Last year I started building small browser-based utilities: a JSON formatter, a regex tester, a color palette generator, an image compressor. No backend, no signup, just a page that does one thing well. Eight months later there are 59 tools at tooly.work — 53 of them completely free, plus a few premium apps (invoice generator, PDF-to-CSV, domain search) for the jobs that need more power.
Here are the five things that surprised me:
1. Downloadable results beat copy-paste results.
Tools that produce a file (CSV export, PDF merge, ZIP) get 3–5× more return visits than tools that produce text you copy. People bookmark them as "the thing I use every month." Build for the repeat visit, not the one-off.
2. "No signup" is the feature people mention first.
Every privacy-focused competitor I studied made the same choice. When users don't have to create an account, they link your tool in group chats. That's your growth loop.
3. The long tail is real — and it compounds.
One tool page targeting "free invoice generator for freelancers" won't move the needle. Fifty pages each capturing a small monthly search volume adds up to something meaningful. SEO for small tools is a portfolio game.
4. Static beats framework.
My most reliable pages are plain HTML + vanilla JS. No build step, no dependency updates, nothing to break. The pages that break are the ones with dependencies.
5. People will ask for the paid version.
The #1 email I get: "can I get this without the watermark / with batch processing / with CSV export?" That's your product roadmap, handed to you for free.
If you're building free tools, my advice: pick tools that produce a file, say "no signup" out loud, and let the portfolio compound.
I'm the founder of Tooly — free online work tools for freelancers & small businesses. 53+ free tools, no signup, your data stays yours.
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