HandlyTech / AI tools / Best AI assistants and chatbots

Best AI assistants and chatbots in 2026

AI assistants answer questions, write, research, code and plan for you. Here are the chatbots and agents worth your time, from ChatGPT alternatives to small free tools.

92 tools, picked and tested by Ayham Joukhadar (@handlytech, 1.5M followers). Updated October 2026.

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The list

ChatGPTFree plan★ Ayham's pick
The one everyone starts with. Great for quick answers and everyday stuff.
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ClaudeFree plan★ Ayham's pick
My #1 for writing. Scripts, emails, captions. It actually sounds human.
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PerplexityFree plan★ Ayham's pick
Like Google, but it actually answers you. With sources.
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Google GeminiFree plan★ Ayham's pick
Google's AI. Best if you already live in Gmail and Docs.
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CursorFree plan★ Ayham's pick
Describe an app and watch it get built. Even if you can't code.
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GitHub CopilotFree plan★ Ayham's pick
AI coding helper inside your code editor.
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DeepAIFree plan
Generate images, edit photos, create videos and music.
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ToolFKFree
All-in-one free AI + document tools (images, TTS, PDF, Excel, Word).
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PinokioFree
Run Stable Diffusion, Whisper, SadTalker and more locally, free.
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Arena AIFree
One prompt, multiple AI models reply side by side.
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DesignArena AIFree
Dashboard of top AI models for image, video, voice, web.
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Google AI StudioFree
Generate images/video or build apps with Google's models.
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Google AI Studio - BuildFree
Describe an app, it generates and deploys it.
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MuAPIPaid
Flux, Veo, Kling, Seedance and more in one place.
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QwenFree
Write, research, generate images and video; long-video trick via last-frame chaining.
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MiniMax AIFree plan
Free AI chat, image, and video generation platform.
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PoeFree plan
Chat with GPT, Claude, Gemini and other AI models free, in one place.
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ChatGPT DotsPaid
AI agents that keep working after you close the app. Included with ChatGPT Pro.
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Microsoft CopilotFree plan
Microsoft's AI assistant, free with Copilot Pro at $20/month for stronger features.
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Krea AIFree plan
Watch your image change live as you type.
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GrokFree plan
X's AI. Fast, a bit unfiltered, great for what's trending.
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DeepSeekFree
Free and surprisingly smart. A solid ChatGPT alternative.
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Meta AIFree
Meta's free AI assistant built on Llama, chat and image generation across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, completely free.
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Mistral VibeFree plan
Mistral's AI chat assistant and coding agent, free plan for quick answers, Pro upgrade for deeper reasoning and all day coding.
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Manus AIPaid
AI agent that completes complex tasks autonomously like research, spreadsheets, and websites, no permanent free plan, plans start around $20 per month.
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LovableFree plan
Build a full web app just by chatting. No code needed.
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v0 by VercelFree plan
Generate working frontend UI and full apps from a text prompt, free plan available, Premium plan starts at $20 per month.
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Bolt.newFree plan
Builds full web apps from a prompt in the browser.
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ReplitFree plan
Online coding space with an AI app building agent.
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Devin DesktopFree plan
AI code editor that writes and edits code with you.
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Claude CodePaid
Anthropic's coding agent for terminal and desktop.
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Gemini CLIFree plan
Google's AI agent that works in your terminal.
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Google AntigravityFree plan
Google's code editor built around AI agents.
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JulesFree plan
Google's coding agent that fixes tasks in your repo.
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Base44Free plan
Builds working apps from a chat description.
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EmergentFree plan
Chat based builder for full stack apps.
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ZedFree plan
Very fast code editor with AI built in.
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ClineFree
Open source AI coding agent for VS Code.
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KiroFree plan
Amazon's AI code editor that plans before coding.
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DevinFree plan
AI software engineer that works on tasks by itself.
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WarpFree plan
Modern terminal with AI agents built in.
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OpenRouterFree plan
One account to access hundreds of AI models.
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OllamaFree plan
Runs AI models on your own computer.
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LM StudioFree
Desktop app to download and chat with local models.
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JanFree
Open source offline ChatGPT style app.
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Open WebUIFree
Self hosted chat interface for any AI model.
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GroqFree plan
Extremely fast responses from open AI models.
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KimiFree plan
Moonshot's AI assistant with long document support.
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Z.aiFree plan
Chat assistant from Zhipu running GLM models.
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GensparkFree plan
AI agent that researches and makes slides and docs.
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FlowithFree plan
Canvas style AI workspace with agents.
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DiaFree plan
Browser where you chat with your open tabs.
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Duck.aiFree
Private chat with popular AI models, no account.
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LumoFree plan
Proton's privacy focused AI assistant.
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ChatLLMPaid
Many top AI models under one subscription.
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MonicaFree plan
Browser extension with many AI models in a sidebar.
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SiderFree plan
AI sidebar for reading, writing and summarising.
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MerlinFree plan
Chrome extension to use AI on any web page.
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Julius AIFree plan
Analyses spreadsheets and makes charts by chat.
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OpenClawFree
Open source personal AI agent you run yourself.
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ReplicatePaid
Run thousands of AI models with a simple API, pay per use.
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fal.aiPaid
Fast API for the newest image, video and audio models.
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You.comFree plan
Web search API for AI apps, with a free daily allowance.
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OpenAI CodexPaid
Coding agent from OpenAI that works in your repo.
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AiderFree
Open source AI pair programmer in your terminal.
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TraeFree plan
AI code editor with a free tier.
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VeniceFree plan
Private AI chat and images with no logs.
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HuggingChatFree
Free chat with open source models.
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Character.AIFree plan
Chat with AI characters.
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Brave LeoFree plan
AI assistant built into the Brave browser.
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KagiPaid
Paid search engine with no ads and AI answers.
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LinerFree plan
AI search that shows sources for its answers.
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ChatHubFree plan
Ask several AI models at once, side by side.
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TypingMindFree plan
A better chat interface for your own API keys.
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MstyFree plan
Desktop app for local and online models.
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AnythingLLMFree plan
Chat with your documents fully on your computer.
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GPT4AllFree
Run AI models on your laptop, no internet needed.
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Together AIPaid
Fast API for open source models.
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OpenCodeFree plan
Open source coding agent for terminal, editor and desktop.
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Kilo CodeFree plan
Open source coding agent for VS Code, JetBrains and terminal.
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AmpFree plan
AI coding agent that can work on remote machines for you.
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Augment CodePaid
AI coding agent for large codebases.
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CodeRabbitPaid
AI code reviews on your pull requests.
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QodoPaid
AI code review for pull requests and your editor.
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GitHubFree plan
Store, share and ship your code.
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VercelFree plan
Put a website or app online in minutes.
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NetlifyFree plan
Host and deploy websites for free.
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Godmod3 AIFree plan
Run and compare several AI models side by side.
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SkyworkFree plan
One brief in, docs, slides, sheets and web pages out.
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AllGPTFree plan
The top AI models in one chat.
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Teamily AIFree plan
Several AI agents work together on one prompt.
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HarkFree plan
A private AI assistant that uses your computer for you.
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Questions people ask

What are the best AI assistants and chatbots right now?

My top picks right now: ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google Gemini, Cursor, GitHub Copilot. The full list below has 92 options with what each one does and its price.

Are there free AI assistants and chatbots?

Yes. 79 of these are free or have a free plan, for example ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google Gemini, Cursor.

How did you pick these?

Every tool here is one I have tested and shown to my 1.5M followers on Handly Tech. I keep the list updated as new tools come out.

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