The annual stack update is here

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Hey—It's Tim. 

It's Black Friday.

Your inbox is a warzone of "70% OFF!!!" emails from tools you've never heard of.

So here's something different:

The tools I actually use. The deals I'm actually considering. No sponsors. No affiliates. Just my tech stack.

I'm making a few tool swap and spending money this weekend.
You might want to spend it on the same things.

Let's go.

✍️ Writing Content

Penfriend (that's us)

Obviously I'm biased, but we have our best deal of the year running.

VIBE Score. Float Score. In-Article Feedback.

20-minute edits instead of 3-hour nightmares.

Black Friday Deal: 30 day content challenge for if you don’t know how to start.

I have gotten a few emails asking when the annual “we only do one sale a year” sale is on. So I’m thinking about what would make for a great one this year. Details to drop tomorrow.

Your Favorite LLM

No deals on Claude, ChatGPT, or any of the AI models right now.

But pick your favorite and pay for it.

You're using it anyway. Might as well get the good version.

My pick: We use all of them for different things. If you were to get one right now. Gemini.

🎨 Design & Websites

Thrive Themes

We use this for the Penfriend website.

WordPress theme builder that doesn't make me want to throw my laptop.

Great deal this year.

Fast. Clean. No-code but powerful.

If you're building landing pages or marketing sites on WordPress, this is it.

→ [thrivethemes.com]

Affinity Studio

If you haven't played around with this yet, do it.

Free tier is HUGE.

Design, photo editing, vector work. All in one.

It's what I use instead of Adobe (because I'm not paying $60/month for Photoshop).

Black Friday Deal: They usually do something good. Check their site.

→ [affinity.studio]

🔍 SEO & Content Research

LowFruits

Does one thing really well: finds low-competition keywords.

No bloat. No "AI content generator" tacked on.

Just: "Here are keywords you can actually rank for."

Good deal this year.

If you're tired of targeting keywords with DR 80+ sites, this finds the gaps.

→ [lowfruits.io]

My Advice

Don't buy tools you don't need.

Black Friday makes you think you need everything.

You don't.

Ask yourself:

1. Do I already use this monthly?

2. Will I use it 10+ times next year?

3. Does annual make sense vs. monthly?

If yes to all three → buy annual today.

If no to any → skip it.

See you tomorrow.

✌️ Tim "FLASH SALE" Hanson
CMO @Penfriend.ai

Same brain, different platforms: X, Threads, LinkedIn.

P.S. Tell me what you’re buying. Or not. Even if it’s Penfriend. And I’ll make a master list of all the best ones tomorrow.

Penfriend.ai
Made by content marketers. Used by better ones.