The Drop #1: LLM gateways, PDF-to-Markdown tools and hosts your agent deploys to

Hey builders, this is the first issue of The Drop. Each issue covers the tools we added and the comparison pages we published since the last one. Every description below comes from the tool's listing or its own site.

New comparisons

• OpenRouter alternatives: 7 LLM gateways compared. Why builders leave OpenRouter, then LiteLLM, Vercel AI Gateway, Opper, Requesty, OneProvider, Vergora and SeedRouter, with fees from each official site.
• Railway vs Render vs Vercel: where to host an AI-built app. Plans, free tiers and databases for the app you built with Lovable, Cursor or Claude Code, plus two hosts made for coding agents.
• PDF to Markdown for LLMs. MarkItDown, Docling, Marker, MinerU, LlamaParse and PDF to MD compared on license, where they run and how they handle scanned pages.

New tools

Build and host the app

• Floot: builds a TypeScript and React app with Postgres, sign-in and hosting from inside Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor.
• Vibely: describe a web or native iOS/Android app and get one with a Postgres database, auth and a live URL.
• Proto (ERP.AI): a desktop agent that builds business apps with data, approvals and dashboards, then operates them.
• xhostd: hosting your coding agent deploys to over MCP, with a Postgres database per project.
• The Vibe Hosting: your agent makes one API call and gets an Ubuntu server with root SSH and an HTTPS subdomain, no signup.
• Shipback: deploys a folder to any SFTP host and backs up each server file first, so your agent can undo a deploy with one command.

Run and steer coding agents

• Google Antigravity: Google's agent-first IDE where agents plan, write and test code across editor, terminal and browser.
• Reason: a coding agent that writes code, runs tests and opens pull requests from a Mac app, terminal, web or Slack.
• Harness: open-source command center for running Claude Code, Codex and other agents across local, remote and cloud machines.
• Hivelane: your main agent stays in charge while Hivelane routes each task to the installed agent that fits, each in its own git worktree.
• SwarmPane: a desktop app that runs up to 16 coding agent CLIs side by side.
• Atelier: a Mac app that keeps tasks, releases, feedback and rules for each project, which your agents read and update over MCP.
• Tiden: keeps your intent as versioned requirements and checks every agent change against them with tests.
• Pathmode: lets PMs and designers review what a coding agent plans to build from a shared browser link.
• Graphicle: open-source Rust program that gives coding agents a code graph and memory.
• DevSnips: an MIT-licensed library of 1,000+ React, Tailwind and HTML components built for agents to drop in.
• Sphinx: a Git hook where a separate reviewer model quizzes you on your agent's diff before a push to a protected branch goes through.
• HOL Guard: an open-source CLI that checks your coding agent's shell commands, secrets-file reads, MCP calls and package installs against a local policy before they run.

LLM gateways and cost control

• LiteLLM: open-source gateway you host yourself, one OpenAI-compatible API in front of 140+ providers.
• Requesty: managed gateway with 600+ models behind one API and EU data residency.
• Opper: EU-hosted API for 700+ models with spend caps and zero data retention.
• OneProvider: one prepaid key with Anthropic- and OpenAI-compatible endpoints, so Claude Code or Cursor connect by changing a base URL.
• Vergora: one key for GPT, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek and others, priced below list according to its models page.
• SeedRouter: one key for video, image and text models, including Veo, Kling and Seedance.
• Navige: sits between your agents and their models to route to smaller models, cache reads and catch runaway loops.
• Memflex: reuses answers to queries it has already seen, so agents call the LLM less often.
• shim: masks personal data and secrets before a prompt leaves your machine, and logs what each call carried and cost.

Documents to Markdown

• MarkItDown: Microsoft's MIT-licensed Python utility that turns Office files, PDFs, audio and more into Markdown.
• Docling: IBM Research's open-source parser with layout, reading order, tables and OCR for scanned PDFs.
• Marker: converts PDFs and Office files to Markdown, JSON or HTML, keeping tables and math.
• MinerU: a command-line reader that parses PDFs, scans and papers into Markdown, LaTeX or JSON on your machine.
• LlamaParse: LlamaIndex's hosted parser for documents with tables, charts and handwriting.
• PDF to MD: converts PDFs to Markdown in your browser, so files stay on your device.
• Sygal: converts PDFs, Office files and scans to Markdown and JSON locally on Mac or PC, one-time purchase.

Agents, memory and MCP

• AI Council: open-source template where product, UX, tech and business agents debate decisions inside your repo.
• Arlong: web search for agents that also screens pages and emails for prompt injection.
• withHuman: open-source approval layer that sends risky agent tool calls to a person on Slack, Discord, email or mobile.
• Make0 Brain: a memory layer that keeps your context in sync across ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor and other MCP apps.
• DocuMemory: saves the decisions and constraints from long AI coding sessions as structured docs that later sessions recall.
• Jockey (TwelveLabs): a video agent that searches your video library and acts on what it finds.
• Dottr: CC it on a deal email and it drafts the contract, flags risks and chases signatures.
• Epimela: turns WhatsApp and voice enquiries into jobs, quotes and schedules for local service businesses.
• Chatway MCP: connects your AI assistant to your Chatway customer conversations, on the free plan.
• Hiasynth: a synthetic population of Europe you can query from Claude or ChatGPT to size markets.
• Mentova: tracks how often ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity and Grok name your brand.

Also new

• Meiku Charts: paste rows and get an embeddable chart in your browser, no account needed.
• UI Design Editor: a free, open-source mockup canvas in the browser that you and your AI assistant edit together, no signup.
• Arvow: AI agents for SEO that write and publish content, build backlinks and fix technical issues.
• Sayso: press a hotkey, speak, and it types the text, with speech recognition running on your own computer.
• OpenLume: ask a technical question and get an animated, narrated explainer you can interrupt.
• EwwCode: post a snippet, developers rate it 0 to 10, and an AI roast follows.

Browse more

The full directory is at getstackdrop.com/tools, and every comparison lives at getstackdrop.com/compare. Built something? Submit it.