On air · Channel 9
DupeStack
The AI tool channel. Ranked on evidence.
On air · Channel 9
The AI tool channel. Ranked on evidence.
Why pay retail? Every price below comes from the vendor's own pricing page.
| Tool | Job | Lowest price |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | AI assistant | Free, then $8/mo |
| Claude | AI assistant | Free, then $17/mo billed annually ($20 monthly), Pro |
| Cursor | Coding help | Free, then $8/mo |
| Gemini CLI | Coding help | Needs a paid Gemini API key |
| Ollama | AI assistant | Free, then $20/mo or $200/yr (Pro, cloud models); local models free |
| Midjourney | Images & art | From $10/mo, or $8/mo billed annually (Basic) |
Prices change often, so check the source before you pay.
Every channel is a job, ranked by our rubric. The top listing on each channel is the staff pick. A dupe is a cheaper or free tool that does the same job as a famous one.
Dictate polished text into any app. Best for fast talkers who hate typing. Red flag: cloud processing; unlimited dictation needs Pro.
Dictation that types anywhere and learns how you write. Best for people who'd rather talk than type emails, Slack messages and AI prompts. Red flag: free uses the weaker Frontier Mini model and 20 Scribe uses a week; cloud processing (zero data retention is enforced only on Business); no Android app yet.
Meeting transcripts and summaries. Best for meetings. Red flag: free minutes capped.
Lifelike TTS and voice cloning. Best for voiceovers, audiobooks. Red flag: cloning ethics; char limits.
Low-latency realtime TTS, STT and managed voice agents. Best for builders shipping voice agents and realtime speech apps. Red flag: developer/API-first; free plan blocks commercial use and pro voice cloning.
Expressive TTS and voice cloning you direct like an actor. Best for creators making audiobooks, character voices and dubbing on a budget. Red flag: free plan is about 7 min/month, 500 characters per generation and personal use only; many look-alike 'Fish Audio' apps exist (the real one is by Hanabi AI).
Conversational image generation and editing. Best for text-in-image, edits. Red flag: rate limits on free.
Top-tier artistic image generation. Best for stylized art. Red flag: no free tier; public by default on low plans.
Image studio with fine-tuned models. Best for game/concept art. Red flag: token system confusing.
Video with native audio. Best for realistic clips with sound. Red flag: requires Google AI plan.
Strong motion text/image-to-video. Best for character motion. Red flag: queue times on free.
Pro AI video generation and editing. Best for filmmakers. Red flag: credits burn fast.
Full songs from a prompt. Best for songs with vocals. Red flag: commercial rights need paid.
Google's chat-based song maker on Lyria 3, formerly ProducerAI. Best for songwriters and creators who want full songs with vocals, stems and downloads on a small budget. Red flag: free credits top up daily but the amount isn't published; commercial-use terms aren't on the pricing page, so check them before monetizing; a Google Labs product, so features can change.
Instrumental tracks, loops and stems from a prompt, with a DAW plugin. Best for Video makers and producers who need background music and multi-track stems. Red flag: free is 50 credits/month (about 12 tracks) for personal use only; built for instrumentals, not songs with vocals; unused credits don't roll over.
Frontier assistant running Claude Opus 5.5. Best for long docs, nuanced tone. Red flag: usage caps.
General-purpose AI assistant. Best for everything writing. Red flag: can hallucinate.
Google's assistant with Workspace ties. Best for Google Docs users. Red flag: varies by plan.
AI website builder for designers. Best for portfolio/marketing sites. Red flag: hosting costs.
Chat your way to a full-stack web app. Best for non-coders shipping MVPs. Red flag: credit limits; complex backends get messy.
Generate React/Next.js UI from prompts. Best for frontend UI. Red flag: Vercel/React-centric.
Frontier assistant running Claude Opus 5.5. Best for long docs, nuanced tone. Red flag: usage caps.
General-purpose AI assistant. Best for everything writing. Red flag: can hallucinate.
Google's assistant with Workspace ties. Best for Google Docs users. Red flag: varies by plan.
Botless meeting notes that enhance yours. Best for back-to-back meetings. Red flag: desktop-focused.
Free AI notetaker with unlimited recordings and call summaries. Best for people who want every Zoom, Meet or Teams call recorded and summarized for $0. Red flag: joins as a bot by default (bot-free is a Mac beta); free advanced summaries and Ask Fathom are limited use; AI action items need Premium; Team plans need 2+ users.
AI inside your workspace. Best for notes and wikis. Red flag: AI on higher plans.
Chat with your sources, audio overviews. Best for studying documents. Red flag: only your uploaded sources.
