Notes on building.
Guides on mobile apps, web platforms and AI products. Cost breakdowns, stack comparisons and how we ship.
How to Build an Open Banking Platform with PSD2 and FDX APIs
Open banking regulation is live in 80+ countries, creating massive opportunity for fintech platforms that aggregate accounts and initiate payments. The technical challenge is making inconsistent bank APIs work reliably at scale.
How to build · Mar 23, 2026 · 16 min read
How to Build a Subscription Management Platform Like Chargebee
Chargebee and Recurly proved subscription management is a $10B+ market. If your billing complexity has outgrown Stripe Billing and you are tired of paying revenue share, here is how to build your own.
How to build · Mar 23, 2026 · 16 min read
Cline vs Aider vs Claude Code: AI Coding Agents Compared 2026
AI coding agents moved past autocomplete into full autonomous development. Cline runs in VS Code, Aider works from your terminal, and Claude Code is Anthropic's CLI. Each has a fundamentally different philosophy about how AI should write code.
Technology · Mar 23, 2026 · 14 min read
Backstage vs Port vs Cortex: Internal Developer Portals 2026
40%+ of engineering orgs with 50+ developers now run internal developer portals. Backstage is open-source and extensible. Port is API-first and fast to deploy. Cortex focuses on service quality scorecards. The right choice depends on your team size and maturity.
Technology · Mar 23, 2026 · 14 min read
LlamaIndex vs LangChain vs Haystack: Best RAG Framework 2026
LlamaIndex is data-focused, LangChain is agent-focused, and Haystack is production-focused. Each RAG framework excels at different things, and picking the wrong one costs you months of migration later.
Technology · Mar 23, 2026 · 14 min read
Polar vs Lago vs Stripe Billing: Open-Source Billing in 2026
Open-source billing platforms are challenging Stripe Billing's dominance. Lago offers metering accuracy for usage-based pricing. Polar targets developer tools. Stripe Billing is the safe default. Here is when each makes sense.
Technology · Mar 23, 2026 · 14 min read
PartyKit vs Liveblocks vs Durable Objects: Realtime for Apps
Building Figma-like multiplayer features means choosing real-time infrastructure. PartyKit makes it fun, Liveblocks makes it fast to ship, and Durable Objects give you maximum control. Each serves a different stage of ambition.
Technology · Mar 23, 2026 · 14 min read
Local-First Software Architecture: The Complete Guide 2026
Local-first architecture delivers instant UI, offline support, and real-time collaboration while reducing server costs 40 to 60%. It is the most important architectural shift since single-page applications, and most teams are still ignoring it.
Technology · Mar 23, 2026 · 16 min read
AI Agent Monetization: Pricing Models and Revenue Strategies
AI agents are projected to generate $50B+ in revenue by 2028, but traditional SaaS pricing does not work for autonomous systems that consume variable compute and deliver variable value. Here are the pricing models that do work.
AI & strategy · Mar 23, 2026 · 15 min read
AI for Cybersecurity: Threat Detection for SaaS Startups 2026
AI cybersecurity tools detect threats 60x faster than manual monitoring. Here is how SaaS startups should implement AI-powered threat detection, and how to build security AI products.
AI & strategy · Mar 22, 2026 · 14 min read
How Much Does It Cost to Build an Equipment Rental App in 2026?
Equipment rental marketplaces combine the complexity of two-sided marketplaces with insurance verification, deposit workflows, and damage assessment. Here is what it actually costs to build one.
Cost & planning · Mar 22, 2026 · 14 min read
How Much Does a Remote Patient Monitoring App Cost in 2026?
CMS expanded RPM reimbursement codes, and now every health system wants a remote patient monitoring platform. The development costs are higher than you think because of HIPAA, FDA, and wearable integration.
Cost & planning · Mar 22, 2026 · 15 min read