If you have subscribed to my Substack newsletter, you may know that I spent most of 2025 testing AI tools the same way I test software I would actually use long term.

Not by asking, "Is this impressive?" but by asking, "Would it be useful in my daily workflow, and is it free?"

And over the last year, I noticed something interesting while testing new AI tools for my own work.

There are several free AI tools that help me every day, and I have built many workflows because of them. In fact, these free AI tools quietly replaced apps I was already paying for.

With that said, here is a curated list of free AI tools that can realistically replace paid apps across writing, research, design, automation, note-taking, app building, and more.

Note: This post was originally published in my newsletter, AI Made Simple. It’s basically where I document what actually works for me with AI, in real workflows.

1. Wispr Flow

Well, this one does not try to impress you with features; instead, it removes friction.

The core idea is simple: You think. You speak. Text appears. Cleanly.

I am talking about Wispr Flow, which is more of a voice-to-text AI that turns speech into clear, polished writing in every app with the help of AI.

Their main focus is to avoid the tedious process of writing and let you simply speak naturally at your own speed, while Wispr handles the rest.

I use it when:

• Writing long drafts or journaling
• Turning half-formed thoughts into usable text
• Brain-dumping ideas or capturing thoughts without losing momentum

So if you are paying for writing assistants that interrupt your flow, or dictation tools that require editing every line, you can use Wispr Flow since it does the job quietly and well.

And if you have paid for productivity or writing tools mainly to "write faster", try replacing them with a voice-first AI tool like this.

Sometimes that is exactly what you want.

Talking about pricing, it provides a 14-day free "Flow Pro" plan, and on the free plan you can use up to 2,000 words per week.

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2. Opal

Now, the next AI tool I want to talk about is Opal, which solves a very specific problem.

A lot of people want to build small AI tools, but they do not want to:

• Write prompts all day
• Debug workflows
• Deal with logic chains
• Learn a programming language like Python

And that is where you can use Opal. You describe what you want, and it builds the complete app for you.

I tested it for:

• Simple analysis bots
• Product research tools
• Automated idea generation tools

And the output was surprisingly usable.

So if you have paid for no-code app builders or AI workflow tools that require constant setup, please stop doing that.

For about 90 percent of use cases, Opal can handle a lot of this for free, especially for internal or personal tools.

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Just so you know:

Everything I’ve shared here is something I actually use.

If this post changed how you think about AI even a little, that didn’t happen in isolation. It came from a much bigger shift in how I use AI overall.

That’s why I put that entire system down inside "The (Unfair) AI Workflow Playbook" with everything you need.

It’s the exact set of workflows I use daily to run my work faster than feels normal, and if you apply even a few of them, you’ll save hundreds of hours.

You can spend months figuring this out on your own, or you can steal my entire playbook right now.

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3. Google AI Studio

Everyone argues about ChatGPT vs Gemini.

Meanwhile, Google AI Studio has quietly become one of the most powerful free AI environments available.

And let me be honest, most people open Google AI Studio once, get confused, and never touch it again.

That’s a mistake.

Google AI Studio is what happens when you remove the chatbot skin and give people direct access to models, structured prompts, system instructions, and repeatable workflows where you can actually build things.

Here’s how I actually use Google AI Studio to build real things.

To be more precise, it is a full prompt and workflow playground where you can:

• Work with Gemini models directly
• Try Nano Banana Pro with additional settings
• Build AI apps and repeatable systems instead of one-off prompts
• And more

I use it to:

• Build repeatable research prompts and test AI apps
• Run longer reasoning workflows without UI friction
• Generate infographics, charts, and more with additional settings

So if you are paying for multiple AI writing or research tools, AI Studio alone can replace half of them once you learn how to think in workflows instead of chats.

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4. NotebookLM

If you read, research, or write for a living, NotebookLM can give you an unfair advantage over others.

And I am sorry to say, but NotebookLM is still one of Google’s most misunderstood tools.

People still think it is just for "AI notes." It is more than that.

NotebookLM is what happens when you stop asking AI random questions and instead force it to think only using your source material, and then generate outputs in multiple formats.

You can use it to generate infographics, turn ideas into real outputs, use it with Gemini to read less & remember more, and even change the way you learn forever.

The best part?

You just need to upload your sources in any format you prefer. It does not hallucinate, does not guess, and works only with your material while providing outputs in multiple formats.

I have used it to:

• Replace paid research assistants
• Turn messy notes into structured insights
• Extract outputs in different formats from long PDFs, videos, and articles
• Generate visually appealing tables, infographics, visuals, charts, and more based on the provided content

So if you are paying for research summarizers, PDF analysis tools, or note-taking apps that still require manual work, NotebookLM can replace a lot of that for free.

And once you get used to this tool, you will not want to try any other AI tool.

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5. Pomelli

This one still feels under-discovered, and most of you may not have even heard the name.

I am talking about Pomelli (use a VPN if it is not available in your country).

But Nitin, what does it do? Well, Pomelli analyzes your website and instantly understands:

• Your tone
• Your visual style
• Your brand positioning

Then it generates:

• On-brand social posts
• Campaign ideas
• Visual creatives
• Content formats that actually look designed

Yes, this is again from Google, and for solo founders and creators, it replaces paid design tools, content idea subscriptions, and even basic marketing freelancers.

So if you have ever paid for "brand content packages", Pomelli will make that decision hurt a little.

