Ever heard the saying “friendship is not about who you’ve known the longest, but who’s shown up for you when it mattered?” Let’s apply that to your toolstack. Yes, you may feel bonded to the productivity tool you’ve used for the past 5 years, but maybe you’re missing out on something that meets more of your needs.

Check out some recent community preferences that are alternatives to popular products 👇

Artboard Studio is like two design favorites meshed into one; Maker Mucahit Gayiran combined the Figma-eque design experience with features that resemble After Effects to help designers turn into animators. It’s cloud-based and works with vectors, images, and videos so you can design anything from Instagram Stories to stationery items.

Looking for an alternative to Typeform or Google Forms? Feathery is a low-code option that connects to over 2,000 tools and helps developers build complex forms.

Cal.com, the open-source alternative to Calendly, re-launched this month with support from investor Alexis Ohanian, and is now available for individuals. You can tailor links per scenario, automate your workflow, avoid meeting overload with buffers between meetings, and more.

Slack is a favorite amongst many for its team-building capabilities, but it’s not the only tool that can help your remote team bond together. Kosy is out of beta and helps remote teams collaborate and have fun together. Teams can build a virtual workspace and keep chats and meetings within Kosy.

If you’re shipping an app and looking for an alternative to Firebase, Appwrite launched yesterday. The open-source tool provides developers with authentication, databases, storage, and real time capabilities to build web and mobile applications.

Will you befriend any of these tools?

• Did you ask for a Guitar Hero style trombone game? Trombone Champ is here.

• Unita is a directory with more than 900 communities across 30+ categories to help you expand your network.

• Charlie 2.0 uses AI to generate HD, 2K, 4K, widescreen, virtual images, and blog content.

• Meet your goals with MakerBox, a marketing workbook with actionable tasks.

Heartstring is a new social messaging app that lets you discover local and global discussion posts.

Use the app to find people who share your interests, exchange thoughts with others in short form chats, and build local and global connections.