How we rank
howai ranks tools by how much people are talking about and using them right now. We call it heat. Here is exactly how it works.
Where the numbers come from
We count public mentions of each tool over the last 7 and 30 days on three sources: posts on X, posts on Reddit and YouTube video titles. X only shows the last 7 days.
The counts come from public search, never from the tool makers.
How much each source counts
X counts 50%, Reddit 30% and YouTube 20%. On each source, a tool is compared with the most-mentioned tool on a log scale, so one viral tool doesn’t flatten everyone else. The result is a score from 0 to 100.
Recent counts more
Mentions from the last 7 days count in full. Mentions from days 8 to 30 count half. A fading tool slips down and a rising one climbs.
“Not enough data”
If a tool has fewer than 10 mentions in total, we don’t give it a score. It shows “Not enough data” instead of a made-up number, and it sorts after tools that have one.
Arrows and trends
Once a week we save a snapshot. An arrow appears when a tool’s mentions moved by more than 10% since the previous check.
Search: fit comes first
When you search by task, how well a tool fits the task comes first. Heat only settles near-ties, by a tiny margin of about 2%, so a hot tool can’t outrank a better fit. On category pages, the best fits for the category come first, then heat.
No paid placement
Nobody pays for rankings. A tool can’t buy a higher spot, a badge or a better score. Any sponsorship would be clearly labelled and would never change a ranking.
What heat is not
Heat measures buzz, not quality. A popular tool isn’t automatically the best one for you, which is why every page also shows pros, cons and pricing.