Running four side projects at once means I have developed strong opinions about which tools are actually worth using.
Two that genuinely changed my workflow: consolidated SEO tracking and keeping a lid on subscription costs.
Multi-Site SEO Without the Spreadsheet Hell
For a while I was managing Search Console data across four properties in separate browser tabs. Fine with one site. At three or four you start missing things.
I switched to Multi-Site SEO (multisiteseo.com), which pulls GA4 and Search Console data from all connected properties into one view and auto-prioritizes which pages need work. The action queue shows the highest-ROI changes across all sites sorted by impact.
Setup took about 15 minutes per site. It reads from existing GA4 and GSC connections rather than requiring pixel installation.
Subscription Cost Audit Before It Gets Embarrassing
Side projects accumulate SaaS subscriptions faster than revenue. Analytics, hosting, email, error tracking, database -- suddenly 12 subscriptions and you cannot remember which ones you actually use.
SubSaver (subsaver.app) tracks recurring subscriptions, calculates actual monthly burn, and identifies overlap where two tools cover the same job. The annual vs monthly calculation is what I reference most.
What Both Tools Have in Common
Both solve aggregation. The tools worth using pull from multiple sources and surface one prioritized list.
Neither required much setup time, which matters when you do not want the tooling to become another project itself.
Top comments (0)