Every year, we try to do an honest review of the tools we use. Not a cursory glance at subscription costs — a real evaluation of what’s earning its place in our workflow and what’s just sitting there because nobody’s had the conversation about removing it.

This year, we cut roughly a third of our tools. Here’s what went, what stayed, and what we learned.

Trello (Replaced With Linear)

We’d been using Trello for years. It was comfortable. Everyone knew how it worked. But that familiarity had become a trap. Our boards were cluttered with hundreds of cards, half of them stale. The lack of proper hierarchy meant everything was a flat list, making prioritisation nearly impossible at scale.

We moved to Linear. The difference was immediate. Faster interface, better keyboard shortcuts, proper project and cycle management, and integrations with our development workflow. The transition took about two weeks of parallel running, and nobody’s looked back.

The lesson: comfort isn’t the same as effectiveness. A tool you’ve used for years might be holding you back precisely because you’ve adapted to its limitations.

Notion (for Documentation — Moved Back to Google Docs)

This might be controversial. Notion is a genuinely good product. But for our team, it had become a documentation graveyard. People created beautiful pages that nobody else could find. The search was unreliable. Permissions were confusing. And the loading times on larger workspaces were frustrating.

We moved documentation back to Google Docs with a clear folder structure and naming convention. It’s less pretty. But everyone knows how to use it, search works well, and sharing is straightforward. Sometimes boring is better.

Calendly (Replaced With Cal.com)

Calendly works. There’s nothing wrong with it. But when our subscription came up for renewal and we looked at the cost versus what we actually used, it didn’t justify the spend for our team size.

We switched to Cal.com, the open-source alternative. It does everything we need — scheduling links, round-robin assignments, calendar integrations — at a fraction of the cost. The setup took an afternoon.

Slack Huddles (Reverted to Zoom)

We tried going all-in on Slack Huddles for quick calls. The idea was to reduce tool switching — if we’re already in Slack, why open another app?

In practice, Huddles were unreliable. Audio quality dropped at random. Screen sharing was clunky. And the lack of a proper recording feature meant we couldn’t capture important discussions for people who weren’t available.

We went back to Zoom for anything beyond a two-person chat. Not exciting. But it works consistently, and consistency matters more than novelty.

Zapier (Partially — Reduced to Critical Workflows Only)

We had over forty Zaps running. When we audited them, we found that about fifteen were for workflows that no longer existed, eight were duplicates or near-duplicates, and several were doing things we could accomplish natively with updated integrations between our core tools.

We didn’t drop Zapier entirely. It’s still genuinely useful for connecting tools that don’t have native integrations. But we cut it down to twelve essential automations. Our monthly cost dropped significantly, and — more importantly — we reduced the number of invisible automated processes that nobody fully understood.

Miro (Dropped Entirely)

We used Miro for occasional brainstorming sessions and retrospectives. Maybe once a month. The rest of the time, it sat there costing money.

For the rare whiteboarding sessions we need, FigJam (included with our existing Figma subscription) covers it. And for retrospectives, a simple shared document works just as well without the overhead of another tool.

What We Kept (and Why)

Not everything got cut. The tools that survived share common traits:

• Daily use. If people use it every day, it’s earning its place.
• Clear ownership. Someone is responsible for the tool, its configuration, and its cost.
• Integration. It connects to our other systems without manual workarounds.
• Measurable value. We can articulate what we’d lose without it.

Our core stack — GitHub, Linear, Figma, Google Workspace, Slack, Zoom — stayed. They’re not perfect, but they’re well-understood, well-integrated, and genuinely used.

What We Learned

Audit regularly. We’ve committed to a quarterly review now, not just annual. Tools creep in fast, and the longer they sit unused, the harder it is to justify the effort of removing them.

Talk to the team. The people using the tools daily know which ones are valuable and which are friction. Ask them. Their answers might surprise you.

Don’t replace everything at once. We staggered our changes over two months. Swapping five tools simultaneously would’ve been chaotic. One at a time, with a transition period, worked much better.

Cheaper isn’t always better. Some of the tools we kept are expensive. But they provide clear, measurable value. The goal isn’t to minimise cost — it’s to maximise return on every dollar spent.

Free tools have costs too. They cost time to evaluate, configure, and maintain. If a paid tool saves your team hours per week, it’s worth paying for.

The Ongoing Challenge

Your tech stack is never “done.” New tools emerge, needs change, teams grow. The companies that manage this well are the ones that treat their tool stack as a living thing — something that requires ongoing attention, not a set-and-forget decision.

Cut what isn’t working. Keep what is. And have the conversation regularly enough that neither pile gets out of control.