Hey, I'm Zane — I Test AI Tools So You Don't Have To

Why I Started This Site

Look.

In early 2023, I was drowning in AI tool subscriptions. ChatGPT Plus, Midjourney, Jasper, Claude, Copy.ai, Notion AI... my credit card statement looked like I was running a SaaS company myself. I was spending $400+/month on tools I barely understood.

The breaking point? I paid $49 for a "revolutionary AI writing tool" that was literally just a worse version of ChatGPT with a different UI. That's when I realized: most AI tool reviews are garbage.

They're either:

• Written by people who've never actually used the tool
• Paid promotional content disguised as reviews
• Copy-pasted feature lists from the company website
• Or just plain wrong (looking at you, "Top 10 AI Tools" listicles from 2022)

So I started testing everything myself. Canceling the crap. Keeping the winners. Taking notes. And now, here we are.

My Testing Philosophy

I use each tool for at least 2-4 weeks before writing a review. Not 20 minutes. Not watching a YouTube demo. Actually using it for real work.

Here's my process:

1. Week 1-2: Daily use for actual projects (writing, coding, design, whatever the tool does)
2. Week 3: Compare against 2-3 alternatives doing the exact same tasks
3. Week 4: Test edge cases, limits, and the stuff the marketing doesn't mention

I also track:

• How many times I actually choose it over alternatives
• What makes me frustrated (this is important)
• Whether I'd still use it if I had to pay for it myself
• If I recommend it to friends (the real test)

My Biases (Yes, I Have Them)

Every reviewer has biases. Here are mine:

• I hate complicated UIs. If it takes me 10 minutes to figure out where the settings are, that's a problem.
• I'm cheap. Free tier matters. A lot. I'll always test if the free version is good enough before recommending paid.
• I prefer tools that do one thing really well over Swiss Army knife apps that do everything poorly.
• I'm a Mac user (though I test on Windows when it matters).
• I prioritize speed. If your AI takes 30 seconds to generate a response, I'm already annoyed.

Knowing these helps you filter my recommendations. If you love complex tools with tons of features, we might disagree sometimes. That's fine.

The Affiliate Thing (Let's Talk About It)

Yeah, this site has affiliate links. When you click "Try ChatGPT Plus" and sign up, I get a commission. That's how I pay for hosting, keep testing new tools, and justify spending 20+ hours a week on reviews.

But here's my rule: I will never—and I mean never—recommend a tool just because it has a good affiliate program.

Case in point: I gave Jasper AI a 6.5/10 even though they had one of the best affiliate programs in the space (which they've since ended, RIP). Meanwhile, I rated Cursor AI 9/10 and they didn't even have an affiliate program when I wrote that review.

If a tool sucks, I'll tell you it sucks. Even if it costs me money.

The way I see it: my reputation is worth way more than a few affiliate commissions. If I lose your trust by recommending garbage, you'll never come back. I'd rather have readers who trust me than a quick buck from a tool I don't believe in.

Tools I'm Currently Testing

As of December 2025, I'm actively testing:

• GPT-4's new reasoning updates (the improvement over GPT-4 Turbo is... interesting)
• Perplexity's new Pro features (jury's still out)
• Claude's latest vision capabilities (spoiler: pretty damn good)
• A bunch of AI video tools that claim to be "game-changing" (most aren't)

Reviews coming soon. I don't rush these.

Want Me to Test Something?

Have a tool you want me to review? Disagree with one of my ratings? Think I missed something important?

Send me a message. I read everything (though I can't always respond immediately—one-person operation here).

P.S. - If you're a tool founder trying to get me to review your product: I'm happy to test it, but I can't guarantee a positive review. If that's cool with you, let's talk.