10 Best AI Tools By Category (+Free Alternatives)

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) and AI tools have been trending topics right now and without a doubt will be growing year after year. Thanks to the emergence of ChatGPT, many of us have been able to improve our daily lives by using the popular Large Language Model (LLM).

What followed were more tools leveraging the power of AI to automate various time-consuming tasks such as content creation and image generation. In this post, we are going to explore some of the AI tools that you can use to improve your workflows.

Click the links below to jump to your preferred AI tool.

1. Image Generation

One thing that AI has been able to do is generate images according to a text prompt provided by a user. A prompt as simple as “a buffet of various types of cuisines” can generate images like this.

a buffet of various types of cuisines

There are three tools that I recommend checking out if you wanna generate your own set of images. Whether it be a photo, illustration, or vector art, these tools can generate any image that you want.

Midjourney

midjourney home page

Midjourney is the ChatGPT of image generation. This tool is one of the most powerful tools on this list as it can generate images depending on your prompt. The best part? You can give it prompts like “monkey eating ramen at the beach —ar 16:9 —style raw”. This tells Midjourney that you want an image of a monkey eating ramen at the beach with an aspect ratio of 16 by 9 of RAW file type.

Pros

  • The image generated is of high-quality
  • Premium art with simple prompts
  • The art generated has 4 selections to choose from and can be upscaled
  • Able to refine images until satisfied

Cons

  • No API access
  • Only accessible through Discord
  • Art generated is public
  • Certain words are banned

Pricing

MonthlyAnnually
Basic$10$96
Standard$30$288
Pro$60$576
Mega$120$1152

Adobe Firefly

adobe firefly home page

Adobe’s Firefly is relatively new to the market. It is another generative AI model that can generate images based on the prompts that you provide. Currently, Firefly is still in its beta version but is still able to generate fairly accurate and clear images with 4 choices to choose from. You are then able to use the images directly within tools like Adobe Photoshop to edit them further per your imagination.

Pros

  • Free for anyone to use with an Adobe account
  • Able to edit the image with Adobe’s suite of tools — tools like generative fill, filters, removing backgrounds
  • Available on the web and in Photoshop

Cons

  • The images generated are not as realistic
  • Not as mature as platforms like Midjourney
  • Banned words
  • As of now, the images can’t be used for commercial purposes (beta version)

Pricing

MonthlyAnnually
Free25 free monthly generative credits
Premium100 monthly generative credits

Note: once your boosts finish you may still generate images but the process is much longer.

Microsoft Bing Image Generator

microsoft bing image generator home page

Microsoft’s Bing Image Generator is an AI tool powerhouse when it comes to image generation. Tools like it make our lives way easier when it comes to image generation. I’ve used Bing Image Generator a few times and I can say it’s pretty good to generate images that are specified specifically in the prompt. The only downside is that some of the images are not clear since the resolution is 1024×1024 pixels.

Pros

  • Available directly in Microsoft Edge (browser) and Bing (search engine)
  • Photorealistic pictures with faster output than other models
  • Images are free of copyright

Cons

  • No tweaking options
  • The maximum size of images generated is always 1024 x 1024
  • Sometimes images are blurry

Pricing

MonthlyAnnually
Free100 boosts per week

2. Workflow & Productivity

Improving workflow and having the perfect productivity routine has always been a long-lasting discussion for people like us. Whether it be for school, work, or even your day-to-day lifestyle, being a productive person helps us to finish our work faster and without hassle.

ClickUp

clickup home page

ClickUp is a tool that leverages the power of AI in its project management application. One of them is an AI writing assistant that helps users write compelling content, summarize a page, or fix errors in a document. With features like this, content generation becomes a piece of cake for users looking to craft long-written articles or email replies. Additionally, the app can integrate seamlessly with other popular tools like Slack and GitHub.

Pros

  • Ease-of-use
  • 15+ Views (List, Board, Kanban, etc)
  • Unlimited members and tasks for collaboration
  • Abundance of templates
  • 24/7 customer support

Cons

  • Low storage in the free plan
  • Steep learning curve
  • Quite pricey depending on the number of members

Pricing

MonthlyAnnually
Free100MB total storage100MB total storage
Unlimited$10 per member/month$7 per member/month
Business$19 per member/month$12 per member/month
EnterpriseCustomCustom

Workstreams.ai

workstreams.ai web page

Workstreams.ai is a workflow management web application that helps enterprises manage tasks across various platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Google. It uses a Kanban board system to allow managers to create, sort, and manage tasks so they are right on track. Even though this application is more towards enterprises, freelancers and solopreneurs can use it to manage their upcoming tasks, thus, increasing productivity.

