ViktorBestBest Slack-based AI chatbot
Best Slack-based AI chatbot
ChatGPTBestBest overall AI chat app
Best overall AI chat app
ClaudeBestBest for thoughtful reasoning and execution
Best for thoughtful reasoning and execution
LittlebirdRecommendedBest for context aware chat and recall
Best for context aware chat and recall
ChatGPT AtlasRecommendedBest AI Browser for ChatGPT users
Best AI Browser for ChatGPT users
RaycastRecommendedBest MacOS spotlight search replacement
Best MacOS spotlight search replacement
PerplexityRecommendedBest for researching, whether work, student, or personal
Best for researching, whether work, student, or personal
Best AI Chatbots at a Glance
How We Evaluate AI Chatbots
We score each AI chatbot across multiple criteria, and hands-on expert evaluation
- Ease of UseQuick to set up and intuitive to use without a steep learning curve.
- Feature DepthCore features that work well, not surface-level checkboxes.
- Reliability & PerformanceConsistent, fast, and dependable with minimal bugs.
- Value for MoneyPricing that's fair relative to what you actually get.
- Integrations & EcosystemWorks well with other tools in your stack.
- Expert EvaluationCurated by, our rankings reflect in-depth testing, industry insights, and hands-on experience.AlexandAndra
Viktor
Best Slack-based AI chatbot
Best Slack-based AI chatbotWith all the AI tools that come our way, it's getting harder to get genuinely excited about anything. But when we tried Viktor, we immediately looked at each other and said, "We need Viktor in our business. This is amazing!"
Viktor is a proactive AI employee that lives in Slack. He reads your channels, understands what's being worked on, and starts suggesting specific things he can take off your plate before you even ask.
Our entire team adopted Viktor faster than any other tool we've ever introduced, and honestly, I've never seen anything quite like it.
What is Viktor?
What is Viktor?If you've written off the entire AI agent category because nothing has actually stuck, I get it. I roll my eyes when I see a "new AI employee" product now...
But then I was introduced to Viktor and something seemed different. People in the comments seemed to genuinely love it. It intrigued me enough to download it.
Viktor is an AI hire that lives in your Slack workspace. He reads your channels, and within hours of being added it's already introducing itself and telling you what work he can take off your plate. And look, I've tried more tools than I can count that say they are proactive but they actually create more work than solve it... but Viktor quickly felt different.
For me, he identified when we were about to post a YouTube video and suggested he gets the description ready (our descriptions are quite complicated since ever URL has to be specifically setup with UTM data and specific links). It was a task I always dreaded doing, and equally dreaded the idea of delegating it because of the high room for error. I also did not have time to even think through working with Claude or ChatGPT on how to delegate it.
But Viktor walked me through the steps of what he needed to complete the task. He asked for the transcript for timestamps, he pulled the right links from our website on his own, and formatted all the UTMs based on how we did them in other videos (I didn't even give him the link to our channel or anything!). He came back with something that was 90% right on the first try. No hand-holding, no lengthy explanation of our processes, no "here's a 10-step guide to how we do UTM tracking." He already knew the foundational stuff. We just filled in our preferences as we went.
And that experience repeated itself across our whole team. Our CEO started using Viktor for strategy and ops. Our head of engineering started using him as a technical collaborator. All of that happened organically, without anyone suggesting it. Viktor just showed up differently for each person based on what they needed. That's the thing that made us look at each other and go "okay, this one's real."
Pros and Cons
Pros and ConsPros:
Pros:- Shows up proactively. Reads channels and suggests tasks before you ask
- Remembers your preferences and processes across weeks without resetting
- Adapts to completely different roles on the same team
- Actually executes tasks, doesn't just tell you how to do them
- Sets up recurring automations through plain conversation
- You control exactly what it can and can't access
- SOC 2 compliant
- Generous free tier to get started
Cons:
Cons:- Requires Slack (Teams support coming)
- Credits can run thin on heavier workflows
Key Features
Key FeaturesProactive Task Delegation
Viktor doesn't wait for you to come to it. He reads your channels, figures out what's happening, and comes to you with specific things he can take off your plate and how he would approach each one.
