Why you should cut down on that AI subscription and start hosting your own for (almost) free

Are you tired of subscription madness and costs from AI tools? I am pro-AI use and genuinely believe that everyone should have equal access to AI resources. Otherwise, the gap in productivity, skills, and more will widen over time for those who can afford to use AI tools compared to those who don’t. This article aims to help bridge the gap since the opportunity to use AI for cheap or free is not well-known.

In today’s rundown:

• What are open-source projects?

• List of free alternatives to paid tools for social media creation and scheduling, note-taking and productivity, AI-powered job applications, low-code platforms, and automations.

• Targeted audience: self-host enthusiasts, students, and those who want to save money on AI costs.

Read time: 10 minutes.

What are open-source projects?

If you are not a technical person, you might not know about this amazing thing called open-source projects. Open-source projects are when talented people create awesome software and share it with the community FOR FREE.

Pros

• You own YOUR data since you own and operate the software for you.

• There is no monthly subscription fee, no surprise fee, and no cancellation difficulty.

• In most cases, you save significant money using OpenAI or other LLM providers directly through API calls instead of paying a third-party provider. The cost of the OpenAI mini model is minimal. I have used the mini model multiple times, and the results are awesome compared to the price. For reference, if you have a prompt with 1M tokens, you only pay $0.0150. If the number is too confusing, let me break it down for you.

Suppose you want to summarize the Harry Potter series (7 books), which has 1,084,170 words.

Let’s reference a simple purchase: a standard cup of coffee (no add-on) costs around $3.00 in many places.

At these rates:

• Input Tokens: $0.150 per 1 million tokens → For $3.00, you could process 20 million tokens.

• Output Tokens: $0.600 per 1 million tokens → For $3.00, you could generate 5 million tokens.

Here’s how that works with the book

• Input Tokens (Reading the Books):

  • The series has 1,084,170 words and, on average, 1 word ≈ for 1.3 tokens.

• Output Tokens (Generating Summaries):

  • Assume you want a 500-word summary per book across 7 books.→ ~4,550 tokens.

The Harry Potter series requires ~1.41 million input tokens and 4,550 output tokens to read and summarize.

So, you can handle the entire Harry Potter series 14 times with just $3.00!

Do you see how cheap it is to call the provider directly without AI wrappers? This is why there are so many AI wrappers out there because it is damn profitable!

• ✨ Last but not least, do you know that Google LLM API for model Gemini is completely FREE for most users since they have a very generous free tier limit? You cannot complain that AI is expensive if you are informed about the many opportunities. In the LLM race, competition is good and benefits us consumers.

Cons

• You need some technical background, even with ready-made setups like open-source projects.

• You are on your own. There’s no support from anyone else. If the software breaks, you are your own support. You need to take care of backups and databases.

• You need a working, reliable computer and the Internet. Keep in mind that servers and computing power are not free, but they will still be cheaper than going through a middleman.

Social Media Scheduling Tool

Overview: Postiz is a social media creation and scheduling tool. Postiz offers everything you need to manage your social media posts, build an audience, capture leads, and grow your business. Although the project requires a subscription, you can set this up for free if you don't want the hassle since the source code is entirely open-source.

The features are rich, and the setup is easy, considering how impressive the project is. It is perfect for content creators and marketing agencies. 

Replace these paid tools: Buffer.com, Hypefury, Twitter Hunter, Etc...

Check it out here.

AI-powered Note-taking App

Overview: NotebookLM is a free, AI-powered tool by Google that helps you simplify, organize, and analyze text-heavy documents. Acting as your virtual research assistant, it can effortlessly summarize, answer questions, and connect insights from multiple sources.

Replace these paid tools: Notions, Evernote, Bear, and ElevenLabs for Podcast.

Check it out here. Additionally, check out my article here.

Overview: Memos is a lightweight, privacy-focused note-taking tool that enables you to capture and share your thoughts effortlessly. Its features include:

• Open Source and Free to Use: Memos envisions a future where creativity is limitless. All features are free, ensuring you won’t face any charges for your content.

• Self-Hosting Made Easy: Quickly set up your instance in seconds with Docker. This offers flexibility, scalability, and full data control and privacy control.

• Plain Text with Markdown Support: Manage your notes in plain text while using Markdown for straightforward formatting, avoiding the complexities of rich-text editing.

• Effortless Customization and Sharing: Customize your notes and easily share them with others using user-friendly collaboration tools.

• Powerful RESTful API: Seamlessly integrate with third-party applications and unlock new opportunities with our RESTful API support.RESTful API support.

Replace these paid tools: Notions, Evernote, Bear, and ElevenLabs for Podcast.

Check it out here.

Productivity/Second-brain workspace

Overview: Khoj is a self-hosted AI knowledge management system that integrates online AI models or deploys private local large language models to help teams and individuals organize and manage knowledge bases. Users can tailor the structure and functionality of their knowledge management system to fit their preferences, including selecting document types and storage options.

You can set up simple automation to receive daily reports and tailored newsletters. Automations are a robust feature in Khoj that lets you schedule recurring tasks for it to handle on your behalf. They allow you to run your query automatically at designated times and intervals. Khoj will send its findings to you via email. You can request Khoj to generate custom newsletters, summarize news, notify you about global events, and more. 

Replace these paid tools: Co-pilot, Perplexity, and Zapier (basic).

Check it out here.

SuperMemoryAI

Overview: With Supermemory, you can build your own second brain. It's a ChatGPT for your bookmarks. Use the Chrome extension to import tweets or save websites and content.

Replace these paid tools: Instapaper and Pocket.

Check it out here.

AI-powered job application

Overview: Auto Jobs Applier AI Agent simplifies the job-hunting experience by automating applications. Using artificial intelligence, it allows users to apply for various positions in a personalized and automated manner. 🔍 Your AI-driven job search assistant: streamline your applications, receive tailored recommendations, and secure your dream job more quickly.

Replace these paid tools: AIApply, LazyApply, and JobCopilot.

Check it out here.

Low-code platform

AppSmith

Overview: Appsmith is an open-source low-code platform designed for swiftly creating, deploying, and managing powerful software with enterprise-grade security and governance. It offers comprehensive low-code development features, enabling integration with a variety of data sources and custom interface designs. While it helps users sidestep the high costs linked to commercial low-code solutions, it necessitates that users handle self-hosted maintenance and support.

Replace these paid tools: Bubble, Budibase, Retool, and Superblock.

Check it out here.

AI-powered automation tool

Overview: n8n is a flexible open-source tool for automating tasks and workflows. It allows users to create complex workflows and connect different services easily, helping businesses automate processes according to their needs.

Replace these paid tools: Zapier, Make.

Check it out here.

That’s a wrap! 🌯

Thank you for reading, and happy innovating! 🎉

I hope you find these software recommendations helpful. If you’re interested in setting these up yourself and are not a technical person, please shoot me an email at [email protected].