You do not need forty tools. You need six, chosen properly.
Solo Stack is the directory of software one person needs to run a store alone. Every entry carries the thing it does badly, the price you actually pay after the promo ends, and whether the free tier survives contact with a real catalogue.
No account needed to read any of it. That is the point of a directory.
Live from the directory. Fit is how much of the product one person actually uses — not how good it is in a team of twenty.
The problem with tool reviews
Almost every list you have read was paid for by the thing it recommended.
Affiliate links decide which tools get written about and which get quietly left out. That is why the article recommends a $99 suite to someone shipping six orders a week. A directory where nothing is paid has one obligation: say what breaks.
The failure mode
Not "cons: can be slow". The specific thing that cost money. Photoroom hallucinates a clean edge on reflective products — so your matte-black bottle arrives looking gloss. That sentence is worth more than the feature list.
The real price
The entry tier at annual billing, not the 40% first-month promo. Helium 10 at $39 is a different decision from Helium 10 at $99, and most reviews quote whichever number looks better in a table.
The solo fit score
Not "how good is it" — how much of it one person will actually use. Jasper is a good product and a 2/5 for a solo seller, because you are paying for brand governance that only matters at five seats.
Where most people should start
Six tools that carry a store from zero to a hundred orders.
Picked for coverage of the whole job, not for the commission. All six have a free tier that is usable for a first product; three never need upgrading at this size.
Stacks, not lists
A list tells you what exists. A stack tells you what to stop paying for.
Twelve combinations, one per business shape, each with a monthly total at the entry tier. The zero-budget stack is free to read — the rest need a pass.
Membership
One payment a year. No subscription, no card on file.
A store already pays eleven subscriptions. Adding a twelfth that renews itself is how people end up paying $240 a month for tools they opened twice. So this is billed once.
Free
The whole directory, with the caveats left in.
No account. No email gate.
- All 59 tools, filterable and searchable
- The “watch out” line on every tool
- Margin, ROAS and return calculators
- 1 starter stack
- Remaining 11 stacks
- Resource library
Solo Pass
For the person who is the whole company.
$12.42 a month, billed once
- Everything in Free
- All 6 in-browser tools unlocked
- All 12 stacks, by budget and category
- Resource library: checklists, prompt packs, scorecards
- Weekly new-tool and price-drop brief
- One stack review by email, within 72h
One payment. No auto-renew, no card on file.
Studio Pass
Two or three people running one store.
$33.25 a month, billed once
- Everything in Solo Pass
- 3 seats, one unlock code each
- 30-minute stack call, every month
- A stack built for your category, once
- Early access to new-tool reviews
- Priority on the email queue
One payment. No auto-renew, no card on file.
Prices in USD. Read the refund terms before buying — they are two lines long.
Questions worth answering