You are in. Here is the toolkit, 18 AI tools with a genuinely useful free plan, sorted by what each one is actually best at. No fluff, use this as your starting stack.
Write and think
- ChatGPT — all-round drafting, ideas, and rewriting.
- Claude — long documents, careful writing, analysis.
- Perplexity — research with sources you can check.
- Grammarly — catch errors and tighten sentences.
Design and images
- Canva — social posts, thumbnails, quick brand graphics.
- Microsoft Designer — fast AI image generation for free.
- Remove.bg — one-click background removal.
- Upscayl — free, open-source image upscaling.
Video and audio
- CapCut — edit short videos with AI captions.
- Clipchamp — simple browser video editing.
- Adobe Podcast Enhance — clean up voice recordings free.
- Suno — generate music tracks on the free tier.
Work faster
- Notion AI (trial) — notes and docs with AI help.
- Otter.ai — meeting transcription free tier.
- Gamma — AI slide decks in minutes.
- Zapier (free tier) — connect your tools, automate small tasks.
Code and build
- GitHub Copilot (free tier) — code suggestions in your editor.
- Replit — build and run small apps in the browser.
Free plans change often. If one of these has moved to paid, reply to our email and we will update the list.
Every week we send one short email like this: new tools worth trying, and the ones to skip.