Top 20 Generative AI Tools & Applications in 2024

Generative AI applications and tools generate original content based on the training they receive from massive AI models, datasets, and neural networks.

The largest technology companies in the world and nascent AI startups alike are releasing new generative AI solutions on what feels like a minute-by-minute basis, making it difficult to keep up with this emerging technology.

To provide a comprehensive look at the generative AI tooling landscape at this moment, we’ve compiled this detailed guide to the top 20 generative AI applications and tools. These generative AI tools were selected based on their current popularity and accessibility, their relevance and/or uniqueness to the market, and their potential for growth and AI innovation in the near future.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ToggleComparison Chart: Top Generative AI Tools & ApplicationsTop 7 AI ChatbotsTop 4 Generative AI Tools for Business UseTop 4 Generative AI Tools for DevelopersTop 5 Generative AI Tools for CreativesFAQ: Generative AI Apps & ToolsBottom Line: Top Generative AI Applications & Tools

Comparison Chart: Top Generative AI Tools & Applications

Please note: This comparison chart compares the top 10 leading generative AI apps and tools. For the full list of 20 top generative apps tools, see below the chart.

These AI tools cover a wide range of functions and generative AI use cases, though many of the most prominent tools today are large language models (LLMs) and content generation tools. Compare the leaders:

ToolCompanyBest ForUse Case(s)Starting PriceGPT-4 (ChatGPT)OpenAIBest LLM and Content Generation EcosystemLarge Language Model (LLM), Chatbot, Content Generation

ChatGPT: Free
GPT-4 Input: Starting at $0.03 per 1,000 tokens

Microsoft CopilotMicrosoftBest AI Copilot(s) for General Business UseAI Assistant, Business AI, Embedded AI, Chatbot, Content GenerationFreeGemini(Formerly Bard)Google (Alphabet)Best for Real-Time Online Resources and ConnectivityLarge Language Model (LLM), Chatbot, Content GenerationFreeGitHub CopilotMicrosoft/GitHub/OpenAIBest for Coding Quality AssuranceCode Generation

Individual: $10 per month, or $100 per year
Business: $19 per user, billed monthly

ClaudeAnthropicBest for Ethical and Secure Business Content GenerationLarge Language Model (LLM), Chatbot, Content Generation, AI AssistantFree via claude.aiCohere Generate (Command)CohereBest for Straightforward API IntegrationLarge Language Model (LLM), Business AI, Content Generation

Playground: Free, limited access for nonproduction use cases
Input: Starting at $0.30 per 1 million tokens

SynthesiaSynthesiaBest for AI-Powered Video Creation and AvatarsVideo Creation, AI Avatar Generation$22 per month, billed annuallyDALL-E 3OpenAIBest for Accessible Image GenerationImage and Art GenerationApp embed: Starting at $0.04 per image
Via ChatGPT Plus: $20 per month
MidjourneyMidjourneyBest for Advanced AI Image Editing and GenerationImage and Art Generation$8 per month, billed annually, or $10 billed monthlyJasperJasper AIBest for Digital Marketing Content GenerationAI-Driven Marketing Campaigns, Project Templates, Content Generation and Optimization$39 per seat per month, billed annually, or $49 per seat, billed monthly

Top 7 AI Chatbots

GPT-4 (ChatGPT)

Best LLM & Content Generation Ecosystem

GPT-4 is OpenAI’s latest iteration of its Large Language Model (LLM), developed following the enormous success and widespread adoption of GPT-3 and GPT-3.5. Compared to previous iterations, GPT-4 is more creative and accurate while also being safer and stabler.

Many of the other top generative AI vendors on this list have built their products on a GPT-3 or GPT-4 foundation, as the tool — and the greater OpenAI ecosystem — is one of the most mature, well-researched, and well-funded in the artificial intelligence market today.

ChatGPT is OpenAI’s most popular tool to date, giving the everyday user free access to basic AI content generation. For users who require more processing power and capabilities, paid plans are available for individuals and for teams who want to collaboratively use this type of technology.

Visit GPT-4

Pros & Cons

ProsConsMore extensive safety checks and training than previous versions.Does not access current events or data from after April 2023.Updates to the ChatGPT interface support image and audio inputs.The free version of ChatGPT can occasionally be buggy.