He asks for what it needs rather than making you figure out how to explain everything. I noticed it's removed a huge cognitive load.
Autonomous Task Execution
Viktor actually does work. He can fetching pages from any website, pull data from connected tools, cross-reference sources, and come back with a finished output.
For engineering teams this goes even further: Viktor has its own cloud computer, so he can write code, run it, and deliver results without any setup on your end.
Memory and Recurring Automations
Viktor remembers your preferences across sessions and can set up automations that run on a schedule just by being asked. No Zapier, no workflow builder. You just tell Viktor what you want and what time and he handles it.
Over time it starts becoming the process layer for your business, which is honestly where it gets really exciting.
People Management
People ManagementOne of the less obvious wins with Viktor is being able to delegate the follow-up layer of managing a team, which happens to be one of my favorite ways to use him.
If someone needs to get something done by Friday, you tell Viktor: if it's not done by then, ping them. When a human sends that reminder, it can feel like nagging or micromanaging. When Viktor sends it, it just feels helpful.
Safety Controls
Safety ControlsViktor gives you control over what it can and can't do. You can set it to ask before taking any action, restrict its access to specific channels, and limit what it can do across connected tools.
For example, Our GitHub connection is read-only. Viktor can read pull requests, diffs, and file contents, but it can't push code or open PRs. That was a deliberate choice on our end, and Viktor made it easy to set that boundary.
Pricing
Pricing- Free: $100 in one-time credits per workspace. Enough to meaningfully test whether it fits before committing.
- Team: $50 per workspace per month. Includes 20,000 monthly credits that refresh automatically.
- Enterprise: Custom pricing. Adds a more powerful underlying model, invoicing, security review support, SLA guarantees, priority support, and dedicated onboarding.
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ChatGPT
Best overall AI chat app
Best overall AI chat appCan one really live without ChatGPT these days? It's undeniably one of the best AI tools available. We have four subscriptions in our household alone: one each for personal use and one each for work. At this point, it's more of a family member whose available 24/7.
What is ChatGPT?
What is ChatGPT?What really is there to say? ChatGPT was the fastest-growing consumer app in history when it launched. It reached 1 million users in about 5 days after launch and 100 million users in about 2 months after launch.
OpenAI is general artificial intelligence. You can ask it questions, and it'll answer them, like a human. You can ask it to write code for you, and it'll build it, all while explaining the why and how.
It's the one tool I'd recommend to basically anyone. My mom uses it. My hairdresser uses it. We use it for work. If you're only going to have one AI tool, it probably should be this one.
What makes it stick is the memory. It learns who you are over time, and that's what makes it feel less like a tool and more like a thought partner. Alex and I both run two subscriptions each, one personal and one for work, because once you start building that memory, you don't want it mixed.
Engineering friends of mine are worried that it'll replace their job, and yet they are using it to become a better engineer (using it to teach them different coding languages).
The craziest thing of it all, anyone can use it, and you don't even need to be technical to use it. Just visit ChatGPT here and start asking it questions. You'll be amazed by what it can do. If you're more technical, then be sure to check out the actual API and see where you can fit it into what you're building (I mean everyone else is).
Everyone is trying to build a OpenAI (ChatGPT) into their product right now. It's the closest thing we've seen to magic in an incredibly long time.
If you're using it and hitting limits, it's worth upgrading. AI is probably the cheapest it'll ever be right now. We also have a deal on our site where you can grab a free seat.
Pros and Cons
Pros and ConsPros
Pros- Memory makes every conversation smarter over time
- Works across text, voice, video, files, and code all in one place
- Reliable cross-device experience
- Projects keep recurring work organized without re-explaining yourself every time
- Deep Research mode is genuinely useful for complex decisions
Cons
Cons- Can be too agreeable if you don't push it, you have to ask for blindspots
- Projects still feel more manual than they should
- Agent features are useful but not meaningfully ahead of more specialized tools
Key Features
Key FeaturesMemory
MemoryMy personal ChatGPT knows my health goals, the books I've read, my skin routine, and even my clothing measurements. My work one knows our systems, our tone of voice, team members, and the way we think about software.
