I spend about 6,200 RMB every month subscribing to AI tools and services. Two Claude Max plans, one ChatGPT Pro, six servers, Ahrefs, and a bunch of APIs—adding up to over 40 tools running at the same time.
First off, this number might look exaggerated, but most of the expenses are reimbursed by my company; my personal out-of-pocket cost isn't that high. However, every single tool was selected through a rigorous process—even when spending company money, I can't just throw it away. For every tool added, I have to clearly explain what problem it solves.
This isn't one of those generic "100 AI Tool Recommendations for 2026" lists. Every item below is something I am currently paying for or using daily, detailing exactly what it does in my workflow, how much it costs, and what I would do without it.
AI Models: Four Running Simultaneously
Claude Max Plan × 2 ($200/month × 2 = $400/month)
I have two Claude Max subscriptions. The main account handles daily work—writing articles, conducting research, managing files, and running over 40 custom Skills. The secondary account handles heavy-duty tasks or acts as a backup when the main account hits rate limits.
Claude Code is the hub of my entire workflow, with over 40 custom commands covering the full process from topic selection to publishing. The benefit of two Max Plans is that I'm never stuck by rate limits.
ChatGPT Pro ($200/month)
GPT-5.5's reasoning capabilities are stronger than Claude's in certain scenarios, especially mathematical reasoning and complex logic chains. I use it for a second opinion—when I'm unsure of a judgment Claude makes, I throw it to GPT-5.5 for cross-verification. Additionally, GPT-5.5's Canvas is very handy for document collaboration.
Another core use: using the ChatGPT interface to directly generate videos with Sora or perform conversational image iterations with GPT Image 2.
DeepSeek (API pay-as-you-go, a few dozen RMB per month)
Currently the best at Chinese writing among all models. Claude's Chinese occasionally has a "translation feel," but DeepSeek doesn't. I use it as a proofreading perspective for Chinese content or let it generate paragraphs where natural Chinese expression is critical. The API price is extremely low—about 2 RMB for 4 million tokens.
OpenAI Codex (Included in ChatGPT Pro subscription, no extra charge)
Positioned differently from Claude Code. While Claude Code is for single-threaded deep dialogue, Codex is for multi-tasking—I can run several Codex tasks in parallel. I use it for: parallel code reviews, batch backlink submissions, and handling several independent technical tasks simultaneously. Claude Code handles depth; Codex handles breadth.
The $200/month ChatGPT Pro subscription covers GPT-5.5, Codex, Sora, and GPT Image 2 dialogue mode, making it a comprehensive subscription for the OpenAI side.
Content Production: The Full Chain from Topic to Publishing
Obsidian (Free)
The carrier for my entire content system. It has a four-layer structure: 01-Content Production (creation pipeline), 02-Asset Library (reusable assets), 03-Corpus (personal voice and style), 04-Methodology (patterns derived from data). With hundreds of Markdown files, Claude Code reads and writes to it directly.
I have four plugins installed: Claudian (using AI directly in Obsidian), CSV Table (table rendering), Export Image (exporting long images), and LiveSync (real-time cross-device synchronization).
XCrawl ($8/month, Hobby Plan, 5000 credits)
A web scraping API. I use it for topic research (searching for viral posts from the last two months), material scraping (grabbing full articles and saving as Markdown), industry analysis (scanning site URL structures), and fact-checking (searching original sources to verify numbers). It's integrated into Claude Code via MCP and called using natural language.
I used 560 out of 5,000 credits this month; it's more than enough.
GPT Image 2 (APImart, topped up $10, used for two months and still going)
Used for all X long-form article cover posters. It costs about 0.04 RMB per image, supports 2K resolution and various aspect ratios like 21:9. I topped up $10 and have used it heavily for two months with a balance remaining. Integrated into Claude Code via API; after writing an article, a single "cover" command generates it automatically.
The Chinese text rendering quality is better than Midjourney, and it can be called directly via API without switching applications.
Jimeng (¥2500/year, approx. ¥208/month)
ByteDance's video generation model. Used to generate short video materials and storyboards. Combined with GPT Image 2 for images and Jimeng for video, it covers almost all visual content needs. I run an API interface on a VPS so Claude Code can call it directly.
Content Formatting Tools (Self-built, Free)
Markdown → Xiaohongshu long images + WeChat Official Account HTML. Rendered using Puppeteer headless browser, batch exporting 2x high-definition PNGs. Scripts written myself using Claude Code.
markitdown (Free CLI)
Converts PDF, DOCX, PPTX, XLSX, and images into Markdown. When I receive a PDF industry report, one command turns it into Markdown for Claude Code to read.
Programming and Deployment
Cloudflare (Pages + Workers + R2, $5-15/month)
Overseas sites run on Pages, backend logic uses Workers, and files are stored in R2. The free tier is very powerful; my payments are mainly for Worker invocation volume. I once had a blood-and-tears lesson where a D1 database bug ran up a bill of over 3,000 SGD in a single month; now I strictly use R2 for storage and keep all databases on a VPS.
6 VPS (2 at $60/year + 4 at $170/year = $800/year, approx. $67/month)
Clear division of labor: Databases (PostgreSQL), crawler tasks, API backends, SillyTavern, Jimeng API, and Navidrome music service. The cheapest averages $5/month, the most expensive $14.
Wrangler CLI (Free)
Cloudflare's deployment command-line tool. One command pushes the website live.
