The deck
13 tool cards, rated within their suit, checked September 2026♠Chat and assistants♥Creative♦Productivity and business♣Developer tools
- Chat and assistants♠8.9
ChatGPTThe best general-purpose assistant for writing, coding and reasoning, with a free tier that most people never need to leave.Free - Chat and assistants♠8.8
ClaudeThe assistant to pick if you write for a living, work with long documents, or want a coding agent in the same subscription.Free - Chat and assistants♠8.7
GeminiThe best bundle in the category and the only assistant that lives inside Gmail, Docs and Android rather than beside them.Free - Creative♥8.6
CanvaThe easiest way for a non-designer to produce competent work fast, now with an AI assistant that builds the whole design from a sentence.Free - Developer tools♣8.6
CursorThe best editor for developers who want to manage agents rather than type code, with every frontier model on the menu.Hobby free - Creative♥8.4
ElevenLabsThe best AI voice you can buy, priced in credits that vanish fast the moment you move past plain narration.Free - Developer tools♣8.4
GitHub CopilotThe broadest AI coding subscription there is, with a real free tier, a $10 plan that goes a long way, and a data policy you have to opt out of.Free - Creative♥8.3
DescriptThe fastest way to edit anything where people talk, with an AI assistant that clears the filler and cuts the clips while you watch.Free - Chat and assistants♠8.3
PerplexityThe fastest way to get a cited answer to a factual question, and the only assistant that lets you pick the model behind it.Free - Productivity and business♦8.2
Notion AIThe most capable AI inside a workspace you already use, at a price that only makes sense if your team already lives in Notion.Free - Creative♥8.1
SynthesiaThe most polished AI presenter for business video, with the strictest consent rules in the suit and a minute allowance that runs out fast on self-serve plans.Basic free - Productivity and business♦8.0
GrammarlyThe most useful writing checker there is, everywhere you type, with a good free tier, a fair annual price and a privacy record that needs watching.Free
The full deck
13 articles
Guides
GuidesAI model tracker, September 2026
22 current models from 8 labs: release date, context window, price per million tokens, free access.
GuidesEvery AI free tier worth using, and the deals, September 2026
Ten free tiers, what each really allows, the cheapest paid step, and the student offers that are real.
GuidesBuild your first AI stack: three setups for a solo business
The $0, $40 and $100 stacks for a one-person business, with totals, swaps and privacy defaults.
GuidesHow to choose an AI tool without wasting a month
Define the job, test five prompts, check training and export, price real usage. One-page checklist.
GuidesAI glossary: 50 terms in plain English
Token, context window, RAG, agent, MCP and 45 more, one paragraph each, linked to the cards.
Prompt packs
Prompt packs12 email prompts that get replies
Cold outreach, follow-ups, saying no, asking for a raise, with copy buttons.
Prompt packs12 marketing prompts for a small business
Product pages, social posts, review replies, a content calendar and ad headlines, four tested.
Prompt packs10 prompts that turn any AI into a patient tutor
Make the model ask before it tells: Feynman checks, flashcards, study plans and drills, four tested.
News
NewsThis week in AI: the five things that mattered
Week ending September 21: a coding-agent flaw, Gemini voice, Meta One, OpenAI incidents, the lawsuit.
NewsGPT-6 Astra and the $200 Pro pause: what it means for you
OpenAI's new flagship hit every paid plan, then demand closed the $200 tier. Who gets it and what to do.
NewsClaude Fable 5.1 cuts prices, but Pro users still pay extra: what it means for you
Anthropic's new model is cheaper and smarter. Whether you see any of it depends on your Claude plan.
NewsThe AI labs say they will slow down: what it means for you
Amodei's essay, the industry chorus, OpenAI's incident reports and a class action. What changes for you.
Built for a moving target
AI tools ship meaningful updates monthly, so a review written in spring is wrong by autumn. Every card on this site carries the month it was last checked, scores the same five criteria as every other card in its suit, and gets re-checked when the tool changes. When a rating moves, the card keeps the old score visible and says what changed. Our method is public.