Fae Intelligence

Top 20 AI Tools Under $20/Month

A comprehensive guide to affordable AI tools for different use cases.

In this module, you'll learn:

Top AI tools available for under $20 per month
Features and use cases for each tool
How to evaluate which AI tools best suit your needs
Budget-friendly alternatives to expensive AI solutions
How to combine different tools for maximum productivity

Introduction

The AI tool landscape is expanding rapidly, with new solutions emerging daily. The good news is that many powerful AI tools are available at very affordable price points—many under $20 per month or even free. This module categorizes the top 20 affordable AI tools by functionality, helping you discover solutions that can dramatically improve your productivity without breaking your budget.

We'll explore tools across several categories:

Text & Writing Tools
Image Generation & Design
Audio & Video Creation
Research & Knowledge Tools
Productivity & Workflow

For each tool, we'll examine:

Core functionality
Pricing details
Key features
Ideal use cases
Limitations to consider

Text & Writing Tools

1. ChatGPT (OpenAI)

Free | $20/mo (Plus)

The industry standard for general-purpose AI. The latest GPT-4o model is incredibly fast and multimodal (sees, hears, and speaks in real-time).

Key Features:

Advanced reasoning and creative writing
Real-time Voice Mode and Vision capabilities
Custom GPTs for specific workflows
DALL-E 3 image generation integrated

Best For:

Everything—from drafting emails and coding to real-time translation and brainstorming.

2. Claude (Anthropic)

Free | $20/mo (Pro)

Widely considered the best model for nuanced writing, complex coding, and large-scale data analysis. Claude 3.5 Sonnet is currently the top performer.

Key Features:

"Artifacts" UI for real-time coding and document editing
High emotional intelligence and natural writing style
Massive context window (load entire books or codebases)
Superior logical reasoning

Best For:

Professional writing, software development, complex data extraction, and collaborative projects.

3. Copy.ai

Free | $12/mo (Pro)

AI-powered workspace for GTM (Go-To-Market) teams. Great for automating repetitive marketing and sales tasks with high-quality output.

Key Features:

90+ marketing templates
Automated workflows for social and email
Brand voice consistency
Content refresh and optimization

Best For:

Marketing teams, social media managers, and small business owners needing to scale their content.

4. Grammarly

Free | $12/mo (Premium)

The gold standard for AI-powered writing assistance. Beyond grammar, it now includes "Grammarly Go" for generative AI drafting.

Key Features:

Comprehensive grammar and tone checking
Generative AI for rewriting and drafting
Clarity and engagement suggestions
Plagiarism detection (Premium)

Best For:

Professionals, students, and businesses who need polished, error-free communication across any app.

Pro Tip:

Many of these text tools offer free trials or generous free tiers. Start with the free versions to determine which tool best fits your specific writing needs before committing to a subscription.

Image Generation & Design

5. Midjourney

$10/mo (Basic)

AI image generation tool known for stunning artistic quality and photorealistic outputs.

Key Features:

High-quality artistic image generation
Discord-based interface
Style variation options
Commercial usage rights

Best For:

Artists, designers, marketers, and creative professionals needing unique visuals.

6. Canva Pro

Free $12.99/mo

Design platform with integrated AI features for graphic creation and editing.

Key Features:

Magic Write text generation
Background removal
Text-to-image generation
Design resize and brand kit

Best For:

Social media managers, marketers, small businesses, and non-designers needing professional graphics.

7. Leonardo.ai

Free $10/mo (Basic)

AI image generation platform with powerful customization and fine-tuning options.

Key Features:

Custom model training
Advanced prompt tools
Image generation with consistency
Community model access

Best For:

Game developers, artists, and designers needing consistent character and environment visuals.

8. Firefly (Adobe)

Free (Limited) $4.99/mo

Adobe's generative AI tool for creating and editing images with commercial usage rights.

Key Features:

Integration with Adobe Creative Cloud
Text-to-image generation
Text effects generation
Training on licensed content (no copyright issues)

Best For:

Creative professionals already using Adobe products who need AI-generated images without copyright concerns.

Image Generation Tools Comparison

Tool	Best For	Pricing	Learning Curve	Output Quality
Midjourney	Artistic imagery	$10/mo	Moderate	Excellent
Canva Pro	Marketing materials	$12.99/mo	Easy	Good
Leonardo.ai	Consistent characters	$10/mo	Advanced	Very Good
Firefly	Commercial use	$4.99/mo	Easy	Good

Audio & Video Creation

9. Descript

Free $15/mo (Creator)

All-in-one audio/video editing platform with powerful AI capabilities.

Key Features:

Text-based video editing
AI voice cloning (Overdub)
Automatic transcription
Filler word removal

Best For:

Podcasters, video creators, and anyone needing to edit audio or video content efficiently.

