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00:00I rank the best and worst AI tools to get rich in 2026.
00:04Some of these tools can 10x your business and income,
00:07while others are just a massive waste of time.
00:09And I've personally tested more than 500 AI tools
00:12at my company Martell Ventures
00:14because we're an AI incubator
00:15and we launch a new company every single month.
00:18So I have to test them
00:19and know if they're gonna create value.
00:21And I'm gonna rank the most popular AI tools
00:23that everybody's heard about
00:24that can actually make you money and build wealth in 2026.
00:27We got the S tier, that's non-negotiable for the future.
00:31The A tier, which is widespread, but not universally known.
00:35B tier, which is niche, but valuable.
00:38The C tier might work in the rare cases,
00:40but most people won't see consistent ROI.
00:43And then finally, the F tier.
00:44Essentially, don't fucking bother.
00:46It might be flashy, but honestly, there's no real value.
00:49Number one is mid-journey.
00:50Essentially, it allows you to take prompts and generate images.
00:54It was like one of those early apps
00:56that when ChatGPT came out,
00:57people were using it
00:58because it essentially used the same prompt structure
01:01to create images.
01:02Can you make money?
01:03Yeah.
01:04A lot of people use mid-journey and act as a service
01:06to create brand packages or website designs
01:10or any visual Photoshop type thing.
01:13Easy to use, super simple.
01:15I just don't think long-term it'll be there.
01:18Where do I think this one sits?
01:20It is kind of niche.
01:22You can do a lot of this in other tools.
01:23I'm gonna put it in B.
01:25Number two is runway ML.
01:27Essentially, this is an AI-powered video generating tool.
01:30You can use it to create marketing collateral,
01:33walkthroughs.
01:34Think of any video generation.
01:36So you can get paid to do it for other businesses.
01:38You can also use it in your business
01:40to create marketing collateral.
01:41I think the easy use, it's not there.
01:43It's a lot harder to use than most of these tools.
01:46But I think long-term, it's pretty good.
01:49I would probably put it in a B.
01:51Every business?
01:52No.
01:52Video creators, for sure, but it's less for like everyday use.
01:57I'm gonna put runway in front of mid-journey
01:58because video is more interesting to me than photos.
02:01Number three, 11 Labs.
02:03Now, they're kind of OG AI.
02:05They've been around for a while,
02:06produces uber-realistic AI voices.
02:10We use it all the time for this very specific use case
02:13where if I mispronounce a word like rigorlessly,
02:17yes, make fun of me, I don't care,
02:18then the team can actually use it
02:20to create what's called pickups rigorously.
02:23So yes, this is Dan.
02:24Ouch, I'm pinching myself, not AI.
02:26But sometimes the voice has to be AI
02:28because it saves me time
02:29from having to come back in the studio.
02:30If you're in a business that generates a lot of creative
02:33that has voiceovers, super powerful.
02:36Huge opportunity to make a ton of money.
02:38Do it for yourself as a marketing thing.
02:40Easy to use.
02:41And then also like the future of voice,
02:44I think they will be potentially the winner in that category
02:47because it's nuanced and you think it's easy, but it's not.
02:50So I'm gonna give it a high score.
02:52I'm actually gonna put this into A.
02:54It's fantastic for content creators.
02:56It's not essential for every business,
02:58but it's like right on the edge.
03:00Before I go any further,
03:01I know that most entrepreneurs are literally struggling,
03:04trying to figure out what are the tools?
03:06How do I use them?
03:06How do I actually use them to grow my business?
03:08So that's why I built the AI company OS.
03:11Essentially, it's the exact system my team and I use
03:14to automate and scale every department
03:16across a hundred million dollar portfolio.
03:17So if you want a copy of that,
03:19just click the link or scan the QR code
03:21and I'll get you a copy for free.
03:23That's my gift to you.
03:24Number four is HeyGen.
03:26Another tool that's been around since the beginning.
03:28It allows you to create AI avatar videos from just text.
03:32And it's kind of leading the front.
03:34There's a few other ones that are like coming up
03:35and they still are in private beta,
03:37but HeyGen is really cool.
03:38And a lot of people are using it
03:40for creating training videos,
03:42product explainers, marketing videos.
03:44Essentially, it's a way for you
03:45to scale your content output.
03:47Money-making, if you can convince a business owner
03:50to actually use the tool,
03:52they'll pay you to set it up.
03:53The easy use is high.
03:55So that's good.
03:55I'd give it like an eight out of 10.
03:57And then I would say the future of it
03:59being that platform is pretty high.
04:02Although there's a lot of other tools come in.