Pros

  • Intuitive interface
  • The free plan allows the collaboration of up to 3 members with the pro package features
  • Customizable workflows for various teams

Cons

  • Exporting timelines doesn’t look exactly how you want them

Pricing

MonthlyQuarterlyAnnually
FreeFreeFreeFree
Pro$7.99 per user/month$8.99 per user/month$9.99 per use/month
EnterpriseCustomCustomCustom

Notion

notion website's home page

Next, in the productivity list is the popular Notion. This web application has been one of the most intuitive and easy-to-use web applications for productivity nerds, content creators, or small teams. Notion provides endless capabilities to ensure that every piece of information is laid out strategically, making it easier for various users to manage them. A few popular features of Notion is its ability to view and organize data in different views such as table, gallery, kanban board, etc with each having its own database. One recent feature recently released is Notion AI which can improve writing, fix spelling, and more. (In fact, this post was also written in Notion????).

Pros

  • Easy-to-use and understand interface
  • Free pricing plan
  • Available template library
  • Able to purchase and install custom templates from online marketplaces
  • Can integrate with various tools

Cons

  • Business tier pricing is more on the pricey side
  • No complex project management tools like visualizations and charts.

Pricing

MonthlyNo. of users
FreeFree10
Plus$8 per user/month100
Business$15 per user/month250
EnterpriseCustomCustom

Notion AI pricing

MonthlyAnnually
$10 per member/month$8 per member/month

3. Chatbot

A chatbot is a type of software that can respond to inquiries by generating human-like replies. These chatbots already existed years ago and they were able to solve many customer support problems either by answering questions, providing solutions, or connecting the customer to customer support — simply by being embedded in a website. Nowadays, AI tools like ChatGPT have taken over the market with their ability to answer some of the most complicated questions in just seconds.

ChatGPT

open AI's website home page

Unless you’re living under a rock, you should know what ChatGPT is by now. It is an interactive chatbot that can provide answers based on prompts given by the user. Operating under the hood is a Large Language Model (LLM) also known as a neural network. This AI tool has been one of the most popular in the market since its emergence, surprising users with powerful features like writing blog articles, solving complex problems, generating code, and more. What makes it even better is that it’s completely free! According to OpenAI, its GPT-3 model has 175 billion parameters while GPT-4 has way more.

Pros

  • Easy-to-use interface
  • Free for daily use
  • Can integrate with various plugins (requires upgrading to a subscription plan)
  • Ideas generated are very useful
  • Has features like language translation, text summarization, content ideas, and more
  • Its new version GPT-4 is more complex than GPT-3.5 — better at answering questions (with facts), writing longer articles, and supporting art/music generation

Cons

  • Information is only updated up to the year 2021
  • Character limit of 4096
  • Responses are sometimes inaccurate, AI-generated (well it is an AI tool), and information is not cited.

Pricing

MonthlyAnnually
FreeFreeFree
Plus$20 per month
EnterpriseCustom

Google Bard

google bard's AI chatbot home page

Developed by Google, Bard is another chatbot where you can ask questions or use it as a personal assistant. It was released on March 21, 2023, and has a simple interface like ChatGPT. A billion-dollar company like Google surely has the manpower to develop an AI tool that is capable of many things. The best part? Bard can connect to your Google apps and services which is super useful depending on the user and their use case.

Pros

  • Better user experience
  • Generates multiple responses for one question
  • Responses have a Google It button to view the source
  • Free to use
  • Able to upload images for questions and responses with images plus text

Cons

  • Lesser integrations than ChatGPT
  • Information is from Google Search so should be fact-checked

Pricing

MonthlyAnnually
FreeFreeFree

4. Copywriting

A copywriter is a person who writes copies for marketing purposes like advertising and so on. From website content to landing pages and emails, copywriters are present in various digital platforms that you see today. Their job focuses mainly on researching and producing content that is relevant for a purpose. That purpose might be generating leads, reducing bounce rates, or convincing customers to take action. Below listed are several AI tools that can generate good copies for you in a matter of seconds.

