Paid tools replaced: 30 free tools instead
30 free tools that replace the paid apps you use to create, work and build.
Tools in this guide: Photopea, DaVinci Resolve, Recraft, Audacity, Qwen, Speechma, Voicebox, Flow Music, Upscayl, OBS Studio, PDF24 Tools, DeepSeek, Perplexity, Gemini Notebook, Obsidian, tl;dv, QuillBot, Gamma, Canva, FlowCV, Google AI Studio, Lovable, Cursor, n8n, Stable Fast 3D, Perplexity Comet, Omni Image Editor, Ideogram, ToolFK, Meta AI
30 free tools that replace the paid apps most people pay for every month. Tap any name to open it.
1. Create
1. Photopea instead of Photoshop: runs right in your browser, opens PSD files.
2. DaVinci Resolve instead of Premiere Pro: the free version is a full pro editor.
3. Recraft instead of Illustrator: free vector designs from a prompt.
4. Audacity instead of Audition: free and open source audio editor.
5. Qwen instead of paid AI video apps: type one line and get a video inside the chat.
6. Speechma instead of paid AI voice apps: free natural text to speech voices.
7. Voicebox instead of paid voice cloning: clone your voice, runs on your own PC.
8. Flow Music instead of paid AI music apps: free AI music from Google.
9. Upscayl instead of paid upscalers: sharpens and enlarges images, free on your PC.
10. OBS Studio instead of paid screen recorders: record your screen or go live, free forever.
2. Work
11. PDF24 instead of Adobe Acrobat: merge, compress, convert and sign PDFs with no limits.
12. DeepSeek instead of paid AI chat: free and smart, a solid ChatGPT alternative.
13. Perplexity instead of paid research tools: answers with sources you can check.
14. Gemini Notebook instead of paid study apps: turns your PDFs into summaries, quizzes and podcasts.
15. Obsidian instead of paid note apps: free for personal use, links your notes together.
16. tl;dv instead of paid meeting notes: records meetings and writes the notes.
17. QuillBot instead of Grammarly: free rewrites and grammar checks.
18. Gamma instead of PowerPoint: a full deck from one prompt.
19. Canva instead of paid design apps: the free plan is enough for most people.
20. FlowCV instead of paid resume builders: a clean modern CV for free.
3. Build
21. Google AI Studio instead of paid developers: describe an app and it builds it.
22. Lovable instead of paid web designers: a full website from a chat.
23. Cursor instead of paid code tools: start on the free plan.
24. n8n instead of Zapier: free if you host it yourself.
25. Stable Fast 3D instead of paid 3D software: turns one photo into a 3D model.
26. Perplexity Comet instead of paid AI browsers: an AI browser that does tasks for you.
27. Omni Image Editor instead of paid AI photo editors: remove, restyle and relight any image.
28. Ideogram instead of paid text art tools: text inside images that actually looks right.
29. ToolFK instead of paid background removers: no account needed.
30. Meta AI instead of paid assistants: completely free.
Free plans and limits can change. Everything here was free to use when I posted this.
