Free plans, with the small print

The best free AI tools, by the job you need done

Answer in brief

The best free AI depends on your task: ChatGPT offers free chat with separately limited tools, while Runway provides 125 one-time credits for trying video. Best Free AI helps people compare these trade-offs using official pricing and help pages. We separate recurring allowances from trials, show licensing restrictions, and link the sources so you can check a plan before signing up.

Check the official sources

We read the pricing page of every AI tool on this site and wrote down what's free, what's capped and what costs money. No guesswork, a source for every limit.

See the picks How we check free plans

Best free AI by category

Updated November 2026

What changed in free AI this year

Older "best free AI" lists still recommend several of these. They're out of date.

Sora is gone
OpenAI ended the Sora app on April 26, 2026 and its API on September 24, 2026.
Gemini Code Assist's free tier ended
Google stopped consumer access for individuals on June 18, 2026.
Le Chat became Mistral Vibe
Mistral renamed its assistant on May 28, 2026.
Gemini video went paid
Video generation in the Gemini app now needs a Google AI plan.

Free plans with clearly published limits

These makers state exact numbers, so you know what free means before you sign up.

Tool	Free allowance	Paid from
Bing Image Creator	Free image creation with faster boosts and standard-speed generation	Free (Microsoft 365 plans add Designer extras)
ElevenLabs	10,000 credits per month	Starter, $6/month
Otter.ai	300 transcription minutes per month	Pro, $16.99/month ($8.49/month billed annually)
Bolt.new	1 million tokens per month (300,000 per day)	Pro, from $25/month
Runway	125 one-time credits that never expire	Standard, $15/month ($12/month billed annually)
Gamma	400 credits at sign-up	Plus, $9/month billed annually
Suno	50 credits refilled daily, which Suno describes as about 10 songs a day	Pro, from $10/month
Clipdrop	Background removal, 2× upscaling, cleanup and relighting: 20 uses each per 24 hours	Pro (see Clipdrop pricing)

See all 44 free AI tools we track

Questions about the best free AI

What is the best free AI?

ChatGPT is the best free AI for most people. Its free plan covers chat, web search, file uploads and image creation. Google Gemini is the best free AI for research, and Claude is the best free AI for writing.

What is the best free AI app?

The ChatGPT app is the best free AI app on iPhone and Android for most people. Gemini is the better free AI app if you use Android and Google services.

What is the best free AI image generator?

Bing Image Creator offers free image creation with boosts; ChatGPT and Google Gemini offer image tools within their chats. Check the separate tool limits before choosing.

What is the best free AI video generator?

Runway, with 125 one-time free credits and commercial use allowed. Sora was discontinued in 2026, and Gemini video needs a paid plan.

Are free AI tools really free?

Many offer limited free access and paid plans with higher allowances, not necessarily unlimited use. DeepSeek's app announcement describes free consumer chat, while its API is billed separately. We distinguish verified allowances from unconfirmed terms.

Is Best Free AI paid by these companies?

Some links on this site may be referral links, which can pay us a commission. That never changes which tool we pick, and we say so on every page.

Sources

ChatGPT Free Tier FAQ · OpenAI Help Center
What is ChatGPT Plus? · OpenAI Help Center
Gemini subscriptions · Google
Google One plans · Google
Generate and edit images with Gemini Apps · Google Help
Gemini video generation · Google
Claude plans and pricing · Anthropic
What is the Pro plan? · Claude Help Center
Copilot for individuals pricing · Microsoft
Perplexity pricing · Perplexity
DeepSeek app announcement · DeepSeek
DeepSeek API pricing · DeepSeek
xAI pricing · xAI
Mistral pricing · Mistral AI
Introducing Vibe · Mistral AI
Meta AI assistant built with Llama 3 · Meta
Bing Image Creator help · Microsoft
Tokens: frequently asked questions · Leonardo.Ai Help
Leonardo.Ai pricing · Leonardo.Ai
Ideogram available plans · Ideogram Docs
Ideogram FAQ · Ideogram Docs
What are the limits on the free plan? · Playground Help
Krea pricing · Krea
Adobe Firefly · Adobe
Commercial rights and ownership · Recraft Docs
Clipdrop pricing · Clipdrop
Photoroom pricing · Photoroom
What are Photoroom's plans? · Photoroom Help
Free plan details · Runway Help
Usage rights · Runway Help
Runway pricing · Runway
Payments and subscriptions · Luma AI
Licensing · Luma AI
Subscription and payment policy · Hailuo AI
CapCut pricing · CapCut
Descript pricing · Descript
ElevenLabs pricing · ElevenLabs
Can I publish the content I generate? · ElevenLabs Help
Free plan credits · Suno Help
Commercial use and plans · Suno Help
GitHub Copilot plans · GitHub
Devin and Windsurf pricing · Cognition
Cursor pricing help · Cursor
Subscription plans · Lovable Docs
Referral program · Lovable Docs
Bolt pricing · Bolt
v0 pricing · Vercel
Grammarly plans · Grammarly
How much does Grammarly Pro cost? · Grammarly Support
Free vs Premium · QuillBot Help
Gamma pricing · Gamma
How can I upgrade my Gamma subscription? · Gamma Help
Gemini Notebook plans and limits · Google Help
Otter.ai pricing · Otter.ai
Learn about the Fireflies free plan · Fireflies Guide
Free trials · Midjourney
Comparing plans · Midjourney
Semantic Scholar FAQ · Semantic Scholar
Account requirements · Semantic Scholar
Buffer pricing · Buffer
Buffer AI Assistant · Buffer
Canva AI tools · Canva
Canva AI access · Canva
Mailchimp plans · Mailchimp
Marketing pricing matrix · Mailchimp
Approach to AI · DuckDuckGo
Usage limits · DuckDuckGo
FLUX.1-schnell model card · Black Forest Labs
ZeroGPU quotas · Hugging Face