Copy.ai

copy.ai website home page

Copy AI is one of those copywriting tools that you wish you had in your pockets. With powerful features and automated workflows, you can leverage the power of this tool to generate content for your email, blog, or social media. Marketers or freelancers can easily enhance their work rate by simply having this tool in their arsenal. I would say that this tool is mostly developed to be used as an idea generator instead of writing the entire article for you as it does have its drawbacks. If you do opt for the free version though, it has a limit of 2,000 words per month.

Pros

  • The content generated is of premium quality
  • Automated workflows
  • Various templates for accurate content generation
  • Quick responses

Cons

  • The copy is mostly AI-generated
  • Requires a human to proofread it
  • Support is not good
  • Pricey

Pricing

MonthlyAnnuallyNo of seats
FreeFreeFree1
Pro$49$36/month5
Team$249$186/month20
Growth$1,333$1,000/month75
Scale$4,000$3,000/month200

Quillbot

quillbot paraphrasing tool website home page

An alternative and free version to Copy AI, Quillbot is not a copywriting tool but it does have the capabilities to paraphrase your sentences into well-written formats according to your settings. You can adjust the tone of the phrasing according to your preference. It even supports rephrasing in multiple languages Hindi, French, Spanish, German, and even Tagalog. By using this tool you can write a copy and tailor it for specific target audiences for A/B testing.

Pros

  • Integrates with MS Word and Chrome using extensions
  • Boasts other sets of tools like a translator, summarizer, citation generator, and more
  • Ease of use (just type or paste the text and it’ll paraphrase it)
  • Can generate citations

Cons

  • Limit of 125 words
  • Can’t generate long-form articles or blog posts
  • Only 2 tone options available in the free plan

Pricing

MonthlySemi-AnnualAnnually
FreeFreeFreeFree
Premium$9.95$6.66/month$4.17/month

5. Content Creation

In this day and age, content dominates the internet. This is why the saying goes “Content is king”. One common form of content is articles and blog posts, also known as long-form content. According to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) experts, long-form content is considered a ranking factor for Google. Creating this type of content will help you get your blog appearing on the first page of Google which is why it is necessary to have an AI tool that helps with content creation.

Jasper

jasper AI content writer website's home page

Jasper is an AI-powered writing assistant that has the power to optimize content creation by a large margin. It provides real-time suggestions so you can make adjustments and adhere to the correct writing standards. With Jasper, content creators can generate high-quality content within seconds by inserting the correct inputs. Additionally, you can choose the title, tone plus other parameters to achieve the best output.

Pros

  • Numerous templates to choose from
  • Brand voice (Jasper can copy your writing style)
  • Has its own AI chatbot (Jasper Chat)
  • Jasper chrome extension

Cons

  • Content is not human-like
  • No free plan (7-day trial)
  • Pricey for small creators

Pricing

MonthlyAnnually
Creator$49$39/month
Teams$125$99/month
BusinessCustomCustom

Rytr

rytr: AI content generator, website's home page

Rytr is another AI writing tool that can churn out content that is highly converting. What makes Rytr unique is that it comes with an image generator for content creators who want to include images in their content. However, like Jasper and many AI tools, it isn’t able to completely replace an experienced human writer just yet.

Pros

  • 40+ templates, 30+ languages, and 20+ voice tones
  • High-quality content for all use cases
  • Pricing is cheap and has a free plan
  • Rytr Chrome extension
  • Built-in plagiarism checker

Cons

  • Not that great for long-form content
  • No advanced tools like Jasper has

Pricing

MonthlyAnnually
FreeFree
Saver$9
Unlimited$29

6. Grammar/Spell Checking/Proofreading

Have you ever read through your article only to find it containing minor grammatical or spelling errors? Or is English your 2nd language? Fret not, the tools listed below are proven to solve issues with your writing.

Grammarly

grammarly AI writing assistant: website's home page

Being released in 2009, Grammarly was not a tool with AI to begin with. Fast forward to today, it still is one of the most dominant online grammar checkers out there. I am using this tool while writing this blog myself and I can say that it helps me correct many mistakes that I make either willingly or unwillingly. Sometimes, Grammarly helps me rephrase sentences to sound more confident.