Out of everything I've tested, ChatGPT has consistently been the best at memory and remembering context, and honestly that's what makes it so good.
I use it with ChatGPT Atlas as my main browser, and having an AI with full context on your business sitting right beside you at all times is just incredibly helpful. It already knows what I'm working on, how I think, etc.
I've tried Claude's AI Assistant Chrome extension as an alternative, and it wasn't even close. The issue is it has no memory at all, it doesn't even save your conversations. So every time you open it, you're starting from zero. Going back to something that forgets you the moment you close it feels unreasonable to use.
Multimodal Assistance
Multimodal AssistanceThis is an area where ChatGPT separates itself most. You can throw it a voice note, point a camera at a broken appliance, upload a messy transcript, or paste in a spreadsheet and it handles all of it without you having to switch tools or context.
I use voice and video mode all the time for random real-life problems. It's the only AI I reliably use for that.
Workspace Layer
Workspace LayerProjects are where ChatGPT starts feeling more like a proper work environment.
We use them for writing, product, engineering, anything where the same context needs to show up repeatedly. It keeps a specific point of view so you're not feeding it background every single time. That said, it still asks you to organize more manually than I'd like. Linking conversations to projects, adding skills to specific projects, it works, but it's a bit more friction than it should be. Heading in the right direction, just not fully there yet.
Pricing
Pricing- Free: Best for individuals, students, or curious first-time users who just want to understand why everyone talks about ChatGPT.
- Codex: Usage-based pricing with no fixed seat fee. Best for engineering teams or technical operators who want AI deeply integrated into software workflows.
- Business + Codex: $20/user/mo billed annually ($25/user/mo monthly). Best for startups, agencies, and growing teams that want ChatGPT as a shared workspace instead of just an individual tool.
- Enterprise: Custom pricing. Best for larger organizations dealing with sensitive internal data, strict IT requirements, and hundreds of employees.
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Claude
Best for thoughtful reasoning and execution
Best for thoughtful reasoning and executionThere is a reason Claude is getting a ton of attention right now. It's genuinely one of the best AI tools for getting work done, coding, and writing. But as a small business, be careful how deep down the rabbit hole you go.
Don't try to use Claude to vibe code your own software (I promise you, your team will be frustrated and you'll abandon it within 30 days 🫠).
What is Claude?
What is Claude?Claude is an AI assistant built by Anthropic, designed for professionals and operators who need more than a generic AI response. It tends to follow complex instructions more completely, sounds less generic, and holds onto more context when you give it a lot to work with. There's also Claude Code for developers and Claude Cowork, a desktop agent that works with files on your machine.
I'll be honest, I resisted trying Claude for a while. I'd been using ChatGPT for two years and it knows me and my writing style incredibly well. Every time I tried Claude before really committing to it, I was disappointed because it just lacked that context, and I'd walk away thinking "I don't get what everyone's talking about!" But the hype kept coming from people I respected, so I couldn't shake the feeling that I was missing something.
What changed it for me was exporting all of my writing instructions from ChatGPT and loading them into Claude as a skill. After that, the experience improved dramatically. Claude started asking better questions and the writing output got a lot closer to what I actually wanted. Now I find myself reaching for Claude specifically when I'm doing deeper writing work. It pauses to ask clarifying questions more than ChatGPT does, and it genuinely seems to honor the context I've given it rather than just acknowledging it and moving on.
Is that because Claude is naturally more thoughtful, or because my prompt told it to ask more questions? Honestly, hard to say. Without the skill loaded in, my earlier experience was nowhere near as impressive as the internet made it sound. So if you're going to try Claude and you already have a strong writing brief (or any other brief) somewhere, move it over before you form an opinion.
Where it still falls short is the surrounding product experience, the Chrome extension, the cross-device memory in Cowork. Those feel like areas where ChatGPT has just gone a lot deeper on the day-to-day user experience, and you notice the gap when you hit them. For now I'm keeping both, especially because I use ChatGPT Atlas for browser work.
