10 subscriptions to replace
Build your own design apps
Create, edit, and share visual work with tools shaped around your workflow. Compare 10 alternatives with build prompts and realistic estimates.
Build your own Canva
A tiny brand-safe editor for the graphics you make every week.
From 3 days · $15–$30/mo per person
Build your own Figma
A small vector canvas for wireframes, minus multiplayer everything.
From 4 days · $16–$55/mo per person
Build your own Gamma
Your outline is already a slide deck.
From 8 hours · $10–$20/mo per person
Build your own Photoshop
You use four of its four thousand tools. Build the four.
From 12 hours · $9.99–$22.99/mo
Build your own Shots.so
Your screenshot, but dressed for the timeline.
From 2 hours · $10–$20/mo
Build your own Frame.io
Notes at 00:42, not “somewhere around the middle”.
From 12 hours · $15–$25/mo per person
Build your own Lucidchart
Boxes, arrows, and labels that don’t fall off.
From 10 hours · $9–$11/mo per person
Build your own Framer
Publish your product site from a handful of good sections.
From 12 hours · $10–$30/mo
Build your own Balsamiq
Sketch the screen before debating the shade of blue.
From 12 hours · $16–$35/mo per person
Build your own Milanote
Put the references where you can see them.
From 10 hours · $9.99–$12.5/mo per person
Read about building design apps
- Should I vibe code Figma
Should I vibe code Figma as a single-player canvas? Four days for shapes, text, and undo. Keep paying if the shared team file is already the record.
- Vibe code your own Shots.so
Vibe code your own Shots.so in the browser. Paste a screenshot, add a gradient and padding, export a PNG at the exact social size. Skip the $10–$20 rent.
- Vibe code your own Figma
Vibe code your own Figma as a single-player drawing tool. The multiplayer document and the WASM renderer are what you pay for. Here is the public split.
- Build a TinyPNG alternative
Build a TinyPNG alternative in the browser. Drop images, compress them, download them. No accounts, no CDN. Originals never leave the device.