We are always carefully selecting our developer tools. It has a high effect on our work. When we consider using an app, we might like a certain feature but not like the other features it offers, or we just don't like the pricing.
That's why I personally often look for an alternative to developer tools out there. But rather than save it privately, I'd like to share it with others. As a bonus, other people might recommend another similar tool that can help us with our coding work.
ProductHunt is a perfect place to find a new tool. But it's not focusing on developer tools. It's what makes me excited to build a site where people can just submit a developer tool they like or look for an alternative.
Introducing FindDevTools
FindDevTools provides information about the pricing and features of certain products to find an alternative. People can compare two products and see them side by side.
Challenge making a list of developer tools
Building a site like this might seems trivial, but it has a few challenges (for me) to bring it to the level I like.
Tools must be categorized correctly
What's hard in making a listing site like this is the categorizing part. We have to very carefully put each tool into the correct programming category. So when people look for an alternative, they will find a correct solution for their problem.
Entry as draft
For the submission, a new entry will be marked as a draft, so we can review it first and make sure it's on the correct tag and valuable for the programmer/developer. Not just promoting any startup tool.
Make it easy
To make it easy for people to add a new submission, I run an API. When people provide the link to the site or Twitter, we'll automatically fetch any info we need without the user entering it. Like the logo, description, or snippet.
Things don't scale
The manual part is still here. Reviewing a submission and adding features with pricing is still critical to make this site useful.
Revenue Plan
To be honest, I'm not sure yet. It's something that I personally use and like gardening it. Maybe a 'mainstream way' where we have a good traffic, then adding a coding revelant tools sponsor or providing ads with Carbonads or Ethicalads (something not bothering the viewer).
Site: FindDevTools