The best AI productivity tools in 2024
These 37 AI apps will help you work faster—and better.
By Miguel Rebelo · January 25, 2024
As the dust settles on last year’s AI storm, ChatGPT is just one of hundreds of powerful tools in the game. From new intelligent features on apps you already love, to entirely new platforms with jaw-dropping functionality, there’s an AI-powered solution to nearly every productivity problem.
Create an AI digital assistant with Zapier
I’ve been playing around with AI tools for a while now, and I’ve continued to update this list with lots of research and testing from me and the team at Zapier. With that, here are 37 AI productivity tools that will change the way you work.
The best AI productivity tools by category
- Chatbots (ChatGPT, Claude 2, Bing AI)
- Content creation (Jasper, Copy.ai, Anyword)
- Grammar checkers and rewording tools (Grammarly, Wordtune, ProWritingAid)
- Video creation and editing (Descript, Wondershare Filmora, Runway)
- Image generation (DALL·E 3, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion)
- Voice and music generation (Murf, Splash Pro, AIVA)
- Knowledge management and AI grounding (Mem, Notion AI Q&A, Personal AI)
- Task and project management (Asana, Any.do, BeeDone)
- Transcription and meeting assistants (Fireflies, Airgram, Krisp)
- Scheduling (Reclaim, Clockwise, Motion)
- Email inbox management (SaneBox, Mailbutler, EmailTree)
- Slide decks and presentations (Decktopus, Beautiful.ai, Slidesgo)
- Automation (Zapier)
- Other AI productivity tools
Zapier Chatbots lets you create custom AI chatbots and take action with built-in automation—no coding required. Try the to-do list bot template, so you can start breaking down goals into actionable tasks.
How I selected the best AI productivity app in each category
My AI app database is at 270 entries right now. I’m absolutely sure there are way more out there, with many new apps being launched every week.
Full transparency: I’ve had a chance to take a look at most of them, but I haven’t tested them all (yet). The list you’re about to see contains a collection of great AI productivity tools tested by Zapier’s app review team, myself included. If there’s a particular category you like, check out the best apps lists we’ve put together for them—or if we’re still in the process of writing that list, run a quick Google search to find more options.
While all these apps are getting better every day, they’re far from perfect: be sure to always check AI’s work with your human brain. With that being said, please keep all hands and legs inside the vehicle—it’s time to explore.
1. AI chatbots
The best place to start is the category that brought AI to the mainstream. AI chatbots allow you to chat with an AI large language model, letting you ask questions and get answers in a conversational style. The best chatbots use advanced reasoning and logic, write code, and make mathematical calculations.
Take a look at the full list of chatbots in our article on the best AI chatbots.
ChatGPT
ChatGPT is the current industry leader, and the first chatbot that set the scene on fire. It’s powered by OpenAI’s GPT-3 and GPT-4 models, and it’s surprisingly flexible and very easy to use. Learn how to use ChatGPT, understand how it works, and discover how to use it to write marketing copy, do market research, or write sales emails.
When you connect ChatGPT to Zapier, you can automate ChatGPT, so you can access the power of the AI chatbot from within any of your favorite apps.
Create Notion tasks using ChatGPT conversations generated from new Slack reactions
Slack, ChatGPT, Notion
Slack + ChatGPT + NotionMore details
Start a conversation with ChatGPT when a prompt is posted in a particular Slack channel
Slack, ChatGPT
Slack + ChatGPTMore details
Claude 2
Anthropic’s safe and creative chatbot, Claude 2 has impressive memory: it can remember up to 150,000 words in each conversation. This makes it useful to have long, step-by-step discussions of a problem or to upload a PDF and ask questions.
You can connect Claude to thousands of other apps using Zapier too. Learn more about how to automate Claude, or get started with one of these pre-make workflows.
Create blog posts based on keywords with Claude and save in Google Sheets
Google Sheets, Anthropic (Claude)
Google Sheets + Anthropic (Claude)More details
Send AI-generated responses in Slack
Slack, Anthropic (Claude)
Slack + Anthropic (Claude)More details
Generate summaries of online articles with Claude and send to Slack
- +2
Zapier Chrome extension, Anthropic (Claude), Web Parser by Zapier, Slack
Zapier Chrome extension + Anthropic (Claude) + Web Parser by Zapier + 1 moreMore details
Bing AI (Microsoft Copilot)
Microsoft’s close relationship with OpenAI was a positive step to Bing Search: it can search the web and generate answers based on the results. It’s also connected to DALL·E 3, so if you ask for images, you’ll get four visual variations of your prompt. Microsoft is bringing all its AI features into a single name—Microsoft Copilot—so look out for that rebranding across its product line.
2. AI apps for content creation
Entire movies have been made about writer’s block. These apps are here to break it. By entering your prompts, starting from templates, or using recipes, you can use AI models as a co-writer, helping you put together first drafts faster.
Browse all the possibilities in our list of the best AI writing generators.
