Hi, I’m Josef.
I’m a developer, web designer, and tool builder — and for years I made the same mistake most people make: I paid for tools based on hype, not reality.
I’ve signed up for subscriptions that felt great in the demo and turned out to be useless in practice. I’ve spent hours setting up software that was supposed to save me hours. I’ve switched between AI assistants, design platforms, and productivity apps more times than I care to admit.
At some point, I got tired of wasting money.
So I started doing something simple: actually testing every tool before talking about it. Not a five-minute overview. Real use, real projects, real money on the line.
TriedTools is where I share what I find.
Every review on this site comes from genuine hands-on experience. I use Canva regularly for design work. I have compared Claude, ChatGPT, and Perplexity side by side on real tasks. I test translation tools, AI writing assistants, image generators, and productivity software as part of my actual workflow — not as a one-time demo for a blog post.
My goal is simple: help you spend your money on tools that actually work, and avoid the ones that don’t.
No sponsored rankings. No affiliate-first reviews. Just honest verdicts from someone who tests before he talks.
Welcome to TriedTools.
— Josef Aaouam Developer, web designer, and tool builder