My Toolbox and Work Setup
Explore my toolbox, where I share my go-to tools, hardware, and software, along with the WordPress plugins that fuel my content creation, web development, and online marketing. Quite a few of them are tools I built myself.
Disclaimer: In full transparency, I am an affiliate for one or more of the products listed on this page. If you click a link and complete a purchase, I might make a commission at no extra cost to you. Please see the full disclaimer and FTC disclosure here.
Tools I Use Daily
Battle-tested tools that power my websites, content, and business operations.
xCloud
xCloud is a managed server and WordPress hosting platform that deploys sites on your own cloud infrastructure from providers like…
WPX
WPX Hosting was my hosting provider for three years, and I know the service intimately. Built specifically for WordPress, WPX…
WP Rocket
WP Rocket is the most popular premium WordPress caching plugin, and for good reason. It's the easiest to set up…
WP Grid Builder
WP Grid Builder creates filterable, animated grid layouts for WordPress posts, custom post types, and WooCommerce products. Its faceted search…
WordPress.com
WordPress.com is the hosted version of WordPress, offering an all-in-one platform for building websites without managing your own hosting infrastructure.…
Todoist
Todoist is one of the most popular task management apps available, used by millions for personal and professional productivity. Its…
SureCart
SureCart is a modern ecommerce plugin for WordPress that simplifies selling digital and physical products. It offers a cleaner, faster…
Shopify
Shopify is the leading ecommerce platform for businesses of every size, from solo creators selling handmade goods to enterprise brands…
SendFox
SendFox is a budget-friendly email marketing tool created by the AppSumo team, designed specifically for content creators. It offers email…
SEMrush
SEMrush is the all-in-one SEO and digital marketing toolkit I recommend most. After using it daily for years across dozens…
ScalaHosting
ScalaHosting offers managed VPS hosting with their proprietary SPanel control panel as an alternative to cPanel. It's built for users…
Sapling
Sapling is an AI writing assistant that focuses on speed and accuracy for business communication. It integrates with email, CRM…
Rank Math
Rank Math is the WordPress SEO plugin I use and recommend most. It offers more features in its free version…
Perfmatters
Perfmatters is a lightweight WordPress performance plugin that focuses on doing fewer things exceptionally well. It disables unnecessary scripts, manages…
PDF Expert
PDF Expert is a PDF editing app for Mac and iOS that handles reading, annotation, editing, and form filling with…
Novashare
Novashare is a lightweight WordPress social sharing plugin built for performance. Unlike bloated alternatives that load multiple scripts, Novashare adds…
Notion
Notion is an all-in-one workspace that combines notes, databases, project management, and wikis in a single platform. It's become the…
Nexter Blocks
Nexter Blocks is a WordPress Gutenberg blocks plugin that adds design-focused blocks to the block editor. From advanced sliders and…
Marketers Delight
Marketers Delight is the WordPress theme that powers gauravtiwari.org and dozens of my client sites. Built specifically for content marketers…
MailerLite
MailerLite is an email marketing platform that offers exceptional value for small businesses and creators. With a generous free plan,…
Kadence Blocks
Kadence Blocks adds powerful custom blocks to the WordPress Gutenberg editor with advanced design controls and responsive options. From row…
Internxt
Internxt is a privacy-focused cloud storage provider that encrypts your files client-side before they ever leave your device. Unlike mainstream…
InstaWP
InstaWP lets you spin up disposable WordPress sites in seconds for testing, development, and client demos. No server setup required.…
Independent Analytics
Independent Analytics is a privacy-focused WordPress analytics plugin that tracks visitor data without external services like Google Analytics. All data…
Hostinger
Hostinger offers some of the most affordable web hosting available, with shared hosting plans that include a free domain and…
GT Performance
My own performance plugin: commerce-safe page caching, Cloudflare integration, server-side unused CSS removal, and Redis. It keeps my websites fast.
GT Link Manager
My own link manager: cloaked /go/ redirects, click analytics, and geo-targeting. Every affiliate link on my websites goes through it.
GT Extensions for FluentCart
My own FluentCart add-on: external products, exact local prices, automatic checkout currency, and gateway routing. It runs my shop.
GenerateBlocks
GenerateBlocks is a lightweight WordPress plugin that adds four essential blocks to the Gutenberg editor: Container, Grid, Headline, and Buttons.…
FlyingPress
FlyingPress is a lightweight WordPress performance plugin that I switched to after using WP Rocket for ten years. It handles…
Fluent Forms
Fluent Forms is a lightweight, fast WordPress form builder that handles everything from simple contact forms to complex multi-step workflows.…
Enpass
Enpass is an offline-first password manager that stores your encrypted vault locally rather than on company servers. This approach gives…
Core Forms
My own WordPress forms plugin: every premium feature in one license, unlimited sites, no add-on tax. Conditional logic, payments, 25+…
Code Snippets
Code Snippets is a WordPress plugin that lets you add custom PHP, CSS, JavaScript, and HTML snippets to your site…
Bunny CDN
Bunny CDN is a content delivery network known for its competitive pricing, global coverage, and easy integration. It speeds up…
Bricks Builder
Bricks Builder is a visual site builder for WordPress that gives developers and designers complete control over their website design.…
Blocksy
Blocksy is a free WordPress theme that punches well above its weight class. With deep block editor integration, WooCommerce support,…
AppSumo
AppSumo is a digital marketplace that offers lifetime deals on software, tools, and services for entrepreneurs and small businesses. Instead…
AAWP
AAWP (Amazon Affiliate WordPress Plugin) is the most powerful tool for Amazon affiliates running WordPress sites. It creates beautiful product…
Tools I’ve Built
The tools I trust most are the ones I wrote myself. Every plugin below runs in production on my personal and business websites, handling real traffic, real payments, and real forms.
