Here Are My Go-To AI Tools

My preferred LLMs, image and video models, music makers, research tools, and more.

[UPDATE: April 15, 2025]
I first published this round-up on October 17, 2024. But things in AI move fast, so I now release regular updates. Check out this archive page for snapshots of the past versions—fun for tracing how AI and my preferences evolved.

I often get asked about AI tools that I personally use.

While I regularly review all sorts of AI models and sites, most don’t end up a part of my routine.

Here are those that did.

🗣️ 1. Large language models

These are the chatbots and LLMs I turn to.

• 🎁Free:

  • Claude 3.7 Sonnet [NEW - replacing 3.5] for brainstorming and creative work. Claude has a “fresh” conversational feel and tends to come up with unconventional ideas. The Artifacts feature is fantastic for working on a project side-by-side with Claude. The only downside is the strict message limit for free accounts.

  • Gemini 2.5 Pro Experimental (via Google AI Studio) [NEW - replacing 2.0] for working with big documents or files. Gemini’s massive token window and ability to natively process audio and video make it a beast for dealing with long inputs in multiple formats. It’s also my default “beta reader” when asking for draft feedback.

  • GPT-4o (via ChatGPT) for day-to-day chats. GPT-4o has improved noticeably in conversational “vibes” over the past few months. Plus, it’s hard to beat the complete free ChatGPT package with web browsing, voice, (limited) image creation, and more.

• 💵Paid:

  • ChatGPT Plus. It’s a true all-in-one solution that gives you…

    • Best-in-class native image generation

    • Advanced Voice Mode: Lifelike real-time voice chat with the ability to share your screen and camera for context-aware, multimodal conversations

    • Advanced data analysis (“Code Interpreter”)

    • Deep Research: One of the best research agents on the market

    • Reasoning models like o1 and o3-mini for advanced reasoning and coding tasks

    • Canvas: “Artifacts”-inspired right-side window for working on coding or writing projects

    • Web browsing for news and knowledge beyond its training data

    • Ability to create your own Custom GPTs for different purposes

For $20 / month, this set of features is a steal.

🖼️ 2. AI images

Here are my favorite image models. (This section was the biggest shake-up, with many models removed and replaced.)

• 🎁Free:

  • Imagen 3 (via Google Labs) for most of your image needs. A great prompt-adherent model that creates high-quality images at no cost.

  • Ideogram 3.0 [NEW - replacing 2.0] as a solid all-rounder option. One of the better models at handling complex prompts and accurately rendering longer text sequences inside images. You get 10 generations (40 images) for free every week.

• 💵Paid:

  • GPT-4o native image generation [NEW]: A true paradigm shift in AI images. Understands context, can render entire pages of text inside an image, handles consistent styles and characters, and more. (Included with ChatGPT Plus.)

  • Midjourney V7 [NEW - replacing V6.1]: Midjourney has been my go-to tool for years, and I’ve written dozens of posts about it. GPT-4o native image generation is now better at text rendering, scene complexity, and prompt following. But Midjourney is still great for exploring different styles, developing a personalized aesthetic, and creating realistic photographic images.

📽️ 3. AI video

Here’s my take on AI video models after testing lots of text-to-video and image-to-video options.

• 🎁Free:

  • Kling 1.6 for text-to-video. It often comes close to Runway’s quality while giving you free daily credits. Kling AI recently upgraded the platform and introduced cool features like “Elements” for blending many reference images in a scene. (EDIT April 16: Kling just released a massive 2.0 upgrade that might make it the best video model in the world. I haven’t had the chance to test this yet.)

  • Hailuo AI for image-to-video. It came seemingly out of nowhere to truly impress me with its visual consistency and realistic movements.

  • Wan 2.1 [NEW] is currently the best open-source video model. If you have the know-how and the hardware, you can even run it locally. If not, wan.video gives you free daily credits.

• 💵 Paid:

  • Krea [NEW] is excellent for sampling the best options in a single place. It pulls together many third-party video models (plus image and 3D ones). Krea also has a fun real-time image editor for iterative experimentation.

  • Runway Gen-4 [NEW - replacing Gen-3] is a fantastic recent model. The Runway site itself is a proper all-in-one creator platform that gives filmmakers dozens of robust tools to work professionally with the resulting video clips.

  • Veo 2 (Google) [NEW] is the best video model, capable of incredibly lifelike, consistent, and prompt-adherent generations. Unfortunately, it’s also prohibitively expensive at around $0.50 per 1 second of video—but you can use your Krea credits on it (see above). (EDIT April 16: Right now, Veo 2 is free to try in Google AI Studio with a few generations per day. Go go go!)

🎵 4. AI music

I rarely use AI music tools—and mostly just to goof around—but when I do…

• 🎁Free:

  • Suno

  • Udio

  • Riffusion FUZZ

The three are largely interchangeable for casual users, with similar features, interfaces, and output quality.¹ All of them give you a generous amount of free credits, so take them for a spin to see which one you prefer.

• 💵 Paid:

  • Any of the above: Once you’ve picked your favorite, you can always upgrade for additional features.

🔬 5. Research

• 🎁Free:

  • NotebookLM is such an easy recommendation! I’ve been a fan since March 2024, and NotebookLM has only gotten better after that. You can now use audio and video as inputs and turn your sources into different helpful outputs, including the incredible “Audio Overview” podcast. It can even help you cross-check your work against the sources you upload. NotebookLM is completely free, so you have no excuse not to try it for yourself.

  • Learn About is another Google product that complements NotebookLM nicely. While NotebookLM is grounded in your preselected sources and synthesizes info across them, Learn About can browse the web and is built for open-ended exploration of any topic.

  • Perplexity has been on my radar since early 2023, but it never became a regular tool in my arsenal. I still use it rather infrequently, but I find that its “Pro” search is a good midway point between simple web browsing and the thorough but time-intensive “Deep Research” tools. I turn to Pro Search when I need a more robust answer than a simple search can provide, but don’t want to wait 20 minutes for a long, deep-dive report.

• 💵 Paid:

  • Google Deep Research (with Gemini 2.5 Pro Experimental) [NEW]: Paying Gemini Advanced users get to experience the current best “Deep Research” product on the market, powered by Google’s most powerful model.

📈 6. Productivity

• 🎁Free:

  • Napkin [NEW] can automatically turn walls of text into catchy visuals like diagrams, infographics, etc. For design-challenged people like myself, it’s a superb way to illustrate concepts with minimal effort.

• 💵 Paid:

  • Genspark Super Agent [NEW]: A robust agent that can orchestrate many tools to complete complex, multi-step tasks. You get 200 free monthly credits to try it, but you’ll likely need the paid plan for bigger tasks.

🫵 Over to you…

What AI tools do you use the most? What would you add to the above list?

Leave a comment or drop me an email at whytryai@substack.com.

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