ChatGPT
The most widely used AI assistant. Drafting, analysis, code, browsing and file understanding in one chat.
A hand-checked directory of AI tools for writing, images, video, audio, coding and everyday productivity — plus plain-English guides on what actually works.
The most widely used AI assistant. Drafting, analysis, code, browsing and file understanding in one chat.
Anthropic's assistant, strong at long documents, careful writing and code. Great for research-heavy work.
Google's multimodal assistant, deeply integrated with Gmail, Docs and Search. Solid free tier.
Answer engine that cites its sources. Best-in-class for quick, verifiable research questions.
Industry benchmark for artistic image generation with a distinctive visual style.
OpenAI's image generator, easy to prompt and built into ChatGPT for quick visuals.
Open-source image model you can run locally or hosted, with unlimited customisation.
Pro-grade AI video generation and editing suite used by studios and creators.
Fast, playful text-to-video generation with strong style control for social clips.
The most natural AI voices for narration, dubbing and character audio.
Generate complete songs with vocals from a text prompt. Shockingly good for drafts.
Marketing-focused AI writing platform with brand voice and campaign workflows.
Sales and marketing copy workflows with templates for ads, emails and posts.
AI built into your workspace: summarise notes, draft pages and answer questions about your docs.
Grammar, clarity and tone assistance everywhere you write, with an AI rewriter.
Turns a prompt into a polished presentation, doc or webpage in minutes.
Live transcription and summaries for meetings and interviews.
Edit video and podcasts by editing the transcript. Removes filler words in one click.
AI design assistant inside Canva: generate visuals, write copy and edit in one editor.
The standard AI pair programmer inside VS Code, JetBrains and GitHub itself.
AI-first code editor that understands your whole project and edits across files.
Connect 7,000+ apps and let AI draft, route and act on the data between them.
The open hub of models, datasets and demos — where most AI tool builders start.
Studio-quality AI avatar videos for training and explainers, in 140+ languages.
We ran the same five real tasks through all three. Here's where each one wins — and when the free tier is enough.
"Free" usually means limited. These picks have generous tiers you can actually work with — no credit card required.
A practical, jargon-free look at agent tools — what works today, what's hype, and how to start safely.