Thank you for reading this page.

This page is honest about where support can actually come from right now, and where it will eventually come from. No pressure. Using the tools and telling a friend is already more than enough.

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What you can do today

Three things that take less than 60 seconds and actually help.

1. Star the GitHub repo. Format Flipper has its source public on GitHub, under an MIT license. Stars are the one signal GitHub readers use when deciding whether a project is worth a closer look. Costs nothing, takes one tap.
2. Tell one person. The most durable way any indie site grows is one friend telling another. If a specific tool solved a specific problem for you — the HEIC converter, the Format Flipper, the Regex Rambler — mentioning it on the next group chat thread where someone's stuck on that problem genuinely moves the needle.
3. Send feedback. Email toolymctoolface@gmail.com. Bug reports, feature requests, "this was weirdly confusing on mobile" — all of it shapes what ships next. The best tool improvements in the workshop all came from unsolicited email.

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Support now

One way to tip is live. A second is in progress.

One-time tips, any amount. Goes directly toward domain + hosting costs (~$120/year total). No account needed on your end — just a payment method.

GitHub Sponsors is still going through verification (takes a few days). Once approved, a recurring sponsorship option will appear here too. Starring the repo in the meantime is free and genuinely helpful.

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The longer-term plan

Honesty about how a free site stays free is part of the pitch. Here's the plan, dated because plans change.

Now through ~50,000 pageviews/month: the site is self-funded. Domain is $11/year, Netlify's free tier handles traffic, Plausible analytics is $9/month. Total ~$120/year. The "Buy Me a Coffee" and "GitHub Sponsors" links above are meant to cover this, not to grow it.

At ~50,000 pageviews/month: the site becomes eligible for EthicalAds. Text-only, no tracking, no behavioral targeting, no cookies. This is the only ad network I'll ever consider, because it's the only one that doesn't require breaking the site's principles. When ads go live, you'll see an announcement here and in the changelog.

Later (timeline uncertain): a native desktop app is on the roadmap — same tools, same design, living in your macOS/Windows/Linux dock instead of a browser tab. One-time purchase, no subscription. No gate on any existing web features — the desktop version is strictly an addition, not a replacement.

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What will never happen

Just to be explicit — these are the monetization moves that are off the table, permanently, and will remain off the table regardless of traffic or offers:

• No subscriptions to use the existing tools. They're free. If a paid tier ever exists, it'll be for something genuinely new (like the desktop app).
• No account walls. The tools will always work without signing up.
• No Google Analytics, no Facebook Pixel, no tracking cookies. Not now, not at any traffic level, not for any advertiser.
• No data sales. There's no data to sell — nothing is collected in the first place.
• No acquisition by a surveillance-economy company. If a buyout offer ever arrives and the buyer's business model requires tracking, the answer is no.

These commitments are easier to make now, in a public document, than to honor later under pressure. That's partly why this page exists.