What we do

AI Tools Decoded exists because most AI tool coverage is either a press release with a byline or a thousand-word article that never answers the question you asked. We compare the handful of AI assistants people actually pay for, and we tell you which one to pick.

How we test

We use these tools for real work rather than running benchmark prompts. That means the same task given to each tool — drafting a document, debugging an actual project, researching a question with sources — and a judgement about which output needed the least cleanup.

Benchmarks measure what benchmarks measure. What you care about is whether the thing saves you an hour, and that only shows up in real use.

What we will not do

• Rank a tool higher because it pays better. Our verdicts are the same whether a referral programme exists or not.
• Claim a tool is best at everything. None of them are.
• Pretend pricing and features are stable. They change constantly, and we date every page so you can judge how stale it is.

How this site makes money

Some links here are referral links. If you sign up through one, we may receive a referral credit at no extra cost to you. That is the entire business model — no sponsored reviews, no paid placements.

The full details are on the disclosure page.

Independence

We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Anthropic, OpenAI, Perplexity AI, or Google. All trademarks belong to their respective owners and are used here for identification and comparison only.

Corrections

These tools ship changes weekly and we will sometimes be out of date or simply wrong. If you spot something, tell us and we will fix it and note the change.