by Alex York for ClickUp
Believe it or not, the term “artificial intelligence” (AI) dates back to 1956 when John McCarthy, an American computer scientist, coined the term during the first-ever AI conference.
Fast forward to 2023, and we’re in an exciting new era where AI, fueled by powerful machine learning algorithms, is on everyone’s minds. AI has gone from being a tech buzzword to a real-game changer in people’s lives. More small businesses and startups are embracing AI technology to propel their growth and success, and you don’t want to be left behind.
If you’re on the lookout for the best AI tools for startups and small businesses to streamline and optimize your workflow and operations, we’ve got you covered. We’ll explore 10 of the best AI tools on the market today that will not only get the job done but also boost the efficiency and profitability of your business!
What Should You Look for in AI Tools for Startups?
When evaluating AI tools for your team, you have to pay close attention to the following key areas:
- Ease of use: The tool should have a user-friendly and intuitive interface, so you and your team can quickly learn how to use and adapt to it without extensive training or technical expertise. This makes it easier to quickly leverage the tool’s capabilities rather than spending lots of time figuring out the tool’s complexities
- Training and support: AI tools, just like any new tool you’re unfamiliar with, will take some getting used to. Check if the AI tool you plan to use has comprehensive documentation, resources, tutorials, and a responsive customer support team
- Integration: Check that the tool can seamlessly integrate with existing software and systems in your business, especially your project management, communication platforms, and customer relationship management (CRM)
- Scalability: Ensure the tool is flexible enough to accommodate your expanding needs and long-term OKRs and goals, such as scaling with your growing team and customer base and handling increasing volumes of data
- Price: You shouldn’t dismiss a tool solely based on its price but strike a balance between cost and value. It should bring a good return on investment while not straying too far from your budget limits
The 10 Best AI Tools for Startups
Having covered the essential factors to look out for when selecting AI tools for startups, let’s dive into the top 10 AI tools you should consider incorporating into your workflow as a startup or small business. 🛠️
1. ClickUp
ClickUp is a cloud-based project management software designed to help individuals and teams to streamline task planning and organization, collaboration, and communication. ClickUp now includes an AI writing assistant, which is accessible platform-wide. See the magic of AI in action when creating new tasks, writing marketing copy, planning events, or crafting and modifying ClickUp Docs!
ClickUp best features
- It’s accessible via the web, desktop, and mobile apps
- 100+ role-based AI tools (grouped by departments) with ready-made prompts to speed up your workflow
- Use the /Write With AI Slash command to quickly brainstorm new ideas, generate outlines, and complete first drafts
- Access the AI command from the text toolbar to edit or modify a sentence or block of text
- Summarize long-form content with the click of a button
- Transform lengthy blocks of text into actionable tasks
- Restructure and visualize ideas with ClickUp Mind Maps and ClickUp Whiteboards
- Set up no-code automations for repetitive tasks
- Get access to a project management template library (try out ClickUp’s best templates!)
- Visualize each team member’s tasks for better workload management
- Connect external apps via ClickUp’s API, or directly with popular SaaS tools like Slack, HubSpot, Zoom, Calendly, and 1,000+ more via Zapier
ClickUp limitations
- ClickUp’s extensive features can be a bit overwhelming for new users
- ClickUp AI is currently not available on the free plan
- You can only purchase ClickUp AI for your entire workspace
ClickUp pricing
ClickUp AI is available on all paid plans for $5 per Workspace member per month
- Free Forever: $0
- Unlimited: $7/month per user
- Business: $12/month per user
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing
ClickUp ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (6,700+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (3,600+ reviews)
Bonus: Project management software for startups!
2. ChatGPT
ChatGPT is an AI-powered chatbot that understands natural language input from users and can engage in meaningful two-way conversations. It’s also able to provide detailed and informative responses based on those queries while maintaining context throughout the conversation. As a result, it can perform a wide range of tasks, such as explaining complex topics, assisting with research and content creation, providing recommendations, and even generating code samples.
ChatGPT best features
- A clean and minimalist UI, which makes it extremely easy to use
- Natural language processing and previous conversation details for an interactive and conversational two-way dialogue
- Supports 50+ languages, including English, French, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, and Japanese
- Vast knowledge base spanning multiple industries and subject areas
ChatGPT limitations
- Responses can be inaccurate, generic, or repetitive
- The free version can be very sluggish at times or crash due to network issues or when its response is very long
- Users can force it to accept wrong answers, potentially impacting the accuracy of future-generated responses
ChatGPT pricing
- Free: $0
- Plus: $20/month
ChatGPT ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.6/5 (192 reviews)
- Capterra: No reviews
Try these ChatGPT alternatives!
