26 of the best free AI tools
go through Teaching staff
Obviously, this is a rapidly changing area.
This list highlights free or freemium tools that are useful for educators and students in the context of K-12 and colleges. Tools are grouped by functionality and include a concise description of what everyone does. This is not an exhaustive list, but rather provides a representative sample of current tools that support learning, teaching and academic work.
Research and literature review tools
cause
Research assistants who use natural language queries to retrieve, summarize and compare academic literature discoveries.
consensus
Generate answers to evidence-based research questions by analyzing peer-reviewed research.
Scite Assistant
Explain scientific claims by showing how to support or controversially in the context of citations in academic papers.
Scispace copilot
Use simplified terms to help explain academic articles including equations and technical concepts.
Explanation paper
Allow users to upload academic papers and receive bland language explanations about the difficult parts.
Connected papers
Use co-citations and bibliography to visualize the relationship between academic papers; helpful for literary mapping.
ResearchRabbit
Web-based tools that track citation patterns and help explore research areas over time.
library
Combining visual citation mapping with chronological filters to support literature reviews and research programs.
Writing and drafting support
notebook
Accept uploaded documents or comments and allow users to ask questions or generate summary based on these materials.
tesseget.io
Provides help with academic writing, citation formats and journal submission.
Microsoft Copilot
Embedded Writing Assistant in Microsoft 365 tools that can help generate or revise content in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
QuillBot
Revisions are supported by interpretation, summary and grammar checking. Useful for writing guidance and drafting support.
Conversation and Planning Tools
chatgpt
A conversational assistant for brainstorming ideas, producing explanations and supporting plans or writing.
Claude
Dealing with longer documents and complex issues with a strong sense of context. Helps review intensive materials or generate feedback.
Puzzled
Provides answers with citations that enable users to query fact topics and receive aggregated replies.
pi
Designed for reflective and structured dialogue; explored in consulting and socio-emotional learning environments.
Gemini
Google’s research, drafting and general purpose assistant tools. Features and ongoing integrations in Google’s ecosystem.
Afforai
Supports document summary and structured extraction of information extraction from complex source materials.
Learning and teaching tools
teaching
Provide clear, age-appropriate explanations about the issue so that it can help introduce or review the basic concepts.
scholar
Summary of long-term academic texts, highlight key ideas and extract key terms – suitable for students studying or reviewing reading.