Pros

  • Ease-of-use
  • Fixes correctness, clarity, delivery, engagement
  • An explanation for each error
  • Grammarly Chrome extension integrates with popular tools

Cons

  • Does not allow offline editing
  • Sometimes suggestions have mistakes
  • The free version is limited

Pricing

MonthlyAnnually
FreeFree
Premium$12
Business$15 per member

Wordtune

wordtune website home page

A competitor to Grammarly, Wordtune has the same functions as Grammarly but it’s more for rewriting/rephrasing sentences than grammar fixing. Essentially, this helps with converting your writing to different expressions like casual or business. Wordtune’s Generative AI helps make your writing stand out by customizing and rephrasing your sentences to sound better.

Pros

  • Many rephrasing word alternatives
  • Multiple language support
  • Summarize YouTube videos, blog articles, PDFs and more
  • Has its own Chrome extension

Cons

  • The free plan is limited
  • Rewrite limits are low in the free version

Pricing

MonthlyAnnually
Free$0$0
Plus$24.99$9.99/month
Unlimited$37.50$14.99/month
BusinessCustomCustom

7. Programming

Programming is currently one of the most popular skills in the market with rising demand for software developers expected to grow by 25% from 2022 to 2023. If you aspire to become a developer — the tools below can help improve your work rate.

Github Copilot

github website home page

I’ve been using Copilot myself — and it’s been a lot of help. The AI tool suggests and autocompletes code in real time as I keep typing. Because of that, I was able to avoid common syntax errors and reduce the time spent for debugging any issues.

Pros

  • Code suggestions are mostly complete
  • Supports some of the major programming languages
  • Enhance productivity
  • Reduce errors in code

Cons

  • No free plan
  • Occasionally doesn’t follow best coding practices

Pricing

MonthlyAnnually
Individuals$10$100
Business$19 per user

Codeium

codeium AI website home page

If you’ve come to this section — hoping for a free tool, well, this is it. Codeium is a next-generation AI tool that enhances your coding workflow by suggesting and auto-completing code according to the situation. With support of up to 70+ languages and 40+ editors, this tool can be used on your favorite code editors.

Pros

  • User-friendly interface
  • Wide range of support for almost all programming languages
  • Works with 40+ integrated development environments (IDEs)
  • AI code autocompletion
  • Testing environment
  • Available Chrome extension
  • Free plan

Cons

  • Minor issues with auto-completion
  • More focused on beginner concepts than advanced

Pricing

MonthlyAnnually
Free$0$0
Teams$15 per seat$12 per seat/month
EnterpriseCustomCustom

8. Website Builders

Since the emergence of AI, no-code website builders have largely populated the market with their ability to create websites in minutes.

10Web

10Web website builder home page

10Web is an example of one of those no-code builders that generates an entire website for you that you can edit according to your personal preference. It’s able to generate custom images as well as populate the website with basic content that relates to the type of prompt you provide.

Pros

  • High page speed scores
  • Available templates to choose from
  • Customization options are available
  • Dedicated chat channel with a 10Web engineer via Slack

Cons

  • Generated images were somewhat distorted or weird
  • Need to update the website and plugins manually

Pricing

MonthlyAnnually
Starter$20$10/month
Premium$30$15/month
Ultimate$45$23/month
E-Commerce Starter$30$15/month
E-Commerce Premium$75$38/month
Dedicated Hosting$250$175/month
Agency Starter$48$24/month
Agency Premium$85$60/month
Agency UltimateCustomCustom

Framer

framer website home page

Framer is a powerful website editor and AI generator that you can use to create a whole website in just hours. The editing experience follows Figma’s UI and UX. You are also able to copy-paste Figma designs directly into the website for faster design. With its AI tool, you can generate a custom design according to your prompt. Overall, Framer is a powerful web designer and its AI content generator is pretty efficient too.

Pros

  • Animations and transitions are easy to play with
  • Content Management System (CMS) support
  • Available templates to use to design the site
  • Designs can be imported directly from Figma
  • Free plan available

Cons

  • CMS support is not very advanced
  • Lack of documentation

Pricing

MonthlyAnnually
Free$0
Mini$5/month
Basic$15/month
Pro$30/month
EnterpriseCustomCustom

9. Video Creation

Ever thought of becoming a YouTuber? Need to reduce Don’t like showing your face on camera? Good news — these tools generate videos using AI from plain text.

Synthesia

synthesia website home page

Synthesia, an AI video generator, generates videos from text using AI avatars with 120+ different languages and accents. It can convert text-to-speech and with various voiceovers — including your own! It even has ChatGPT prompts in it that you can use to automatically generate scripts for your video. Creating videos has never been easier with this AI tool.