Git + GitHub (Free)
All code, Obsidian notes, and configuration files use Git version control. GitHub is used for remote backups and open-source project PR contributions.
SEO and Growth
Ahrefs (Starting at $99/month)
Keyword research, backlink analysis, and competitor traffic monitoring. The standard for overseas SEO; no alternative comes close in data coverage. I mainly use Keywords Explorer to find terms, Site Explorer to check competitor backlinks, and Brand Radar to monitor AI search visibility.
AIDSO (Free version)
Domestic (China) AI search visibility monitoring. Enter a brand name, and in 5 minutes it scans 10 domestic AI platforms (Doubao, DeepSeek, Ernie, Kimi, Tongyi, Yuanbao) to show your ranking. I use it for diagnostics for GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) clients.
Otterly.ai (Free version)
Overseas AI search visibility monitoring. Covers ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews. Complements AIDSO—one for domestic, one for overseas.
Umami (Self-hosted, Free)
A self-hosted website analytics tool, replacing Google Analytics. It runs on a VPS, giving me full control over data without relying on third parties. Lightweight, fast, and GDPR-friendly.
Data Processing
Playwright MCP (Free)
Browser automation. Used for pages requiring login, JS-heavy sites, and simulating user actions (filling forms, clicking, screenshots). Called directly within Claude Code.
PaddleOCR (Self-hosted, running on Windows GPU)
Text recognition for images and scans. Runs on a Windows desktop with an RTX 5070 Ti, called remotely from a Mac via Tailscale. Very accurate for both Chinese and English.
LightRAG (Self-hosted, Free)
Local knowledge graph. Dozens of investment textbooks and industry reports built into a searchable knowledge base; the largest graph has 77,000 nodes and 145,000 edges. It's not keyword search; it finds answers by following the relationship links in the knowledge graph.
Polygon.io ($29/month, Options Starter)
US stock and options historical data API. Used for investment research—Earnings Run-Up backtesting and options historical price analysis. Unrelated to content creation, purely an investment tool.
Video and Audio
mlx-whisper (Free, local Mac)
Audio-to-text. Converts YouTube/Bilibili videos, podcasts, and meeting recordings into transcripts. Runs locally on Mac using Apple Silicon GPU acceleration, no cloud upload.
Whisper (Self-hosted, running on Windows GPU)
For heavy transcription tasks. Long videos that the Mac can't handle are sent to the RTX 5070 Ti on Windows, which is several times faster. Called remotely via Tailscale SSH.
yt-dlp (Free CLI)
YouTube and Bilibili video downloader. Used with Whisper for transcription and ffmpeg for editing. A command-line tool that downloads any public video with one line.
ffmpeg (Free CLI)
The Swiss Army knife of video editing. Cropping, merging, extracting audio, transcoding, and adding subtitles—all done via command line. Combined with Claude Code's video-clipper command, it automatically analyzes videos → finds highlights → clips and exports.
Infrastructure
Tailscale (Free)
Connects my Mac, Windows desktop, and 6 VPS into a private network. Direct SSH between any device without needing a public IP or port mapping. Remote calls from Mac to Windows GPU for OCR and transcription go through Tailscale.
Windows Desktop (RTX 5070 Ti)
Not a daily workstation, but a remote GPU server. Runs PaddleOCR, heavy Whisper transcriptions, and occasionally local models. Usually off, I connect via Tailscale SSH when needed.
Mac (Apple Silicon, Daily Driver)
All daily work happens on this machine. Claude Code, Obsidian, terminal, and browser.
AgentNEO VPN (¥33/month, 150G traffic)
Used when returning to China. Not needed in Singapore.
Surge for Mac ($50/year)
Proxy client for Mac. Used for network debugging and connectivity.
Personal Use
Navidrome (Self-hosted, Free)
Self-hosted music streaming service. FLAC lossless music is stored on a VPS, with covers and metadata automatically scraped via MusicBrainz. Accessible from any device.
SillyTavern (Self-hosted, Free)
AI roleplay platform. Runs on a VPS via Docker with 35+ character cards. Purely for personal entertainment.
Monthly Bill
Free tools are separate: Obsidian, Playwright, ffmpeg, yt-dlp, mlx-whisper, PaddleOCR, LightRAG, Tailscale, Git, markitdown, Umami, Navidrome, SillyTavern, Wrangler—14 in total, all free or open-source self-hosted.
6,200 RMB a month is indeed a lot. But this toolchain supports: daily long-form X posts, operating overseas SEO sites, providing GEO services, full-stack development and deployment, investment research, and video processing. If these tasks were done without tools, the labor cost would be more than ten times this figure.
Among these, $600 is for AI model subscriptions (two Claude Max + one ChatGPT Pro), accounting for 72% of total spending. If you don't need heavy multi-model parallelism, a single Claude Pro at $20/month can cover 90% of daily needs.
If You Only Have a 200 RMB Budget
- Claude Pro ($20/month) = AI Brain + Claude Code basic allowance
- Obsidian (Free) = Knowledge Management
- XCrawl Free Tier (1000 credits on signup) = Basic Research
- Cloudflare Free Tier = Website Deployment
- ffmpeg + yt-dlp + markitdown + Tailscale + Git (All Free) = Video + Docs + Infrastructure
This configuration is enough to run the basic "Topic → Research → Writing → Publishing" workflow. Add tools only when you hit a bottleneck, and ensure you can clearly explain what problem each new tool solves.
