About
Tool reviews from someone who
actually ships code
In 2025 I got tired of reading "Top 10 AI Coding Tools" articles that were obviously written by someone who had never opened any of them. So I am building the opposite: a review site where every comparison comes from two weeks of real work on one real project. No reviews are published yet. The first one is in progress. This page describes the methodology that every published review will follow.
How a CompareDev review will be made
Every review will follow the same process. If a tool does not make it through the test, it does not get published.
- 1
Pick a real project
No "todo app" demos. Each review will start with something that actually needs to ship — a real feature, a real refactor, a real migration.
- 2
Both tools, 14 days minimum
Both tools will alternate on the same project for at least two weeks. A daily log will record what worked, what failed, where time was lost, where time was saved.
- 3
Receipts, not vibes
Mistakes get screenshotted. Latency gets timed. Tokens get counted. If a claim cannot be measured, it does not go in the review.
- 4
Verdict per persona
No single "winner." Each review will tell you which tool fits which kind of developer — solo founder, team lead, budget-constrained, enterprise.
- 5
Updated when reality changes
Every review will carry a "Last updated" date. When a tool ships a material change, the review will be revised in place — not buried under a new post.
What you can and cannot expect from this site
Honest about both sides.
You can expect: zero PR fluff
No pitches from PR firms get accepted. No 'sponsored review' deals. The roadmap is shaped by what I would buy next with my own money.
You can expect: real authorship
One human writes every review — me. No editorial team, no ghostwriters, no AI-generated "summaries" passed off as analysis. My byline will be on every post.
You can expect: affiliate transparency
When commission programs become active, every review will disclose them inline, and the full disclosure page will list every active partnership. None are active today.
You cannot expect: every tool reviewed
Two-week reviews are slow. The realistic cadence is roughly one review per month, plus updates. If your favorite tool is not on the list, request it — frequent requests jump the queue.
You cannot expect: 'best in 2026' clickbait
Tools change. 'Best AI coding assistant' is a meaningless phrase out of context. Every review will answer 'best for whom, doing what.'
You cannot expect: comment-section pile-ons
If a review gets something wrong, email me with the evidence and the review will be fixed. A fast correction beats a defended mistake.
About me
I am Leonan Mansano. Full-stack developer (Java/Spring, React, Node), 10 years in. I work as a developer at a metallurgy company by day and ship side projects by night. CompareDev is one of them — born out of frustration with the state of dev tool reviews online.
No agency. No team. One developer who got tired of reading bad reviews and decided to write good ones.