General-purpose AI assistant. Best for everything writing. Red flag: can hallucinate.
Google's assistant with Workspace ties. Best for Google Docs users. Red flag: varies by plan.
Design suite with Magic Studio. Best for everything visual. Red flag: templates look familiar.
AI decks, docs and sites. Best for fast good-looking decks. Red flag: export fidelity varies.
Collaborative deck tool. Best for startup teams. Red flag: AI less central.
Design tool with AI features. Best for UI/UX design. Red flag: AI credits limited.
Design suite with Magic Studio. Best for everything visual. Red flag: templates look familiar.
Background removal and product photos. Best for e-commerce sellers. Red flag: watermark on free.
Connect apps with AI automation. Best for no-code automations. Red flag: task pricing scales.
Open-source Zapier alternative with AI agents. Best for simple flat-price automations, or self-hosting for free. Red flag: AI steps burn 2-20 credits each; free credits run out fast with AI.
Visual automation scenarios. Best for complex workflows. Red flag: learning curve.
Open-source personal assistant that lives in your chat apps. Best for owning your agent: WhatsApp, iMessage, Slack or Telegram, on your own machine. Open source (MIT). Red flag: wide access to your accounts and machine is a real security surface; you pay your model provider.
Always-on AI teammates, each with its own cloud computer. Best for handing off multi-step work across apps and websites while your laptop is closed. Red flag: no free plan (trial credit only); usage shares one weekly pool with Grok and Cursor. Disclosure: Grok Bot is made by the same company as the bot that helped research this page.
Nous Research's open-source agent with memory, skills and a desktop app. Best for a self-hosted agent that learns your projects, on desktop or a server. Open source (MIT). Red flag: you still pay for models (your key or Nous Portal); setup is more hands-on than cloud agents.
Google's flagship reasoning model, top of LMArena right now. Best for hard reasoning, coding and long agent runs through the Gemini API. Red flag: launch price doubles on Dec 1, 2026 ($4/$20); LMArena rank still preliminary; not on the free tier.
Anthropic's daily-driver flagship, #1 on Artificial Analysis. Best for agentic coding, careful writing and long multi-step work. Red flag: pricier per token than Gemini or GPT flagships; max-effort runs get slow and expensive.
OpenAI's mid-priced flagship with a 1M-token window. Best for strong all-rounder for coding and agents at a lower price than GPT-6 Astra. Red flag: long prompts over 272K tokens cost double ($4/$15); GPT-6 Astra is the pricier top tier.
To-do list with AI assist. Best for task capture. Red flag: AI features limited.
AI inside your workspace. Best for notes and wikis. Red flag: AI on higher plans.
Listen to any doc, PDF or web page read aloud. Best for reading by ear: dyslexia, ADHD, studying, commutes. Red flag: free voices sound robotic; $29/mo monthly is steep (yearly is far cheaper).
PDF editing plus AI Q&A. Best for heavy PDF users. Red flag: AI is an add-on.
PDF merge/split/convert. Best for PDF chores. Red flag: ads/limits on free.
Friendly PDF toolkit. Best for Office PDF tasks. Red flag: free tasks capped.
Accurate text and document translation that keeps your file layout. Best for translating emails, documents and web pages in about 30+ languages with natural phrasing. Red flag: free plan caps you at 50,000 characters and 1 file a month; Pro prices differ by country (EUR vs USD).
Lifelike TTS and voice cloning. Best for voiceovers, audiobooks. Red flag: cloning ethics; char limits.
LLM-based translator from Translated that explains its choices and keeps document layout. Best for professional documents where tone and context matter, in 200+ languages. Red flag: pro price shown is the annual rate; monthly billing costs more. Character quota shared across text, images and audio.
Free open-source game engine. Best for serious indie games. Open source (MIT). Red flag: no built-in AI; learning curve.
Open-source no-code game engine with an AI helper. Best for beginners making 2D, 3D and multiplayer games without writing code. Open source (MIT). Red flag: free tier limits desktop/Android exports to one a day and AI to 40 credits a month; companies over $50k revenue must use Pro.
Text/image to 3D models. Best for 3D props. Red flag: topology needs cleanup.
Programmed byErikTuesday, October 20, 2026 · 182 tools in the lineup
4 tools, $96/yr upfront (= $8/mo) or $10/mo billed monthly, before tax
One engine, one AI coder, one art tool, one music tool. You pay for exactly one plan, Suno Pro, so the whole stack costs $96/yr upfront ($8/mo) or $10/mo billed monthly, before tax.
Godot, Cline, Leonardo.ai, Suno.