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I’ve at all times liked an excellent underdog story. On the subject of tech, I usually discover myself gravitating towards the businesses that aren’t continuously within the highlight. There’s a easy motive for that: whenever you aren’t the default selection, it’s important to attempt tougher. These corporations take extra dangers to face out, their merchandise are sometimes extra wallet-friendly, and their buyer help truly feels human.

There may be additionally one thing deeply satisfying about going towards the grain. Utilizing a device that most individuals haven’t heard of but makes me really feel like I’m forging my very own path, guided by utility quite than simply following the group.

Whereas I’ll be the primary to confess my residence display nonetheless has its justifiable share of mainstream giants, I usually take pleasure in giving underdogs a shot. With that in thoughts, I need to stroll you thru just a few hidden gems that function nice alternate options to the family names everyone knows.

All of us use a browser, and for most individuals, Chrome is the default selection. Whereas it’s actually secure, there are important drawbacks to staying inside Google’s backyard. Privateness is a serious one, however for me, it’s additionally concerning the options. Chrome is notoriously late to the celebration, typically including extremely requested instruments months or years after the competitors already launched them.

For these on the lookout for another that isn’t Firefox, Edge, or the more and more well-liked Courageous, Vivaldi is the browser to beat. It’s very privacy-focused, letting you fine-tune your monitoring and ad-blocking settings the second you put in it.

However the place Vivaldi actually shines is personalization. You get a customizable Pace Dial in your favourite websites and the power so as to add a spread of shortcuts to the toolbar — a characteristic I exploit every day. I personally maintain a Translation shortcut proper on the bar to translate whole pages with a single click on. Better of all, as a result of it’s primarily based on Chromium, you don’t have to go away your ecosystem behind; all of your favourite Chrome extensions and bookmarks transfer over seamlessly.

Notion has acquired a ton of consideration over the previous couple of years, and for good motive. I’ve used it myself for a very long time and there’s lots to love, however there are a number of alternate options accessible which can be simply pretty much as good — and even higher in some particular areas. Anytype is the one that actually stands out to me.

What makes it completely different from Notion is its give attention to privateness and safety. It’s an offline-first app, that means your whole information stays in your gadget by default. This additionally means it doesn’t require an web connection; it really works nearly wherever, whether or not you’re in a subway tunnel or 30,000 ft within the air. Whereas Notion technically has an offline mode for its pages, it’s not the default expertise and could be a bit finicky.

My colleague Dhruv wrote about this some time again, noting that Anytype primarily takes the most effective elements of Notion and Obsidian and provides them a singular taste. Should you’re already accustomed to these two apps, you’ll discover your manner round Anytype shortly. If not, be ready for a little bit of a studying curve — these apps are highly effective, however they aren’t fairly as plug-and-play as one thing like Google Preserve.

Everybody I do know makes use of Spotify, but most are barely accustomed to Deezer. I’ve spent quite a lot of time with each over time, and I’ve reached a daring conclusion: Deezer is definitely higher than the Swedish large.

Deezer will get the fundamentals completely proper. When it comes to library depth, each artist and music I search for is there. However what makes it superior for me is the interface — it’s not as cluttered, making it a lot simpler to navigate.

The Move characteristic is the standout. It’s an infinite, clever mixture of your favorites and new discoveries that may be filtered by temper or style. Whereas each service has a discovery algorithm, nothing fairly beats the accuracy of Move in my expertise. I additionally love the eye to element: the loading circle within the lyrics characteristic lets me know precisely when the vocals will begin, so I can sing alongside. Plus, with built-in music quizzes and an occasions tab that tracks native exhibits primarily based in your style, it seems like a platform constructed for individuals who truly love music.

ChatGPT is the undisputed heavyweight of the AI world when it comes to market share, carefully adopted by Google’s Gemini. However if you’d like a device that’s much less of a chatbot and extra of a precision analysis instrument, Perplexity is the reply.

It’s arguably the most effective AI device for deep analysis as a result of it supplies a verified supply for almost each declare it makes. This method means you’ll be able to fear considerably much less concerning the hallucinations that plague different fashions. I additionally love the UI — whenever you get a solution, a fast faucet on the sources bar shows each reference on a single web page for straightforward fact-checking. You possibly can even see related photos and movies straight within the thread to get a visible deal with in your matter.

What’s actually game-changing, although, is the pliability. Perplexity Professional acts as a common interface for the world’s finest AI. In a single $20/month subscription, you’ll be able to toggle between GPT-5.2, Gemini 3.0 Professional, Grok 4.1, and the brand-new Claude 4.6 Opus. It’s the last word underdog transfer: as an alternative of forcing you into one ecosystem, it offers you the keys to all of them. And sure, there’s a succesful free tier should you simply need to take a look at the waters.

If you wish to swap from a mainstream to-do record app like Todoist to one thing with a bit extra soul, Superlist is effectively value trying out. It was constructed by the identical workforce behind Wunderlist — the legendary app that was ultimately purchased by Microsoft and folded into their To Do app.

Superlist has all of the staples you’d count on: pure language enter, the power to connect photos or information, and seamless syncing. Nevertheless, in 2026, it has actually pulled forward with its AI integration. You possibly can merely voice out your duties by way of the Discuss characteristic, and the AI handles the group for you. It could actually even act as an AI assembly note-taker, listening to your conversations and immediately producing a structured define with a listing of assignable duties — that means you spend much less time managing your work and extra time truly doing it.

There’s a beneficiant free model accessible, although it has particular limits, akin to a cap of 5 lists. For energy customers who want limitless lists and the complete suite of AI assembly options, the Professional subscription begins at $5 per thirty days.

Should you’re seeking to ditch the mainstream giants and provides the underdogs an opportunity, that is the place to begin. This record may have been quite a bit longer, so I’m curious to listen to your options — what did I miss? Let me know within the feedback.