currently connected in about 15 minutes.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Want a great tool to find contact information for decision makers for large b2b dealings?

Sales automation & acceleration at scale | Snov.io

Need a CRM to upgrade your sales process? Close more deals with Snov.io sales tools. Snov.io - lead engagement tools for B2B companies, SDRs, and sales teams.

snov.io

It's also basically free if you make your outreach count. I don't use any of the CRM stuff, but I love the domain search.

I found 9 regional buyers across two companies that use what I sell, whom I am not currently connected in about 15 minutes.

Perfect example of a productocracy, free advertising for them by virtue of a great product.

Moved to the APP thread so it can be found.

 

[Mahadewa]

Audio and Video​

• Audacity: Free Audio Editing and Recording. I used it to edit my Podcast. Alternatively I use GarageBand in Mac.
• VLC: Open-Source, Cross-Platform Multimedia Player
• Handbrake: Open-Source, Cross-Platform Vidow Converter

Productivity​

• Total Commander: Windows Explorer replacement
• Beyond Compare: Cross-Platform Data Comparison tool (e.g. compare 2 text file and find the differences visually).
• Grand Perspective: For Mac - Scan a Drive and display disk usage graphically.
• Treesize: For PC - the same as Grand Perspective.
• Agent Ransack: For PC - lightning fast file search!
• SnagIt: To me it’s the best screen capture software from the same people who brought us Camtasia, but it’s not Free. If anyone has other alternative, let me know.
• Microsoft OneNote: Cross-Devices note taking. I need a note taking app which can sync to the cloud, has desktop and mobile app so I can access my note everywhere without Internet access. I tried Evernote but didn’t like the way it organises the notes (and apparently the quality was not like it used to be since it was bought by other company). So at the end I chose OneNote. If you are already MS Office 365 user, this is a good choice.
• Google Suite: I am using extensively Google everything: Drive, Photos, Docs, Sheets, Keeps.
• Recently I discovered Notion, which slowly is becoming my go to ‘Second Brain’.

Software Development Tools​

I am a Software Engineer by trade and by profession, so I use Software Tools every day.

• Jetbrains IntelliJ, PyCharm: IDE to code Java, Scala, Python
• MS Visual Studio: The flagship Microsoft IDE. I use it to build Windows app using C# .NET. You can also build a cross platform mobile app using Xamarin. I used this before I discovered React Native recently.
• MS Visual Code: The little brother of Visual Studio, but by no means less powerful. I use it to build web and mobile app using React Native, NodeJS, etc.
• DBeaver: Free Cross-Platform Database Tool
• Notepad++: For PC- Source Code/Text Editor - and much more. It’s one of the first app I installed on a new PC.
• Sublime Text: In my Mac, I use Sublime as an alternative for Notepad++.
• Bluestack: Cross-Platform Android Emulator software to enable users to install and run Android (mobile) app on a PC or Mac.

AI
In my current job, I am a part of the Data Science team, as such I’m working with Machine Learning and AI technology.

ChatGPT: I’ve been using ChatGPT every day for the past 6 months. It is now my go to place to find information before Google (thought it’s not replacing it yet 100%). I use it as a learning platform, to learn new things. I use it to help me with my coding tasks (I can say that my performance is doubled since I use it). I use it as my ‘research intern’ to help me writing my newsletter articles and social media posts.

There are so many things that AI (not just ChatGPT) can help I can’t list them one by one, but needless to say, I believe that the world won’t be the same again.

And just in case you ask, No this post hasn’t been written by AI, I wrote every single word myself

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Andy Black]

I've seen Google Sheets being used more often than I anticipated. Is it because everyone has a Gmail account? I guess people are just bored of Excel now or maybe Google has introduced a new feature that makes people want to switch to Sheets.

I switched from one computer to another and it’s ridiculously confusing trying to migrate my MS Office license to the new laptop. In the meantime I started using Google Sheets in earnest, and now I’m getting used to it. So I may cancel my monthly subscription to MS Office, all because of how convoluted their systems are.

 

[Hadrian]

Bananatag (email), and Trello (Project Management). Free Versions are Great!
Braintoss is an inexpensive paid app but worth every penny!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Thinh]

Roam Research
It's a whole new paradigm for note taking. The founder even published a white paper about its fundamentals.

Other than that, 1Password (or any password manager I guess), saves so much time and pain.

Brave Browser.
Does everything Chrome does but with privacy at the center.

 

[dg416]

Photopea - Online Photo Editor

For fans of Canva that wish it had more features to make it on par with something like Photoshop

Try GIMP

 

[Mario_fastlaner]

I found very useful AnswerThePublic. It gives you, starting from a key word, the most common research on google by the people.

can be very useful to understand where people are having major issues in some particular topics.

 

[Leo Hartas]

App and complex web app development. GDevelop. It's an open source game making program but I'm using it to create a complicated user interface that's non-game related. It uses simplified programming which is a job to get your head round but allows incredible flexibility.

Clip Studio for all raster graphics and drawing. Does animation too.

Affinity Publisher. I use this as my 'hub' for almost everything.

Wordpress with Elegant Themes Divi Theme for web sites.

Libre Office

Duck Duck Go and Brave Browser Actually find Duck Duck a better search engine than Google these days.

Generally I've always used low cost or free open source alternatives to big name software like Adobe or Microsoft. Saves a lot of cash and the communities and support are always very helpful.

 

[Andy Black]

Most places that have subscriptions that removes ads when I use them regularly I’d rather pay then waste my time seeing ads.

I just upgraded to YouTube Premium so we don't see ads, and so we can download videos (the kids are making videos with meme-like video clips in them).

 

[GuestR401x3]

HubSpot Excellent free CRM tools. The paid marketing platform is excellent as well.
TeamViewer Still one of the best RDP's
My local library In my opinion one of the most underused resources, and not only for books/audiobooks.
PowerBI An excellent business intelligence tool that's worth learning
Mergent First Research A website with industry-specific summaries, challenges, growth predictions, trends, opportunities, and challenges.
ERP Systems Which one you go with depends on what industry you are in, but a good ERP system will save you a ton of time.
Hunter.IO For finding email addresses to specific people at specific companies.
MS Teams Send messages across your team, make phone calls, create groups, and have online meetings all in one
MS Office The best at what they do.
WordPress Open source CMS.
The local gym Not a tool but a necessity to get you mentally and physically on the right track for the day.
Others Asing for help isn't natural for me but I am learning to leverage the wisdom of those around me.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[MJ DeMarco]

Isn't that what the built-in "Firefox Pocket" was for?

Thank you for the reminder that the solution was right in front of my face. Now I feel stupid. Pocket seems to fit the bill and works great with FF.