3. DALL·E 2
DALL·E 2 is a cloud-based text-to-art generator developed by OpenAI, the same company behind ChatGPT. To get started with the platform, all you need to do is create an account, enter a text prompt for the image you want, and hit generate.
DALL·E 2 best features
- Very intuitive interface that makes it easy to use
- Generates unique and high-quality images in seconds based on a text prompt
- Every text prompt or uploaded image generates four unique image variations, so you can choose the best one
- The native editing tool lets you generate text prompts for replacing different elements in a picture (e.g., you can prompt DALL·E 2 to change the background of a photo to include a specific poster)
- Has an outpainting feature that lets you expand images beyond their original canvas
DALL·E 2 limitations
- Takes a longer time to generate complex images
- Has difficulty with generating certain types of images, such as ones containing text, human faces, or a specific number (e.g., an image with 10 cats)
- It follows a one-way process, which means you can’t engage in back-and-forth interactions to fine-tune and perfect generated images
DALL·E 2 pricing
- $15 for every 115 credits (1 credit = 1 text prompt with 4 image variations)
DALL·E 2 ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.2/5 (15 reviews)
- Capterra: No reviews
4. Bricabrac
Extensive coding skills are no longer prerequisites for building apps. So instead of hiring expensive developers who will take a lot of time to design custom apps for your business, you can turn to Bricabrac. Bricabrac is a low-code/no-code platform that lets you bring your innovative app ideas to life by converting your text inputs into fully functional web applications.
Bricabrac best features
- A time-saving and cost-effective AI tool for hiring professional and experienced developers
- Build functional applications from scratch in minutes using text
- An intuitive drag-and-drop editor that lets you customize the AI tool to suit your needs and requirements
- Export your app in file formats such as HTML, CSS, and Javascript
- Unlimited free web app hosting
Bricabrac limitations
- Restrictive customization options compared to other artificial intelligence tools
- Unable to handle the development of very complex apps
- Adding more advanced features to your app may require programming expertise or assistance from developers
Bricabrac pricing
- No free plan: Free 2-day trial
- Power plan: $68/month
Bricabrac ratings and reviews
- G2: No reviews
- Capterra: No reviews
Bonus: Time tracking software for small businesses!
5. Jasper.ai
Jasper.ai is an AI-powered writing assistant that helps you get over writer’s block and produce content up to 10x faster. You can use it to generate any type of long-form content (e.g., blog posts, product descriptions, landing pages) or short-form content (e.g., AI social media captions, ad copy).
Jasper.ai best features
- There’s no need to worry about plagiarism since the content produced is almost 100% unique
- Has 50+ templates to speed up the content creation process
- Generates content in 30+ languages, including English, French, Spanish, Dutch, and German
- Lets you repurpose content for multiple platforms
- Built-in collaboration tools for working with your team
- Fine-tune content output to match your brand’s tone and style
- Integrates with Grammarly, Copyscape, and SurferSEO to produce unique, high-quality, error-free, and SEO-optimized articles
Jasper.ai limitations
- It takes a while to learn how to use the AI tool to its fullest
- It may sometimes provide inaccurate facts and details
- You still need human intervention to edit its final output for publishing
Jasper.ai pricing
- No free plan: 7-day trial on paid plans
- Creator: $49/month
- Teams: $125/month
- Business: Contact for pricing
Jasper.ai ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (1,209 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.8/5 (1,793 reviews)
Check out these Jasper AI alternatives!
6. Tome
If you’ve ever created a slide deck, you understand how time-consuming and frustrating the process can be. With only a text prompt, Tome can generate compelling and engaging outlines, stories, and presentations for your target audience.
Tome best features
- Create a complete presentation or add specific slide pages (with text and images) to a presentation with natural language prompts
- Convert an uploaded document into a presentation with the click of a button
- Integrates with DALL·E 2 to produce unique AI images for your presentation
- Embed live pages of any website or external apps such as Giphy, Airtable, Figma, Miro, and Looker
- Has sharing and commenting features for collaborating with your team
Tome limitations
- There are no media libraries for stock photos, sounds, and videos
- It still lacks advanced features such as creating custom tables and graphs, adding transitions and animations, and adding background images and music
- The are currently no export options: The only way to share is via links to your Tome presentation
Tome pricing
- Free: $0
- Pro: $10/month
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing
Tome ratings and reviews
- G2: No reviews
- Capterra: No reviews
7. Lumen5
Lumen5 is an AI-powered video creation tool that lets you quickly create short and engaging videos from scratch (or re-purpose written content into videos) for education, news, entertainment, or marketing purposes. This is a valuable tool if you are not a video editing expert and don’t have the budget to hire a professional video editor. You also get access to built-in editing tools to polish up the final video output.