Pricing

Pricing for GPT-4 and ChatGPT all depends on how you want to use each tool:

GPT-4

GPT-4 Turbo: $0.01 per 1,000 input tokens; $0.03 per 1,000 output tokens.

GPT-4 (gpt-4): $0.03 per 1,000 input tokens; $0.06 per 1,000 output tokens.

GPT-4 (gpt-4-32k): $0.06 per 1,000 input tokens; $0.12 per 1,000 output tokens.

ChatGPT

Free: $0 for limited features for individual users.

Plus: $20 per user, billed monthly; primarily designed for individual users.

Team: $25 per user per month, billed annually, or $30 per user, billed monthly.

Enterprise: Pricing information available upon request.

Key Features

Large multimodal model with knowledge as recent as April 2023.

Accepts image, audio, and text inputs, depending on the selected model and plan.

Ability to save and access conversation history.

API available for developers who want to integrate ChatGPT into their apps and products.

GPT-4 Turbo version available for high-powered, lower-priced GPT-4 with 128K context.

Some of the most useful features in ChatGPT’s latest iteration allow users to generate imagery with built-in support from DALL-E 3; they can also chat with ChatGPT via voice commands. Source: OpenAI.

To learn more about the generative AI technology of ChatGPT, see our in-depth guide: ChatGPT: Understanding the ChatGPT ChatBot

Gemini (Formerly Bard)

Best for Real-Time Online Resources & Connectivity

Gemini, formerly known as Bard, is considered Google’s response to ChatGPT. It is an AI chatbot and content generation tool that runs on Gemini 1.0, Google’s latest LLM that is performing well in all kinds of tests, including for massive multitask language understanding (MMLU). Similar to competitors like ChatGPT, users can submit their natural language queries and receive quick, detailed responses from the chatbot.

What sets Gemini apart is its connection to Google’s real-time search results and relevant Google app extensions. Unlike ChatGPT, which currently has a knowledge cutoff of April 2023, Gemini can respond to users’ queries with current Google search results and data as supporting resources.

Additionally, all users — including free-plan users — can enable certain Google extensions, like Google Maps and YouTube, to help them plan trips or research video content. Gemini for Google Workspace is expected to be more widely released soon.

Visit Gemini

Pros & Cons

ProsConsGoogle extensions connect generated responses to relevant results.Does not store conversation history as some competitors do.Real-time internet data powers Gemini responses.Free version cannot be accessed through Google Workspace accounts.

Pricing

Gemini: $0 for limited features.

Gemini Advanced: Available as part of the Google One AI Premium plan for $19.99 per month.

The first two months of Google One AI Premium are free.

Key Features

User-based response rating system.

Accessible via personal Google accounts.

Extensions enable users to integrate the tool with other useful apps, including Google Maps.

Enriched image and text search results.

Capable of supporting basic programming and software development tasks.

Without prompting, Gemini’s response to my query includes images and links to relevant information about my question. I can also click on one of the other two drafts it has written if I’m not happy with the current answer. Source: Shelby Hiter via Gemini.

After I enabled the free Google Maps extension, I was able to supplement my original search and determine travel time between two destinations on my trip. Source: Shelby Hiter via Gemini.

For an in-depth comparison of two of today’s leading generative AI tools, see our guide: ChatGPT vs. Google Bard: Generative AI Comparison

Claude

Best for Ethical & Secure Business Content Generation

Claude is an AI chatbot, assistant, and content generator offered by Anthropic, an AI startup now worth approximately $18.4 billion. The tool is similar to ChatGPT, but it was specifically designed to focus more on safety and offer a customizable, conversational tone. Many users have praised Claude’s abilities when it comes to comedy, creative content generation, and absorbing feedback about communication style preferences.

Anthropic customers can choose between Claude, the full model and chatbot that can handle more detailed content creation and coding requests, or Claude Instant, the lightweight version that delivers quicker results at a cheaper rate but with fewer capabilities. claude.ai is also available online as a free version of the tool for users who want to test out its most basic features.

