Plenty of AI tools advertise a free plan, but what you actually get ranges from unlimited daily use to a handful of one-time credits. This guide groups the tools by job and lists only those whose official pages show a free tier, with what that tier includes and where it stops. Details were recorded on 14 and 15 October 2026; free allowances change often, so check before you build a habit around one.
Quick answer
- Chat: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and DeepSeek all have strong free plans.
- Writing and translation: Grammarly and DeepL.
- Coding: GitHub Copilot Free and Google Antigravity.
- Images: Krea, Leonardo.Ai, Ideogram and Adobe Firefly.
- Video: HeyGen for avatars; Runway and Kling for short tests.
- Voice and music: ElevenLabs and Suno.
- Research: Perplexity, Gemini Notebook and Elicit.
- Meetings: Fireflies.ai or Otter.ai.
Chat assistants
This is the most generous category. ChatGPT Free gives unlimited text chats with GPT-6 plus limited uploads, images, voice and deep research. Claude Free includes web search, code execution, file creation and memory on the Sonnet and Haiku models. Gemini’s free tier uses Flash-Lite but adds Deep Research, Gemini Live and 15 GB of storage. DeepSeek and Qwen Chat have no paid consumer plan at all. See our best chat assistants list for the full picture.
Writing and translation
Grammarly’s free plan covers spelling and grammar corrections, tone detection and 100 AI prompts per month; advanced rewrites need Pro. DeepL Free translates 50,000 characters per user per month, with 1 file translation per month up to 5 MB and 1 glossary with 5 entries per language pair. More in our best AI writing tools roundup.
Coding
- GitHub Copilot Free: 2,000 inline suggestions per month and limited chat and agent use (the FAQ lists 50 chat requests), including CLI and agent mode.
- Google Antigravity: $0 for individuals, with multiple agent models, unlimited Tab completions, unlimited Command requests and basic weekly rate limits.
- Junie (JetBrains AI): the free Junie Lite model in every JetBrains account, plus bring-your-own-key at provider rates.
- App builders: Lovable gives 5 build credits per day (up to 30 per month); v0 allows 7 messages a day; Bolt.new caps free use at 300K tokens daily and 1M per month; Replit Starter allows one published app.
Cursor’s free plan also exists but only offers limited AI usage. Compare the two main editors in Cursor vs GitHub Copilot, or browse the best AI coding tools.
Images
Krea’s free plan is the most complete: 100 compute units per day, LoRA training up to 50 images, 2K upscaling, a commercial license and unlimited relaxed generations on supported in-house models. Leonardo.Ai gives 150 fast tokens per day. Ideogram gives 30 credits per week to accounts signed in with Google, Apple or Microsoft, but every free image is public. Adobe Firefly offers free daily generations across image, video and audio on some models. Canva Free includes a limited monthly AI allowance. Midjourney has no free plan. See the best image generators.
Video
Free video is the tightest category. HeyGen allows 3 videos per month, each up to 1 minute. Synthesia’s Basic plan gives 10 minutes of video per month, but the videos carry a watermark and cannot be downloaded. Runway gives 125 credits once, not monthly. Kling AI gives credits on sign-up and a monthly free allowance on login, with amounts that may change. Pika’s free plan has 0 monthly credits, so you must buy credit packs. Google Flow and Luma have no free plan. More in the best AI video tools.
Voice, audio and music
ElevenLabs gives 10,000 credits per month across text to speech, speech to text, sound effects, voice design and music, with 3 Studio projects. Descript’s free plan includes 60 minutes of media per month and 100 one-time AI credits, but exports are 720p with a watermark. Suno gives 50 credits per day on its v6-mini model, with no song downloads and no commercial rights. Udio gives 10 daily credits within a 100-credit monthly limit, and downloads have been disabled. Browse the best voice and audio tools.
Research, meetings and presentations
Perplexity Free offers practically unlimited basic searches and about 3 Pro Searches per day. Gemini Notebook, formerly NotebookLM, allows up to 50 sources per notebook with standard limits on Audio Overviews and Slides. Elicit offers unlimited search across 138M+ papers and unlimited summaries; Consensus gives 10 Pro messages and up to 3 Deep reviews per month (more in the best research tools). For meetings, Otter.ai gives 300 transcription minutes per month with a 30-minute cap per conversation, while Fireflies.ai offers unlimited transcription with 400 minutes of storage per team; see Otter vs Fireflies. For slides, Gamma gives 400 one-time credits that do not refresh, and Claude Free includes Slides; see the best presentation tools.
Free plans compared
| Tool | Job | What the free plan includes | Main limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | Chat | Unlimited text chats with GPT-6 | Uploads, images and deep research are limited |
| Grammarly | Writing | Grammar, tone detection, 100 AI prompts/month | Advanced rewrites need Pro |
| DeepL | Translation | 50,000 characters/month, 1 file/month | Small file and glossary limits |
| GitHub Copilot | Coding | 2,000 completions, 50 chat requests | Monthly caps |
| Google Antigravity | Coding | Agent models, unlimited Tab completions | Basic weekly rate limits |
| Krea | Images | 100 compute units/day, commercial license | No video concurrency |
| Ideogram | Images | 30 credits/week | All free images are public |
| HeyGen | Video | 3 videos/month | Up to 1 minute each |
| Runway | Video | 125 credits, 5GB storage | Credits are one-time |
| ElevenLabs | Voice | 10,000 credits/month | Credit use varies by feature |
| Suno | Music | 50 credits/day | No downloads or commercial rights |
| Perplexity | Research | Unlimited basic searches | About 3 Pro Searches/day |
| Otter.ai | Meetings | 300 minutes/month | 30 minutes per conversation |
| Fireflies.ai | Meetings | Unlimited transcription | 400 minutes of storage per team |
| Gamma | Presentations | 400 one-time credits | Credits do not refresh; Gamma badge on exports |
Common mistakes
- Assuming free means you can use the output commercially. Suno and Pika’s free plans have no commercial license.
- Uploading private material to tools where free output is public, such as Ideogram.
- Building a workflow on one-time credits (Runway, Gamma, Descript’s AI credits) that will not come back.
- Planning to share free videos from Synthesia, which cannot be downloaded and carry a watermark.
- Forgetting that per-conversation caps, like Otter’s 30 minutes, cut long meetings short.
Bottom line
You can cover chat, writing, coding, research and meetings well without paying. Images and voice are workable on free plans; video is mostly for testing. Pick one free tool per job, learn its limits, and pay only for the one you outgrow first.
