About Launchpad HQ
What Launchpad HQ is, how tools are chosen and checked, how sponsorship is kept out of the data, and how corrections work.
What Launchpad HQ is
Launchpad HQ is a free, independent directory of AI tools for beginners and budget-conscious people. Its aim is to show that there is far more to AI than ChatGPT and Claude: tools for writing, images, video, audio, code, research, meetings and automation, many with generous free plans or open-source versions you can run on your own computer.
Alongside the directory there are getting-started guides, side-by-side comparisons, free-alternative pages, multi-tool workflow templates, a model reference for the major AI model families, and a four-question quiz that suggests a shortlist. Browsing all of it is free and needs no account.
How tools are chosen
A tool is included when a non-technical person could plausibly get value from it, when people are likely to hear about it and come looking for it, or when it fills a real gap in a category, such as a free or open-source alternative to a paid tool. Being popular alone is not enough.
Tools with privacy or data-handling questions are usually included with a plain, dated note rather than left out, so you can decide for yourself. Each tool shows a privacy level (high, medium or low) that summarises how it handles your data. Low is a factual signal, not a verdict.
How facts are checked
We check prices, free tiers and plan limits against each vendor's own pages. A checked fact carries the date it was checked and a link to its source. Facts we have not confirmed are labelled unverified or catalog-only, and no source is invented for them.
Prices in guides and workflows are filled in from the tool's catalog record rather than typed by hand, so they match the tool's page. Each guide shows the date its facts were last reviewed. When a well-known product shuts down, its page stays up, marked as discontinued, with what happened and what to use instead.
Editorial independence and sponsorship
Launchpad HQ earns money from clearly labelled sponsored placements. Sponsorship buys a labelled spot and nothing else: it never changes rankings, ratings, quiz results, workflow picks, guide verdicts or any fact in the catalog.
The JSON data feed and the AI connector do not read sponsor data at all, and every record they return is marked sponsored: false.
Corrections
If something is wrong or out of date, tell us which page and, if you can, link the vendor's official page that shows the right answer. We check corrections against official sources before changing anything. When a correction is confirmed, the record is fixed and its checked date updated; the page, the data feed and the connector all read that same record, so they change together. Changes to a tool's facts are listed in its changelog.
Data for developers and AI assistants
The catalog, comparisons, guides, workflows and model reference are also published as a free, read-only JSON feed, a read-only MCP connector for AI assistants, llms.txt and Markdown versions of the main pages. Please credit Launchpad HQ and link to the tool's page when you use the data.