AI Tools We Recommend
Handpicked AI tools for business leaders, marketers, and creators — organised by use case.
Important safety note:
- AI Assistants & Chat
- General-purpose AI assistants for writing, research, coding, and everyday tasks.
- ChatGPT
- OpenAI\
- Chat; Writing; Coding
- Claude
- Anthropic\
- Chat; Writing; Analysis
- Gemini
- Google\
- Chat; Multimodal; Google
- HuggingChat
- Open-source chat interface from Hugging Face with access to leading open models like Llama, Mixtral, and Command R+. Fully free with web search, file uploads, and custom assistants.
- Open Source; Chat; Free
- Meta AI
- Meta\
- Chat; Social; Free
- Microsoft Copilot
- Microsoft\
- Chat; Microsoft 365; Productivity
- Mistral Le Chat
- AI assistant from leading European lab Mistral AI. Known for fast, capable responses with strong multilingual support and code generation. Free tier with access to their latest models.
- Chat; Multilingual; Coding
- Poe
- Multi-model platform from Quora giving access to ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Llama, and more in one interface. Great for comparing responses across models. Free tier with daily limits.
- Multi-Model; Chat; Comparison
- Research & Search
- AI-powered research tools that find, synthesise, and cite information from across the web.
- ChatGPT Atlas (OpenAI)
- AI-native browser integrated with ChatGPT, featuring an Agent mode that navigates the web semi-autonomously. Includes page-aware chat, automated workflows, and task completion. Free download available.
- Browser; AI Agent; Automation
- Connected Papers
- Visual tool that maps the landscape of academic papers around a seed article. Shows how research connects through a dynamic graph of related works. Ideal for literature discovery. Free tier included.
- Papers; Visualisation; Discovery
- Consensus
- AI search engine that finds and synthesises answers from peer-reviewed scientific papers. Returns evidence-based results with citation counts and study quality indicators. Free tier available.
- Science; Evidence; Papers
- Elicit
- AI research assistant that automates literature reviews: finding relevant papers, extracting key details, and organising them in tables. Great for structured evidence gathering across many sources.
- Literature Review; Papers; Extraction
- Google NotebookLM
- Upload PDFs, web pages, and notes, then chat with an AI grounded only in those sources. Generates summaries, Q&A, and outlines. Ideal for synthesising research in one place.
- Synthesis; Documents; Google
- Perplexity
- AI answer engine combining live web search with LLMs for concise, cited answers and Deep Research reports. Features focus modes, collaborative spaces, and multi-step synthesis for complex questions.
- Search; Research; Citations
- Perplexity Comet
- AI-native browser from Perplexity built on Chromium for research and knowledge work. Features sidebar AI assistant, cross-tab summarisation, project workspaces, and Persistent Intent Memory. Free tier included.
- Browser; Research; AI Agent
- Semantic Scholar
- Academic search engine with AI-powered paper summaries and citation graphs showing how research connects. Excellent for finding key papers and exploring references forward and backward. Free to use.
- Academic; Papers; Citations
- AI Agents & Workflows
- Platforms for building AI agents, automating multi-step workflows, and connecting AI to your business tools — often without code.
- Activepieces
- Open-source workflow automation with a clean visual builder and growing AI capabilities. Budget-friendly at $5 per flow, self-hostable, and built for teams wanting simplicity without vendor lock-in.
- Open Source; Workflows; Budget
- Implement AI
- No-code platform for building AI agents that handle customer support, sales, and operations tasks. Connects to your existing tools and data sources with simple setup. Free trial available.
- Agents; No-Code; Support
- Lindy AI
- AI employee platform that creates autonomous agents for email, scheduling, research, and sales workflows. Agents work together in teams and integrate with thousands of apps. Free tier included.
- Agents; Autonomous; Productivity
- Make (formerly Integromat)
- Visual workflow automation with powerful branching, error handling, and data transformation. Strong AI module support for calling LLMs and building complex multi-step automations. Free tier with 1,000 operations.
- Automation; Visual; Integrations
- MindStudio
- No-code platform for building custom AI agents and workflows. Combine multiple AI models, connect data sources, and deploy as apps, chatbots, or internal tools. Generous free tier for building.
- Agents; No-Code; Multi-Model
- n8n
- Workflow automation platform with native AI nodes for building agent-based workflows. Self-hostable, open source, with 400+ integrations. Ideal for technical users wanting full control. Free tier available.
- Workflows; Open Source; Developer
- Relevance AI
- Platform for creating AI agents that reason, use tools, and complete multi-step tasks autonomously. Designed for sales, support, and operations teams. Free tier available for experimentation.
- Agents; Autonomous; Business
- Zapier
- The most widely used workflow automation platform, now with AI-powered features and natural language workflow creation. Connects 7,000+ apps with drag-and-drop. Free tier with limited tasks.
- Automation; Integrations; No-Code
- Vibe Coding
- AI-powered app builders that let you create software by describing what you want in natural language — no traditional coding required.
- Base44
- AI app builder focused on business applications, letting you describe workflows and get working software with databases and integrations. Great for internal tools and MVPs. Free tier available.
- Business Apps; No-Code; MVPs
- Bolt
- AI app builder from StackBlitz that generates and runs full-stack web apps in the browser from prompts. Instant previews, iterative editing, and one-click deployment. Free tier available.
- Full-Stack; Browser; Deploy