Visit Claude

Pros & Cons

ProsConsLarger context window than many competitors, including ChatGPT.Claude is unable to access the internet.Red-team prompts help prevent harmful content generation.Claude is not able to understand or generate image content.

Pricing

claude.ai: Free for limited access and features.

Claude Instant: $0.80 per million prompt tokens; $2.40 per million completion tokens. Context window is 100,000 tokens.

Claude 2.0: $8 per million prompt tokens; $24 per million completion tokens. Context window is 100,000 tokens.

Claude 2.1: $8 per million prompt tokens; $24 per million completion tokens. Context window is 200,000 tokens.

Key Features

Relies on Constitutional AI approach to AI ethics.

Can accept written text and document attachments as user inputs.

Available in Slack.

Backend API for developers.

Support for a variety of commonly spoken languages and used programming languages.

In this exchange with Claude, I was able to attach a PDF and get the tool to accurately summarize the document’s contents. Source: Shelby Hiter via claude.ai.

Cohere Generate (Command)

Best for Straightforward API Integration

Cohere Generate is an LLM-powered text generation solution from Cohere, a fast-growing AI startup with executive leadership that previously wrote and worked on Google’s now-famous Transformer paper. Many of the use cases advertised on Cohere’s site focus on product management and sales, digital marketing, and similar goals, but the tool can be used for software development tasks and other business requirements as well.

Generate is powered by Cohere’s text generation LLM, Command, which has primarily been trained on common business use cases like copywriting, data extraction, and summarization. While the LLM itself is sophisticated and complex, the API keys and documentation that allow users to take advantage of Generate and Command are straightforward.

Users with varying levels of hands-on AI and code development experience can easily access Cohere’s API reference docs for Generate and other Cohere tools, helping them to embed the solution directly into their own business apps while also getting guidance on teams and roles, versioning, and potential errors.

Visit Cohere Generate

Pros & Cons

ProsConsUsers can test out models and parameters in Cohere Playground.Only the Command Light model is available for fine-tuning.Command model provides users with an easy-to-use API.May have more inaccuracies and hallucinations than competitors’ models.

Pricing

With the exception of the free Playground, users must pay to access a version of Command to use Generate. These are the available pricing options:

Playground: Free, limited access for nonproduction use cases.

Command Default Model: $1 per 1 million input tokens; $2 per 1 million output tokens.

Command Light Default Model: $0.30 per 1 million input tokens; $0.60 per 1 million output tokens.

Command Light Fine-Tuned Model: $1 per 1 million training tokens; $0.30 per 1 million input tokens; $0.60 per 1 million output tokens.

Key Features

Copy content generation with a marketing and sales focus.

Free rate-limited usage available in Cohere’s playground.

API and SDK documentation and keys.

Compatibility with Python, Shell, and Node languages.

Compatible with public, private, and hybrid cloud environments.

Cohere Generate offers detailed documentation for its API, including how to set it up, and how to make it work for Python, Shell, or Node, depending on user preference. Source: Cohere.

Pi

Best for Personal & Conversational AI

Pi is an LLM-powered chatbot from Inflection that is primarily designed for casual, supportive, and personalized conversations with its users, though it is also effective at handling business-adjacent tasks like brainstorming product launches or marketing campaign details.

If a user has anything they want to talk through but have some reason they can’t or won’t discuss it with another human, Pi is a fairly effective stand-in for problem-solving, dreaming, and working through personal struggles and big emotions.

Unlike many other competing tools in this space, Pi is less focused on enterprise use cases for generative AI and more focused on creating genuine human experiences. However, its founding company certainly doesn’t seem limited to this type of work: Its founders come from leading tech companies like DeepMind, Google, LinkedIn, and PayPal, as well as venture capital backgrounds. Pi is their only publicly available product at this time, but interested users can now join the waitlist for Inflection’s Conversational API; expect more business applications from this company in the near future.

Visit Pi

Pros & Cons

ProsConsUsers comment on how lifelike the chatbot seems.Not designed for more complex business or technical queries.Pi is accessible through multiple interfaces and saves data across all of them.Training knowledge does not go beyond November 2022.

Pricing

Pi is completely free to use at this time.

Key Features

Discover prompts can help users get conversations started when they’re stuck.

