About Lab Notes
Lab Notes started with a simple frustration: shopping for AI tools felt like reading ads. Every "review" said every tool was amazing. The top result was always whoever spent the most on marketing. Nobody would tell you what a tool was actually bad at — or who should skip it entirely.
So we built the review site we wished existed. The rules are simple:
- We sign up for everything we review. No tool gets covered from its marketing page alone. We create an account, click through the onboarding, and run real tasks through it.
- We test like a real user would. That means the free trial or the cheapest paid plan — the same door you'd walk through — not an enterprise demo with a sales rep holding our hand.
- We publish the downsides. Every review has a cons list. If a tool is overpriced for what it does, or the "AI" is a thin wrapper, we say so plainly.
- Nothing is for sale. No ads, no sponsored posts, no affiliate links, no pay-to-play placements. Companies cannot pay for a better score or a removed criticism — the content answers to readers, not advertisers.
Who's behind this
Lab Notes is a small independent project run by a founder who spends an unreasonable amount of time testing AI tools — first for a daily AI side-hustle video series, and now here, in long form. There's no editorial team, no sponsored content desk, and no PR relationships to protect. What you read is one person's genuine evaluation after actually using the thing.
How we stay independent
Right now, Lab Notes runs on one person's time and curiosity — there are no ads, no sponsored posts, and no affiliate links anywhere on the site. The entire focus is on building content that's genuinely worth your time: timely, original, and actually useful. If that ever changes, you'll read about it here first.
What we cover (and what we don't)
We cover what's new in AI, technology, and software: new tools and apps, honest hands-on reviews, head-to-head comparisons, and plain-English explainers. Our focus is the stuff a real person or small team would actually use — AI writers, voice tools, automation platforms, SEO assistants, and productivity apps. We don't cover enterprise-only software (we can't test it honestly), crypto schemes, or anything we wouldn't recommend to a friend.
Found a tool you think we should test — or think we got one wrong? Get in touch. Reader corrections genuinely improve the reviews.