ChatGPT is getting more impressive every year, but that’s just one app Tools in a sea of possibilities. Right now, there’s a bit of everything for nearly every productivity problem: from new intelligent features on apps you already love, to entirely new platforms with jaw-dropping functionality.
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 more than 50 AI productivity tools that will change the way you work.
How I selected the best AI productivity app in each category
It seems like every time I turn around, there are a dozen more AI tools clamoring for attention. And the tools I’ve used for years—like Notion, Canva, Grammarly, and (against my will) Microsoft—have added AI features and assistants to their platforms.
To be fully transparent, I haven’t gotten around to testing every single AI tool on the market, mostly because it would be easier to count the glitter particles left over after a kindergarten art project. But I’m doing my best to make a dent in the ever-growing list.
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.
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.
Apps for AI orchestration and automation
AI tools are great at individual tasks, but the real magic happens when you can connect them together. If your stack already looks like a toolbox with a dozen half-used gadgets, you’re in good company—more than
4 in 10 enterprises run multiple AI vendors
at once to spread their risk.
The upside is flexibility; the downside is that nobody’s tools are talking to each other. Nearly 80% of enterprises are struggling to integrate AI with their current tech stacks, which is why your first stop should be choosing an AI orchestration layer that can coordinate how all your apps, data, and AI tools interact so your work actually flows.
Zapier
Zapier is built to help your tools and AI work together seamlessly across 9,000+ apps. It’s a hub that lets you do everything from analyzing business data with AI to creating entire automated systems that react instantly (and intelligently) to real-time triggers.
Zapier’s AI productivity features include:
- Zapier Copilot: your natural language builder for automation. Describe what you want to happen (“summarize new leads in Slack every morning”), and Copilot will automatically brainstorm and configure the workflow for you, complete with accounts connected and data mapped.
- AI by Zapier: agentic tooling and built-in access to AI models—no API key required. You can extract data, generate text, summarize content, or analyze information, all within your automated workflows. AI by Zapier lets you build AI teammates that take multi-step actions across your tech stack.
- Tables: a flexible, spreadsheet-style database that lets you store, organize, and update the data your automations and AI agents rely on. Use it to track projects, leads, business data—anything that needs structure—and connect it directly to your Zap workflows or AI workflows.
- Zapier MCP: work across your entire tech stack without leaving your AI assistant. Install it in your agent harness, like ChatGPT or Claude, to kick off workflows across your apps straight from your chat window.
Put it all together, and Zapier acts as your AI productivity control center. However you access it, every connection runs through a single governed layer, so you control exactly which apps your AI can touch and audit activity across your stack from one place.
AI chatbots
AI chatbots allow you to chat with a 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—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.
You can also use Zapier’s ChatGPT integration to connect it with thousands of other apps, allowing you to orchestrate workflows that bring AI into every stage of your operations. For example, after an event ends, you can automatically collect attendee feedback from survey tools, have ChatGPT summarize the responses into key themes, and generate personalized follow-up emails based on participant engagement. Learn more about how to automate ChatGPT.
Claude
Anthropic’s safe and creative chatbot, Claude builds Artifacts: it can code simple interactive interfaces, write documents in a separate tab, or even design games for you. Make changes with prompts on the left side of the screen and see them come into shape on the right.
Zapier also integrates with Claude, enabling you to orchestrate sophisticated workflows that combine its reasoning capabilities across your tech stack. For example, you can use AI to analyze contracts or research reports, enrich the output with contextual data, and then distribute those findings across Slack, email, or your internal knowledge base—all without manual intervention. Discover more ways to automate Claude.
Meta AI
Meta AI is available across Meta’s social apps globally, and even as a standalone assistant powered by Meta’s latest LLM. You can talk to it in conversations, tag it in chats, generate or edit images, and feed it context from Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger for richer responses.
Meta AI is clearly part of Meta’s vision to weave AI through its social ecosystem. If you’re active on any of Meta’s apps, it’s worth trying—just keep in mind that enabling Meta’s AI features does come with some privacy red flags. You have to sign in with an Instagram or Facebook account to access Meta AI, which means the assistant will pull context from your social data—including private messages—to both tailor responses and train its models.
AI apps for building agents
While chatbots let you talk to AI, agent builders let you put AI to work. These tools go beyond conversation into taking action, connecting to your apps, and automating complex workflows across your tech stack.
AI agents are teammates that can do everything from managing your inbox to orchestrating entire business processes. Take a look at the full list of tools in our article on the best AI agent builder software.
AI search engines
Hallucinations are one of the biggest issues with AI. To counter this risk, some tools build web searches into their apps, using the results as sources to support the AI-generated answer. And that’s an AI search engine in a nutshell.Get the full tour in our article on the best AI search engines.
Leading the pack, Perplexity is attracting a lot of attention due to its high-quality answers, great quoting of sources, and staying on topic even as you ask follow-up questions. It uses a combination of Google’s, Bing’s, and proprietary ranking signals to decide which results are best to base the AI response on. It’s really good to use alongside a classic Google search if you’re digging into tricky topics—I’m still amazed by the niche things I found while researching with Perplexity. Curious? Read Zapier’s Perplexity full guide here.
Because Perplexity integrates with Zapier, you can connect it with thousands of other apps, embedding an AI orchestration layer into every step of your daily workflows. For example, you can automatically capture new industry news from Perplexity, have AI generate an executive summary with key takeaways and suggested actions, and share it with your leadership team in Slack. Learn more about how to automate Perplexity.
FAQ’S
1. What are AI productivity tools?
AI productivity tools use artificial intelligence to automate tasks, organize work, and save time.
2. What are the best AI productivity tools?
Popular tools include AI assistants, writing tools, meeting assistants, project management tools, and automation platforms.
3. Can AI productivity tools save time?
Yes, they can automate repetitive tasks and help users complete work more efficiently.
4. Are AI productivity tools useful for students?
Yes, students can use them for research, note-taking, writing, planning, and study organization.
5. Are there free AI productivity tools?
Yes, many AI productivity tools offer free plans or basic features at no cost.