Pros and Cons
Pros and ConsPros
Pros- Automatically references your skills and writing briefs without being told to
- Longer context window means it holds onto more when you give it a lot of input
- Claude Code is loved by engineers
Cons
Cons- Chrome extension has no memory, close it accidentally and everything is gone
- Cowork context doesn't persist across devices
- Usage limits are annoying, we hit them fast doing deep research on the standard tier
- Cowork is less useful if your whole workflow lives in web apps
Key Features
Key FeaturesReasoning and Writing
Reasoning and WritingClaude gives more complete answers without turning into an endless refinement loop. ChatGPT has a habit of ending every response with "want me to improve this?" and you end up going in circles. Claude just answers, and the conversation tapers naturally unless you push it further.
Skills
SkillsClaude automatically references your writing brief or skill in every relevant chat without you asking. With ChatGPT you have to actively add chats to a project to get that same behavior. It's a small thing that ends up mattering a lot when you're opening new chats constantly throughout the day.
Claude Cowork
Claude CoworkCowork is Claude's desktop agent, it can take actions across your computer, work through tasks, and integrate with your tools. If you work heavily out of local folders and project files, you'll probably get a lot out of it. For me, my whole workflow lives in apps like Superhuman Mail, Linear, and Granola, so it hasn't been life-changing.
Pricing
Pricing- Free: Limited access, good for testing the product before committing.
- Pro: $20/month. This is the tier most founders and operators will want. Gives you access to the full model and the features that actually matter for daily work.
- Max: $100/month. Higher usage limits and more capacity for longer, more intensive sessions. Worth considering if you're hitting limits regularly.
- Team: $30/month per user (minimum 5 users). Adds collaboration features and admin controls for teams.
- Enterprise: Custom pricing. Expanded security, compliance, and deployment options for larger organizations.
Littlebird
Best for context aware chat and recall
Best for context aware chat and recallLittlebird is an AI assistant built around one idea: the more context it has, the more useful it becomes. It records meetings, pulls from your calendar and email, AND reads what's on your screen so it can understand what you've really been doing throughout the day.
That's what lets you ask something as simple as "What did I do today?" and get a real answer instead of guessing or piecing things together yourself.
What is Littlebird?
What is Littlebird?Littlebird is an AI assistant that actually knows what you're doing, from your meetings (via their AI note taker), calendar, email, and actually pulling context from on-screen activity. You can just ask, "What did I do today?" and it answers you, but the same always-there "layer" is also what gives us pause. We see that vision here and know that the best AI tool will be the one that has the most context.
My workdays are so messy... Constant Slack messages, hundreds of open tabs, quick decisions, context switching nonstop. Littlebird acts like a second brain that’s been there the whole time, so instead of relying on memory, you can just ask it for whatever someone said, or something you saw.
It's been especially nice for those "I swear I saw this somewhere" moments or when I'm trying to recall what actually happened outside of formal meetings.
But, it's a given that in order to have all the context to provide you those useful answers means it's more invasive. So you do have to get comfortable with how much it sees and be mindful of excluding sites in your settings. Compared to tools like Granola or even ChatGPT, Littlebird is less about doing one thing really well and more about becoming that always-on memory layer across everything you do.
Pros and Cons
Pros and ConsPros
Pros- Reduces mental load
- Strong for recall questioning
- No heavy setup, works without integrating every tool
- Provides a true understanding of your day with full context
Cons
Cons- More invasive than most AI tools
- AI notetaker not as strong as Granola
Key Features
Key FeaturesContext Awareness
Context AwarenessThe best AI assistant is going to be the one with the most context. That's why Littlebird pulls from your on-screen activity (read only), meetings, calendar, and email to build a full picture of your day. So it can answer broader questions instead of being limited to one tool or page.
The setup was nice and fast. When I started using it, I asked Littlebird a question about what the engineering team had shipped, and it pulled an answer from Slack, which I never connected, but it had been up on my screen. So Littlebird sees all.
Another time, Alex had been exchanging X DM's with a friend and scheduled a call. Littlebird sent him a meeting brief pointing out how they had posted on X about common things and what they could talk about on the call.
That said, be sure to take full advantage of the privacy settings if there is a website you don't want it watching.
