The Hustle Archive

Resource library

What we use, what we trust.

Resource pages on most sites are bloated affiliate dumps. Ours isn't. Below are the tools we pay for ourselves, the free alternatives we'd pick if we were broke, and a small set of books that actually shaped how we think about this work. Affiliate links are marked with ↗.

AI tools we actually use

The AI subscriptions we keep paying for, plus the free alternatives.

  • ChatGPT Plus

    Daily writing assist, research, prompt iteration. $20/mo.

  • Claude (Anthropic)

    Long-context document analysis and editorial review. Free tier is generous.

  • Notion AI

    Notion's built-in AI for docs and tables. $10/mo on top of Notion.

Newsletter & website infrastructure

Where we'd start a faceless brand from scratch in 2026.

  • Beehiiv

    Newsletter with built-in monetisation. Free up to 2,500 subscribers.

  • ConvertKit

    More opinionated sequences and tags. Free to 1,000.

  • Cloudflare

    Free DNS, free CDN, free Pages hosting for static sites.

Pinterest tools

What T.V. uses for our pin work.

  • Tailwind

    Pinterest scheduler. Worth it once you're posting 5+ pins/day.

  • Canva Free

    Pin design without paying. Pro adds resize and brand kit.

  • Pinterest Trends

    Free, native, underused. Always check before pinning.

Books we recommend

Short list. We don't pad it for affiliate revenue.

Want a specific tool reviewed? Email us — we add to this list as our testing justifies it, not as content marketing busywork.