Roast my Free AI Tool directory!
Following the launch of my AI Marketing Tool directory, I decided to create a TikTok account as a way to start generating interest in my product.
However, I noticed that lots of people ask 'Is it free?' in the comment section on most AI Tool review videos on TikTok. So I decided to build a new directory featuring AI tools that are free, or have a decent free plan - https://www.freeaitools.fyi/.
Took me a few hours to build using Softr.
Trending on Indie Hackers
Great directory @Genny ! I've just submitted my project https://storypitch.ai
In terms of feedback, I'd suggest removing the screenshots from the homepage (not from each project's page). The reason is that those screenshots hold each project's own branding and colors and are usually pixelated, which gives the homepage a noisy, less clean look and feel. Afterwards, you can put more focus and weight on the title & description/pitch of each project.
Hi there and thanks for your feedback. I'll definitely consider this, might also improve other things like reduce the time it takes pages to load. I included the screenshots because I thought it would make things 'less boring', but I'll create a version without images and try to A/B test.
Yes it's common for AI directories to include those screenshots but I think you'd benefit from a cleaner design in many ways, including loading speed yes!
Really cool tool, useful for those like us who need the free option. I really like the colored boxes with the features of each tool. I think eventually it would need some use- cases, reviews, how they actually perform but I would use it now to find new tools to try.
Thanks for your feedback. I absolutely agree with you in terms of use cases, especially reviews. There are tons of review videos on TikTok and because I love curating soo much, I've saved a whole bunch of them. I just now need to set time aside to check if its ok for me to feature other people's TikTok's on my site.
I really like the clean and user-friendly design of your website! The concept of aggregating AI tools is a neat idea, giving users a comprehensive selection. I'm curious, though, how do you envision the search results on your platform distinguishing themselves from standard search engines like Google?
Hello and thanks for feedback. Not 100% sure I understand your question, but the key audience my tool serves is people specifically searching for AI tools they can use for free (or get a decent free trial) while also getting a good view of the various categories of AI tools out there.
Hello, the website is pretty straightforward, I had no trouble searching for what I wanted. One thing you may want to incorporate in the future is a sort based on reviews.
As a developer or a simple user, I would not want to search through all those tools to find ones that suit me. I may end up doing it but if there was a sort based on reviews I would have a better idea of which ones to try first.
Lists like these are much needed however!
Thanks for looking through and giving me your feedback. I will incorporate a review and also a sort function!
no problem! once you have a new "version" up feel free to reach out. I will keep looking for tools until then in the lists
Looks pretty good. Good luck monetizing it.
Thank you :)
Great start. How will you monetize and promote it?
Thanks! For now I've been manually curating AI tools from various social media platforms and adding to the directory. I've managed to add 100+ tools so far. For monetisation, I will be offering paid featured listing slots at the top of the directory once traffic picks up.
Very awesome directory!
We have included it to the list of free AI directories here: https://webdirectorycenter.com/
Reminds me of https://tooldirectory.ai - probably the best I've found so far of these.
How are you going to make money from it?
Please roast mine as well!😅
Cool tool. I build ai SEO tools. Will submit here once it ready. Well, how will do you monetize this site ?
Than you - For monetisation, I will be offering paid featured listing slots at the top of the directory once traffic picks up :)
Neat and clean website! And the TikTok approach for marketing is pretty creative too.
One problem I noticed with those directory type of websites is that people have hard times maintaining them up-to-date: those I've seen in past frequently had broken links and outdated pricing plans.
How do you approach the problem of data curation?
Thanks Toli. I have to be honest, I've noticed the same issue from other directories with maintenance and broken links. I'm hoping to automate that using AI eventually to carry out periodic checks to confirm if a link is still active, and check /update the pricing information.
Nice! Are you using some kind of backend, like Google Sheets or Airtable to store the data about the products? Or do you hard-code it in the website? If it's the former, should be easy to automate such checks with Make.com, integrating chatgpt and your backend.
Yes I'm using an Airtable base in the backend to store the data. I hadn't ever heard of Make until now, so thank you :) I'll check it out and compare to Zapier!
The reason I prefer it is because it's much cheaper :)
The directory could be useful for beginners but I doubt if it can make interest.
More common way is to create your own business of marketing (or other) powered by your tool, make some significant success, and then promote the tool with remarkable data as proof.
Or else, to keep it free and up-to-date, use the traffic to make benefits may be also a good idea.
Thanks for your feedback. And yes, I am hoping to be able to leverage potential traffic as a source of income.
Interesting project! How are you planning to increase the traffic on the website. So it would be beneficial for companies to pay for better placement?
Thank you. The directory is actually doubling as my first SEO 'experiment' as well. I took some time to look up relevant keywords and have incorporated them into the directory where relevant. So I'm really hoping this will be mainly driven by organic traffic.
Submitted my app Nativer 🎉
Thank you! I'll review and add it to the directory shortly!
I visit the website and found you have listed adobe firefly in the free section.
I don't think it's true , or can you explain how to get it for free (need a paid adobe account)
Adobe Firefly features can be accessed for free using the beta access (sign in using a free Adobe ID and then request access to the beta) - (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wdo58HZM7zs)
Could you add a category: "search engines"?
I would like to submit my startup to your directory.
AI-Powered hotel search engine for digital nomads.
https://www.tripoffice.com
No worries! I'll add the new category and include your tool. Thank you :)
I was looking for something like this. Thanks for putting it together!
Oh wow! It's nice to hear this. Thank you :)
nice set of categorized tools for every taste :)
Thanks Pedro :)
Is there any moderation on the submit tool form? i.e. Can anyone just put up a URL and it will automatically get added to the directory?
Yes there is some moderation as I have to manually review all submissions before they are added to the directory!