drizzle is basically raw sql with types – love it

prisma is easier but the generated queries can be slow

just use kysely if you want something in between

n8n all the way if you know some code

the open source version is basically free and super powerful

zapier is for non-technical people honestly

obsidian is king for personal knowledge management

the plugin ecosystem is insane – you can customize it to death

notion is good if you need to share with team but i prefer local-first

logseq is interesting but feels like its still figuring itself out

LangChain for general, LlamaIndex for data

Built RAG apps with all three:

• LangChain: Most popular, huge ecosystem, but can be overkill. Good for complex multi-step workflows.
• LlamaIndex: Better for data-heavy apps. Better indexing, easier to build RAG pipelines.
• AutoGen: Great for agentic workflows, but steeper learning curve.

Recommendation: Start with LlamaIndex for RAG. Use LangChain if you need more control.

honestly both lol

perplexity is like having a research assistant that actually cites sources. super helpful for competitive analysis.

chatgpt is better when you need to think through problems or generate ideas based on that research.

not a fanboy of either but both have their place in my workflow

Docker all the way for production

Been running Docker in production for 3 years. The ecosystem is mature, docs are great, and troubleshooting is easy bc everyone’s familiar with it.

Podman is cool for security (rootless containers) but honestly didn’t see major benefits for our use case. Containerd is more low-level – good if you need bare metal control but unnecessary for most startups.

My pick: Docker for ease of use + community support.

Here’s what I learned after spending weeks on this:

Paddle is the winner for tax handling:

• They are a “Merchant of Record” – meaning THEY handle all the tax compliance
• Automatically charges correct VAT/sales tax for each country
• Files reports for you (in supported regions)
• Pricing: higher than Stripe (around 5% + 50c) but worth it for the peace of mind

Stripe has Tax (new product):

• Stripe Tax is extra ($0.50 per transaction for US, more for global)
• You still need to file reports yourself
• Good if you have a finance team

Lemon Squeezy – also handles tax:

• Similar to Paddle, acts as merchant of record
• Growing in popularity for indie hackers

My recommendation: If you are selling globally, just use Paddle or Lemon Squeezy from day 1. The tax headache is not worth saving 2%.

Content writer here. Tested all of them extensively. Jasper: Best templates, Good SEO integration, Expensive ($49+/mo). Copy.ai: Cheaper, Good for short copy, Less polished. Writesonic: Best for SEO articles, Has ChatGPT-like mode, Good value. My take: Just use ChatGPT with good prompts. Save $40/mo. These tools are mostly wrappers anyway.

supabase all the way. sql > nosql fight me. also row level security is chef’s kiss.