I Got Tired of Searching for Simple Online Tools—So I Built One Place for Them

Source: Dev.to

Overview

As developers (and everyday internet users), we constantly need small utilities—calculating income, converting Markdown, generating a UUID, estimating habits, screen time, or productivity. These aren’t “big problems,” but they interrupt focus repeatedly.

Most of the time I found myself:

• Googling the same tools over and over
• Opening sites full of ads and pop‑ups
• Jumping between 5–6 different pages

So I asked: What if all these small, useful tools lived in one clean, free place?
That’s how HNGTools started.

The Real Problem with Online Tools

The issue isn’t a lack of tools; it’s fragmentation and friction.

Common pain points

• One tool per website
• Overcomplicated UIs
• Forced sign‑ups
• Too many ads
• Mobile‑unfriendly pages

When you just want a quick calculation, all of this feels unnecessary.

The Idea Behind HNGTools

HNGTools is a collection of simple, free online tools that focus on one thing: solve the task fast, with no signup and no distractions. Explore everything at .

1) Online Calculators (Daily + Professional Use)

• Time Card Calculator – for freelancers and hourly work
• Annual Income/Salary Calculator – convert hourly or monthly income into yearly numbers
• Habit Cost Calculator – see how much habits actually cost over time
• Screen Time Lifetime Calculator – a reality check for phone usage

Full list:

2) Converters for Developers & Everyday Tasks

• Markdown to HTML Converter
• Hex to RGB Color Converter
• Pixels to Aspect Ratio Calculator

All converters:

3) Generators (Quick, No Thinking Required)

• UUID Generator
• Instagram Font Generator
• Random Choice Generator

All generators:

Why I’m Sharing This on DEV

DEV is one of the few communities where:

• People value useful tools
• Honest side projects are welcomed
• Feedback actually helps shape products

The project is still growing, and I’m actively improving it.

What’s Next?

Planned improvements

• More developer‑focused utilities
• Better mobile experience
• Performance optimizations
• Tools suggested by users

If you have:

• A tool you constantly Google
• A calculator you wish existed
• Feedback on UX or features

I’d genuinely love to hear it.

Transparency

Yes, I built HNGTools. I’m sharing it because I use it myself and think others might find it useful too. Thanks for reading—if this helped you even a little, that already makes it worth building.

Happy coding!