Threaded replies keep current conversations going and contextually accurate.

Conversational continuity across website, mobile app, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and text message (via +1 (314) 333-111).

Multiple ways to share feedback on Pi’s performance with Inflection, including press-and-hold capabilities and message responses.

Built on Inflection’s proprietary LLM, with no third-party APIs involved.

In my original prompt, I asked Pi to help me decide how to ask for a raise. You’ll notice in the screenshot that there’s an option for me to reply to this current conversational thread so we can more easily stay on topic as the conversation progresses. Source: Shelby Hiter via Pi.

Up until this point, I had only used Pi on the mobile app and website. I texted this number to see if it worked; not only did it work, but it also immediately recognized who I was from my previous web and app interactions. Source: Shelby Hiter.

Llama 2

Best for Open-Source LLM Access

Llama 2 is the most recent free, open-source collection of large language models from Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. The open status of this LLM collection means that anyone can use and fine-tune Llama 2 to meet their specific business, security, and privacy requirements, all at no cost.

Meta’s recent commitment to Purple Llama — an initiative that focuses on bringing users into every step of the “testing, improving, and securing” process for generative AI development — underscores this commitment to creating accessible and safe AI technology.

Compared to closed-source competitors like GPT-4 and ChatGPT, Llama 2 comes in smaller model sizes and was trained on more limited datasets. While this may be an insurmountable limitation for some users, for others it’s a distinct advantage: Llama 2’s smaller size makes it possible to operate it on consumer-grade hardware.

Visit Llama 2

Pros & Cons

ProsConsFree, open-source licensing.Model parameters and context length are limited.Models work on consumer-grade hardware.Lightweight design hurts performance against closed-source competitors.

Pricing

Llama 2 is free and open source.

Key Features

Free and open-source LLM.

Accessible responsible use and getting started guides and Open Innovation AI Research Community.

Trained on 2 trillion tokens.

Fine-tuned Llama Chat model option.

Reinforcement learning based on human feedback.

Llama 2’s Responsible Use Guide is free, accessible to all, and uses easy-to-understand language so all users can adhere to safety and ethical use guidelines. Source: Meta.

BLOOM

Best for AI Text Completion

BLOOM is an open-source autoregressive large language model from Hugging Face with more than 176 billion parameters that can operate in 59 different languages — 46 spoken languages and 13 programming languages. While many other LLMs offer some multilingual features, BLOOM takes it to a new level with more total languages as well as often underrepresented languages, including Arabic, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Swahili, Tamil, Hindi, and Yoruba. Bear in mind, however, that the tool struggles with accurate and coherent outputs in some of these languages that make up a smaller percentage of its training data.

The primary area in which BLOOM stands out is text completion. For instance, if users provide the tool with an incomplete sentence or a similar prompt, BLOOM can fairly effectively complete that sentence with a single click. If users continue to click, the content continues to generate and, for the most part, stays on topic even several paragraphs later.

Visit BLOOM

Pros & Cons

ProsConsAffordable, open-source access to multilingual LLMs.Content inaccuracies in some non-English languages.Transparently displays information about environmental impact.Paid plans and features can get expensive.

Pricing

Pricing depends on how users choose to deploy the BLOOM solution. These are some of the most common options that are priced directly through Hugging Face:

HF Hub: Baseline access to the open-source BLOOM model and other models is free.

Pro Account: $9 per month.

Enterprise Hub: $20 per user per month.

Inference Endpoints (serverless): Pricing information available upon request.

Inference Endpoints (dedicated): Hourly rates starting at $0.06 for CPU and GPU instances.

Key Features

Text generation via Inference API.

Logical text completion.

Decoder-only architecture.

Content outputs in 46 languages and 13 programming languages.

Learned subword tokenizer.

In this text generation demo, I added a brief snippet from an article I wrote about synthetic data. BLOOM was able to complete my content in a way that was logical and fairly accurate. Source: Shelby Hiter via BLOOM Text Generation demo.

Top 4 Generative AI Tools for Business Use

Microsoft Copilot

Best AI Copilot(s) for General Business Use

Microsoft Copilot is an AI assistance technology pioneered by Microsoft for many of its personal and business products. On the personal side, users can take advantage of free AI assistance and content generation through Copilot (previously known as Bing Chat Enterprise) or through integrated Copilot functionality in the Edge browser. There’s also Copilot Pro, which offers more advanced features to both personal and professional users at an additional cost.

