AI tool pricing report
What AI tools cost, counted from their own pricing pages. Every number here is recalculated from the DowseAI catalog each day, using only plans and prices a separate model has checked against each tool's site.
Key findings
- 21% of AI tools have a free plan (81 of 377). Another 15% offer a free trial instead, so 36% let you try them without paying.
- The median starting price is $19 a month, across the 57 tools whose full plan list we could verify in US dollars.
- 58% of the lowest advertised prices need annual billing. The "from" price is then the monthly rate of a yearly payment.
- Most free trials last 7 or 14 days. Of the 61 trials with a stated length, 27 last 7 days and 24 last 14 days.
- Video and audio has the most free plans of the categories with 10 or more tools (40%). Marketing has the highest median starting price of the categories with enough prices, at $31 a month.
Can you start free?
| How you can start | Tools | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 81 | 21% |
| Free trial, no free plan | 58 | 15% |
| Neither found on the pricing page | 238 | 63% |
A free plan means one that renews: a free tier or a monthly free allowance. One-time sign-up credits and trials don't count. 21% of tools offer a free trial in total, including some that also have a free plan.
Trial lengths: 7 days: 27 · 14 days: 24 · 30 days: 4 · 3 days: 3 · 10 days: 1 · 15 days: 1 · 21 days: 1 · length not stated: 17.
What the cheapest paid plan costs
For 60 of 377 tools (16%) we could verify every plan on the pricing page, and so the lowest regular monthly price. The others list prices we couldn't fully confirm, or ask you to contact sales. The table uses the 57 prices in US dollars (3 in other currencies are left out).
| Starting price per month | Tools | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Under $10 | 10 | 18% |
| $10 to $19 | 21 | 37% |
| $20 to $49 | 17 | 30% |
| $50 to $99 | 3 | 5% |
| $100 or more | 6 | 11% |
11 of these prices (19%) are per user, counted here per seat. 33 (58%) are the monthly rate when you pay for a year up front.
Pricing by category
| Category | Tools | Free plan | Free trial | Median starting price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 71 | 27% | 15% | $20/mo (14 prices) |
| Video and audio | 68 | 40% | 18% | $13/mo (14 prices) |
| Marketing | 47 | 17% | 55% | $31/mo (15 prices) |
| Writing | 46 | 30% | 39% | $14/mo (7 prices) |
| Design and images | 45 | 4% | 2% | Too few prices (1) |
| Productivity and automation | 44 | 16% | 11% | Too few prices (1) |
| Research | 17 | 12% | 0% | Too few prices (2) |
| Sales and support | 13 | 15% | 8% | Too few prices (2) |
| Business operations | 12 | 0% | 8% | Too few prices (0) |
| Data and analytics | 8 | 0% | 25% | Too few prices (1) |
| Education | 6 | 0% | 17% | Too few prices (0) |
A median is shown only when at least 5 verified prices in US dollars exist for the category.
Lowest starting prices
The lowest flat monthly prices we verified (per-user prices left out). Low price says nothing about fit: each tool page lists what the plan includes.
| Tool | Paid from | Billing |
|---|---|---|
| Hostinger AI Website Builder | $2.99/mo | Billed annually |
| Novelcrafter | $4/mo | Monthly |
| Wordtune | $4.89/mo | Billed annually |
| Cartesia | $5/mo | Monthly |
| ElevenLabs | $5/mo | Billed annually |
| Polymer | $5/mo | Billed annually |
| Rewind.ai | $5/mo | Monthly |
| Voice.ai | $5/mo | Monthly |
Where the tools run
Share of tools whose own pages confirm each platform. A tool that offers an app but doesn't say so on the pages we read isn't counted, so these are lower bounds.
| Platform | Tools | Share |
|---|---|---|
| API | 124 | 33% |
| Plugin or MCP | 117 | 31% |
| Mobile | 85 | 23% |
| Desktop | 74 | 20% |
| Browser extension | 44 | 12% |
How we counted
- The sample is every AI tool listed on DowseAI that passed the DowseAI quality check: 377 tools on 3 Nov 2026. It covers tools people search for and new launches, not every AI product.
- Plans and prices come from each tool's own pricing page. A separate model checked every one against that page; anything it couldn't confirm was dropped.
- The starting price is the lowest regular monthly price on a complete plan list. Promotions and region-only plans are left out. Usage-based prices (per minute, per call) aren't counted as a starting price.
- Shares are rounded to the nearest whole percent, so rows may not add up to exactly 100.
- The numbers change as tools are added and re-checked. The date at the top is the last time any counted tool changed.
Quote this report
You're welcome to quote any number here. Please link to this page so readers can see the current figures.
DowseAI, "AI tool pricing report", November 2026. https://dowseai.com/reports/ai-tool-pricing