Most people pick an AI tool the same way: a friend mentions it, the landing page looks good, they sign up, and a week later they are paying for something that does half of what they needed. A few checks before you sign up save that week. None of them need technical knowledge, and together they take about twenty minutes.
These checks apply to any category, from writing and image tools to coding assistants and automation. Where a check depends on the vendor's own terms, read the current version on their site: plans and terms change often, as our post on retired, renamed and repriced tools shows.
1. Write down the job in one sentence
"I need AI for marketing" is not a job. "I need to turn a 30-minute webinar recording into five short LinkedIn posts every week" is. The one-sentence version tells you which category to look in, what input the tool must accept (audio, video, a document) and what output you need. If you cannot write that sentence yet, start with our tool finder, which asks three questions and narrows the list.
2. Test with your own material, not the demo
Demos are chosen to look good. Before you decide, run one real task from your own work through the tool: your own document, your own photo, your own messy spreadsheet. If two or three tools look similar, give each the same input and the same instruction, then compare the results side by side. This one step rules out more tools than any review.
3. Read what "free" actually means
A free plan can be a daily allowance, a one-time batch of credits, a watermark on everything you export, or a trial that needs a card and renews automatically. Our guide to AI tool free plans breaks down each type. The question to answer is simple: can you finish your job from step 1 on the free plan, and if not, what is the cheapest plan that lets you?
4. Work out the real monthly cost
Pricing pages often show the lowest number: billed yearly, for one seat, with a credit allowance that runs out quickly. Work out the cost for your actual use:
- Seats: will two or three people need their own accounts?
- Credits or usage limits: how many of your step-2 tasks does one month of credits cover?
- Add-ons: are features you tested on a trial, such as higher resolution or longer videos, part of the plan or extra?
- Currency and taxes: prices shown in US dollars usually do not include local taxes or card conversion charges.
5. Check who owns what you create
If you will use the output commercially, for a client, a product or ads, read the vendor's terms on ownership and commercial use. Some tools restrict commercial use on free plans, and some require attribution. This matters most for images, music and video. If the terms are unclear, ask the vendor before you build anything that depends on it.
6. Check what happens to your data
Look for three answers in the privacy policy or help centre: whether your inputs are used to train the vendor's models, whether you can turn that off, and how long your files are kept. Our privacy checklist for AI tools walks through what to look for. If the tool will see client files, personal data or anything under an NDA, this check is not optional.
7. Make sure you can get your work out
A tool that holds your work in a format nothing else can open is expensive to leave. Check that you can export in a standard format, such as DOCX, PNG, MP4 or CSV, and whether exports are limited on the free plan. For automation tools, check whether your workflows can be exported or only rebuilt by hand.
8. Judge whether the tool will still be around
AI products launch, merge, rename and shut down quickly. Signs of a tool you can depend on: a clear pricing page, a changelog that shows recent updates, documentation, and a way to contact support. A tool with none of these may still be useful for a one-off task, but it is a poor choice for something your work depends on every week.
A simple scorecard
Score each tool you are considering from 0 to 2 on each of the eight checks, where 0 means "fails", 1 means "acceptable" and 2 means "clearly good". A simple table with one column per tool works well:
- Does the job from step 1
- Result on your own test
- Free plan covers your use
- Real monthly cost
- Ownership and commercial use
- Data and privacy
- Export
- Likely to last
The highest total is usually the right pick, but a 0 on ownership or privacy should rule a tool out on its own if your work depends on it.
Where to start
Browse tools by category, see what is genuinely free in our free AI tools section, or use the tool finder if you are not sure which category your job belongs in. Whatever you choose, run step 2 before you pay.
Related: AI tool free plans explained · Retired, renamed, repriced · Privacy checklist for AI tools