But while Microsoft’s Copilot tools for personal use are great, Microsoft has taken the lead and surpassed expectations with its Copilot for business use tools. Depending on the plan you choose, Copilot for Microsoft 365 can be used in nearly any Microsoft 365 product to create new content; summarize existing content, meetings, or emails; rework existing content or data; and more.

Users can also benefit from Copilot outside of office suite tools, enabling AI assistance to support customer service and sales workflows, data analytics, and back-office business operations in tools like PowerApps, Power BI, and Dynamics 365. With the variety of business tools that work with Microsoft Copilot, this could be your one-stop shop for business AI technology.

Visit Microsoft Copilot

Pros & Cons

ProsConsAI assistance is available for several popular Microsoft apps.Copilot products can be expensive.Users can build their own copilots with Microsoft tools.Most Copilots require Microsoft subscriptions, which leads to possible vendor lock-in.

Pricing

Prices range widely, especially since Microsoft Copilot technologies are designed for both personal and business use:

Personal Use

Copilot (formerly Bing Chat Enterprise): $0 for most users and licenses.

Copilot in Edge: $0 in Edge browser.

Copilot Pro: $20 per user per month, billed monthly. Can be used by individuals or teams.

Business Use

Microsoft Copilot for Azure: No additional costs during its preview phase.

Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365: $30 per user per month, billed annually.

Microsoft Copilot for Sales: $50 per user per month, billed annually; costs may slightly be adjusted for current Copilot for Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365 Sales Premium customers.

Microsoft Copilot for Service: $50 per user per month, billed annually; costs may slightly be adjusted for current Copilot for Microsoft 365 customers.

Microsoft Copilot Studio: $200 for 25,000 messages per month.

Microsoft Security Copilot: TBD; the tool is currently in early access.

Microsoft Copilot features are also included as part of other Microsoft tools, like Dynamics 365 and Power BI. Prospective buyers will need to review pricing information for these tools separately.

Key Features

Copilot chat that includes conversation history, labeling, and third-party plugins.

Content generation, summarization, reformatting, and more in most Microsoft 365 tools, including Microsoft Teams.

Built-in Copilot functionality in certain Microsoft enterprise-level tools, including Dynamics 365.

DIY copilot models available through Microsoft Copilot Studio and Microsoft Azure AI Studio.

AI-enhanced contact center and CRM communications via Microsoft Copilot for Service.

Whether you’re double-booked, multitasking, or simply want supportive notes to help you remember important points in a meeting, Copilot for Microsoft Teams enables you to quickly summarize what has happened so far in a Teams meeting. Source: Microsoft.

When using Copilot in Microsoft Word, users can create content based on attachments. Source: Microsoft.

Jasper

Best for Digital Marketing Content Generation

Jasper is a generative AI copilot, assistant, and content generation tool that gears its solutions to the needs of marketers and digital content creators. Individuals can use the tool to manage SEO and content creation according to one predetermined brand voice, and larger teams can upload multiple brand guides and other instructions to get AI-generated content that aligns with their buyers’ unique personas. Many marketers enjoy using this tool for its versatility and accessibility, especially with its multiple prompts and templates that help them get started on creative tasks.

The tool can be used to create or update both text and images for marketing campaigns, blogs, and social media posts. Beyond simply creating the content, Jasper also provides technical marketing support for SEO and performance analytics, allowing users to accurately measure how their content is performing and utilize AI-generated recommendations for tangible improvements.

Visit Jasper

Pros & Cons

ProsConsUsers can generate both images and text for marketing.Expensive compared to most generative AI subscriptions.500+ prompts and 50+ templates for better outcomes.Most advanced features only available in Business plan.

Pricing

For each of the following plans, a seven-day free trial is also available:

Creator: $39 per seat per month, billed annually, or $49 per seat, billed monthly.

Pro: $59 per seat per month, billed annually, or $69 per seat, billed monthly.

Business: Pricing information available upon request.

