Tool Directory

What's out there, and what we actually use.

We're guru — this is the map. 148 tools across 25 categories, not a frozen spec sheet. "In our stack" means it's in active use on client and internal work; everything else is reference, catalogued honestly, separate from the formal head-to-head comparisons in Tests.

Capabilities and pricing move fast — verify before relying on any figure here. We can train on any of these; the Masterclass curriculum currently covers five.

In our stack = actively used, not just listed API available Open source

General AI Assistants

The everyday chat layer — strategy, drafts, and quick answers.

ChatGPT
OpenAI
Best for
General assistant, broad plugin/agent ecosystem
LimitedAPI
$$
Claude
Anthropic
Best for
Long-form copy, strategy, natural brand voice
In our stackLimitedAPI
$$
Gemini
Google
Best for
Deep research, large-context analysis, multimodal
In our stackLimitedAPI
$$
Microsoft Copilot
Microsoft
Best for
Assistant embedded across Windows & Office
LimitedAPI
$$
Perplexity
Perplexity
Best for
Answer engine with cited sources
LimitedAPI
$$
Grok
xAI
Best for
Real-time X/Twitter-aware assistant
LimitedAPI
$$
Meta AI
Meta
Best for
Free assistant across Instagram/WhatsApp/Facebook
FreeAPI
Free
DeepSeek
DeepSeek
Best for
Low-cost reasoning, strong open-weight releases
FreeAPIOpen source
Free/$

Coding & App Building

What we actually build client sites and internal tools with.

Claude Code
Anthropic
Best for
Full builds, multi-file refactors, autonomous work
In our stackPaid onlyAPI
$$
Codex
OpenAI
Best for
Fast scripted tasks, lean background jobs
In our stackPaid onlyAPI
$$
GitHub Copilot
Microsoft/GitHub
Best for
In-editor autocomplete, GitHub/365 teams
In our stackLimitedAPI
$
Cursor
Anysphere
Best for
AI-native code editor, full-repo context
LimitedAPI
$$
Replit
Replit
Best for
Fast prototypes with instant hosting
In our stackLimitedAPI
$$
Windsurf
Codeium
Best for
Agentic IDE, multi-file autonomous edits
LimitedAPI
$$
Google AI Studio
Google
Best for
Prototyping directly against Gemini models
FreeAPI
Free
Lovable
Lovable
Best for
Prompt-to-app builder for non-engineers
Limited
$$
Bolt
StackBlitz
Best for
In-browser full-stack app generation
Limited
$$
v0
Vercel
Best for
UI generation from prompts, React/Next output
LimitedAPI
$$

AI Agents & Automation

For end-to-end tasks and workflows that run without a human at every step.

Manus
Butterfly Effect
Best for
End-to-end tasks needing browsing, files, code
In our stackLimited
$$
ChatGPT Agent
OpenAI
Best for
Autonomous multi-step browser/task agent
Paid onlyAPI
$$
Copilot Studio
Microsoft
Best for
Build a business bot without writing code
Paid onlyAPI
$$
CrewAI
CrewAI
Best for
Framework for orchestrating multi-agent teams
FreeAPIOpen source
Free/$
LangChain
LangChain
Best for
Toolkit for building custom LLM pipelines
FreeAPIOpen source
Free
n8n
n8n
Best for
Self-hostable visual workflow automation
FreeAPIOpen source
Free/$
Zapier
Zapier
Best for
No-code automation across thousands of apps
LimitedAPI
$$
Make
Make
Best for
Visual, node-based automation builder
LimitedAPI
$$

Image Generation

For campaign visuals, product shots, and brand imagery.

Midjourney
Midjourney
Best for
Distinctive, art-directed still imagery
Paid only
$
OpenAI Image Gen
OpenAI
Best for
Prompt-accurate images inside ChatGPT
LimitedAPI
$$
Adobe Firefly
Adobe
Best for
Commercially-safe generation inside Creative Cloud
LimitedAPI
$$
FLUX
Black Forest Labs
Best for
High-fidelity, self-hostable image generation
FreeAPIOpen source
Free/$
Ideogram
Ideogram
Best for
Images with accurate, readable text baked in
LimitedAPI
$
Leonardo AI
Leonardo (Canva)
Best for
Game-art and product-visual style presets
LimitedAPI
$
Stable Diffusion
Stability AI
Best for
Fully self-hostable, most customizable base model
FreeAPIOpen source
Free
Recraft
Recraft
Best for
Vector, icon, and brand-consistent image sets
LimitedAPI
$

Image Editing & Enhancement

For fixing, upscaling, and finishing what generation gets close on.

