Simple apps shouldn't cost monthly. So mine are free.
Somewhere along the way, we started renting everything. Your clipboard. Your currency converter. A little icon in the menu bar that tells you one number. Each one wants $3.99 a month, an account, and your email address.
I got tired of it. Not of paying for software. Good software deserves money. I got tired of paying every month, forever for things that do one small job, never change, and would fit on a floppy disk.
A clipboard history isn't a service. It's a feature your computer should already have. A currency converter doesn't need a cloud. When an app this simple asks for a subscription, you aren't paying for the app. You're paying because someone figured out you'd forget to cancel.
So I started making the ones I needed, and giving them away.
What it cost me to build all of this
That's it. One person, a $10 domain and an AI subscription. If I can build these for the price of a pizza a month, they shouldn't cost you $48 a year each.
That's also the honest point: tools like these got cheap to make. The prices didn't come down with them.
The promises
Free isn't worth much if it turns into a trap later. So here's what every GuruHat app promises:
- No subscriptions. Not now, not in a "Pro" version later.
- No accounts. You download it, it works.
- No ads. Not even "tasteful" ones.
- No tracking inside the apps. Your data stays on your device.
- Open source where I can. You can read exactly what it does.
If I ever break one of these, you have every right to call me out at hello@guruhat.com.
The apps
- AI Meter: your remaining Claude Code or Codex usage in the Mac menu bar or on the Windows taskbar, with the time it resets.
- ClipHat: a private clipboard history for Mac and Windows. Search, pin and restore anything you copied.
- PC Mode: the Windows shortcuts your hands remember, on a Mac.
- ServerHat: runs your local dev servers from the menu bar or tray.
- TocaPad: control your Mac without reaching for the keyboard: slide your trackpad's edges for volume and brightness, double-tap a corner for any shortcut.
- RateGuru: an ad-free currency converter for travelers on Android that works offline.
- PriorityTab: a new tab page for Chrome and Firefox with your most visited sites beside your bookmarks.
One honest warning (Mac and Windows)
Apple charges developers $99 a year to "notarize" Mac apps, and Windows code-signing certificates cost even more. I don't pay those, because that money would have to come from somewhere, and I'd rather keep the apps free.
So when you open a GuruHat app the first time, macOS may say it can't check the app for malicious software, and Windows may show a SmartScreen warning. That's not because something is wrong with the app. It's because I didn't pay the toll. The code is on GitHub if you want to check it yourself.
On a Mac: open the app once, then go to System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down and click Open Anyway. On Windows: click More info → Run anyway, or get the app from the Microsoft Store, where it's signed for you.
If you want to help
You never have to pay. But if an app saves you time, a one-time tip helps keep the whole thing free, and the first $99 goes straight to getting rid of that Mac warning.
The other way to help costs nothing: tell one person who's still paying monthly for a clipboard.
— Andre