What actually earns a slot in the directory
"Curated" is doing a lot of heavy lifting on the modern web. Here's what it means for the developheat directory.
The bar
A tool earns a listing if it clears two of three:
- We use it. Not "we tried the landing page" — it's in someone's daily workflow.
- It's best-in-class at one thing. Being the 14th decent option in a crowded category isn't enough.
- It respects developers. Sane pricing, real docs, an API that doesn't fight you, and a free tier that isn't a demo wearing a trench coat.
What gets rejected
- Tools that pay for placement. There is no paid tier. There will never be a paid tier.
- Vaporware and waitlist-only launches. Ship first, list later.
- Anything whose docs are a Discord server.
Pricing labels, honestly
Every tool carries one label: Free, Freemium, Paid, or Open Source. Freemium means the free tier is genuinely usable — if the free plan is a trial with extra steps, it says Paid.
Suggest a tool
The directory is a living thing. If something's missing or a description is stale, that's a bug — treat it like one and tell us. The best directories are maintained like code: small, frequent, honest commits.