Tools I Actually Use Daily

I get asked constantly: “what do you use for X?” So I made this page.

These are the tools I genuinely use and recommend. Some links below are affiliate links — if you buy through them, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. This doesn’t change my recommendations. I only list tools I actually use.

If a tool is here, it’s earned its spot. If it’s not, I either don’t use it or haven’t found it worth keeping.

Last updated: June 2026

🛠️ For Sysadmins

The infrastructure and tooling I run my home lab and client work on.

Hosting — DigitalOcean

Simple, predictable pricing. $4/month droplets are perfect for homelabs and small projects. Their API is genuinely clean — I automate everything.

• Price: From $4/month
• Why I use it: Reliable, no surprise bills, great documentation
• Use case: VPS for personal projects, staging environments, this very website

→ Sign up (affiliate — you get $200 free credit for 60 days, I get a commission)

Backup storage — Backblaze B2

S3-compatible object storage at $6/TB/month. Half the price of AWS S3 for the same reliability. Combined with restic for encrypted backups.

• Price: $6/TB/month, first 10 GB free
• Why I use it: Cheapest reliable cloud storage I’ve found
• Use case: Off-site backups of all my servers

→ Sign up for B2

Domain registrar — Cloudflare Registrar

At-cost pricing (Cloudflare makes no markup on domains). Free WHOIS privacy. Free DNS hosting. No renewal price hikes.

• Price: At-cost (varies by TLD — .com is ~$9/year)
• Why I use it: No markup, no upsells, no surprise renewals
• Use case: All my domains

→ Register a domain

Password management — 1Password

The only password manager I’ve recommended for 10+ years. Works for individuals, families, and teams. Watchtower feature alerts you when your saved passwords appear in known breaches.

• Price: $2.99/month (individual), $4.99/month (family)
• Why I use it: Cross-platform, secure by design, the family plan is great for sharing with non-technical relatives
• Use case: My entire digital life, plus shared family vaults for parents

→ Get 1Password

Server monitoring — UptimeRobot

50 monitors free. 5-minute checks. SMS and email alerts. HTTP, ping, port, keyword monitoring. The free tier covers most homelabs.

• Price: Free for 50 monitors / 5-min interval
• Why I use it: Simple, reliable, free tier is genuinely useful
• Use case: Monitoring all my personal projects and this site

→ Set up monitoring

DNS — Cloudflare

Free DNS hosting, free CDN, free DDoS protection. The free tier is genuinely useful for small sites.

• Price: Free for most use cases
• Why I use it: Fastest DNS I’ve measured, free privacy protection
• Use case: All my domains, in front of every site I run

→ Use Cloudflare

VPS (Europe) — Hetzner

Best price/performance ratio in Europe. If your users are in Europe, Hetzner is often faster than AWS for half the price.

• Price: From €4/month
• Why I use it: Insanely cheap, reliable, great hardware
• Use case: Personal projects, European clients

→ Check Hetzner

👴 For Senior Tech & Family Caregivers

The tools I recommend for older family members — or for adult children helping them.

Senior phone — Lively (formerly Jitterbug)

The simplest smartphones and flip phones designed for older users. Big buttons, simple interface, medical alert button, and 24/7 emergency response built into the phone itself.

• Price: From $25/month (phone + plan) or phone-only at ~$100-200
• Why I recommend it: My mom has one. The interface is genuinely senior-friendly. The emergency response has saved lives.
• Use case: Parents who don’t want a complex smartphone but need to be reachable

→ Browse Lively phones

Senior phone plan — Consumer Cellular

Senior-focused phone plans with no contracts, no hidden fees. Often the cheapest reliable option for low-data users. AARP discount available.

• Price: From $15/month for talk + text, $25/month with data
• Why I recommend it: Honest pricing, no upsells, good coverage on AT&T and T-Mobile networks
• Use case: Anyone who doesn’t want to overpay for cell service

→ Check Consumer Cellular

Smart display — Amazon Echo Show 8

The single best device for tech-shy seniors. Video calls work without touching anything. Reminders. Photo frames. Weather. “Alexa, call Sarah” just works.

• Price: From $80 (Echo Show 5) to $250 (Echo Show 10)
• Why I recommend it: My dad uses this daily. Zero learning curve after the initial setup.
• Use case: Parents who live alone and need simple video calling + reminders

→ Echo Show on Amazon

Audiobooks — Audible

For seniors with vision issues, audiobooks are transformational. Audible has the biggest catalog, works on any phone, and integrates with screen readers.

• Price: $14.95/month for one credit (or free trial)
• Why I recommend it: The single most-appreciated gift I’ve given my parents in the last 5 years
• Use case: Parents who “can’t read anymore” — they can still listen

→ Try Audible

Medical alert — Bay Alarm Medical

For seniors living alone. A button (wrist or pendant) connects to a 24/7 monitoring center. One press gets help dispatched. Less stigma than a “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” necklace.

• Price: From $25/month
• Why I recommend it: The actual monitoring center is US-based and well-reviewed. Equipment is reliable.
• Use case: Parents at risk of falls or with health conditions

→ Bay Alarm Medical

Large-button universal remote — Logitech Harmony Elite (refurbished)

If your parent has 4 remotes and can’t figure out which one turns on the TV, this is the answer. One remote, big buttons, “Watch TV” button does everything.

• Price: ~$150 (refurbished, since Logitech discontinued new models)
• Why I recommend it: Solves a daily frustration for thousands of seniors
• Use case: Parents with complex TV setups

→ Check Harmony on eBay

🆓 Free Stuff I Built

These are mine. No affiliate links. Just tools I made because I needed them.

• Buddy — A free companion app for elderly parents. One-tap calls, medicine reminders, scam-message checker. 7 languages.
• Free Tools Pack — 5 bash scripts for sysadmins. SSL checker, log searcher, SSH auditor, disk quota checker, safe service restart.
• The 5-Minute Server Health Check Toolkit — $9, the “do everything” Monday morning ritual for sysadmins.

How this page works

I update this list quarterly. Tools get added when they prove themselves over months of real use. Tools get removed when something better comes along or they disappoint.

Affiliate disclosure: Some links above are affiliate links. If you buy through them, I earn a small commission (typically 5-25% depending on the program). This costs you nothing extra and doesn’t influence my recommendations. I’m required by the FTC to tell you this, and I’d want to tell you anyway.

My rule: if a tool is here, I actually use it. If I don’t use it, it doesn’t make the list, even if the affiliate commission is good.

Full disclosure

This page contains affiliate links to the following programs:

• DigitalOcean (referral program, ~$25/signup commission)
• 1Password (affiliate program, ~$5-10/sale commission)
• Amazon Associates (1-4% commission on Amazon purchases)
• Lively (affiliate program, $15-25/activation commission)
• Consumer Cellular (affiliate program, $5-15/activation commission)
• Bay Alarm Medical (affiliate program, recurring commission)
• Backblaze (referral program, $5/customer commission)
• Other programs as listed

I only recommend tools I personally use or have used extensively. Affiliate relationships do not influence which tools appear on this page. The opinions expressed are my own.

Questions or concerns? Email pragmatic@pragmaticsysadmin.help.

Last reviewed: June 2026. Next review: September 2026.