The latest from Anthropic / OpenAI / Google (updated 2026/8/16) plus a full free vs paid comparison of 17 tools. You can use them with no coding.
In the first half of 2026 the three companies took turns bombing us with news: new models, one pulled and brought back, tiers split by size. Feeling buried when you open your phone is normal. This page lines up 17 tools for you in one go (updated 2026/8/16).
This page covers the 17 tools that are usable right now. Every entry says whether there is a free tier and what the cheapest paid plan costs, so you can read it in 5 minutes and decide.
| What you want to do | Use this |
|---|---|
| Long writing, editing drafts | Claude |
| Coding | Claude Code |
| Chatting, hunting for ideas | ChatGPT |
| Images (Chinese text / detail) | ChatGPT Images 2.0 |
| Images (4K + text) | Nano Banana |
| Video (big international production) | Veo 3.1 |
| Video (Chinese-language scenes) | Jimeng Seedance 2.0 |
| Finding the newest information | Gemini |
| Study notes from a PDF | NotebookLM |
| Fact checks with citations | Perplexity |
Rewrite this text so it sounds spoken and conversational, under 200 words.
Original: [paste your draft]
I have a day job and I want to start an IG side project. Give me 10 post topics that fit me, each with a one-line hook.
Summarize the latest AI policy moves in Taiwan as of July 2026, with Google source links.
Take a look at the overall architecture of this codebase, find 3 places worth refactoring and say why.
[paste your function]
Why is this code slow? Give me concrete optimization suggestions and a rewritten version.
Make an IG carousel cover on a beige background, gold serif title “AI Tool Map”, small subtitle “Updated 2026/8”, 1080×1350 portrait
Generate a 4K minimalist editorial poster: warm beige gradient background, gold accent line under bold Chinese title "One-Person Company Weekly", clean magazine cover aesthetic
minimalist editorial poster, warm beige paper texture, gold horizontal accent, bold serif Chinese typography vibe, magazine cover style --ar 4:5 --v 8
Make an IG cover in Taiwanese night market style, theme “the small joys after work”, beige background with a faint neon glow, gold serif title
Generate an 8-second cinematic shot: a Taiwanese coffee shop morning, warm sunlight through window, hands holding a phone, ambient cafe sounds. Vertical 9:16 portrait.
Make a 15-second narrative storyboard: 3 shots of a person opening laptop / drinking coffee / smiling at screen, cinematic warm tones, Asian male in his 30s
Director Mode: stylized POV walking through a Taipei night market at dusk, neon signs reflecting on wet street, slow motion, vaporwave aesthetic
Use Omni-Reference: upload a portrait photo of me + a clip of Taipei street scenes + a sample of the camera style I want, then generate a 15-second video of “me walking through that street scene”
(upload a PDF or audio file first) Make me a 1-page cheat sheet listing the 5 most important points in the material + how to actually apply each one
How many monthly active ChatGPT users did Taiwan have in 2026? Confirm it with at least 3 independent sources
Schedule: every morning at 8:00, scan the top 10 high-engagement posts under the Threads tags “AI side income” and “one-person company”, then send me a bulleted summary
Do deep research on Taiwan's AI education market in 2026: market size, main players, target user segments, growth rate, with at least 20 source links
ChatGPT or Claude is the safest start. Both have a free tier, both look like a chat window, and you do not have to learn any commands. Writing copy, organizing notes, hunting for ideas, they all work. Use the free tier every day for a week, find the situation you reach for most, then decide whether to pay.
Depends what you do. For writing, chatting and research, the free tier covers 90% of it (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, NotebookLM and Kling all have usable free tiers). But images (Midjourney has nothing free), high-quality video (the full Veo is $249/mo) and ChatGPT Images 2.0 all need paying.
Writing Chinese: Claude > ChatGPT > Gemini, and the gap is small. Chinese images: ChatGPT Images 2.0 (out 4/21, the strongest Chinese text rendering) plus Jimeng 5.0 (accurate Chinese posters). Chinese video: Jimeng Seedance 2.0, which leads the field on Asian faces and Chinese-language scenes.
Late June into early July 2026 brought another pile-up. Anthropic shipped Sonnet 5 (6/30) and brought Fable 5 back worldwide (7/1) inside one week, after 18 days delisted under US export controls. OpenAI previewed the GPT-5.6 family on 6/26 (Sol / Terra / Luna, three sizes with tiered pricing). Google's Gemini 3.5 Pro went the other way, delayed a third time and still not out, with only a Flash version filling the gap. Overall the rhythm holds at 1 big update every two weeks.
Suggested order: (1) ChatGPT free tier for chat and ideas, (2) Claude for editing drafts and long writing, (3) NotebookLM to turn a PDF into study notes, (4) ChatGPT Images 2.0 for IG post images. These 4 cover 80% of what a working person needs for content and learning, and the first 3 have free tiers.
Right, in 2026 Midjourney has no free tier at all. The cheapest Basic Plan is $10/mo (200 images), Standard is $30/mo (unlimited Relax mode), Pro is $60/mo. If you want free image generation, use ChatGPT Images 2.0 (needs Plus $20), Nano Banana (inside the Gemini app), or Jimeng 5.0 (daily quota).
Sora's web and app versions shut down on 2026/4/26, and the API is due to stop on 2026/9/24. OpenAI moved the resources to ChatGPT Images 2.0. For AI video go to Veo 3.1 (strongest), Kling 3.0 (best value), Jimeng Seedance 2.0 (Chinese scenes) or Runway Gen-4.5 (stylized).
I went from knowing nothing to building 5 products with AI and running my IG and Threads.
I'll walk you through the whole thing 1v1, from picking tools to prompt templates to real use.