When one of them breaks, my sites break first. That keeps the quality honest.
- GT Performance handles caching on my personal and business websites: commerce-safe page caching, Cloudflare integration, server-side unused CSS, and Redis in 1 plugin. It replaced FlyingPress for me.
- GT Link Manager manages every affiliate link and redirect I create, with click analytics and geo-targeting. The /go/ links on this page run through it.
- Core Forms powers every form and poll on my websites, plus payments and digital product delivery. I built it for speed: forms without the JavaScript bloat most form plugins load on every page.
- GT ACF Blocks adds 29 production-ready blocks to the editor. The accordions and product boxes across my content come from these blocks. Requires ACF Pro.
- GT Page Blocks Builder is a free page builder for people who’d rather write HTML, CSS, and JavaScript than fight a drag-and-drop canvas. It packages the exact workflow I use to build custom landing sections.
- GT Extensions for FluentCart gives my shop external products, exact local prices, and currency-aware payment routing. Readers in India check out in INR without thinking about it.
- GT DeepSeek for AI connects DeepSeek V4 to the WordPress AI Client with reasoning, tools, and web search. I run it on my personal website for ALT text and editorial chores.
- Alpha Chat is my open-source AI chatbot for WordPress, with RAG and MySQL vector storage. It answers reader questions on 2 of my websites right now.
- Functionalities is the utility layer: custom post types, admin cleanup, and the small fixes every WordPress site eventually needs. It runs on my personal and business websites.
That’s the whole catalog: built for my own problems first, sold second.
Free Tools and Templates
Not everything I build is for sale. These are free to use:
- 12 free UPSC preparation tools: marks calculators, revision planners, and practice labs I built for exam aspirants.
- Free agency, freelancer, business, and SEO templates: audit, retainer, scope, and onboarding documents from my client work.
- Blog Rankings: a ranked directory of the best blogs by topic, from technology to personal finance.
Design & Development
- Pixelmator and Affinity for designing graphics
- Sublime Text 3 & Antigravity for Development and Writing Hacks.
- Claude Code for planning, coding, and everything else.
- GitHub for everything dev.
- SnippetsLab for Mac to organize my code snippets and other key data.
- Clop Pro for Image Optimization.
- CleanShot X to capture and annotate screenshots.
- Dropover for drag-and-drop file management.
- Versioning:
- Local WordPress® Development:
- Optimized and self-hosted KaTeX for math-rendering.
- Programming Languages: PHP, Javascript (& jQuery), and Python. Learning Rust now.
- Markup Languages: Markdown, HTML5, CSS3, LaTeX, and MathML
SEO, Content & Marketing
- SEMrush – for Backlink Audit and Keyword Research.
- Google Docs and Chat – to handle documents created by my team.
- Craft & Obsidian for writing and planning content.
Hardware
- All Apple:
- Mac Mini M4
- M5 Pro MacBook Pro
- Macbook Air
- iPhone 16 Plus
- iPad Air
- Apple Magic Keyboard
- Apple Pencil
- AirPods Pro 3rd Generation
- PlayStation 5, Mi Notebook, Xbox Series S, LG 27″-4K Monitor (27UP850N-W).
Productivity Tools
- Craft for notes, collaboration and media kits
- iA Writer + Typora for markdown writing and editing.
- Things 3 for tasks.
- Raycast for almost everything else. Currently on the Premium plan.
- Claude Max 5X ($100/month) & ChatGPT ($20/month)
WordPress Plugins
- Dynamic Month & Year into Posts, my own free plugin, to show auto-updating month, year and dates in content and meta.
- Perfmatters for script management, paired with my own GT Performance for caching and Cloudflare.
- FluentCart for the shop
- Rank Math SEO Pro for SEO. Better than Yoast. Better than anything else.
- Core Forms for the Forms and Polls.
- GenerateBlocks Premium for literally everything that is not normal content.
- Advanced Custom Fields – a total lifesaver.
Hosting
- Using Hostinger VPS (KVM 4) Server on xCloud
- For staging needs, I use RackNerd on xCloud.
Disclaimer: This site is reader-supported. If you buy through some links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend tools I trust and would use myself. Your support helps keep gauravtiwari.org free and focused on real-world advice. Thanks. - Gaurav Tiwari