ESSENTIALS

The AI apps everyone uses.
And the indie ones worth knowing.

The big names, one tap away. Each one links to independent apps that do the same job, often free and built by small teams.

Chat assistants

Ask, write, reason and plan.

C

ChatGPTAI assistant for writing, analysis, coding, and creative tasks.Indie alternatives

C

ClaudeThoughtful AI assistant for analysis, writing, and coding.Indie alternatives

G

GeminiGoogle’s AI assistant for writing, planning and questions.Indie alternatives

M

Microsoft CopilotMicrosoft’s AI assistant for answers, writing and images.Indie alternatives

G

GrokxAI’s assistant with real-time answers from the web and X.Indie alternatives

D

DeepSeekOpen-weight AI assistant known for reasoning and coding.Indie alternatives

M

Mistral VibeMistral AI’s assistant for chat, research and code (formerly Le Chat).Indie alternatives

M

Meta AIMeta’s free assistant for questions, writing and images.Indie alternatives

P

PoeAccess multiple AI models in one chat platform.Indie alternatives

C

Character.AIChat with AI characters made by the community.Indie alternatives

Search and research

Answers with sources, notes from your documents.

P

PerplexityAI search engine that gives direct answers with sources.Indie alternatives

G

Gemini NotebookGoogle’s research notebook (formerly NotebookLM).Indie alternatives

H

Hugging FacePlatform for sharing and deploying ML models and datasets.Indie alternatives

Images and design

Generate and edit images.

M

MidjourneyAI image generation that creates stunning artwork from text.Indie alternatives

I

IdeogramAI image generator that gets text in images right.Indie alternatives

L

Leonardo.AiAI image and video generation with fine creative control.Indie alternatives

A

Adobe FireflyAdobe’s generative AI for images, video and design.Indie alternatives

K

KreaReal-time AI image and video generation and upscaling.Indie alternatives

C

Video

Generate, edit and present video.

R

RunwayAI-powered video generation and creative editing tools.Indie alternatives

P

PikaTurn ideas and images into short AI videos.Indie alternatives

L

Luma AILuma’s creative AI for video and images.Indie alternatives

K

Kling AIAI video and image generator with realistic motion.Indie alternatives

H

HeyGenAI avatar videos and video translation.Indie alternatives

S

SynthesiaBusiness videos with AI avatars, no camera needed.

Voice and music

Speech, voices and songs.

E

ElevenLabsAI voice synthesis with realistic speech and voice cloning.Indie alternatives

S

SunoMake full songs from a text prompt.Indie alternatives

U

UdioAI music generator for songs and instrumentals.Indie alternatives

Build apps

Describe an app, get a working one.

L

LovableDescribe an app and Lovable builds it.Indie alternatives

B

Bolt.newPrompt, run and deploy full-stack apps in the browser.Indie alternatives

v

v0 by VercelGenerate UI and full apps from a prompt.Indie alternatives

R

ReplitBrowser IDE with AI assistance and instant deployment.Indie alternatives

Work and writing

Meetings, slides, translation and writing.

G

GammaAI-powered presentations and documents in seconds.Indie alternatives

N

Napkin AITurn text into diagrams and visuals.Indie alternatives

O

Otter.aiAI meeting transcription and automated note-taking.Indie alternatives

F

Fireflies.aiAI notetaker that records and summarizes meetings.Indie alternatives

D

DeepL TranslatorAccurate AI translation for text and documents.Indie alternatives

G

Grammarly

Essentials are listed for convenience and never appear in Top Charts, Rising, New or Editor’s Picks, which are for independent makers.