10. Murf.ai

Free $19/mo (Basic)

AI voice generator platform with studio-quality voices for various use cases.

Key Features:

120+ natural-sounding AI voices
20+ languages supported
Voice customization
Background music integration

Best For:

eLearning creators, marketers, video producers, and anyone needing professional voiceovers.

11. Runway Gen-3 Alpha

$12/mo (Standard)

Leading the way in AI video generation. Gen-3 Alpha creates incredibly realistic film-quality clips from simple text or image prompts.

Key Features:

High-fidelity text-to-video
Precision camera control (Director Mode)
Motion Brush for selective animation
Inpainting and background removal

Best For:

Creative directors, filmmakers, and high-end social media content creators.

12. Otter.ai

Free $16.99/mo (Pro)

AI meeting assistant that transcribes, summarizes, and generates notes from audio.

Key Features:

Real-time transcription
Meeting summaries and highlights
Speaker identification
Integration with Zoom, Teams, and Google Meet

Best For:

Professionals who attend many meetings, journalists, researchers, and students.

Research & Knowledge Tools

13. Perplexity AI

Free $19.99/mo (Pro)

AI-powered answer engine that provides cited research and information.

Key Features:

Real-time internet search with sources
Document upload and analysis (Pro)
Custom collections (Spaces)
GPT-4 integration (Pro)

Best For:

Researchers, students, writers, and professionals needing reliable information with citations.

14. Elicit

Free $10/mo (Plus)

AI research assistant specialized in academic literature search and analysis.

Key Features:

Scientific paper searches and summaries
Research question breakdown
Paper comparison and analysis
Research extraction and organization

Best For:

Academic researchers, scientists, students, and professionals needing to review academic literature.

15. Consensus

Free $9.99/mo

AI search engine for scientific research papers with evidence-based answers.

Key Features:

Scientific consensus detection
Evidence-backed responses
Paper credibility analysis
Research summary generation

Best For:

Scientists, journalists, medical professionals, and anyone seeking evidence-based information.

16. You.com

Free $19.99/mo (Pro)

AI search engine with chat capabilities and app integrations.

Key Features:

Chat-based search with citations
Code assistance (YouCode)
App integrations for shopping, travel, etc.
Personalized search experience

Best For:

General users looking for an AI-powered search alternative, developers, and researchers.

Productivity & Workflow

17. Notion AI

$10/mo (add-on)

AI writing assistant integrated with Notion's workspace platform.

Key Features:

Content generation in Notion
Summarization and rewriting
Translation and editing
Q&A with your notes and documents

Best For:

Notion users, productivity enthusiasts, project managers, and team collaborators.

18. TextExpander

$3.33/mo (annual)

Text expansion tool with AI-powered snippet suggestions and organization.

Key Features:

Custom keyboard shortcuts for text
Team snippet sharing
Cross-platform synchronization
Fill-in forms and templates

Best For:

Customer support teams, sales professionals, and anyone who types repetitive text.

19. Taskade

Free $19/mo (Unlimited)

AI-powered productivity workspace for task management, notes, and mind maps.

Key Features:

AI task and project generation
Real-time team collaboration
Multiple view options (list, board, action, mind map)
Built-in video chat

Best For:

Remote teams, project managers, students, and entrepreneurs managing multiple projects.

20. Mem.ai

Free $10/mo (Pro)

AI-powered note-taking app that organizes information automatically.

Key Features:

Automatic note organization
Smart search capabilities
Time-based reminders
AI-powered writing assistant

Best For:

Knowledge workers, researchers, students, and professionals who take lots of notes.

Knowledge Check

Which of the following tools is specifically designed for academic research with scientific papers?

A. ChatGPT
B. Elicit
C. Canva Pro
D. Descript

Conclusion: Getting Started with Budget-Friendly AI Tools

As we've seen, there's a vast ecosystem of powerful AI tools available for under $20 per month. To make the most of these tools:

Start with free tiers to test which tools best fit your workflow before committing to subscriptions.
Combine complementary tools rather than looking for an all-in-one solution. For example, pair a research tool like Perplexity with a writing tool like Copy.ai.
Look for annual discounts on tools you use regularly to reduce costs further.
Stay updated as these tools rapidly evolve with new features and capabilities.
Consider your specific needs rather than choosing the most popular tools. The best tool is the one that solves your particular problems.

Final Tip:

Many of these tools offer significant educational or non-profit discounts. If you qualify, be sure to check for special pricing options that could make premium features even more affordable.

Continue Your Learning

In the next module, we'll explore how to use Claude and ChatGPT for managing projects effectively, taking advantage of their unique capabilities to streamline your workflow.