I do a lot of writing and random problem solving for work. Mostly long drafts, edits, and breaking down ideas.
Around Jan I kept hitting limits on ChatGPT and Claude at the worst times. Like you are halfway through something, finally in flow, and boom… limit reached. Either wait or switch tools and lose context.
I tried paying for a bit but managing multiple subscriptions felt stupid for how often I actually needed them.
So I started testing free options properly. Not those listicle type “top 10 AI tools” posts, but actually using them in real tasks.
After around 2 to 3 months of trying different stuff, this is what stuck.
Google AI Studio is probably the one I use the most now.
I found it by accident while searching for Gemini alternatives. The normal Gemini site kept limiting me, but AI Studio felt completely different.
I usually dump full notes or messy drafts into it and ask it to clean things up or expand sections. It handles long inputs way better than most free tools I tried. I have not really hit a hard limit there yet during normal use.
For research I use Perplexity free.
It is not perfect, sometimes the sources are mid, but it is fast enough to get direction. I usually double check important stuff anyway.
Claude free I still use, but only when I want that specific tone.
Weirdly I noticed the limits reset separately on different browsers. So I just switch between Chrome and Edge when needed. Not a genius hack, just something that ended up working.
For anything even slightly sensitive, I use Ollama locally.
Setup took me like 10 to 15 minutes after watching one random YouTube video. It is slower, not gonna lie, but no limits and I do not have to worry about uploading private stuff.
I also tried a bunch of other tools people hype on Twitter. Some were decent for one or two uses, then just annoying. Either too slow or randomly restricted.
Right now this setup covers almost everything I actually do day to day. I still hit limits sometimes, but it is way less frustrating compared to before.
I was paying around 60 to 80 dollars earlier. Now it is basically zero, and I am not really missing much for the kind of work I do.
I made a full list of all 11 things I tested and what actually worked vs what was overhyped. Did not want to dump everything here.
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