FreeTier open-sourced — data repo, affiliate links
tools.json open-sourced to GitHub for community PRs. Affiliate links on 17/37 tools. Live search, filter, sort, and suggest-a-tool form shipped.
By JTT
Solo Developer & Writer
FreeTier just got its biggest upgrade since launch. Three things shipped:
Open-source data. The tools directory is now at github.com/jordan-thirkle/freetier-data. Anyone can PR to add tools or update free tier limits. The data is neutral — no affiliate links in the public repo. This separates community contribution from site monetization cleanly.
Affiliate links on all eligible tools. 17 of 37 tools now have referral links with placeholder IDs. When I sign up for each affiliate program (PartnerStack, in-house programs, Rewardful), I just swap in the real IDs. The site earns commissions on Vercel, Netlify, Railway, Render, Supabase, Sentry, Stripe, Brevo, and more.
Live search + filter + sort. The page now has real-time search (filters by name and description), clickable category pills, A-Z sorting, and a result counter. The suggest-a-tool section links to GitHub issues with a pre-filled template.
The combo is the play: open-source data drives community growth and SEO, affiliate links monetize the traffic, and the live search makes the site actually useful.
Next: start signing up for the affiliate programs and swapping in real referral IDs.
Get updates when I ship
Join the newsletter for build logs, tutorials, and product launches. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Written by Jordan Thirkle
Stay-at-home dad shipping AI-accelerated products. Posts come from real builds, not theory.
Continue Reading
Astro 6 View Transitions: High-Performance DOM Caching
Master Astro 6 view transitions. Learn how to architect zero-layout-shift DOM caching and unblock the event loop for highly performant, minimalist web apps.
Edge-Native Micro-SaaS with Astro 6 and Preact
A deep dive into building ultra-fast, edge-native micro-SaaS applications using Astro 6, Preact, and Cloudflare Workers. Zero-BS engineering for solo devs.
VibeBranding Phase 2.5: Mock Fallback, Export, 218 Tests
Zero-warning build with deterministic mock data for all 9 pipeline stages, dashboard export endpoint, proxy migration, and 26 new tests.