Photoshop Generative Fill
Adobe
Best for
Object removal/extension inside a real editor
Paid onlyAPI
$$
Topaz Photo AI
Topaz Labs
Best for
Noise reduction and upscaling for real photos
Paid only
$
Magnific
Freepik
Best for
Extreme upscaling with added realistic detail
LimitedAPI
$
Clipdrop
Stability AI
Best for
Quick background removal, relight, cleanup
LimitedAPI
$
Remove.bg
Kaleido AI
Best for
One-click background removal
LimitedAPI
$
Photoroom
Photoroom
Best for
Product photography backgrounds at scale
LimitedAPI
$

Video Generation

For campaign clips, product demos, and short-form content.

Sora
OpenAI
Best for
Cinematic, narrative-driven video clips
Paid onlyAPI
$$
Google Veo
Google
Best for
Video tightly paired with Gemini for planning/prompting
LimitedAPI
$$
Runway
Runway
Best for
Controllable video edits, camera moves, VFX-style work
LimitedAPI
$$
Kling
Kuaishou
Best for
Longer, more physically coherent video shots
Limited
$
Seedance
ByteDance
Best for
Fast, high-motion short-form video clips
Limited
$
Luma Dream Machine
Luma AI
Best for
Quick stylized video from a single image or prompt
LimitedAPI
$
Pika
Pika Labs
Best for
Meme-friendly, fast-turnaround short clips
Limited
$
Hailuo AI
MiniMax
Best for
Budget-friendly video generation at scale
Free
Free/$

AI Avatars & Presenters

For talking-head video without a camera or studio.

HeyGen
HeyGen
Best for
Talking-head video from a script, multilingual dubbing
In our stackLimitedAPI
$$
Synthesia
Synthesia
Best for
Enterprise training and corporate video at scale
Paid onlyAPI
$$$
D-ID
D-ID
Best for
Real-time conversational avatars
LimitedAPI
$$
Captions
Captions
Best for
Mobile-first talking-head + auto-editing
Limited
$
Tavus
Tavus
Best for
Personalized video generated per-viewer via API
Paid onlyAPI
$$

Video Editing & Production

For turning raw footage or generated clips into a finished piece.

CapCut
ByteDance
Best for
Fast social-native editing with AI captions/effects
Free
Free/$
Descript
Descript
Best for
Editing spoken audio and video like a text document
In our stackLimitedAPI
$$
Adobe Premiere Pro AI
Adobe
Best for
Professional NLE with generative fill for video
Paid onlyAPI
$$
OpusClip
OpusClip
Best for
Long-form video into short viral clips automatically
LimitedAPI
$$
VEED
VEED
Best for
Browser-based editing with auto-subtitles and dubbing
LimitedAPI
$
Riverside
Riverside
Best for
Studio-quality remote podcast/video recording
Limited
$$

Voice Generation & Cloning

For narration, dubbing, and custom brand voices.

ElevenLabs
ElevenLabs
Best for
Realistic narration, dubbing, custom voice clones
In our stackLimitedAPI
$$
PlayHT
Play.ht
Best for
Ultra-low-latency TTS for real-time apps
LimitedAPI
$$
Murf
Murf
Best for
Studio-style voiceover for presentations and ads
LimitedAPI
$$
Resemble AI
Resemble AI
Best for
Real-time voice cloning with emotion control
LimitedAPI
$$
Speechify
Speechify
Best for
Text-to-speech reading for long-form content
LimitedAPI
$
Cartesia
Cartesia
Best for
Ultra-fast, low-latency voice models for agents
LimitedAPI
$$

Speech Recognition & Transcription

For turning meetings, calls, and interviews into usable text.

Whisper
OpenAI
Best for
Open-weight speech recognition, self-hostable
FreeAPIOpen source
Free
Deepgram
Deepgram
Best for
Real-time transcription API for production apps
LimitedAPI
$$
AssemblyAI
AssemblyAI
Best for
Transcription plus speaker/sentiment analysis API
LimitedAPI
$$
Otter.ai
Otter.ai
Best for
Live meeting transcription and summaries
Limited
$
Fireflies.ai
Fireflies
Best for
Meeting recorder that syncs into your CRM
Limited
$

Music Generation

For original scores, jingles, and background tracks.

