Toolbox · updated every few months
What I actually run.
My own stack: the plugins, hosts, builders, and paid online tools I actually run on client work. I update it every few months and I’m honest about what I dropped and why. This isn’t a “best of” affiliate roundup. It’s the real list, ordered by what holds up in day-to-day work.
In the stack now
HostingGridPaneWhat I run all my client sites on, and it’s held up for years where others didn’t.Page BuilderBricks BuilderI’ve built every client site on Bricks since 2023. It compiles to clean HTML I’m happy to ship.CSS FrameworkAutomatic CSS 4The design system I use on every site. It keeps spacing, type, and colours consistent, and the text scales smoothly across screen sizes.FormsFluentForms ProLTD bought in 2021. Replaced Gravity Forms on every client site. Still shipping with it.Email + CRMFluentCRMSelf-hosted email. It replaced our $200/mo Mailchimp bill back in 2022 and is still running.CommerceFluentCartFirst WooCommerce alternative I’d put on a client site. 111,000 orders on a $30 server.PerformanceFlyingPressReplaced WP Rocket on most client sites. Cleaner CSS purge, fewer cache conflicts.SEOSureRankReplaced RankMath in 2024 across the agency. Cleaner schema control, less bloat.
Every tool above is running on live client sites today — or I’d drop it. Most are lifetime deals I bought before they got expensive. Where I’ve written more about one, the card links to it. Affiliate links are tagged where present, but they don’t decide what’s in this list.