How we score

What the totals mean

The total becomes a verdict, shown on every review as a badge that runs from full blue for convivial to red for restrictive. The verdict is a judgement made by people, dated, and open to change.

Size: who makes it

S

One person or a few friends, usually self-funded. Most vibe-coded apps live here.

M

A small team or a community project with little or no outside money.

L

An established company with serious investors behind it.

XL

One of the biggest companies in the world. We review a few as benchmarks, outside the directory, so there is something to measure the rest against.

Scope: how much of your life it holds

Gadget

Does one thing, usually needs no account. You could lose it without losing anything.

Tool

An app you use regularly as part of how you work or live.

System

Something your data lives in and your life runs on. Gets the most scrutiny.

Scope sets how deep a review goes. A gadget gets a short card. A system that holds your passwords or photos gets the long treatment.

The ranking

Every tool in the directory is ranked by its total in the directory, so you can see at a glance which ones come out most convivial. A total hides detail, though, so open a review to see how a tool did on each of the six questions, and compare within a category when you are choosing, because a password manager and a painting program do different jobs.

Benchmarks

Now and then we score one of the giants, so you can see what everything else is measured against. These benchmark reviews use the same questions and the same scale, and they stay outside the directory.

A designer's way to read the questions

If you work in design, think of the six questions as a heuristic evaluation of the tool's relationship with its people. Footprint is efficiency, and Lock-in asks whether a file is a door you can walk through or a wall. Self-direction covers learnability, user control and the absence of dark patterns such as streaks, nag screens and fake urgency. Power looks at who the product answers to, Longevity at whether your work outlasts the vendor, and Delivery at whether the interface keeps the promises its marketing makes.

Badges

Every tool in the directory has a badge on its review page that shows its score and verdict. A badge reports a dated review and is not a certification, we charge nothing for it, and it comes in versions for light and dark pages. It always shows the tool's current score, so it changes if the review does, and the maker is asked to link it to the review.

Our own tools

The founder of this site makes small software too. Those tools are scored with the same rubric and always carry a Made here label.

Credit where it's due

The idea of a convivial tool comes from Ivan Illich's 1973 book Tools for Conviviality, and the six questions follow the structure of its third chapter. The rubric itself is our own interpretation. Andrea Vetter's Matrix for Convivial Technology (2018) took on a similar task for engineers and is well worth reading.