Suno
Suno
Best for
Full original songs with vocals from a text prompt
In our stackLimited
$
Udio
Udio
Best for
Genre-controlled original music tracks
In our stackLimited
$
Stable Audio
Stability AI
Best for
Licensable generative audio and sound effects
LimitedAPI
$
AIVA
AIVA
Best for
Instrumental scoring for video and games
Limited
$
Soundraw
Soundraw
Best for
Royalty-free background tracks, editable by mood/length
Limited
$

Audio Editing & Restoration

For cleaning up and finishing recorded audio.

Adobe Podcast
Adobe
Best for
One-click studio-quality audio cleanup
Free
Free
Auphonic
Auphonic
Best for
Automatic leveling and noise removal for podcasts
LimitedAPI
$
iZotope RX
iZotope
Best for
Professional-grade audio repair and restoration
Paid only
$$
Krisp
Krisp
Best for
Real-time noise and echo cancellation for calls
LimitedAPI
$
Lalal.ai
Lalal.ai
Best for
Stem separation — vocals, instruments, drums
LimitedAPI
$
Perplexity
Perplexity
Best for
Answer engine with cited, checkable sources
LimitedAPI
$$
NotebookLM
Google
Best for
Turning your own documents into a briefable notebook
In our stackFree
Free
Gemini Deep Research
Google
Best for
Multi-step autonomous research reports
Limited
$$
ChatGPT Deep Research
OpenAI
Best for
Long-running autonomous research tasks
Paid only
$$
Elicit
Elicit
Best for
Academic literature search and synthesis
LimitedAPI
$
Consensus
Consensus
Best for
Search that surfaces what studies actually found
Limited
$

Writing & Content

For drafts, edits, and on-brand long-form copy.

Jasper
Jasper
Best for
Brand-voice-trained marketing copy at scale
Paid onlyAPI
$$
Copy.ai
Copy.ai
Best for
Templated marketing copy and workflows
LimitedAPI
$$
Grammarly
Grammarly
Best for
Grammar, tone, and clarity editing everywhere you type
LimitedAPI
$
Notion AI
Notion
Best for
Writing and Q&A embedded in your workspace docs
Paid onlyAPI
$
Sudowrite
Sudowrite
Best for
Fiction and creative-writing specific assistant
Limited
$$
Writer
Writer
Best for
Enterprise brand-voice governance at scale
Paid onlyAPI
Enterprise

Presentations & Documents

For turning outlines and PDFs into finished decks and docs.

Gamma
Gamma
Best for
Prompt-to-deck generation with clean design defaults
LimitedAPI
$
Canva
Canva
Best for
Design suite with AI across every format
LimitedAPI
$
Beautiful.ai
Beautiful.ai
Best for
Auto-formatting slide design as you type
Limited
$$
Tome
Tome
Best for
Narrative-style AI-generated presentations
Limited
$
ChatPDF
ChatPDF
Best for
Chat directly with the contents of a PDF
Limited
$

Marketing & Social Media

For campaigns, scheduling, and on-brand social content.

HubSpot AI
HubSpot
Best for
AI across CRM, email, and campaign workflows
LimitedAPI
$$
Hootsuite OwlyWriter
Hootsuite
Best for
AI captions and scheduling in one place
Paid onlyAPI
$$
AdCreative.ai
AdCreative.ai
Best for
Ad creative generation scored for predicted performance
LimitedAPI
$$
Predis.ai
Predis.ai
Best for
Social post generation from a product URL
LimitedAPI
$
Later
Later
Best for
Visual social scheduling with AI caption help
LimitedAPI
$

SEO Tools

For research, content briefs, and technical site health.

Semrush
Semrush
Best for
All-in-one SEO, PPC, and competitive research suite
Paid onlyAPI
$$
Ahrefs
Ahrefs
Best for
Backlink and keyword research depth
Paid onlyAPI
$$
Surfer SEO
Surfer
Best for
Content briefs scored against top-ranking pages
Paid onlyAPI
$$
Frase
Frase
Best for
AI content briefs and on-page optimization
LimitedAPI
$
Screaming Frog
Screaming Frog
Best for
Technical site crawling and audit
Limited
$

No-Code & Internal Apps

For building working tools without a dev team.

Bubble
Bubble
Best for
Full web apps with a visual, no-code editor
LimitedAPI
$$
Glide
Glide
Best for
Spreadsheet-to-app builder
LimitedAPI
$$
Retool
Retool
Best for
Internal tools and admin panels, fast
LimitedAPI
$$
Softr
Softr
Best for
Client portals and directories from Airtable/Sheets
LimitedAPI
$$
FlutterFlow
FlutterFlow
Best for
Native mobile apps from a visual builder
LimitedAPI
$$

Data & Analytics

For turning spreadsheets and warehouses into answers.

