Stop paying for subscriptions: 50 free tools that do the same job
A PDF guide to the best free alternatives (most of them open source) for AI, voice, image, video, automation, office and cloud. Each one with what it replaces, what it does, how to use it and the official link.
What's inside
- AI and assistants: 8 tools
- Automation: 2 tools
- Voice and audio: 4 tools
- Image and design: 10 tools
- Video: 6 tools
- Office, study and PDF: 9 tools
- Cloud, privacy and work: 11 tools
- Quick pick: which tool to use for each need
- Bonus: step-by-step guide to run tools 24/7 on a VPS
All 50 tools in the kit
The full list, so you know exactly what you get. The PDF adds what each one does, how to use it (online, install or server), notes on limits and licenses, and the official link.
AI and assistants
Ollama (vs ChatGPT Plus (local use)), LM Studio (vs ChatGPT Plus (local use)), Jan (vs ChatGPT Plus (local use)), Open WebUI (vs The ChatGPT interface), AnythingLLM (vs Paid 'chat with your PDFs' tools), Continue (vs GitHub Copilot), Dify (vs Paid agent and chatbot platforms), Flowise (vs Paid AI agent builders)
Automation
n8n (vs Zapier / Make), Activepieces (vs Zapier)
Voice and audio
Buzz (vs Otter.ai and paid transcription), Audacity (vs Adobe Audition), Piper (vs Paid AI narration (basic use)), VoiceStudio (vs ElevenLabs)
Image and design
Upscayl (vs Topaz Gigapixel), rembg (vs remove.bg), ComfyUI (vs Midjourney), Fooocus (vs Midjourney), GIMP (vs Adobe Photoshop), Krita (vs Photoshop for drawing / Procreate), Inkscape (vs Adobe Illustrator), Photopea (vs Adobe Photoshop), Penpot (vs Figma), Excalidraw (vs Miro (whiteboard))
Video
OBS Studio (vs Camtasia / paid screen recorders), DaVinci Resolve (vs Adobe Premiere Pro), Kdenlive (vs Adobe Premiere Pro), Shotcut (vs Simple paid editors), HandBrake (vs Paid video converters), LosslessCut (vs Paid video cutters)
Office, study and PDF
LibreOffice (vs Microsoft Office), ONLYOFFICE (vs Microsoft Office), AppFlowy (vs Notion), AFFiNE (vs Notion + Miro), Obsidian (vs Notion / Evernote), Joplin (vs Evernote), Anki (vs Paid flashcard apps), Zotero (vs Mendeley and paid reference managers), Stirling-PDF (vs Adobe Acrobat Pro)
Cloud, privacy and work
Nextcloud (vs Google Drive / Dropbox), Immich (vs Google Photos), Jellyfin (vs Plex Pass), Paperless-ngx (vs Paid document managers), Bitwarden (vs 1Password / LastPass), KeePassXC (vs Paid password managers), Cal.com (vs Calendly), Umami (vs Google Analytics), Jitsi Meet (vs Zoom), ShareX (vs Snagit), Coolify (vs Heroku / Vercel / Netlify)
Free sample (3 of 50)
Simple app to download AI models and chat with them offline.
Transcribes and translates audio and video on your computer using Whisper.
Automatic phone photo backup with AI search.
FAQ
Are the tools really free? Yes. Some offer an optional paid plan; the guide says when the free version has limits or a license to check.
Do I need to code? Not for most of them. Each item says if it runs online, installs on your computer or runs on a server.
Refunds? Yes, within 7 days through the payment platform.
The VPS bonus contains a referral link: I may earn a commission if you sign up, at no extra cost to you. Follow @freetooldailyia on Instagram for one new free tool every day.