The Free Tools That Helped and Hurt My Website Journey

Building DuckTonic has been a crash course in finding out which free tools are brilliant — and which ones just waste time.

At first, anything free looked like a good idea.
I mean, how bad could it be? (Spoiler: pretty bad sometimes.)

Here’s what I’ve learned about the free tools I loved... and the ones I quietly deleted.

🛠️ The Winners

Canva
If Canva were a person, I’d probably buy them a coffee.
Easy to use, loads of templates, and didn’t make me feel like a fool.
It made designing blog images, social media posts, and even silly DuckTonic merchandise fun.

Unsplash
When I needed professional-looking images but had a professional-looking budget of zero, Unsplash saved me.
Beautiful, free photos with no hidden traps. What’s not to love?

Deep Dream Generator
Is it weird? Yes.
Is it perfect for a site like DuckTonic where I want quirky AI art? Absolutely.
It’s not for everyone, but it fits my messy, curious style perfectly.

🧹 The Not-So-Helpful Tools

Random SEO "optimiser" plugins
I tried a few free SEO tools early on.
Most promised to magically boost my site to the top of Google... if only I clicked fifty confusing buttons first.
Half the time they slowed down my site or gave advice that made no sense.

Overloaded Free Website Templates
Some free templates looked fantastic but broke the minute I tried to customise them.
Ghost's Casper theme (what you see now) turned out to be a much smarter choice — clean, easy, and customisable without tears. It may not be my last but it has been a dream to use.

Final Thought

Free doesn’t always mean good — but it doesn’t mean useless either.
Some free tools became my everyday essentials. Others became a 15-minute life lesson in "you get what you pay for."

In the end, picking the right tools is just another part of the fun.
And trust me — even picking badly sometimes teaches you something valuable.