Free AI: the ones that really work and when it's worth paying
no jargon!Yes, there is free artificial intelligence that really works. Here are the best ones, what each is good for, where its limit is and which ones use what you write to train. Checked one by one on each maker's own website.
Updated 19 September 2026What do you want to do for free with AI?
Chat
Assistants for asking, writing, summarising and searching.
See the free AI for chatVoice and transcription
Turn audio into text and text into voice.
See the free AI for voice and transcriptionTranslate and summarise
Translate, summarise documents and study.
See the free AI for translating and summarisingThe best free AI chats
The last column tells you which ones use what you write to train their models, and how to stop it.
| Tool | What it's good for | What you get free | The limit | Does it train on what you write? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | The everyday stuff: writing, summarising, searching | Chat with GPT-5.6 Luna with no fixed cap; images, files and voice, limited | Ads since August 2026; in Europe it asks for an account | Yes, by default. Turn it off in Settings › Data controls |
| Gemini | Images, Deep Research and all things Google | Gemini 3.6 Flash, images, Deep Research and slides | Resets every 5 hours, with a weekly cap | Yes, by default. Turn it off by switching off your activity |
| Claude | Long texts, analysis and code | Sonnet and Haiku, files, code and web search | Resets in 5-hour windows | Yes, unless you turn it off in Settings › Privacy |
| Copilot | Searching and writing, with Word and Excel | Chat, web search, images with a daily cap and voice | May show ads; the part that does tasks is paid | No, according to Microsoft (in its new app) |
| Perplexity | Searching with cited sources | Answers with sources, even without an account | Few advanced searches a day | Yes, by default. Turn it off in Settings |
| Meta AI | Asking inside WhatsApp or Instagram | Assistant with Muse Spark in its apps | Does not disclose its limits | Yes. In the EU, you can only object with a form |
| Vibe (formerly Le Chat) | A European AI | Messages, images, voice and up to 5 scheduled tasks | Limited use, no figure published | Yes, by default. Turn it off in Privacy |
| DeepSeek | Reasoning, with no paid plan | Chat with V4.1-Flash, reasoning and search | Stores the data in China; blocked in Italy | Yes. To object, by email |
| Duck.ai | Chatting with no account and no trace | Several models, no account | Daily cap, no figure published | No: it strips your IP and its providers keep nothing |
| Lumo (Proton) | Privacy, with a European company | Free account, no card | Limited use | No, according to Proton |
First paid plan: ChatGPT Go, €8/month (with ads) · Google AI Plus, €4.99/month · Claude Pro, US$20/month · Microsoft 365 Personal, €10/month · Perplexity Pro, US$20/month · Mistral Pro, €18.14/month.
The best free AI for creating images
| Tool | What it's good for | What you get free | The limit | Does it train on what you write? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini | Creating from scratch and retouching photos | Nano Banana 2, within normal Gemini use | Gemini's: resets every 5 hours | Same as Gemini: yes, it can be turned off |
| ChatGPT | Images from a conversation | Limited and slower images | No official figure | Same as ChatGPT: yes, it can be turned off |
| Bing Image Creator | Lots of fast images | 15 fast creations a day; after that, slower ones | Visible watermark; it keeps them for 90 days | Not disclosed |
| Adobe Firefly | Image, video and audio in one place | Free daily generations | Just a few a day | Adobe says it does not train on its subscribers' content |
| Canva | AI designs inside Canva | Up to 20 AI uses a month | No “ultra” AI | It may; managed in Privacy controls |
| Ideogram | Images with text in them | Slow credits every week | All your images are public | Yes, with no way to turn it off |
| Leonardo.ai | Styles and fine control | 150 tokens a day | Your creations are public | It reserves a broad licence over what you publish |
First paid plan: Google AI Plus, €4.99/month · Microsoft 365 Personal, €10/month · Adobe Firefly Standard, €11.17/month · Canva Pro, €110/year · Ideogram Plus, US$20/month · Leonardo Essential, US$12/month.
Free AI for making videos
This is the category that changes fastest: OpenAI's Sora closed down in April 2026. And video is not in the free Gemini app.
| Tool | What it's good for | What you get free | The limit | Does it train on what you write? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Flow | Clips with Veo | 50 credits a day: about 5 clips with Veo 3.1 Lite | They don't roll over; over-18s only | Not disclosed |
| Google Vids | Videos to explain or present | 10 videos a month with Veo 3.1 | With a personal Google account | Not disclosed |
| Adobe Firefly | Video and audio in the same place | Daily video generations | Just a few a day | Adobe says it does not train on its subscribers' content |
| Runway | Trying Gen-4.5 | 125 credits, one time only: about 10 seconds | They don't reset | Yes, with no way to turn it off |
| Kling | Realistic clips | Free credits every month | Watermark, no commercial use and no 1080p | Yes; revoke it by email |
First paid plan: Google AI Plus, €4.99/month (includes video in Gemini) · Runway Standard, US$15/month · Kling Standard, from US$6.99 for the first month.
