Helping Things is where I keep two kinds of small software: free tools anyone can use, and the SaaS I pay for and would pay for again.
Who I am
I am John Lowell. I am not a developer. I have launched enough projects to know where the day disappears, and most of what I keep here is software that gives some of it back.
Why I buy free tools
Small tools are easy to build and easy to abandon. Someone makes a good one, it gets used for years, and then the author moves on and the site quietly goes offline. I buy tools like that and keep them running, free, without adding a signup or a paid tier. It is cheaper than building them and it keeps good work in use.
This domain is an example. It used to host a handful of small Windows utilities, and people still link to them. Their old pages now lead to browser tools that do the same jobs, at Free Tools Factory.
How the SaaS list works
The SaaS side is the opposite: short, and personal. I only list SaaS I use myself, and some of them are mine. That list lives at Useful SaaS Coming soon, and how it is put together, and how it makes money, is explained on its own pages and in the editorial policy here.
Get in touch
A tool that broke, a tool you think I should rescue, or anything else: [email protected].