Interactive

Build your stack

Five questions about what you need, and the shape of something that fits. Fair warning: for most people the answer is one tool, and we are not going to pad it out to look more impressive.

Nothing on this page goes anywhere. No model behind it, nothing to sign in for, and your answers stay in your browser — which seemed only decent, given one of the questions.

1What do you actually want it to do?

Pick everything that applies. This is the only answer that changes which tools can do the job, because it is the only thing we record as a fact.

2What are you willing to spend?

Not to filter the list. We hold no price for any of these, and we would rather tell you that than guess.

3Where will you be using it?

A thing that only works at a desk is no use if you need it on a bus, and most people find that out afterwards.

4How do you feel about what you type leaving your device?

This is the one that changes everything. It is also the one people answer quickly and then regret.

5Anything that would make this easier for you?

Pick anything that applies, or nothing. We do not record how well these tools do any of it, and we will say so rather than pretend.

1 of 5 answered. The last one can be left blank if nothing applies.

ORBIT / THE NAVIGATOR

A stack is usually two tools and a subscription somebody talked you into. Occasionally it is genuinely two tools.

How this works

Five questions, no account, and nothing here calls a model. The rules are ours and they are the same every time.

Only one of your answers changes the list of tools: what you want it for. It is the only thing we record about them as a fact with a date on it.

The rest decides what we warn you about. We hold no price for any of these and we have tested none of them, so we are not going to tell you which is best.

Most people need one tool. A stack is usually a way of selling you a second one.

What we cannot tell you

What any of it costs. We hold no price for a single one of these, and a number we made up would be the one you quoted back at us.

Whether one handles a screen reader better than another. Nobody here has tested that, and guessing at it would be worse than saying nothing.

Before you pick one

Should I use AI for this? is the question underneath this one, and it can tell you the answer is none of them.

The Arena lets you put your own question to several at once, with the names hidden until you have decided which answer you liked.