The solopreneur AI stack: what I use daily

The exact AI tools, costs, and workflows I use to run a one-person business. The exact stack, with monthly costs.

Why i'm sharing my actual stack

most "solopreneur tool stack" articles list 30 tools the author probably doesn't use. this is different. these are the tools I open every single day to run Blue Orchid. I'm sharing the exact costs, what each tool does for me, and. Just as importantly. The tools I tried and dropped.

context: I run an AI consulting practice, build AI-powered tools, and create content. your stack will look different depending on your business, but the principles are the same: fewer tools, deeper knowledge, clear roles for each.

The core stack

Monthly costs: $97/month Claude Pro. $20/month Role: Writing, analysis, strategy, client communications Perplexity Pro. $20/month Role: Research, competitive analysis, fact-checking Cursor Pro. $20/month Role: All coding and development work Vercel Pro. $20/month Role: Hosting, deployments, domains Make (Core). $9/month Role: Automation. Email workflows, content pipelines, monitoring Todoist Pro. $4/month Role: Task management with natural language input Obsidian Sync. $4/month Role: Notes, knowledge base, second brain

How each tool earns its place

Claude Pro ($20/month) is the highest-ROI tool in the stack. I use it for: drafting client proposals (saves 2-3 hours each), writing content (first drafts in minutes instead of hours), analyzing documents and contracts, brainstorming strategy, and even rubber-ducking technical problems. conservatively, Claude saves me 15-20 hours per week. at my billing rate, that's thousands in recovered capacity.

Perplexity Pro ($20/month) handles all research. competitive analysis, market research for clients, finding technical documentation, checking facts before publishing. the cited sources save me from the "where did I read that?" problem. I use it 3-5 times daily.

Cursor Pro ($20/month) is how I build everything. this website, client projects, internal tools. it's not just AI-assisted coding. It fundamentally changes the speed of development. features that used to take days take hours. for the full review, see our Cursor review.

The automation layer

Make ($9/month) runs the workflows I'd otherwise forget. the most valuable automations:

• new inquiry email → parsed by AI → added to CRM with priority score → Todoist task created → me notified on Slack
• content published → automatically shared to social channels with AI-generated captions
• weekly: pull analytics, generate summary report, email it to me every Monday morning
• competitor monitoring: check specific pages weekly, notify me of significant changes

total: about 15 active automations that save roughly 5 hours per week of manual work. at $9/month, it's absurdly good value. see our Zapier vs Make comparison for why I chose Make over Zapier.

Tools I tried and dropped

• Jasper ($39/month): dropped after Claude Pro got good enough. Jasper's team features are valuable, but for a solopreneur, Claude produces better writing at half the price. see our Jasper review
• Notion ($10/month): switched to Obsidian. Notion's databases are powerful but I spent more time organizing than working. Obsidian's simplicity keeps me focused
• Zapier ($20/month): switched to Make. same capabilities for less money, and I prefer Make's visual builder. see our Zapier vs Make comparison
• Grammarly Premium ($12/month): Claude catches most writing issues. Grammarly's free tier handles the rest
• ChatGPT Plus ($20/month): I keep the free tier for image generation. Claude handles everything else better for my workflow

Building your stack: the rules

• rule 1: every tool needs a clear, non-overlapping role. if two tools do the same thing, drop one. overlap means you'll stop using both because you can't decide which to open
• rule 2: start free, upgrade when you hit actual limits. not when a pricing page makes you feel like you should. most free tiers are genuinely usable
• rule 3: learn 5 tools deeply rather than 15 tools superficially. the person who knows Claude's prompting tricks well outperforms the person who has subscriptions to Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot but barely uses any of them
• rule 4: audit quarterly. every 3 months, check which tools you opened in the last 30 days. cancel everything else. subscription creep sneaks up on you
• rule 5: the best tool is the one you use. Obsidian might be 'better' than Apple Notes for knowledge management. but if Apple Notes is what you open, Apple Notes wins

The $0 starting stack

if you're just starting out and can't spend $97/month, here's the free version that covers 80% of needs:

$0/month solopreneur stack Writing/Analysis: Claude free tier Research: Perplexity free tier (5 Pro searches/day) Coding: Cursor free tier (or VS Code + Copilot free tier) Tasks: Todoist free tier Notes: Obsidian (always free) Automation: Make free tier (1,000 operations/month) Hosting: Vercel free tier (hobby projects) Total: $0/month. Upgrade tools one at a time as your revenue grows.

for a broader view of AI tools beyond the solopreneur context, see our best AI tools for small business guide. and for automating more of your workflow, our AI workflow automation guide walks through specific setup steps.

Frequently Asked Questions

What AI tools do solopreneurs need?

At minimum: one AI chatbot (Claude or ChatGPT) for writing and analysis, one task manager, and one note-taking app. As you grow: add a research tool (Perplexity), an automation tool (Make), and specialized tools for your industry (Cursor for developers, Canva for designers).

How much should a solopreneur spend on AI tools?

$0-100/month covers everything. Start free. Most tools have genuinely useful free tiers. The highest-ROI first upgrade is a paid AI chatbot (Claude Pro or ChatGPT Plus at $20/month). Add tools one at a time as your revenue grows.

Is it worth paying for multiple AI tools?

Only if each tool has a clear, non-overlapping role. Paying for Claude AND ChatGPT AND Gemini is wasteful. They overlap too much. Paying for Claude (writing) AND Perplexity (research) AND Cursor (coding) makes sense because each handles a different job.

What's the best AI tool for solopreneurs?

Claude Pro ($20/month) for the highest single-tool ROI. It handles writing, analysis, brainstorming, and client communications. If you can only pick one paid AI tool, this is the one. ChatGPT Plus is a close second with more versatility.