Lumen5 best features
- You can create videos in a few minutes, even if you’re a beginner
- Native media library packed with a wide selection of stock photos, music, and video clips
- Final video output has a resolution of up to 1080p
- Lots of customizable video templates to choose from
- A simple and intuitive drag-and-drop interface for making edits to your video
- Automatically generate captions for your videos with options to customize their appearance
Lumen5 limitations
- The free plan has a limited number of video templates, a maximum resolution of 720p, and the Lumen5 watermark is included in your final video
- It can sometimes take more time to compile a video
- Limited customization options if you want to create more advanced videos
Lumen5 pricing
- Free: $0
- Basic: $29/month
- Starter: $79/month
- Professional: $199/month
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing
Lumen5 ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.5/5 (65 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (135 reviews)
Try out these marketing tools for startups!
8. GrammarlyGO
Grammarly is a personal writing assistant that ensures your written content is free from spelling, punctuation, and grammar errors. And with the new AI-powered GrammarlyGO, you have the added functionality of brainstorming content ideas, generating outlines and drafts, and modifying your old content with your unique text prompt or any of the suggested ones offered by Grammarly.
GrammarlyGO best features
- Create a first draft in seconds by entering a prompt or using any of Grammarly’s suggested prompts
- Customize your unique content voice by specifying the level of formality, tone, and type of English (American, Canadian, British, Australian, and Indian)
- Built-in plagiarism detector for ensuring originality and proper attribution
- Can be used in external desktop apps like Notepad and Microsoft Word and browser-based apps like Gmail, Google Docs, ClickUp Docs, Twitter, LinkedIn, and more
GrammarlyGO limitations
- Currently only supports the English language
- You can only generate a set number of prompts per month depending on your Grammarly account
- Offers general writing assistance, so suggestions may sometimes not be useful for users in highly technical or specialized fields
GrammarlyGO pricing
- Free: $0
- Premium (Individuals): $12/month
- Business (Teams): $15/member/month
GrammarlyGO ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (4,266 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (6,847 reviews)
9. Otter.ai
Otter.ai is an AI transcription tool that converts any audio (like podcasts) or video you upload to the platform into text. The tool is also a very effective note-taker: You can set it up to join and record your online meetings, transcribe the talking points, and send you an email of the key takeaways once the meeting is over. This removes the need for multi-tasking and lets you stay fully focused and engaged during meetings.
Otter.ai best features
- Transcriptions are perfectly synced with recordings and highlighted during playbacks
- The transcription has timestamps and labels the different speakers
- Playback speeds can be as low as 0.5x and as high as 3x, with the ability to skip silences
- The OtterPilot feature can automatically join, record, and transcribe Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom meetings, in addition to capturing photos of the slides used
- You can collaborate with your team by highlighting and commenting on a transcript, and directly assigning action items to team members
- Export options include .mp3, .txt, .pdf, .docx, and .srt
Otter.ai limitations
- It currently only works with U.S. and U.K. English
- The free version lets you transcribe just three audio files, then you have to upgrade to keep using it
- Doesn’t always detect all the different speakers and properly name them
- It’s not 100% perfect; you’ll still need to go through the transcript and make some adjustments
Otter.ai pricing
- Free: $0
- Pro (Individuals): $16.99/month
- Business (Teams): $30/user/month
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing
Otter.ai ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.1/5 (110 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (63 reviews)
10. SecondBrain
SecondBrain (previously MagicChat.ai) is an AI platform that lets you create ChatGPT-like bots with specialized knowledge about your business. You can train your bot with content from website URLs, .pdf documents, or .txt documents. Then you can embed your newly trained chatbot on your site to provide real-time support to users by answering their queries about your business.
SecondBrain best features
- Training your new chatbot and embedding it on your site page (or as a chat widget) is super easy
- The chatbot can be trained with data from 90+ languages
- It quickly and accurately responds to your customers’ queries
- You can create multiple bots depending on your paid plan
- Great for entrepreneurs
SecondBrain limitations
- You can only create one bot on the free plan
- The quality of the bot’s responses is limited by the volume of data it was trained with
- There are currently limited resource guides compared to other artificial intelligence tools
SecondBrain pricing
- Starter: $0
- Hobby: $19/month
- Power: $49/month
- Pro: $99/month
SecondBrain ratings and reviews
- G2: No reviews
- Capterra: No reviews
Picking the Right AI Tools for Startups Can Make a Huge Difference
While picking the right AI tools for your business is a step in the right direction, integrating them into your workflow can be a challenge. This is where ClickUp comes in as a central hub for tying all the tools together.
For only $5/month, you can get unlimited access to ClickUp’s AI-powered project management platform with integrations that let you harness the unique AI features of external apps. You can also choose to sign up for the Free Forever Plan to get a taste of what your business can achieve with ClickUp. 🌻