Key Features

AI-powered brand guidelines and scanning.

Content repackaging and prebuilt templates for multichannel marketing.

AI text and artwork generation.

Blog writing based on audience and tone-of-voice inputs.

AI-powered analytics, content recommendations, and one-click improvements.

Users who decide to write blog posts with the help of Jasper can generate content based on specific audiences and tone-of-voice parameters. Source: Jasper.

Glean

Best for AI-Driven Workplace Search

Glean is an enterprise-level generative AI solution for workplace search and resource management. With this tool, employees can easily access the internal content they need to do their jobs well, as the built-in AI intelligently caters content to the particular needs, department, projects, and other criteria of that user.

Many businesses select this tool for how well it balances robust search capabilities with personalization and enterprise security. The tool also integrates with a variety of other business software solutions, such as Slack, making it possible for users to more easily source and pull information from their most-used applications without interruption. Other advanced features include custom app builds for FAQs and AI assistance as well as quick document summaries and smart task completion.

Visit Glean

Pros & Cons

ProsConsClean and navigable user interface.Not transparent with product pricing.Semantic understanding for personalized, internal search results.Limited customer support resources.

Pricing

Glean only provides pricing information upon request and typically requires users to complete a demo. Glean can be self-hosted or hosted in Glean’s managed cloud environment.

Key Features

Glean Assistant for workplace search and content summarization based on internal docs and resources.

Collections feature for creating libraries of related documents and links.

GDPR and CCPA compliance.

Slack integration.

Work Hub for announcements, people directories, calendars, recommendations, and pinned resources.

When using Glean’s Assistant feature, users can quickly get recaps on specific workplace projects or initiatives, even getting granular details about involved customers and relevant documents. Source: Glean.

Notion AI

Best for AI Assistance & Project Management

Notion AI is a generative AI add-on for the project management and productivity platform Notion. The tool is both an AI business assistant and a creative tool that can be used to quickly mine useful information from business documents or generate relevant content to move forward with.

Its primary features are Q&A, which gives users succinct responses to their questions about internal resources, meetings, and projects; Writer, which can explain, translate, or edit content for its users; and Autofill, which helps users generate action items, content summaries, and quick takeaways from project notes and other resources.

Users can also benefit from AI templates that focus on relevant project use cases such as blog post generation, meeting summaries, pitch generation, mind mapping, and content and presentation planning.

Visit Notion AI

Pros & Cons

ProsConsAdd-on integrates seamlessly with Notion project docs and resources.Notion AI permissions cannot be customized across a team.Autofill feature enables quick action items and summaries.No built-in chat capabilities.

Pricing

Notion AI is available as a Notion add-on. It can be added to Notion workspaces for $8 per member per month, billed annually, or $10 per member, billed monthly. A la carte and partial purchases are not possible, so you’ll need to pay for each member of your workspace, regardless of whether they need this feature.

Key Features

Q&A feature for quickly accessing needed information from Notion wikis, projects, and docs.

Autofill feature for smart summaries and note-based action item generation.

Writer feature for content rewriters, translations, and edits based on requested voice or tone.

AI templates created by Notion and other users.

Drag-and-drop text editor, including for generated content responses.

Notion AI’s Autofill feature can quickly summarize and organize dozens of facts and key points into actionable data. For example, these next steps were generated by AI based on existing task information and documents. Source: Notion.

Top 4 Generative AI Tools for Developers

GitHub Copilot

Best for Coding Quality Assurance

GitHub Copilot was the first of the Microsoft Copilot technologies to hit the market and has since seen great success in the world of AI-driven coding and development. The tool is capable of transforming natural language prompts into code recommendations for all languages in public repositories. For languages like JavaScript that are widely used, GitHub Copilot is able to generate a wide range and quantity of coding suggestions.

Copilot can be used on an individual or a team basis and is priced accordingly. The tool is available as an extension for Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code, Neovim, and JetBrains IDEs; Copilot provides helpful assistance directly through the CLI.

Additionally, users can benefit from several QA features, including a vulnerability prevention system and natural language chat for code troubleshooting and optimization tips.

Visit GitHub Copilot

Pros & Cons

ProsConsBlocks suggestions that match public code or are otherwise insecure.