Brevo

Brevo is a flexible platform for sending newsletters, automating email flows, running live chat, and even sending SMS, all in one place. It’s designed for small teams and creators who want reliable marketing tools without the big price tag.

I recently set it up for one of my side projects. Everything’s ready to go, though I still haven’t sent many newsletters yet (it’s on the 2025 to-do list!). What I really like is how easy it is to get started, and the pricing is super flexible. I use the pay-as-you-go option, but there are monthly plans if you send more regularly.

One thing that does bother me: you have to pay extra to remove the “Send with Brevo” footer from your emails. Still, it’s one of the most affordable newsletter tools out there 🤑.

We use it to send emails over at our sister project, EmailTooltester.com – they’ve put together a super in-depth review if you want to learn more, plus the video I shared above.

🔁 Alternative to: Mailchimp, ConvertKit, Klaviyo

👉 Visit: brevo.com​

💰 From $9/month | Free plan available

FreshDesk

FreshDesk helps you handle incoming support requests without losing your mind. It turns emails, contact forms, and even social media comments into trackable tickets you can assign, tag, and reply to in one place. Perfect for teams 👥.

We use it daily at Tooltester.com to manage support across channels. It’s especially handy for discussing tricky issues internally before hitting "send" on a response. Think of it as your team's shared brain for customer questions.

I just wish the interface felt a bit more 2025. The design’s a little dated and things could be more intuitive. But overall, it’s rock solid if support is a regular part of your work and you have a team.

🔁 Alternative to: Help Scout, Zendesk, Crisp

👉 Visit: freshdesk.com​

💰 From $15/month | Free plan available

JivoChat

Live chat tools often cost a fortune and rarely offer a useful free plan. JivoChat flips that script. You get live chat, email, WhatsApp, Facebook, even SMS messaging for free with up to 5 agents and unlimited chats. Paid plans are still more affordable than many competitors too.

JivoChat also includes voice and video calls, a built-in CRM, internal team chat, visitor tracking, customizable chat widgets, and proactive greetings.

That said, it’s not without quirks. Setup can feel clunky: some automations glitch and visitor data doesn’t always update in real time. And to be honest, the UI could be more polished.

JivoChat is ideal if you want a powerful, feature-rich chat solution that scales with your needs, starting for free, and growing affordably.

🔁 Alternative to: Tidio, LiveChat, Olark

👉 Visit: jivochat.com​

💰 From $28/month | Free plan available

✨ Totally Off-Topic… But Brilliant

LM Studio lets you run AI models like ChatGPT on your own computer, no internet, no cloud, just local power. It’s a simple desktop app: no maze of settings, no command-line dance. Just install it, grab models (1-click download) like LLama, Qwen, or Granite, and start chatting right away on your laptop.

Everything remains on your machine, making it perfect for handling sensitive client info. Also great if you are only looking to play around. Plus, you can geek out with the built-in API: use your computer as the "AI server" to build apps and workflows.

Of course, you’ll need a decent setup, as AI models are resource-hungry lads. But on my (more or less modest) MacBook Pro M2 with 16 GB of RAM, I've been able to run impressive models like lightweight versions of Gemma, DeepSeek, or Mistral at decent speeds.

🔁 Alternative to: Ollama, ChatGPT, Claude
👉 Visit: lmstudio.ai​
💰 Free

⚡This Week’s Productivity Hack

In AI times, diving into search operators might feel a bit retro, but don’t skip ahead.

These tiny commands are crazy useful when you need to find something fast and precise. They filter out noise, surface the exact info you need, and can save hours of scrolling.

How it works:

Google Search Operators are shortcuts (like site:, intitle:, and filetype:) that help you narrow Google searches for faster, more targeted results. Ideal for zeroing in on exactly what you need efficiently.

A few examples:

1. Discover guest post opportunities: Reveal sites open to contributions with minimal effort. Type in Google: inurl:write-for-us "your niche"
2. Find internal linking opportunities: Quickly locate pages on your site that mention specific terms. Type in Google: site:yourdomain.com "keyword"
3. Uncover industry forums: Find niche conversations on platforms like Reddit or Quora relevant to your field. Type in Google: site:reddit.com intitle:"your topic"
4. Combo search: Of course, you can also combine them, and use something like site:example.com filetype:pdf intitle:"benchmark" 2025 to get the reports a certain website publishes.

These are just a handful of ways to apply Google Search operators; you can tweak them to fit your specific needs. It may feel old-school, but I still rely on it a few times each week 📌.

🍿 Plot Twist of the Week

A few months ago Robert (my boss) filed a spam report with Microsoft because some of our emails keep landing in Outlook and Hotmail spam folders.

Arguably a normal fix, right? Not this time…

Guess where Microsoft's confirmation email landed?

Yep – in the Junk folder. 🤷‍♂️

The very email saying “we got your report” was flagged by their own spam filter. I mean, if even Microsoft can’t avoid their own spam system, what chance do the rest of us have?

That seems a little crazy to me, don't you think?

Moral of the story: when even your own spam report ends up in spam, it might be time to admit the filter’s broken. Looking at you, Microsoft 👀.

That’s it for this week. Thanks for reading! Next time, we’ll explore CMS tools beyond WordPress. Plus I’ll be testing a new AI image model that lets you edit photos with prompts, let's see if I get anywhere.

Cheers,

Josep

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