I ain’t ever been the type who likes paying for tools when I don’t gotta. You know? Free stuff out there, and loads of it. And lemme tell ya — some of it? Kinda genius.
So I’m about to let you in on the ones I been usin’. They’re not just free — they’re solid. Real good. These tools? They’ve helped me launch, fix, and redesign more sites than I can count. Not even joking.
Figma — Draw It, Move It, Share It
I use Figma so much I almost forgot what Adobe felt like. It’s just… effortless. Browser-based, but it doesn’t act like it.
The realtime collab thing is 🔥. Me and the team? Designing in the same file. No more sending 57 versions over email. Nah. Not anymore.
Figma’s free plan? Gets you surprisingly far. Like, pro-level stuff but without the wallet damage.
Webflow – Who Even Codes Anymore?
Honestly, I thought it was gonna be another one of those draggy site builders that limits you? Wrong.
Webflow, it lets me think visually. I click, stuff moves. I design something, and it works. It’s… fun, if that makes sense.
You won’t be launching 10 websites on the free tier. But to mess around? Build a proof of concept? You’re golden.
Canva (Fastest Poster Maker Alive)
Canva be like that friend who always shows up with snacks. It just works, no explanation needed.
There’s like a thousand templates. No, probably more. I literally just throw in my text, swap a background, click download. Done.
Not ideal for complicated layouts, but perfect for everything else? Yeah.
Google Fonts + Fontpair — Typo-Magic
Fonts? Oh buddy. They matter. You don’t realize till you use the wrong one and the whole thing looks like a school project from 2004.
I always pull from Google Fonts. It’s free. It’s fast. Web-optimized, all that. But Fontpair? That’s the secret sauce.
Gives me combos that don’t clash. I ain’t a typography nerd, but I like lookin’ like one.
Coolors, The Color Whisperer
So I suck at picking colors. Seriously.
Coolors is a literal lifesaver. Just mash the spacebar and BAM — perfect color palette. You can lock a color, generate new ones around it, and export in formats I didn’t know I needed.
Sometimes I just use it for fun. No project. Just Website Color therapy.
Unsplash & Pexels – Photos That Don’t Suck
You ever search for stock photos and find stuff that looks like a robot staged it?
Unsplash and Pexels don’t do that. Their images actually feel… human. Real. Full of story.
I don’t even credit ’em half the time (you don’t have to), but maybe I should more. They’ve saved me in a pinch so many times.
Squoosh — Make Your Pics Not Hurt Your Load Time
Google made it. So you know it’s good.
Drag a pic in there, and it just does its thing. Compresses without trashing the quality. You can even convert to WebP or AVIF if you’re tryna be fancy.
Before I knew about it? My pages were heavier than a pizza with extra crust.
VS Code – Big Brain Text Editor
I mean, it’s free. And it’s smarter than me, half the time.
When I need to tweak code? VS Code be lookin’ out. Auto-complete, Git control, extensions for days. It’s got dark mode too. Love that.
Honestly, it made coding less of a headache. Which is saying something.
Responsively App – See All the Screens, All at Once
Testing responsive design used to be a drag. Open Chrome DevTools, switch device… again and again.
Then I found Responsively. And now? It’s like magic.
I scroll once and see ten viewports change in sync. I don’t gotta guess if the navbar breaks on a tablet anymore.
LottieFiles – Animations That Don’t Kill Your Site
I wanted animations without adding a JavaScript circus to my site. Lottie said, “I gotchu.”
You just grab a JSON animation, plug it in, and boom—movement. It’s buttery smooth.
I once animated a loading spinner in 3 mins flat. Felt like a wizard.
So… That’s That
Free stuff’s underrated. That’s all I’m saying.
You don’t need a subscription to create something sick. Use these tools. Stack ’em up. Mix and match. They’ll get you there.
I did. Still do. Will probably keep doing so, unless the internet ends or I win the lottery.
Till then, these tools? They’re the MVPs of my toolkit.