Start here · No jargon, no upsell

Never used any of this? Start here.

Written for people who have not used an AI tool before and would rather not be sold to · Page updated 2026-08-13

Everything recommended on this page is free, and the tool we suggest pays us nothing. We make money when readers of our other pages buy software through our links, which is exactly why we want to be straight with you here: you should not buy anything today. How we stay honest.

Most writing about AI tools assumes you already know what they are, why you would want one, and which of six things called "GPT" is the one being discussed. This page assumes none of that. It also assumes you are a competent adult who has run a business or done a job for years and does not need to be congratulated for opening a website.

Here is the whole thing in one sentence: pick one free assistant, use it for two weeks on work you already have to do, and buy nothing until you have.

Why one, and why free

The mistake almost everyone makes is starting with a tool built for their industry. It sounds sensible and it is backwards. Almost every specialised AI product is a general assistant with a workflow wrapped around it and a higher price attached. The workflow is worth paying for eventually, but only once you know what your own workflow is, and you cannot know that until you have used the plain version for a while.

Free versions are also not crippled demos any more. They are the same underlying system with usage limits. For a fortnight of real work you will very likely not hit them.

The one tool

Our pick · No affiliate program, so we earn $0 recommending this

Claude, free version

$0 · no card required · claude.ai

Go to the website, make an account, and type into the box as though you were explaining the task to a capable new assistant who knows nothing about your business. That is genuinely the whole interface. There is no setup, nothing to install, and no configuration.

We recommend it because we think it writes better than the alternatives for the work most professionals need, and because it pays us nothing, so we have no reason to push it beyond thinking it is right. ChatGPT and DeepSeek are the other reasonable free options and either is a fine choice. Do not agonise over this. The choice matters far less than starting.

Your first fifteen minutes

Do not ask it to write a poem or tell you about itself. Give it a real task you were going to have to do anyway. Something like:

Try this, worded roughly like this: "I need to write an email to a client explaining that the job will take two weeks longer than I quoted, because a part is delayed. I do not want to sound defensive and I do not want to over-apologise. Here is what happened: [describe it in your own words, however messily]. Write it in plain language, four sentences."

Then read what comes back and tell it what is wrong. "Too formal." "That is not how I would say it." "Take out the second sentence." It will adjust. That back-and-forth is the actual skill, and you already have it, because it is the same thing you do with a person.

The three things worth knowing before you rely on it

1. It will sometimes make things up, and sound completely certain doing it. This matters more than anything else on this page. These tools produce fluent text, and fluency is not accuracy. It can invent a date, a price, a regulation or a citation and present it in exactly the same confident tone as a true thing. Use it for work you can check. Never for facts you cannot.

2. What you type goes to a company's servers. For your own drafts and notes, that is unremarkable. For other people's confidential information it is a real question. If you handle client health records, tax returns, legal files or similar, there are specific rules and our profession pages cover them. When in doubt, remove the names and identifying details before pasting.

3. It does not know your business, your prices or your standards. It knows how sentences work. Everything specific has to come from you. This is why "AI writes the words, you supply the facts" appears on nearly every page of this site.

What not to buy

Nothing, for two weeks. Specifically not: a course about prompts, a bundle of prompt templates, a subscription to a tool built for your industry, or whatever was advertised to you alongside an urgent-sounding claim about being left behind.

After two weeks you will know whether the free version runs out on you, and what you actually keep using it for. That is the information that tells you what to buy, and it is not information anyone can sell you.

When you are ready, here is the next page

Once you have used the free version on real work, our profession pages tell you which three or four tools finish the job, in setup order, with the real price and an explicit note on who should skip each one. These are the ones written for readers who tend to arrive here first:

Real estate agentList, stage and market a property the same day you sign it→ Home inspectorGet your evenings back from report writing, without signing a finding you did not see→ Independent financial advisorWin back the hour after every client meeting, without a tool compliance will veto→ Independent insurance agentTurn policy language into plain English clients understand→ TradespersonQuote from the van before the lead goes cold, and end disputes with photos→ AccountantStop chasing documents, and keep client data on the right side of the rules→ Something else? All sixteen professions→

Common questions

Do I have to pay to try AI?

No, and you should not. The main assistants all have free versions that are genuinely usable, not crippled demos. Start on a free one and use it for a fortnight on real work. If you never hit a limit, you have your answer and it costs nothing. If you keep hitting limits, that is the moment a $20 subscription makes sense, and not before.

Will it make things up?

Yes, sometimes, and confidently. This is the single most important thing to understand before you rely on one. These tools produce fluent, plausible text, and fluency is not accuracy. They can invent a date, a citation, a price or a rule and present it exactly as they present a true thing. Use them for work where you can check the output, which is most work, and never for facts you cannot verify.

Is it safe to put my work information into it?

Your own drafts, notes and ideas, generally yes. Other people's confidential information, not without checking first. Anything you type goes to a company's servers to be processed. For most work that is unremarkable. If you handle client health records, tax returns, legal files or anything covered by a professional obligation, there are specific rules and our profession pages cover them. When unsure, take the identifying details out first.

Am I too late to start?

No. The tools have got considerably easier in the last two years, not harder, and nothing you would have learned in 2023 is still required. Most of what circulates as expertise is people describing which website they typed into. Starting now means skipping the awkward early phase entirely.

What should I not buy yet?

Anything that is not the one free assistant, until you have used that assistant for a fortnight. Not a course, not a bundle of prompts, not a specialised tool for your industry, not the thing an advertisement offered you. Almost every specialised AI tool is a general assistant with a workflow wrapped around it, and the workflow is only worth paying for once you know what your own workflow is.