Routines
RoutinesLittlebird gives you recurring summaries (like weekly breakdowns) that can show you where your time actually went. For example, Alex learned that he was spending roughly 18-20 hours a week on product development, which made us better understand why he feels so overloaded and sparked discussions about us hiring someone out to help.
Ask Anything Shortcut
Ask Anything ShortcutSince we have ChatGPT Atlas, we can ask questions from anywhere within the browser, but it only gives answers based on the limited context it has. With Littlebirds' "Ask Anything" shortcut, you can ask any question, and it'll give you a response based on all the context surrounding your question. You can be in Slack, your browser, or any tool and ask for context without opening another app.
Privacy
PrivacyAny time you sign up for a tool that reads your screen, you want to be mindful of updating your security settings. Littlebird gives you the ability to choose what you want it to consider. It does automatically track everything so you need to be proactive about opting out.
We were nervous about things like our analytics dashboard or financial data, so we went in and made sure to exclude those sites in the settings, which made the "always-on" part feel a lot more usable.
Mobile App
Mobile AppLittlebird does have a companion app available on iOS and Android that lets you access the same context on the go, although it does not monitor your phone usage.
Being able to ask "What happened today?" while I'm on a walk or doing my end-of-day debrief is so useful and feels like I have a real assistant instead of just another tool (it will only recall what you did on your computer).
Pricing
Pricing- Basic: Free. Best for those wanting to test the product and see if the context-aware approach actually clicks for their workflow.
- Plus: $17/mo. Best for people who want more depth, more routine usage, and plan to use Littlebird as an everyday assistant.
- Pro: $100/mo. Best for those who need significantly higher usage limits or like advanced intelligence and want early access to feature releases.
Final Verdict
Final VerdictIf you're comfortable with Littlebird having access to your on-screen activity, then you'll immediately see what makes this AI tool special.
It's one of those tools that is too intriguing not to use.
Definitely grab it for free, and worth locking in the Littlebird discount now if you ever want to upgrade in the future.
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ChatGPT Atlas
Best AI Browser for ChatGPT users
Best AI Browser for ChatGPT usersWe have to say that ChatGPT Atlas has quickly become one of the top browsers on the market. Why? Because it has all of your historic conversations that it can bring right into the browsing experience. It has full context on how you write, think, and what you care about.
As a part of our company onboarding, we now require all team members to work exclusively within ChatGPT Atlas because it helps them work that much faster with the AI chat right within the side bar.
If you view ChatGPT Atlas like more of an upgraded ChatGPT desktop experience, and less of a browser replacement, it's actually a no-brainer for any avid ChatGPT user to use instead.
What is ChatGPT Atlas?
What is ChatGPT Atlas?ChatGPT Atlas is a Chromium-based browser built by OpenAI that feels a lot like Google Chrome, but instead of Google Search, you have the full power of ChatGPT available everywhere you go.
Pros & Cons
Pros & ConsPros
ProsThink of ChatGPT Atlas as more of an upgraded UI/UX for the ChatGPT desktop app than that of a full replacement for your primary browser.
If you compare it in that way, then it's a no-brainer to install and use it instead of the ChatGPT desktop app.
For example, clicking on a link mid-chat expands the site to the left-hand-side, with chat sitting on the right. It's just a better user-experience than it popping you out to whatever default browser you have set.
From there you can easily ask additional questions about the site you're on, or even reference other open tabs along with browser history. And depending on how complex of a question you ask, their built-in AI agent mode can even pop in and start navigating and completing tasks for you.
So what is the biggest "Pro" for ChatGPT Atlas? It's that it feels like an upgraded desktop app on all fronts. It just feels "right".
Cons
ConsOnce you get used to having your full ChatGPT account everywhere you go, it can become hard to use another browser because you are always missing that personalized experience.
Key Features
Key FeaturesAgent Mode
Agent ModeChatGPT Atlas has an AI agent mode that can navigate the web on your behalf. It has ChatGPT with you everywhere (even highlight some text and tell it how you want to modify it and it'll do it inline right there).
AI Chat Side Bar
AI Chat Side BarBecause it's a browser, you also have the ability to @ mention tabs to pull in added context, and it also has deep memory on what you're searching from day-to-day.
