The $0 AI content stack

Hook

Last month we published four videos, ran two client campaigns and sent a newsletter — and the software bill for all of it was zero dollars. Not “cheap.” Zero. In the next nine minutes I'll show you the exact stack, the order to set it up in, and the three places a free stack quietly charges you real money.

The stack in one picture

Four tools, one flow: ideas in, published content out. Writing and research run on free-tier models, visuals come out of free generation credits, scheduling rides a free plan — and nothing in between needs a paid connector.

Build order: tool 1→4

Start with the writing layer, not the calendar — everything downstream depends on it. Tool 1 is your model workspace; tool 2 hangs research off it. Tool 3 is Higgsfield for visuals: the free tier still covers roughly twenty generations a month,verify: free-tier limit changed? enough for two videos of thumbnails and inserts.

What $0 actually costs you

Free tools charge you in time, limits and lock-in. Here's where each one bites — and the point where the math says start paying.

CTA

Build this stack this week and tell me what broke — that's next month's video. Subscribe for the follow-up: the upgrade order for when revenue makes “free” the expensive option.