Contents
🔓 OpenAlternative
openalternative.co — free
The problem: you pay monthly for Loom, Airtable, Notion. Free open source versions already exist. This site maps every paid app to its open source twin.
You want | What happens |
|---|---|
Replace a paid tool | Search the app name, see open source swaps |
Self host something | Filter by "self hosted" |
Match your stack | Filter by tech stack, license, or category |
Over 1 million people have already swapped. Browse 1,000+ tools.
📊 BenchLM
benchlm.ai — free
The problem: picking an AI model off vibes means overpaying. This ranks 238 models across 223 benchmarks with real pricing.
You want | What happens |
|---|---|
Best coding model | Open the Coding ranking |
Cheapest option | Sort by price per million tokens |
Compare two models | Drop both into the compare tool |
Updated weekly. Shows quality, cost, and speed in one table.
🎨 Design Arena
designarena.ai — free
The problem: model marketing lies about design quality. This runs the same prompt through every top model and lets real people vote blind.
You want | What happens |
|---|---|
Best model for logos | Check the Logo leaderboard |
Best for websites or UI | Check that category leaderboard |
Generate something now | Type a prompt, pick a format, vote |
4 million users across 190+ countries power the rankings.
🔌 OpenRouter
openrouter.ai — pay per use, no subscription
The problem: every model needs its own API key and code. This gives you one key for everything.
You want | What happens |
|---|---|
Try many models | One key unlocks 400+ models, 60+ providers |
Avoid downtime | Auto fallback when a provider goes down |
Switch models | Change one line, no rewrite (OpenAI SDK works as is) |
8 million users route through it. 100 trillion tokens a month.
⚠️ It is pay per use, not free. You only pay for what you call, but add credit before you start.
📄 Hugging Face Daily Papers
huggingface.co/papers — free
The problem: tools go mainstream months after the research drops. This is the daily feed of top AI papers, curated.
You want | What happens |
|---|---|
See what is coming | Read the top papers each day |
Skip the math | Read the plain summary first |
Go deeper | Open the full paper and author list |
Founders quote these months before the tools ship.
🗓️ Daily Workflow
A real loop using all five:
Morning: skim Hugging Face Daily Papers for what is coming.
Building something? Check BenchLM for the right model, then route it through OpenRouter with one key.
Need design? Check Design Arena for which model has taste.
Paying for software? Run it through OpenAlternative first.
💡 Tips
Bookmark BenchLM before a model purchase. The cheapest model often scores within a point of the expensive one.
On OpenRouter, set a spend limit in settings so a runaway loop cannot drain your credit.
Design Arena rankings shift fast. Recheck before a real project instead of trusting last month's winner.
Daily Papers titles change every day. Build the habit, not the bookmark to one date.
By The AI Leverage - Learn and master AI daily