04:04It's a fun tool, but limited use
04:06depending on your business.
04:08So I'm going to give it a B rate next to Runway.
04:12Because Runway actually has a better product suite.
04:14It's not as good as Runway, better than mid-jury.
04:16Number five, Gamma.app.
04:19If you've never heard of it,
04:20let me tell you about it because I use it every week.
04:21Essentially, it's like having a full-time designer
04:23on your team to generate reports
04:26and proposals and outputs.
04:28And it's awesome.
04:30I think the money-making is there.
04:31I just think that most people can use this tool
04:33so they'll just do it themselves.
04:34But I have friends that use it
04:36to create pitch decks for clients,
04:38proposals for clients,
04:39essentially visualize output
04:40so that the team doesn't have to like stop
04:42and get distracted, easy to use, high.
04:44It's like a nine out of 10.
04:45Is it going to be relevant for the future?
04:47They seem to be the category winner in this space.
04:50So I'm going to give them a good score there.
04:52This one's going to be controversial.
04:54I'm going to go S tier.
04:55I think every business could use it.
04:56I think they should make everything they produce
04:58as an output prettier.
04:59I think visuals are good.
05:01I think teams communicate better.
05:02Number six, it's Leonardo.ai.
05:05Essentially generates concept art and branded visuals.
05:08So if you ever had the idea of like,
05:09oh, I want to start my own like Nike,
05:11you could do this really easily.
05:13The problem is when you generate branded material,
05:16you'll have sometimes hallucinations.
05:18So the consistency is not there.
05:19So it's known for that.
05:20Styles, the flexibility,
05:21it makes it ideal for designers.
05:23Designers love this tool.
05:24But can you make money with this?
05:26For most people,
05:27you kind of need to be a designer.
05:29So I'm going to give you a low score there.
05:30Is it easy to use?
05:31Yep, relatively easy.
05:32Is it going to be relevant for the future?
05:34Again, it's competitive.
05:35It has a strong niche appeal.
05:37Like designers do love it,
05:38but limited to broad use.
05:40So I'm going to put it in B.
05:42It's very niche, but valuable.
05:44And I'm going to put it third in the list.
05:46Number seven, Zapier.
05:48This one is really cool.
05:50It's a tool that helps you
05:51automate your business processes.
05:53They've been around forever, way before AI.
05:55I've been using it for,
05:56I think close to a decade now.
05:576,000 apps to automate your workflow.
06:00And the cool part is no code required.
06:01I know hundreds of agencies
06:04that are using Zapier
06:05to make a ton of money,
06:07automate business processes.
06:08It's relatively easy.
06:09When you get into some more sophisticated stuff,
06:11it's there.
06:12And they've been around for so long.
06:13They have the enterprise space
06:15and they've added the tools
06:16and they were quick to adopt AI.
06:17I'm giving this S tier.
06:19This one is one that's foundation
06:20to any modern business.
06:22I'm going to put it above Gamma.
06:23Now we've got a competitor, Gumloop.
06:27I love it because I am a sucker
06:30for good user experience.
06:32It's a visual AI workflow builder.
06:34So same thing, automate workflows.
06:36It's visual, a lot more visual than Zapier.
06:38We built a whole bunch of financial automation
06:40using Gumloop,
06:41recruiting processes using Gumloop.
06:43So I'm a fan.
06:44It's a solid option.
06:45I think you can make money with this.
06:47It's a lot higher on ease of use,
06:49even though it's newer in a smaller community,
06:51but it's making a bet long-term.
06:53I just don't think you need it
06:55if you've got Zapier.
06:57So I'm going to put it in the A tier.
06:59We're going to put it in front of 11 labs.
07:01You got to automate your business.
07:02Number nine is N8N.
07:04What I love about it, it's open source.
07:05I'm a big fan of open source.
07:06Open source essentially means that
07:08the code base is available
07:10for anybody to look at it.
07:12So you don't have to worry
07:12if the company is doing things right
07:14because you can actually audit the code.
07:15You don't have to pay for licenses.
07:17It's essentially free
07:18if you can set up your own servers.
07:20It's a little best suited for like developers.
07:22You can make money
07:23because it's automation.
07:24A lot of people use it
07:25for more complicated workflows.
07:27But the learning curve is a lot harder.
07:29So it's got a low score there.
07:30And I think it's going to be relevant
07:32because it is the open source tool of choice
07:35right now amongst technical people.
07:37So I'm going to give it a...
07:39You need a tool for workflow,
07:47but you don't need that tool.
07:48So I'm going to put it on the end of an A.
07:51Number 10, youratlas.com.
