TPToolPike

Nathan LaValley

Founder of ToolPike. Makes small internet tools, tests each one himself before it goes up, and writes the guides.

Why I built ToolPike
Nathan on camera, on why ToolPike exists.

The short version

I make small internet tools, and ToolPike is the one I built for the everyday jobs: merging a PDF, shrinking an image, making a QR code, generating a password. Around forty of them now. Instead of installing forty apps, you bookmark one page.

Why the site exists

There are plenty of free tool sites that do the same things. Most of them make you create an account just to do a simple task, or upload your file to their server to rotate a PDF, and then bury you in ads. That always bothered me. So ToolPike does the opposite: every tool runs right in your browser, and your files never leave your computer, because there is nowhere for them to go. There is no account, and one small ad per page pays for the server and the development time. If the site covers its own costs and is a genuinely good resource, it is doing its job.

How I stand behind it

  • Every tool is tested before it goes up. I want each one to be good enough for me to use, because if it is good enough for me it is probably good enough for you. The process is written up on the how it is built page.
  • Limits are printed on the page. Browser tools have real ceilings. Where a tool has one, its page says so instead of pretending.
  • The guides are grounded in the code. Each guide is written from the source of the tool it covers, and the worked examples are run through the real tool and screenshotted.
  • Messages get read. The contact form goes to me. Bug reports get fixed and re-tested, and corrections are dated on the page they changed.

Other things I build

ToolPike has two sister sites with the same rules: CalcGauge, a set of calculators and unit converters where every formula is checked against an independent calculation, and NeonReflex, reaction and memory tests plus a few classic games with honest scoring and no accounts. The three are built and maintained through Bright Valley Media.

Get in touch

Found a bug, want a tool that is not here, or think a guide got something wrong? Use the contact page. Real messages get real replies.