Pros

  • Various video templates to use
  • Video can be customized further by changing the title, scripts, tone, etc
  • Over 60+ AI avatars and 120+ languages to mix and match from

Cons

  • No free plan
  • Customer service is not the best
  • Tons of policies to adhere to
  • Avatar lacks facial expressions and doesn’t represent a real human being

Pricing

MonthlyAnnually
Starter$29$22/month
EnterpriseCustomCustom

invideo AI

invideo AI website home page

Another notable tool for video generation is invideo AI. This tool functions similarly to Synthesia but you can customize features like your target audience and platform. With this, you can craft each video to be unique audiences on different platforms like Instagram and YouTube. It also has a built-in video editor that you can use to add effects, transitions, or music.

Pros

  • Free plan available (only on mobile version)
  • Built-in collaboration like Google Docs
  • A lot of available templates for different use cases and platforms
  • Intuitive UI

Cons

  • Minor lag (normal for a video editor)
  • 50-line cap for scripts

Pricing

MonthlyAnnually
Free$0$0
Plus$25$20
Max$60$48

10. Presentation

You know that last-minute presentation you’ve been procrastinating lately? What if I told you that it can be created in mere minutes?

decktopus

decktopus website home page

Decktopus is one of those apps you wish you had when a year ago. This powerful AI tool is good at generating custom presentations depending on your prompt. With additional customization options available, this tool takes presentation a step further when compared to powerhouse Canva.

Pros

  • An unlimited number of themes, fonts, and colors to choose from
  • AI suggests content for your presentation
  • Extra customizations like voice recording, forms, and custom domain connection
  • Generate custom assets with their AI generator

Cons

  • No free plan
  • Steep learning curve

Pricing

MonthlyAnnually
Plus$14.99$9.99/month
Business$48 per user$36 per user/month

Slideoo

slideoo website home page

An alternative free AI presentation builder is Slideoo which has built-in collaboration as well. Using themes designed for different industries, you can customize the look and feel of your presentation to give it a professional look. Then, export them to PDF/PPT format for usage later.

Pros

  • Text-to-slide conversion
  • Templates and design themes available
  • URL to presentation AI converter
  • Free plan available

Cons

  • The free plan is limited
  • Quite pricey

Pricing

MonthlyAnnually
Free$0$0
Pro$15 per member/month$12 per member/month
EnterpriseCustomCustom

11. Bonus

Additional AI tools that weren’t added to the list above.

Scite

scite AI website home page

If you’ve ever gone to college, you know that one part of writing a thesis is finding relevant articles and citations related to your research. The problem is that there are many of these articles and you have to sift through each of them resulting in your time being lost. With Scite, researching and reading research articles are made easy with answers backed by citations. With its open-source Chrome extension, you can get insights about an article — whether it was supported or not.

Pros

  • Find relevant articles in its huge database with filtering and sorting
  • Check for citation statements
  • Reference check for citations
  • Build and manage relevant articles (somewhat like Mendeley)
  • Has its own Chrome extension

Cons

  • No free plan (the extension is free though)
  • Not every research article is in the database

Pricing

MonthlyAnnually
Individuals$20$12/month
EnterpriseCustomCustom

Scribe

scribe website home page

Scribe makes creating step-by-step guides and standard operating procedures (SOPs) easier by recording your screen and capturing your inputs. Then, it creates documentation with screenshots according to your process. After that, you can edit the screenshots and remove unrelated text or fix grammatical errors. You can then share them with your team using an autogenerated link.

Pros

  • Ease-of-use
  • Export to HTML, Markdown, PDF
  • Quick customization
  • Free plan available
  • Has its own Chrome extension

Cons

  • Can’t edit screenshots in the free plan
  • The free plan allows only recording in the browser
  • Sometimes link clicks and actions are not recorded
  • Can’t insert GIFs

Pricing

MonthlyAnnually
Free$0$0
Pro (Personal)$29/month$23/month
Pro (Team – 5 minimum members)$15 per seat/month$12 per seat/month
EnterpriseCustomCustom

That’s It!

So, these are some of the most popular AI tools in the market right now. As more tools are introduced, one of them may be more feature-rich than the others. No AI tool (at this moment) can take a person’s job but it is essential that we utilize them to our advantage to improve and speed up our workflow.

With that being said, feel free to drop a comment letting me know which of these tools you use on a daily basis and what other tools you think I should check out.

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