Free AI for transcribing and adding voice
Heads-up: Word's “Transcribe” is not free, it needs Microsoft 365.
| Tool | What it's good for | What you get free | The limit | Does it train on what you write? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buzz | Transcribing with complete privacy | No limit, on your own computer and with no account | You have to install it (Windows, Linux or Mac with Apple Silicon) | No: the audio never leaves your computer |
| TurboScribe | Transcribing files without installing anything | 3 files a day, up to 30 minutes each | It runs at low priority | Its policy doesn't mention it |
| Otter | Meetings | 300 minutes a month, 30 per conversation | Only 3 imported files in total | Yes, anonymised |
| ElevenLabs | Natural synthetic voice | About 10 minutes of voice a month | No commercial licence | Yes, by default. Turn it off in Data usage |
First paid plan: TurboScribe, US$20/month · Otter Pro, US$16.99/month · ElevenLabs Starter, US$6/month, with a commercial licence.
Free AI for translating, summarising and studying
| Tool | What it's good for | What you get free | The limit | Does it train on what you write? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM) | Asking your own documents | 100 notebooks, 50 sources per notebook and 50 chats a day | Google changes its limits often | No, unless you send feedback |
| DeepL | The most natural translation | 50,000 characters a month and 1 file | Its terms forbid entering personal or confidential data | Yes |
| Google Translate | Translating whole documents | Documents up to 10 MB; PDFs up to 300 pages | No account and no paid plan | It improves its services with your activity; delete it in My Activity |
First paid plan: DeepL Individual, €8.99/month, which no longer trains on your texts · Google AI Plus, €4.99/month.
Free AI for making presentations
| Tool | What it's good for | What you get free | The limit | Does it train on what you write? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gamma | Good-looking presentations in minutes | 400 credits when you sign up; 10 slides per request | They don't reset; exports carry Gamma's branding | Yes, by default. Turn it off in Data controls |
| Gemini | Slides from a conversation | It makes slides without paying | Gemini's | Same as Gemini: yes, it can be turned off |
| Gemini Notebook | Presenting your own documents | Presentations built from your sources | With a daily cap | No, unless you send feedback |
| Canva | Presentations with your templates | Within its 20 AI uses a month | No “ultra” AI | It may; managed in Privacy controls |
First paid plan: Gamma Plus, US$12/month · Canva Pro, €110/year.
Is there a free AI with no limits?
No, and be wary of anyone who promises one. Every AI answer costs money in servers, so anything free always has some sort of cap: messages that reset every few hours, a simpler model or ads. ChatGPT, for instance, puts no fixed cap on text in its free version, but since August 2026 it shows ads.
The closest thing to “no limits” is combining several: when one runs out, you carry on with another. And if you want something genuinely unlimited, there are programs that run on your own computer — like Buzz for transcribing — in exchange for installing them.
If you already have an agent on hablo, there are two AI models that don't use up your credit: we tell you about them in Promotions.
Free is often paid for with data
Almost every free AI uses what you write to train its models by default: ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, Mistral and Meta AI, among others. And free DeepL forbids entering personal data in its terms.
Turn training off in each one's settings or use their temporary chats. To chat without leaving a trace, Duck.ai or Lumo. And never put your clients' data into a free AI.
If you work with client data, we tell you about it in Private AI.
The signs that free has stopped being enough
If you hit the limit every day
Pay only for the one you use daily and start at the cheap end: Google AI Plus costs €4.99 a month and ChatGPT Go, €8.
If you work with client data
Free won't do, and a personal paid plan doesn't fully fix it either: many carry on training until you turn it off. You need an AI with a data processing agreement.
Read Private AIIf you want it to do things for you
Scheduling tasks or having it work in your inbox sits behind the paywall in almost all of them. That is exactly what an AI agent does.
What is an AI agentIf you work with long documents
Free ChatGPT reads about 12 pages at a time. Before you pay, try Gemini Notebook, which is built for exactly that.
If you publish or sell what you generate
Several free versions allow no commercial use, publish your images or add a watermark. If it's going to your clients, pay for the licence.
If ads annoy you
Free ChatGPT, ChatGPT Go and Copilot already show them. ChatGPT Plus doesn't have them, and neither do Duck.ai or Lumo.
From AI that answers to AI that works for you
All these tools answer inside their own window: you ask, you copy and you paste. An AI agent goes a step further: it gets into your email, your website or your spreadsheets and finishes the task for you.
You can try one free for 24 hours, no card and with €5 of AI credit: you ask for it in the hablo Community on Telegram, where there are also people answering questions every day. And if you like it, plans start at €9.99 a month.
And the Community, to help you
Behind every agent there is a community of people building with AI. It's free and open to everyone.
- Follow the guide alongside others and compare results with people doing the same thing.
- Get your questions answered: there's always someone who has already been there.
- Free and open: you don't have to be a customer.
Would you rather a person showed you? Book a demo →
What people ask about free AI
Which is the best free AI?
Is there a free AI with no limits?
Is ChatGPT free?
Which free AI makes images?
Is it safe to use free AI with client data?
Which free AI doesn't use my conversations?
When is it worth paying for an AI?
Can I try an AI agent for free?
Try it free for 24 hours: your AI agent, no card
You ask for it in the hablo Community on Telegram
- No card
- With €5 of AI credit
- Ready in a few minutes
- And a Community to help you