The truth is, we experienced a ton of efficiency gains at work once we started using ChatGPT Atlas. Every question gets answered faster. There’s no more copying and pasting context from your browser into a separate AI app. It feels like a constant thinking partner. Our research quality has improved, and we probably use the side chat 20 to 40 times a day.
It even has voice mode built in. It can be a little buggy at times (when it acts up we switch to Wispr Flow) but you can literally think out loud about whatever page you’re on and go deeper with AI right there.
We’re now getting work done faster and require all team members and freelancers to work within ChatGPT Atlas as part of their role with us. If you’re running a business, especially a small team, I think you’ll see output increase just by giving them this browser. Just make sure they’re on a paid account so they don’t hit limits.
Pricing
PricingWhile Atlas is technically free, the features that you're probably seeing teased all over social media and the marketing videos are actually primarily paid (at least for now).
To unlock their AI agent functionality, you must be on ChatGPT Plus ($20/mo) or higher. The same goes for memory and file recall (prior uploaded documents) as well.
So while Atlas is free, it's a pretty restricted version of it (although the truth is we pay for multiple ChatGPT accounts and find the value way outweighs the cost).
Final Verdict
Final VerdictDo you use ChatGPT? If yes, absolutely install Atlas browser, and just treat it as more of a replacement for the ChatGPT desktop app.
In-fact, use ChatGPT for work and personal, and have 2 separate accounts? Use Atlas to login to one of them, and the ChatGPT desktop app to login to the other one, and boom! You've now got built-in account switching (sorta).
If you're not a paying user of ChatGPT, then I'd recommend you give Comet browser by Perplexity a shot if you want to experience the AI agent mode and other agentic features without purchasing a paid subscription.
Raycast
Best MacOS spotlight search replacement
Best MacOS spotlight search replacementIf you're using MacOS, Raycast is hands-down the best spotlight search replacement available. It's one of those apps that you won't "get" until you use it, but once you use it, you won't be able to live without it.
It's usually the first app we install on a new computer, if that tells you anything.
What is Raycast?
What is Raycast?Most people use the native Spotlight search within MacOS, and most are totally happy with it. If that's you, you probably don't care much about this space, but I'm here to tell you that you should.
Search is the main way to navigate the OS, and imagine this search box with superpowers. Do you open up the calculator? Raycast has that built in. Have a separate window resizing/manager tool like Rectangles? Yeah, Raycast does that too.
Just about anything you can think of, Raycast can do, or they have an app/integration for it. I'm not kidding—I literally compressed the image to the Arc + Raycast integration using a Raycast plugin:
Never again do you need to navigate to a sketchy "image conversion" website again—you can now do it all through your favorite ⌘ + Space shortcut via Raycast.
Now for the more technical crowd... I'm here to tell you that it's better than Alfred in every way. It's beautiful, free, has deeper native integrations, and the developer community is next-level.
Skeptical? I hear you—so much in-fact that I've debated (for hours) with just about every single one of my power-user friends about why Raycast is far-and-above better than Alfred. They didn't believe me, fought me tooth-and-nail on it.
And guess what? Every single one of them are now using Raycast (and Arc 😉). They just needed to download it and give it a genuine shot. It does everything better, and looks 10x as good (UI/UX).
It's free, just give it a shot yourself. If you're skeptical, come debate me on Twitter—happy to convince you as well 🦾
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What is Perplexity?
What is Perplexity?Perplexity is an AI-first search engine that replaces Google with direct answers pulled from the web.
We like to use it when doing deep research that we need sources from the internet. It pulls from multiple sources in real time, making it one of the best tools for researching topics online.
One of the main benefits of Perplexity is that it gives you access to multiple LLMs in one place, so you can switch models depending on what you're trying to do.
That said, we find it's much better for internet research than deep reasoning. It's strong at finding and summarizing information with sources, but not as strong as other LLMs for complex problem-solving, math, or advanced reasoning tasks.
Perplexity also offers its own web browser, Comet (an alternative to Chrome), where you can use Perplexity as your default search engine and experiment with AI agent-style browsing features.
