Why Shridha's apps have no ads
Ads need tracking, and tracking costs you privacy and speed. How we keep the apps free without them, and what that rules out.
Free software has to be paid for somehow. The usual answer is ads. We chose not to use them, and this post explains why and what that costs us.
What ads would need#
An ad on a page is not just a picture. It usually brings extra scripts from other companies, measurement of what you click, and a profile of who you are so the ad can be matched to you. For a tool where you paste a salary, open an invoice or upload a scan, that is the wrong trade. The more private the job, the worse it fits.
Ads also slow pages down and push the useful part around. We would rather the page do its one job and get out of the way.
What keeps the apps free instead#
The answer is mostly cost. If an app is cheap enough to run, it does not need to earn money.
- Most of our apps are static sites. They are files on a host, and many of them do their work in your browser. There is no server running for each visitor.
- Where an app does need a server, for example to hold a one-time secret or a short link, we use pay-per-use services. An app that nobody is using costs close to nothing.
- We do not keep a fixed monthly bill for each app. That rule decides what we build: if an idea needs something always running, we look for a different way to do it or leave it out.
Shridha is also an engineering studio, and these apps are built to need very little to keep going. That is a design choice, not an accident.
What it rules out#
Saying no to ads and fixed costs means saying no to some ideas. Anything that needs heavy servers all day, such as processing video for you, is hard to offer free. We would rather say so than quietly add a limit later. Bosswala, which does run on servers for staff attendance and shared leads, has a small fee for that reason.
What it means for you#
- No ads and no tracking tools in the free apps.
- No need to make an account to do a simple job.
- Where an app offers a sign-in, it is optional.
You can see the full list in the apps catalog. For how the file tools keep your data on your own device, read how Tools works on your files without uploading them.