How To Find Free and Recommended Tools, Apps, and Software
Get the Goldilocks tool that is “just right” for you
Everyone who wants to improve themself, their business, and their life is constantly filtering recommendations for tools, apps, and software.
You read an article recommending a tool.
Your friend tells you about a new app.
Your colleagues at a business seminar extol the virtues of a new piece of software their company is using.
So naturally, you check it out. You visit the site, look at demos, examine the benefits, and maybe even download the trial version.
Sometimes, it’s exactly what you’re looking for. If so, wonderful. You’ve made your life better and easier.
But sometimes, it’s not quite right. It’s geared for a different audience. It has a user interface you find non-intuitive. It doesn’t support your chosen operating system.
If only there was a way that you could find tools, apps, and software that was “like this one, only different”.
Enter AlternativeTo
Because almost everything you’ve ever thought about can be found somewhere on the Internet, that way exists. It’s called AlternativeTo.
AlternativeTo is a crowd-sourced recommendation database. You can search by various broad categories, such as productivity tools, to find the top recommendations for specific tasks. But you can also search for alternatives to a specific tool that isn’t quite right for you.
You type in the name of the tool, app, or software you’re interested in, and it will tell you what other people are using instead. Even better, it will tell you why.
Finding the best free keyword search tool
For example, I have heard many people I respect and follow extolling the virtue of ahrefs for SEO. They also use its tool for finding keywords. Unfortunately, this isn’t an option for keyword research if you don’t already use ahrefs.
I have a very particular type of research in mind. I want to know what questions people are asking in my field, so I can write blog articles addressing those questions.
So I asked AlternativeTo what it thought about ahrefs.
This looks promising. There are more than 50 alternatives. In fact, there were 70 alternatives listed at the time I consulted the list.
Rather than look through all 70, I can easily narrow the field down to the ones that address my immediate concern. I want something that handles keyword research, and that is free (or freemium).
Well, look at that! There are 10 tools that meet my criteria.
A quick scan of the list shows the heavy hitters I would expect, like Google Search Console and KWFinder. But there are also some niche products that I’ve never heard of before, that look like exactly what I’m interested in, such as Keylogs, GetKeywords, and ExploreKeywords.
There’s also an intriguing product that takes you through the entire content marketing journey, from discovering your keywords, to finding influencers who care about those keywords. It’s called InfluRocket.
It doesn’t have any fans, or any user reviews, so it’s definitely a small product. But it’s interesting enough that it might be worth checking out in the future, if I’m interested in getting into influencer marketing.
In less than five minutes, I found the names of three promising tools that address my specific need, and match my criteria for function.
Conclusion
You got a recommendation for a new app, tool, or piece of software to perform a specific function. But it’s not quite right. If only there was a way to find well-regarded software that did what you wanted.
There is. Use AlternativeTo. It is crowd-sourced information, entered by people who are actually using the various products, and contains reviews.
Enter the name of the product that was recommended, and find out what other tools do the same or similar things.
If you have a task you want to find a tool for, but don’t have a recommended product, you can search for the top 3 recommendations in many categories.
Ready to have a better tomorrow?
I’ve created a cheat sheet to help you increase your confidence and get control of your life. If you follow this daily, you will level up your life very quickly!