ChatGPT Advanced Data Analysis
OpenAI
Best for
Ad-hoc analysis of uploaded spreadsheets/CSVs
Paid onlyAPI
$$
Julius AI
Julius
Best for
Conversational data analysis and charting
LimitedAPI
$
Power BI Copilot
Microsoft
Best for
Natural-language queries over business dashboards
Paid onlyAPI
$$
Hex
Hex
Best for
AI-assisted notebooks for data teams
LimitedAPI
$$
DataRobot
DataRobot
Best for
Automated machine learning for enterprises
Paid onlyAPI
Enterprise

Databases & Backends

For the actual storage layer behind an app.

Supabase
Supabase
Best for
Postgres backend with auth and storage built in
FreeAPIOpen source
Free/$
Firebase
Google
Best for
Realtime database and hosting for app backends
FreeAPI
Free/$
Neon
Neon
Best for
Serverless, branchable Postgres
FreeAPIOpen source
Free/$
Xano
Xano
Best for
No-code backend and API builder
LimitedAPI
$$
Convex
Convex
Best for
Reactive backend built for AI-assisted app dev
FreeAPIOpen source
Free/$

Customer Service & Sales

For support and pipeline work that used to need a bigger team.

Intercom Fin
Intercom
Best for
AI support agent trained on your help docs
Paid onlyAPI
$$
Zendesk AI
Zendesk
Best for
Ticket triage, summarization, and suggested replies
Paid onlyAPI
$$
Ada
Ada
Best for
No-code AI customer service agent builder
Paid onlyAPI
Enterprise
Gorgias
Gorgias
Best for
AI support built for e-commerce helpdesks
Paid onlyAPI
$$
Gong
Gong
Best for
Sales call recording, analysis, and coaching
Paid onlyAPI
Enterprise

Meetings & Productivity

For the calls, notes, and busywork around the real work.

Microsoft 365 Copilot
Microsoft
Best for
Assistant embedded across Word/Excel/Outlook/Teams
In our stackPaid onlyAPI
$$
Zoom AI Companion
Zoom
Best for
In-call summaries and follow-up drafting
LimitedAPI
$
Fathom
Fathom
Best for
Free meeting recorder with instant summaries
Free
Free/$
Granola
Granola
Best for
Notes that merge your typing with the transcript
Limited
$
ClickUp Brain
ClickUp
Best for
AI layered across tasks, docs, and project data
Paid onlyAPI
$

Websites & Landing Pages

For getting a real site live without a dev cycle.

Webflow
Webflow
Best for
Visual, production-grade site builder with real CMS
LimitedAPI
$$
Framer
Framer
Best for
Design-first site builder with AI page generation
LimitedAPI
$$
Hostinger AI Website Builder
Hostinger
Best for
Prompt-to-site builder tied directly to hosting
In our stackLimited
$
10Web
10Web
Best for
AI-generated WordPress sites with built-in hosting
LimitedAPI
$$
Durable
Durable
Best for
30-second AI website generation for small business
Limited
$

Open-Source Models & Platforms

For self-hosting instead of renting.

Hugging Face
Hugging Face
Best for
The hub for open models, datasets, and demos
FreeAPIOpen source
Free/$
Ollama
Ollama
Best for
Run open-weight models locally with one command
FreeAPIOpen source
Free
LM Studio
LM Studio
Best for
Desktop app for running local models with a GUI
FreeAPI
Free
Meta Llama
Meta
Best for
Widely-adopted open-weight model family
FreeAPIOpen source
Free
Mistral
Mistral AI
Best for
European open-weight models, strong efficiency
FreeAPIOpen source
Free/$

AI Infrastructure & APIs

For building your own product on top of a model.

OpenAI API
OpenAI
Best for
GPT models via API for custom products
Paid onlyAPI
Usage-based
Anthropic API
Anthropic
Best for
Claude models via API for custom products
In our stackPaid onlyAPI
Usage-based
Google Gemini API
Google
Best for
Gemini models via API, generous free tier
LimitedAPI
Usage-based
Replicate
Replicate
Best for
Run thousands of open models via one API
LimitedAPI
Usage-based
Together AI
Together AI
Best for
Fast, low-cost hosted inference for open models
LimitedAPI
Usage-based
Groq
Groq
Best for
Extremely low-latency inference hardware/API
LimitedAPI
Usage-based