Jasper
Jasper is a powerful AI content creation platform, favoring users who need a high volume of content. It packs dozens of templates to help you get started, connects to the internet to find research and sources, and also lets you generate images with AI. All your content creation needs are covered here.
You can also connect Jasper to thousands of other apps using Zapier. Learn more about how to automate Jasper or try one of the pre-built workflows below.
Create product descriptions in Jasper from new or updated Airtable records
Airtable, Jasper
Airtable + JasperMore details
Create Jasper blog posts from new changes to specific column values in monday.com and save the text in Google Docs documents
- +2
monday.com, Google Docs, Jasper
monday.com + Google Docs + JasperMore details
Run Jasper commands and send Slack channel messages with new pushed messages in Slack
Slack, Jasper
Slack + JasperMore details
Copy.ai
Copy.ai is a slower-paced option, acting as a writing co-pilot. Each of your prompts generates a list of options, and it’s up to you to pull the best ones into your document. This is better for writing tasks that require more ideation and iteration, such as copywriting.
Find out how more in our Jasper vs Copy.ai comparison. Copy.ai also integrates with Zapier, so you can do things like automatically sending content to your CMS or enriching leads straight from your CRM. Learn more about how to automate Copy.ai, or try one of the pre-built workflows below.
Add new blog posts created with Copy.ai to Webflow
Copy.ai, Webflow
Copy.ai + WebflowMore details
Enrich new Salesforce leads with Copy.ai
Salesforce, Copy.ai
Salesforce + Copy.aiMore details
Anyword
Anyword helps marketers create content by breaking the generation process down step by step. First, you add your prompt to generate a few titles. Then, you can pick your favorite and see a generated outline. Once you tweak that outline to what you want to cover, you can move forward to generating the final piece.
3. AI apps for text enhancement
Spell-checking has been around for a long time, but AI is changing the game. Before, it only detected spelling and basic structure errors. Now, it can spot tone and complex language and offer suggestions to make your writing clearer.
Discover all the available apps in our list of the best grammar checkers and rewording tools.
Grammarly
Grammarly is the mainstream spell- and structure-checking app. It’s a complete solution that keeps your English on point, lets you adjust your tone, and suggests shortcuts to simplify wordy or complex phrases. It has plenty of extensions and integrations, so you can use it almost anywhere there’s a text box.
It has generative text features, too. Learn how to use them in GrammarlyGO.
Wordtune
Wordtune helps you find plenty of wording alternatives to improve your text. When you input the text you want to check, you can easily browse synonyms, ask to rewrite entire sentences, and adapt the suggestions into a final draft.
ProWritingAid
ProWritingAid is a direct competitor of Grammarly, offering plenty of statistics to help you track grammar, style, and spelling scores. One of the main advantages here is its lifetime plan, helping you leverage all these features without adding a new recurring bill. Find out which is the best for you in our ProWritingAid vs. Grammarly comparison.
4. AI apps for video generation and editing
While full-blown video generation is still coming together, there’s already a set of video tools that leverage AI to enhance video, remove backgrounds accurately, and even paint a few new images into each frame.
For the full list, see our picks for the best AI video generators.
Descript
Descript transcribes your videos into a script. Then, instead of using a timeline to trim the audio and video tracks, you edit the text script. As you do so, the video gets trimmed automatically. The rest of the editing works in a similar way, cutting the time to edit your talking head videos. Find out how it simplifies your audiovisual workflows in our walkthrough.
When you connect Descript to Zapier, you can automate the work better suited for computers, so you can focus on the creative side of things. Here are a couple of pre-built workflows to get you started.
Create Descript transcripts from Google Drive files
Google Drive, Descript
Google Drive + DescriptMore details
Save new Descript transcripts as text files in Dropbox
Descript, Dropbox
Descript + DropboxMore details
Discover more popular ways to automate Descript.
Wondershare Filmora
Wondershare Filmora has been around for a long time. Now, it also brings to the table a set of AI features that let you remove backgrounds, denoise low-quality clips, and improve sound quality. All this with the classic video editing user experience, so you’ll never feel lost.
Runway
Runway is a video magic wand. It has a set of interesting features that helps you generate video with AI, train your own AI models, and paint parts of frames using text prompts. The learning curve is very rewarding, and the app is growing at a great pace. Be sure to check it out.
5. AI apps for image generation
An image is worth a thousand words, but you don’t need so many to generate a beautiful one with AI. These image generators take a text prompt and deliver the results—and this can be anywhere between mind-blowing to nightmare-inducing. They’re both hugely entertaining and highly useful.
Read more about our picks for the best AI image generators.
DALL·E 3
DALL·E 3
DALL·E 3 is an image generator by OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT. It’s very simple to use—it runs in ChatGPT—and it produces interesting results, no matter if you’ve just started writing image prompts or are already a master. A great choice to begin exploring the realm of AI image generation.
