Recommendations

Things Zooly would suggest anyway

A short list of paid tools and services that do something ToolZool does not. Each one is here because it finishes a job that has to leave the browser.

No affiliate links. Nothing on this page earns ToolZool anything, and no placement was paid for. If that ever changes, every affected entry gets marked and this paragraph changes with it.

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Image & Design

For the editing and design work that happens either side of a compress or resize.

Affinity Photo 2

Image editor

A full raster editor sold once, not rented.

Why it is here

It opens and writes the same JPEG, PNG and WebP files ToolZool produces, and there is no subscription attached to opening your own photos.

When you would reach for it

Retouching or masking before you compress to an exact size.

Figma

Design tool

Interface and layout design that runs in the browser.

Why it is here

Browser-based, like the tools here, and it exports at the exact pixel dimensions the resize tools expect.

When you would reach for it

Designing the asset you are about to export and compress.

PDF & Documents

Rewriting page content and getting a document properly signed are jobs a browser tool cannot finish.

PDF Expert

PDF editor

Edits the contents of a PDF, not just the annotations.

Why it is here

ToolZool can inspect and shrink a PDF on your device; rewriting page content still needs a desktop editor.

When you would reach for it

Changing text or replacing a page inside an existing document.

Dropbox Sign

E-signature

Signature requests with an audit trail.

Why it is here

The signature tool here gives you an image. A countersigned agreement needs identity, timestamps and a record, which is a different job.

When you would reach for it

Contracts someone else has to sign and you have to be able to prove.

Developers

What sits around the quick validators and generators in Developer Den.

Fathom Analytics

Analytics

Cookie-free site analytics.

Why it is here

It measures pages without building visitor profiles — the only kind of analytics we would put next to these tools.

When you would reach for it

Watching traffic on the site you are optimising.

JetBrains All Products Pack

Developer tools

IDEs for most languages under one licence.

Why it is here

The formatters and validators here are quick checks. Day-to-day work belongs in an editor that understands your whole project.

When you would reach for it

Working on the code you were pasting into a validator.

Creators

Editing and finishing work for video and audio, where a codec pipeline is unavoidable.

Descript

Video & podcast editor

Edits video and audio by editing the transcript.

Why it is here

Fast for talking-head cuts, which is most of what people bring to a video tool.

When you would reach for it

Cutting an interview before pulling out frames or stills.

Auphonic

Audio post-production

Automatic levelling, loudness targets and noise reduction.

Why it is here

ToolZool trims and inspects audio locally; hitting a broadcast loudness target needs real processing.

When you would reach for it

Levelling a podcast episode before you publish it.

Productivity

Small paid services that follow the same instinct: your files stay yours.

Obsidian Sync

Notes

Encrypted sync for plain-text notes.

Why it is here

Your notes stay Markdown files on your own disk — the same instinct as processing files in your own browser.

When you would reach for it

Keeping the snippets and text you clean up in the text tools.

Fastmail

Email

Paid email without ad targeting.

Why it is here

Email you pay for is email that does not need to read you.

When you would reach for it

A domain address for the project you are running.

Storage

Somewhere to keep the originals once you have a smaller copy.

Proton Drive

Encrypted storage

End-to-end encrypted storage, hosted in Switzerland.

Why it is here

It is the closest match to how ToolZool works: the provider cannot read what you keep there.

When you would reach for it

Holding the originals after you have compressed a copy.

Backblaze B2

Object storage

Bulk storage priced per terabyte.

Why it is here

The cheapest sensible place to park footage and archives you do not want on a laptop.

When you would reach for it

Archiving raw video and audio once an edit is done.

pCloud

Cloud storage

Consumer storage with a one-time lifetime plan.

Why it is here

Useful if you would rather buy storage once than pay for it monthly.

When you would reach for it

A shared photo or video library across devices.

Hosting

Places to put the site whose sitemap, robots file or assets you just generated.

Hetzner Cloud

Hosting

Plain virtual servers at predictable prices.

Why it is here

Flat monthly pricing with no per-request billing surprises — the boring option, which is the point.

When you would reach for it

Hosting the site whose robots.txt or sitemap you just generated.

Fly.io

App hosting

Runs containers close to your users.

Why it is here

A good fit for small apps and APIs that need to live somewhere other than a static host.

When you would reach for it

Shipping a side project that outgrew static files.

Know something that belongs here? Tell Zooly. The bar is that it does a job these tools genuinely cannot.Suggest one

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