Frequently Asked Questions

tools.cafe is a curated directory of indie software tools — SaaS products, developer utilities, design tools, and AI-powered products built by independent founders and small teams. It exists to help makers get discovered by the people most likely to use what they build.

tools.cafe is for two groups: indie founders who want their product discovered, and builders or makers who are looking for well-crafted tools outside the mainstream. If you ship software and care about quality over marketing budget, this is your directory.

Most directories are SEO-optimised content farms with thousands of low-quality entries. tools.cafe is intentionally small and curated — every listing is reviewed before it goes live. We also offer a cozy maker-focused experience with free built-in utilities (ratio calculator, focus timer, copy roaster, and more) so the site is useful even when you're not browsing tools.

Yes. Browsing, searching, filtering, and voting are all completely free with no account required.

Yes, completely free. Your tool enters the review queue and is assigned a go-live date you can see before confirming. You'll need to place a tools.cafe badge on your website (we generate the HTML snippet — you just paste it in). Once reviewed and live, long-term rankings are determined by votes and community interest.

Click "Submit Your Tool" on the homepage and enter your product URL — our system will autofill as much as possible from your site. The form is split into sections: (1) Product details — name, category, short tagline, description, key features (minimum three), logo, and screenshot. (2) Listing settings — your go-live date and whether the product has a mobile app. (3) Founder details — your name, email address (kept private), and an optional Twitter handle.

We accept SaaS products, developer tools, design utilities, AI-powered tools, productivity apps, and similar software products. We do not accept physical products, pure content sites, agencies, or services without a self-serve software component.

Yes. Early-access and beta products are welcome as long as the product is real, accessible, and functional. Please indicate in your description that it is in early access so visitors know what to expect.

When you submit, you are assigned a go-live date based on the current queue — this date is displayed in the submission form before you confirm, so you know exactly when to expect your listing. Once that date arrives and your submission passes review, it goes live automatically and you will receive a confirmation email.

We'll email you with a brief reason. Common reasons include: the product is not a software tool, the listing is a duplicate, the product appears inactive or inaccessible, or the submission contains inaccurate information. You are welcome to resubmit once the issue is resolved.

Yes. Every listed tool gets a tools.cafe badge — a small HTML snippet you copy and paste into your site. Placing the badge on your website is a required condition of the listing; it links back to your tools.cafe page and serves as social proof for visitors to your own site. You can find your badge snippet in your listing dashboard after your tool goes live.

If your product was added to the directory before you submitted it yourself, you'll find a "Claim this listing" option on the product page. Click it, enter your email, and we'll send you a secure claim link. Claiming gives you the ability to update your listing details.

Yes. Once you have claimed your listing, you can update your product name, tagline, description, logo, and screenshot. Changes are reviewed before they go live to maintain directory quality.

Email support@tools.cafe from the address associated with your submission or claimed listing. We will remove it within 2 business days.

A verified badge indicates the listing has been claimed by the actual founder or an authorised representative of the product. It signals to visitors that the information is current and maintained by someone with first-hand knowledge of the product.

Any visitor can upvote a tool once. Votes are stored in your browser so you don't need an account. Vote counts are public and contribute to weekly rankings. You cannot downvote — the focus is on surfacing great tools, not penalising others.

You can cast one vote like any other visitor. Coordinating votes from friends, team members, or external sources to inflate your count artificially is not allowed and may result in your listing being removed.

Rankings are based primarily on vote counts within a rolling time window, weighted to favour recent activity. A tool with consistent ongoing votes will rank above one that received a burst of votes at launch and then went quiet.

Use the category filters at the top of the directory to narrow by type (AI, SaaS, developer tools, design, etc.). You can also search by keyword. Every listing includes a description written by the maker, so you can quickly assess fit.

Yes — just submit it directly using the form on our homepage. It takes about two minutes and your suggestion goes straight into the review queue. If it meets our criteria it will go live and the founder will be notified.

Not yet, but it's on the roadmap. The best way to stay current right now is to bookmark tools.cafe and check the "New Arrivals" section, which is updated continuously as new tools are approved.