DEV Community: Xiao Man

I replaced 5 separate SaaS subscriptions with one $25/mo toolkit — here's what happened

Xiao Man — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 13:07:08 +0000

Hey dev.to 👋Quick background: I freelance in web design and run a few small side projects. Over the past year I accumulated a bunch of subscriptions — a cold email tool, a resume builder, a contract scanner, a content repurposer... you get the idea. My monthly SaaS bill was creeping up and half the tools I barely used.Then I stumbled on kaki.llc and decided to try consolidating.What's in the box (9 tools total):Client acquisition:- ColdMail — AI cold email generator (this one alone saved me hours)- Pitch — proposal writer- Campaign — multi-channel campaign plannerContent:- Write — text polisher / English writer- SnapCopy — social media caption generator- Repurpose — turn one post into platform-ready contentCareer:- Resume builder- Cover letter generator- Shield — contract clause explainer*Pricing:- Free tier: actually usable (15 cold emails/mo, 3 articles/mo, unlimited SnapCopy)- Core $25/mo: unlimited on most tools- Pro $39/mo: adds Shield + Repurpose unlimitedWhat I actually noticed after a month:- The cold email tool writes in a way that doesn't sound robotic. My reply rate genuinely went up.- Shield caught a weird exclusivity clause in a client contract that I would've missed. Worth the Pro upgrade alone.- Repurpose is a time-saver if you post on multiple platforms. One draft → LinkedIn + Twitter + Instagram captions.What could be better:- The UI is functional but not flashy. It's clearly built by someone focused on utility over design.- No mobile app (web only), but it's responsive enough on phone browsers.- Some tools (like Campaign) are newer and still feel like they're being polished.Bottom line:*If you're a freelancer or solo founder spending $50-100/mo on separate tools for email, proposals, content, and contracts — worth looking at bundling into something simpler. The free tier lets you try before committing.Not affiliated, just someone who likes cutting SaaS bills. Has anyone else tried consolidating tools like this?

Found a simple tax calculator tool that doesn't make me want to pull my hair out

Xiao Man — Sun, 05 Jul 2026 13:04:17 +0000

Hey dev.to 👋

Tax season always hits different when you're freelancing or running a side project. I used to dread opening spreadsheets and trying to figure out estimated taxes.

Recently found this tool called TaxFlow → tax.flowingpulse.com

It's pretty straightforward:

Plug in your income/expenses, it calculates your tax estimate
No account needed to try it
Doesn't try to upsell you on "premium features" every 5 seconds
Clean UI, no 15 pages of questions before you see anything useful

What I appreciate:

Made for people who actually do their own taxes (freelancers, indie devs, contractors)
Doesn't feel like TurboTax's ugly cousin
Fast — you can get an estimate in under 2 minutes

Not saying it replaces a real accountant for complex situations — but for getting a rough idea of what you owe? Works for me.

Anyone else use lightweight tools for tax stuff, or am I just weirdly excited about this?

Tired of Complex Dashboard Tools? Here's a Lightweight Alternative I Found

Xiao Man — Sat, 04 Jul 2026 13:08:33 +0000

Hey everyone 👋Quick story: I needed a simple dashboard to track some metrics for a side project. I looked at Grafana, Metabase, even Google Data Studio... and honestly, they all felt like overkill for what I needed.Then I stumbled on FlowPulse and it scratched exactly the itch I had.What it does:- Connects to your data sources and creates clean dashboards- Setup takes minutes, not hours- The UI is refreshingly simple — no 50-menu navigation*What I like about it:*- Actually lightweight — doesn't try to be everything- Good for side projects and small teams who need visibility without complexity- Clean design that doesn't scream "enterprise software from 2010"Not saying it replaces Grafana for complex monitoring — it's a different tool for a different job. But if you're like me and just want to see your numbers without a PhD in dashboard configuration, it's worth a look.Has anyone else tried it? Would love to hear your experience.

I've been using Notion for years, so I built a chart tool that matches its vibe

Xiao Man — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 11:45:02 +0000

Hey dev.to 👋

I've been a Notion user for years. One thing always bugged me though — whenever I needed a chart for my docs or blog posts, nothing quite matched Notion's clean look.

So I ended up building something for it. Figured I'd share since a few friends found it useful.

It's called ChartFlow → chart.flowingpulse.com

Basically: paste your data, pick a chart type, get a clean minimal chart. That's it.

What I like about it:

No sign-up needed to try it
Charts actually look decent in presentations (not that "2005 Excel" vibe)
Works for quick stuff — blog posts, pitch decks, documentation
Not trying to be another heavy BI tool

It supports line, bar, pie, area charts. Exports to PNG/SVG.

If you're a Notion person or just hate spending 20 minutes tweaking chart colors, might be worth a quick look.

Would love feedback! What kind of chart features do you usually need?