About Gary
I'm Gary. I test the software small businesses pay for.
I'm a self-taught digital marketer and developer based in South Africa. My day job is running ads, analytics and websites for real businesses, so I see first-hand which tools earn their monthly fee and which don't.
What I do day to day
Everything I review here comes from the same three jobs I do for clients.
Paid ads
Meta, Google and TikTok campaigns for real businesses, where every rand of spend has to pay its way.
Analytics
GA4 setup and reporting, so clients can see which channels and tools actually bring in sales.
Websites and stores
Shopify stores and WordPress sites built with Elementor, including the plugins and apps that run on them.
Why this site exists
Small businesses get sold a lot of software. Most review sites rewrite the vendor’s feature list and stop there. I wanted somewhere to give straight answers: what a tool is good at, what it really costs, and who should skip it.
Every tool on The Software Ninja is one I’ve signed up for and used myself. When I recommend something, it’s the tool I’d pick for that job if it were my money.
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