Eleven Jobs, One Free Tool Each: A Stack That Fits Together
You do not need a pile of subscriptions to work well with these tools. You need the right one open for the job in front of you – and, more usefully than any list, a sense of how the ones you choose fit together.
That last part is what almost every free-stack post skips. Eleven tools in a column is a shopping list. Eleven tools arranged by where they sit in your day is a system, and a system is what actually saves the time.
How the stack fits together
Every tool on this list does one of five things. Arranged in the order work actually flows, they stop looking like eleven apps and start looking like a pipeline.
| 1. Capture → | 2. Think → | 3. Make → | 4. Check → | 5. Keep |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wispr Flow – voice to text Granola – meeting notes Getting ideas out of your head and out of calls before they evaporate. |
Obsidian – second brain Gemini Notebook – learning from your sources Turning raw material into something you understand. |
Claude – writing Canva – design Gamma – slides Where the finished thing actually gets built. |
Grammarly – grammar ChatGPT – deep search Gemini – other languages Catching what you missed before anyone else does. |
Notion – workspace
Where it all lives, so next month you can find it. |
Look at where the gaps are for you rather than where the tools are. Most people have a strong Make column and almost nothing in Capture or Keep – which is why good ideas die in the shower and finished work disappears into a downloads folder.
The eleven, and what “free” means for each
“Free” covers a wide range. A few of these are genuinely free for personal use; most are free tiers with limits you will eventually notice. Both are fine – you just want to know which is which before you build a week around one.
| The job | The tool | What the free version covers | Where you will feel the edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Writing | Claude | Drafting, rewriting, working through long documents | Usage caps on heavy days. Structured prompts stretch them further. |
| Second brain | Obsidian | The core app, with notes stored as files on your own device | Syncing across devices and publishing are paid extras. |
| Workspace | Notion | Pages, databases and planning for one person | Team features and the built-in assistant sit on paid plans. |
| Design | Canva | Templates and a large free asset library | Some elements and brand tools are Pro only. |
| All-rounder and deep search | ChatGPT | General drafting and questions | Deeper research features depend on your plan. |
| Voice to text | Wispr Flow | Dictation that tidies itself up as you speak | A usage cap on the free tier. |
| Meeting notes | Granola | Automatic notes from calls | Limits on how many meetings and how much history. |
| Slides | Gamma | A first deck from an outline in about a minute | Credits run out, and some export options are paid. |
| Grammar | Grammarly | Spelling and basic grammar | Tone, rewriting and style suggestions are premium. |
| Learning from your sources | Gemini Notebook | Questions answered from documents you upload | Only as current as what you give it. |
| Multilingual work | Gemini | Drafting and checking across languages | Nuance in a language you cannot read still needs a native check. |
The right-hand column is the useful one. None of those edges is a reason to avoid the tool; each is a reason to know where it sits before you plan a deadline around it. We mapped the same thing for video tools, where the edges are nastier because they show up as watermarks, in free until minute forty.
Watch the reel
The whole stack on one card, one tool per job. Posted on the BANI Academy page.
You probably need seven of these, not eleven
Several of these tools overlap heavily, and running all of them means maintaining five places where your work might be. Pick one from each pair unless you have a specific reason not to.
| These overlap | Where they differ | How to choose |
|---|---|---|
| Obsidian and Notion | Local files you own, versus a shared online workspace | Mostly thinking alone? Obsidian. Planning with other people? Notion. Rarely both. |
| Claude and ChatGPT | Long careful writing, versus broad range and search | Pick one as your main assistant and learn it properly. The other is a cross-check, not a second home. |
| Gemini Notebook and your main assistant | Answers grounded strictly in your uploads | Keep it for research-heavy videos where the source matters more than the style. |
| Grammarly and your writing assistant | A final pass as you type, versus a rewrite on request | If your assistant already edits your drafts, Grammarly’s free tier is a safety net, not a tool. |
| Canva and Gamma | Single visuals, versus a whole deck | Only need Gamma if you make presentations. Thumbnails live in Canva. |
The same logic we used for paid subscriptions applies to free ones: the cost of a free tool is never zero, it is attention and maintenance. The five questions in free is not always better work just as well on a stack that costs nothing.
Two honest notes
The reel says fifteen jobs; the caption lists eleven. The count on graphics drifts constantly, and it changes nothing about whether the tools are useful. We mention it because this blog keeps finding the same pattern, and counting the lines is the cheapest check there is.
None of this makes anyone behind. People do excellent work with a text editor and a spreadsheet. A stack is worth having only when it removes a specific step you were doing by hand – which is the one-swap-at-a-time procedure in seven jobs, seven tools, one swap.
What this looks like for a channel
For a video week, the flow is simple. Dictate ideas as they arrive rather than typing them later. Drop research sources into one notebook and ask questions against them. Draft the script with your main assistant – set up once with your audience and rules, as in stop re-explaining yourself – and finish the thumbnail in a template tool. Then file everything in one workspace so next month’s video can find this month’s research.
If you are unsure which assistant to make the centre of it, the job-by-job comparison is in five assistants, five jobs.
Frequently asked questions
Can I really run a channel on free tiers?
For a long time, yes. The limits start to matter when you are publishing often or working with other people, which is also roughly when paying for one tool becomes worth it.
Which one should I pay for first, if any?
Whichever you hit the limit on most often. That is the only honest signal.
Do I need both a second brain and a workspace?
Usually not. Pick the one that matches whether you mostly think alone or plan with others.
Will this list still be right next year?
The jobs will. Some of the tools and most of the limits will have moved.
Fill one empty column
Look at the five columns at the top – capture, think, make, check, keep – and find the one where you currently have nothing. Add a single free tool there, use it for two weeks, and notice whether ideas stop evaporating or work stops disappearing.
That is a bigger improvement than adding a sixth tool to the column you already have covered.
Learning a lot does not make anyone good. Doing a lot does.
If you want the structure that makes that habit stick, that is what our free challenge is built for: no barrier to entry, a genuine commitment to action, and a refundable commitment fee you get back when you finish. You are not paying for the knowledge. You are betting on yourself finishing, and we hold the stake.
Which one do you use every day? Tell us in the comments on the original reel and we will suggest the column you are probably missing.
For more on building channels for English-speaking audiences, that is what we work on at mmoyoutube.com.
