How to test any AI tool in 30 minutes before you pay
The eight-question rubric behind every profile on this site, plus the four tasks to run on your own material and a guide to reading a pricing page honestly.
Guides & comparisons
Long-form decision guides for people buying AI tools with their own money: what each option is genuinely for, where it fails, and what to check before you commit a card number.
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Browse the 36 tool profiles →ChatGPT vs Claude vs Gemini: which assistant fits your work?
Three questions that settle most of the decision, the five tasks worth running yourself, and where each product's design makes it strong or awkward.
15 genuinely free AI tools worth your time in 2026
"Free" always means limited — here's what each tier actually caps, and the situations where staying on free is the correct long-term decision.
Workflows and media
6 guidesPrompt writing: 10 habits that make every AI tool better
Audience, task, constraints, one real example. The habits that transfer between products — with copy-pasteable prompt skeletons.
AI agents explained: what they automate, and what they shouldn't
An agent is a loop, not a model. Where each step of that loop fails, and the guardrails that make it safe enough to walk away from.
How a two-person business can use AI without hiring a consultant
Six concrete workflows — support email, proposals, content, bookkeeping prep — with what to automate, what to keep human, and what breaks.
Build a personal AI stack: start with three tools, not thirty
One standing subscription, everything else rented per project. The shape of a setup that survives a budget review.
Choosing an AI image generator in 2026: a practical, non-technical guide
Four families of image tools matched by use case, plus the licensing and privacy details that decide your real cost.
AI video generators in 2026: what's actually worth your time
Text-to-video, avatar presenters or AI-assisted editing — which job each is built for, and where the afternoon quietly disappears.