You can connect DALL·E to Zapier to do things like automatically create images from transcripts, chat messages, or any other apps you use. Here are some examples.
Create images with DALL.E based on Slack messages and send as a channel message
Slack, OpenAI (GPT-3, DALL-E, Whisper)
Slack + OpenAI (GPT-3, DALL-E, Whisper)More details
Create transcripts of audio files with OpenAI’s Whisper
Dropbox, OpenAI (GPT-3, DALL-E, Whisper)
Dropbox + OpenAI (GPT-3, DALL-E, Whisper)More details
Midjourney
Midjourney is impressive. Anything you throw at it generates incredible results—even if sometimes they’re slightly off the mark. The fact that you have to use Discord to access it feels unintuitive at first, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll be spending hours turning your imagination into colorful pixels.
Hit the ground running with our guide for how to use Midjourney, or take a look at how it compares to DALL·E 3.
Stable Diffusion
DreamStudio, powered by the Stable Diffusion AI model, is versatile and offers plenty of controls to help you prompt your way to the results you want. You’ll have to invest a bit more time and learn how to control the model, but the reward is well worth it.
Here’s how to use Stable Diffusion with DreamStudio, or take a look at how it compares to Midjourney or DALL·E 3.
6. Voice and music generators
YouTubers and other social media creators sometimes struggle to get original assets for their content. Good thing AI is here to (re)mix everything.
Murf
Short on voiceover talent? Murf offers over 120 voices in 20 languages to turn your text into voice. With simple controls to change pitch, emphasis, and pauses, you’ll have a quick way to add narration to your latest social media post or training video.
Splash Pro
Moving on to music generation, Splash Pro is one of the few apps that accepts a text prompt. I recommend you try out the Improve button before sending it—you’ll get more interesting results. The engine generates up to five music samples per prompt. If you like one of them, you can either ask for variations or move on to creating the fulll song.
AIVA
AIVA also deals with music, but takes a different approach. Instead of a text prompt, there are three ways you can start generating:
- By picking a style, from epic orchestral to cinematic cyberpunk
- By chord progression
- By uploading an audio reference as inspiration
Once ready, you can edit the result in a timeline editor, adding or removing instrument tracks as you feel your way into the final version.
6. AI apps for knowledge management and grounding
AI is also a powerful search tool. When you connect it to your personal data, workspace, or second brain, it can find anything you need and put it into a natural language answer. Much better than sifting through your notes for hours, right? This is the gist of grounding: keeping an AI model close to your facts—not up there flying with the hallucinations.
Mem
Mem uses AI to tag and connect the notes you take, so you don’t have to spend time organizing them. You can just gather bits and pieces of information, store them, and trust that Mem’s AI features will keep everything connected and organized. When the time comes to search for those notes, you can browse the automatic tags and use the search bar to find all you wrote about each topic that matters to you.
Keep feeding your intelligent second brain by connecting Mem to Zapier, improving data transmission and opening up more automation opportunities. Here are a few examples to get you started.
Send new starred emails to Mem
Gmail, Mem
Gmail + MemMore details
Create Mems for new HubSpot deals
HubSpot, Mem
HubSpot + MemMore details
Create mems in Mem from new Zendesk tickets
Zendesk, Mem
Zendesk + MemMore details
Create mems in Mem from new pushed messages in Slack
Slack, Mem
Slack + MemMore details
Notion AI Q&A
Notion is a strong workspace for organizing your knowledge, but even if you’re disciplined, important pages will still fall through the cracks. Not anymore with Notion AI Q&A: grounded on your data, it generates answers and points you to the sources, revealing that lost insight you recorded in a meeting years ago.
You can connect Notion to Zapier to streamline things even more. Learn more about how to automate Notion, or try one of these workflows.
Generate detailed events in Google Calendar from new Notion database items
Notion, Google Calendar
Notion + Google CalendarMore details
Send Slack messages for new Notion database items
Notion, Slack
Notion + SlackMore details
Generate Google Sheets rows for new items in Notion databases
Notion, Google Sheets
Notion + Google SheetsMore details
Personal AI
While Mem and Notion focus on notes and documents, Personal AI focuses on messaging. The data you upload into the app is turned into memory blocks. Then, whenever someone messages you, your personal AI generates a reply based on your data: you can edit the details or tap to send it right away. When you feel your AI model knows enough about you, you can turn on AI Autopilot, which will make others feel like they’re talking to a ChatGPT-like version of you.
You can help Personal AI learn about you by connecting it to Zapier and sending it memories from the apps where you spend the most time. Learn more about how to automate Personal AI, or get started with one of these workflows.
Create Personal.ai memories from new Notion database items
Notion, Personal AI
Notion + Personal AIMore details
Create memories in Personal.ai from new Google Docs documents
Google Docs, Personal AI
Google Docs + Personal AIMore details
Create memories in Personal.ai from new notes in Evernote
Evernote, Personal AI
Evernote + Personal AIMore details