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6. ChatGPT Atlas (or) Perplexity Comet

This is where things quietly changed in 2025.

Instead of you opening AI tools all day, the AI moved into the browser itself. And I’m specifically talking about:

1. ChatGPT Atlas
2. Perplexity Comet

I’m grouping them together for a reason, because different AI companies are solving the same core problem.

At a basic level, both do one powerful thing really well: they understand the page you’re already on and work with it in real time.

Which means you can:

• Get instant summaries of long, dense articles
• Ask questions directly on GitHub repos without leaving the page
• Extract insights without copy-pasting anything into another tool

But that’s just the surface.

Once you start using them properly, you can build real workflows: implementing SEO improvements while reading content, planning projects directly from your open tabs, and more.

After a while, paid summarizers, research extensions, and even some SEO tools start to feel unnecessary.

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7. Granola AI

Granola AI is for people who hate meetings but still need the output.

Instead of giving you a messy transcript, it focuses on:

• Key decisions
• Action items
• What actually matters

Just for that, I have seen people pay monthly just to extract "next steps" from meetings.

Well, Granola AI does that well on the free tier.

So if your workflow involves:

• Calls
• Reviews
• Internal discussions

This can easily replace paid meeting assistants, paid note-taking apps, and post-meeting cleanup tools that you used to rely on.

So if meetings are part of your work, this one pays for itself even on the free tier.

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8. Nano Banana Pro

If you’re even remotely in the AI space, you’ve probably heard of Google’s Nano Banana.

But what most people missed is what came next: Nano Banana Pro.

And the real upgrade isn’t hype, it’s the obsessive focus on generating cleaner visuals with accurate, readable text directly inside the image, which is something most image models still mess up.

The wild part? It has tons of practical use cases, yet 99% of people still have no idea what it can actually do.

Just to give you a sense of the range: it can generate a full inside-out product breakdown, turn a rough floor plan into a proper trade booth layout, create hyper-realistic product photography, build isometric game environments, and a lot more.

And no, this isn’t just for playing around. You can plug Nano Banana straight into real workflows as a designer, a teacher, or a founder.

Personally, I’ve been using Nano Banana Pro heavily to create visually appealing digital product covers, detailed thumbnails for my posts, and custom infographics exactly the way I want them.

In fact, one of my best digital products, The (Unfair) AI Workflow Playbook, uses a cover page generated entirely with Nano Banana Pro.

Even my post thumbnails are now coming from Nano Banana Pro, and it consistently gets the job done without friction.

At this point, it has quietly replaced a bunch of paid "creative assistant" tools that promise inspiration but mostly just slow you down.

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9. Canva Magic Studio

I’m genuinely surprised how most people still think of Canva as just "templates", when Canva quietly turned itself into an AI operating system for non-designers.

To put it in perspective, Canva rolled out Magic Studio, which pulls all of Canva’s AI capabilities into one place. And once you see what that unlocks, the old "design tool" label completely falls apart.

You can now generate:

• content and design together
• images
• full presentations
• and even code to build simple apps

On top of that, they introduced Magic Media (only available for paid users), where you can turn raw ideas into images and videos, then refine everything using tools like Magic Edit, Magic Grab, Magic Animate, Magic Eraser, and more.

For most creators, this quietly replaces separate copy tools, basic design subscriptions, and slide software they were paying for anyway.

And here’s the part people underestimate: if your design needs are practical, not artistic, Canva’s free tier goes much further than most people expect.

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10. Leonardo AI

If you have been reading my posts, you may know that I have used Leonardo AI a lot to generate thumbnail images with several popular AI image generation models, and for free.

To get started, you just need to visit their website and create your account.

After that, you will get 150 free credits every day, which can help you generate 50 or more different images using the models you want to use.

I have mainly used it for:

• Thumbnails
• Visual experiments
• Asset generation

So if you want serious image generation without paying upfront, Leonardo AI is still one of the best free options.

The free tier is generous enough that many people never need to upgrade.

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Let’s Wrap Up

If you read this entire list and felt a little uncomfortable, that’s a good sign.

Because the uncomfortable truth is this: most people don’t waste money on paid tools because they need them, they waste money because they never learned how to use the free ones properly.

Every tool I shared above solves a very specific problem:

• Writing without friction
• Researching without hallucinations
• Building without code
• Designing without designers
• Working without constantly switching tabs

And when you combine a few of them intentionally, the "$20 here, $30 there" subscriptions start to look unnecessary.

A simple example:

1. Use Wispr Flow to think out loud and capture raw ideas.
2. Feed that into NotebookLM to structure, summarize, and extract insights from your own material.
3. Build repeatable workflows inside Google AI Studio instead of rewriting prompts every time.
4. Design assets or visuals with Nano Banana Pro or Canva Magic Studio when you actually need them.
5. And let ChatGPT Atlas or Comet handle context directly inside your browser instead of copy-pasting content all day.

You see, that’s already more powerful than most paid stacks people are using.

So instead of asking, "What new AI tool should I try next?" ask a better question:

"What part of my workflow still feels manual, slow, or annoying?"

Then pick one free tool from this list and fix that one problem properly. That’s where the real advantage in 2026 comes from.

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Hope you like it.

That’s it, thanks.

Also, don’t forget to checkout "The (Unfair) AI Workflow Playbook" where I shared exact set of AI workflows I use daily to run my work faster than feels normal.