Your AI Stack Is Probably Too Big and You Know It

I counted the AI subscriptions on my card and half of them I had opened exactly once. The honest reason was fear of missing the one that changes everything, not a need any of them met. Cutting them made the ones I kept actually get used, which is the opposite of what I expected.

The trap is that every tool demos well. A free trial shows you the best five minutes and you imagine the other fifty, then the trial expires and the folder stays closed. A stack you do not open is worse than no stack, because it quietly taxes your attention and your budget while delivering nothing.

The rule I landed on is one tool per job, and only after the job has hurt three times. Wanting a tool because it exists is not a reason; wanting it because you did the work the hard way last week is. The tools that survived my cut were the ones tied to a recurring task, not a recurring curiosity.

Less is also safer. Every tool you connect is a place your data goes and a bill that renews. A smaller, sharper stack is easier to audit, easier to cancel, and easier to actually learn well enough to matter. The best AI setup I have is the one short enough to fit on a sticky note.