I Get DMs Every Week Asking: "What Tools Do You Use?"
Fair question. I run an entire content platform — blog, newsletter, AI agents, image processing, video concepts — as a one-person operation. People see the output and assume there's a team behind it. There isn't. There's me and a very carefully chosen set of tools.
Here's every tool I use, why I chose it, what it costs, and what I'd replace it with if it disappeared tomorrow. No affiliate links. No sponsorships. Just honest assessment from someone who pays for all of this out of pocket.
1. Claude (Anthropic) — The Brain
What it does: Powers all six agents in my blog engine pipeline. Research, strategy, writing, SEO optimization, image analysis.
Why I chose it: I've tested every major LLM extensively. Claude's writing quality is the best I've found. The difference between Claude Opus and GPT-4o for long-form writing isn't subtle — it's significant. Opus produces prose that sounds human, maintains voice consistency across 2,000-word articles, and handles nuance without defaulting to generic AI phrasing.
How I use it:
- Claude Sonnet: Research agent, strategy agent, SEO agent, image vision agent, idea scout. Fast, capable, cheap. Handles structured tasks beautifully.
- Claude Opus: Writer agent only. This is the premium model reserved exclusively for the task where quality matters most — the actual writing. I will not downgrade this.
Cost: Approximately ₹2,000-4,000 per month depending on volume. The Writer agent (Opus) accounts for about 60% of the API cost. Sonnet is remarkably cheap for what it delivers.
If it disappeared: I'd use GPT-4o as a fallback, but the writing quality drop would be noticeable. There's no true replacement for Opus-level writing today.
2. Supabase — The Database and Backend
What it does: PostgreSQL database, authentication, file storage, real-time subscriptions, Row Level Security. Essentially my entire backend.
Why I chose it: Firebase alternative that uses actual PostgreSQL instead of a proprietary NoSQL system. SQL is a skill that transfers everywhere. The RLS (Row Level Security) feature means I can enforce data access rules at the database level — not just in my application code. This is critical for a platform with admin and member roles.
How I use it:
- All blog posts, ideas, member data, settings, media metadata — everything lives in Supabase tables.
- Auth handles admin login and future member logins.
- Storage handles images, PDFs, and media files.
- Edge Functions for server-side logic that needs to run close to the database.
Cost: Free tier covers my current usage. Pro plan (₹2,000/month) when I need more storage and bandwidth. Incredibly cost-effective for what you get.
If it disappeared: PlanetScale for database + Clerk for auth + Cloudflare R2 for storage. But that's three services replacing one. Supabase's integration is hard to match.
3. Vercel — Hosting and Deployment
What it does: Hosts the Next.js application. Handles deployment, CDN, serverless functions, and domain management.
Why I chose it: Vercel built Next.js. The integration is flawless. Push to GitHub, site deploys automatically in under 60 seconds. Preview deployments for every branch. Edge network that makes the site fast globally. Zero DevOps required.
How I use it: Every code change pushed to the main branch auto-deploys to production. Feature branches get preview URLs for testing. Serverless API routes handle my agent pipeline, webhooks, and payment processing.
Cost: Pro plan — approximately ₹1,600/month. Worth every rupee for the deployment speed and reliability.
If it disappeared: Netlify or Cloudflare Pages. Both are good. Neither integrates as seamlessly with Next.js.
4. fal.ai — Image Enhancement and Generation
What it does: AI-powered image enhancement. Takes my raw photos (often shot on a phone in inconsistent lighting) and enhances them to publication quality.
Why I chose it: Tested multiple options. fal.ai has the best balance of quality, speed, and cost for image enhancement. It doesn't over-process — the photos still look like my photos, just better lit, sharper, and more professional.
How I use it: Photos uploaded through the admin panel or Telegram bot get run through fal.ai's enhancement pipeline. The Vision Agent evaluates whether a photo needs enhancement or should stay raw (sometimes the rawness is the point).
Cost: Pay-per-use. Roughly ₹0.50-2 per image enhancement. Maybe ₹200-500/month depending on how many photos I process.
If it disappeared: Replicate.com has similar models. Slightly more setup required.
5. Runway ML — Video Generation
What it does: AI video generation. Creates motion from still images, generates short video clips for social content and platform videos.
Why I chose it: Runway's Gen-3 produces the most natural-looking AI video I've tested. For the year-end cinematic recap and monthly highlight videos I'm planning, the quality needs to be high. Runway delivers.
How I use it: Currently in the planning phase for video content. Will power the monthly recap videos and social media video clips once the video engine is built (Phase 5B).
Cost: Standard plan — approximately ₹1,000/month. Credits-based, so costs scale with usage.
If it disappeared: Pika Labs or Kling AI. The space is competitive and improving rapidly.
6. Brevo — Email and Newsletter
What it does: Transactional emails and newsletter delivery. When someone subscribes, when a new post goes live, when a member's subscription renews — Brevo handles the email.
Why I chose it: Better deliverability rates than most alternatives in India. Clean API. Reasonable pricing for the volume I need. Previously called Sendinblue — been around long enough to be reliable.
Cost: Free up to 300 emails/day. Paid plans start at approximately ₹700/month. I'm on free tier currently.
7. Razorpay — Payments
What it does: Handles all payments — subscriptions for Inner Circle membership, one-time purchases for PDFs and products, UPI, cards, net banking.
Why I chose it: It's India. Razorpay is the standard. UPI support is essential — over 70% of online payments in India go through UPI. Stripe doesn't support Indian merchants selling in INR as well. Razorpay's subscription API is solid and their webhook system is reliable.
Cost: 2% transaction fee. No monthly charge. You only pay when you earn. Fair model.
The Total Monthly Cost
- Claude API: ~₹3,000
- Supabase: ₹0-2,000
- Vercel: ~₹1,600
- fal.ai: ~₹300
- Runway ML: ~₹1,000
- Brevo: ₹0
- Razorpay: Pay-per-transaction
- Domain + miscellaneous: ~₹500
Total: approximately ₹6,000-8,500 per month
That's the cost of running a full content platform with AI agents, a blog engine, image processing, email, payments, and hosting. Less than what most people spend on eating out in a month.
What I Don't Use — And Why
- WordPress: Too slow, too bloated, too many plugins. Next.js gives me complete control and better performance.
- Notion as CMS: Tried it. The API is too slow and the data model is limiting for a serious content engine.
- ChatGPT Plus subscription: I use the API directly. The subscription gives you a chat interface. I need programmatic access for my agents.
- Canva: For a design-heavy brand, maybe. My design system is coded into the platform — consistent, automated, no manual design work needed per post.
"The best tool stack is the one where every tool earns its place. If you can't explain why it's there, remove it."
Every tool on this list solves a specific problem that I can't solve better another way. The moment a better option appears, I switch. No loyalty to tools — only loyalty to outcomes. Build the same way.