Claude
AI · Chat
My main thinking assistant. Architecture, writing, code analysis, brainstorming. Sonnet for 95% of cases.
CostPro · €18/month
The workbench
My tools
What I use to solve software problems, what it costs, and what I dropped. Affiliate links, if any, are marked.
01
My top four tools
Take one away and my day jams. I tested it by going without each one for 14 days.
Claude Code
AI · CLI
The agent that understands my whole codebase. No more copy-pasting code into a chat.
CostMax (5×) · €90/month
IntelliJ IDEA
IDE · Dev
My main IDE. Smart refactoring, inspections, advanced debugging. Nothing beats it for serious work.
CostUltimate · €69/month
Arc
Browser · Mac
One Space per project, Boosts to customize sites, auto-archived tabs. My browsing is finally organized.
Cost€0
02
By how often I use them
Tools used: every day · every week · per project · now and then
Every day
Launched when the machine starts, open all day.
| Tool | Use | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| iTerm | Terminal · Mac | Free · OSS |
| TickTick | Tasks · Cross-platform | Freemium · €2.8/month |
| Spark Mail | Mail · Mac + iOS | Freemium |
| Paste | Clipboard · Mac | ~€1.25/month |
| KDE Connect | Sync · Mac + Android | Free · OSS |
| Thaw | Menu bar · Mac | Free · OSS |
| Noizio | Ambient sound · Mac | ~€5 one-time |
| Spotify (official site, new tab) | Music · Cross-platform | ~€11/month (annual) |
Every week
At least once per cycle, for sessions of one to four hours.
| Tool | Use | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Stripe | Payments · Dashboard | Free · 1.4% + €0.25 |
| n8n | Automation · Self-host | Self-host · ~€5/month |
| Craft | Docs · Mac + iOS | Freemium |
| GitHub | Code · Web | Free · personal |
| Perplexity | AI search · Web | Freemium |
| CleanShot X | Capture · Mac | €29 one-time |
Per project
Pulled out when needed, for a sprint or for months.
Now and then
Once a month, or for one specific task.
| Tool | Use | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Design | AI design · Web | Included in Pro |
| Medium | Publishing · Monitoring · Web | ~€5/month (annual) |
| Nextcloud | Storage · Self-host | Self-host · free |
| OBS Studio | Video · Mac | Open source |
| Adobe Creative Cloud (official site, new tab) | Creative suite · Mac | Annual |
| Setapp (official site, new tab) | App bundle · Mac | ~€10/month (annual) |
03
What I dropped
A tool I dropped says as much as a tool I adopted.
DroppedChatGPT
replaced by Claude
Shallower reasoning on complex tasks. Claude nuances and says when it does not know, ChatGPT confabulates.
DroppedGitHub Copilot
replaced by Claude Code
Good for line-by-line autocompletion, but it does not think. As soon as you need the whole project context (refactoring, multi-file audit, architecture), Claude Code takes over.
DroppedVS Code
replaced by IntelliJ IDEA + Claude Code
Excellent editor, but IntelliJ + Claude Code give a refactoring and an understanding of the repo that has no equal.
DroppedCursor
replaced by IntelliJ IDEA + Claude Code
Tested in early 2024 for the built-in AI. Fast and fluid, but the VS Code UI behind it does not hold up against JetBrains on deep refactoring and the Flutter plugin. Claude Code makes the AI-first editor unnecessary.
DroppedGoogle Drive
replaced by Nextcloud
Data hosted at Google. Self-hosted Nextcloud gives the same comfort with zero external dependency.
DroppedZapier
replaced by n8n
Good to get started, but past 20 zaps the cost climbs fast. Self-hosted n8n is more flexible and almost free.
And your stack, what does it cost?
The calculator uses the prices from the tool pages on this site.