07:53Essentially anything voice and phone call,
07:55it can automate and act
07:57as like a revenue tool for you.
07:59We use it for outbound qualifying.
08:02We use it for inbound responses.
08:04Full disclosure,
08:05this is one of my portfolio companies
08:06at Martell Ventures,
08:07but it's a tool that not only do we use
08:09in all my portfolios,
08:10but also my brother uses it.
08:12My friends use it.
08:13It is a really cool tool.
08:15Big fan.
08:15Obviously, I'm a little biased,
08:17but let me tell you why.
08:18I think it's cool.
08:18Number one,
08:19a lot of people are using Atlas
08:21to get paid to set this up for companies
08:23so you can make money really quick.
08:24The learning curve is not that high.
08:27I mean, you just need to understand
08:28basic prompt engineering.
08:29And then the future of voice and AI.
08:32I think every interface in the future will go away
08:34and it'll all be voice.
08:36You're probably doing this right now with AI.
08:37You're talking to it a lot.
08:38If you look inside of some of the top tech companies,
08:40they have these like little mics
08:42with a long pole and a little mic.
08:43And everybody's whisper prompting
08:45their prompts on their computer.
08:46It's really interesting.
08:47The world's probably going to go there
08:48and youratlas.com is the platform right now,
08:51I think, to do that.
08:52You should just try it out.
08:53Go check out youratlas.com
08:54and just like have it call you.
08:55It's really cool.
08:56As a business tool, I just don't see you doing things
09:00that don't involve calls.
09:01I know it sounds self-serving,
09:02so I don't want you to take it the wrong way,
09:04but I'm going to put it at the top.
09:06It's an S at the end of S.
09:08Number 11, Fixer.ai.
09:10Fixer.ai is essentially an email AI tool.
09:13So it'll help you like categorize your email, get sorted.
09:16It's a tool to help you be more productive in your inbox.
09:20Clever idea, super cool.
09:22Can you make money with it?
09:23It'll save you time.
09:23I don't think you can get paid from other people to set it up.
09:27Learning how to use it is always a little bit difficult
09:29with kind of workflows
09:30because you probably have a certain way
09:31you like to use your inbox.
09:32So I'm going to put it in C.
09:35I think it's cool.
09:36I've mentioned it before,
09:37but it's not a must considering the other tools.
09:40Number 12 is Notion AI.
09:42Notion is a project management workspace for businesses.
09:47The AI specific is their assistant.
09:49It's built into Notion.
09:50It helps you with writing and taking notes
09:52and organizational.
09:53So that's what I'm essentially assessing.
09:55Cool part is it integrates naturally
09:57with your existing workspace within Notion.
09:59So if you use Notion, thumbs up.
10:00Money making and save you time.
10:02It's cool.
10:03It's still not where I need it to be.
10:05And I don't think anybody's going to pay you
10:06just for the AI part.
10:07They might pay you to set up Notion for them.
10:09Ease to use, super easy.
10:11Love the interface.
10:12Integrated.
10:13Long term.
10:14Is this the tool?
10:15Well, if you didn't see that OpenAI launched company knowledge,
10:19which is this new product that is going to try to be the search
10:23or the brain on top of your business knowledge,
10:26that's where I think like a Notion AI might lose some ground.
10:29I'm going to put it C.
10:30It's cool.
10:31I just think it's tough to justify,
10:33but I am going to put it in front of Fixer.
10:35I think check out the Notion AI.
10:36It actually can do some cool stuff,
10:38specifically if you're a Notion company.
10:40Number 13, buddypro.ai.
10:42Think of it this way.
10:43If you had a knowledge base or a brain,
10:46an AI brain that was specifically trained
10:48on just your company's information
10:50and then your clients,
10:52instead of calling you,
10:53they could call buddypro.
10:54Or instead of your team asking you,
10:56they could ask buddypro.
10:57That's what it does.
10:58Do I think it'll save you money?
11:00Hell yeah.
11:01Think about all those support emails, right?
11:03The support emails only work if they've been properly trained.
11:05So now all of a sudden,
11:06buddypro can power the response.
11:08I think every business can use it.
11:10I think it'll save you a lot of money
11:12and I think the way they built it technically,
11:16because I know the founders,
11:17it's a really smart way to solve this problem long-term
11:20that's completely different than just like a custom GPT.
11:23I'll rank it in tier A, but at the end.
11:25Number 14, granola.ai.
11:28The category of recording calls is big, okay?
11:31You see them all the time.
11:32You get on a Zoom call,
11:33you got the thing recording
11:34and you're like, whose Firefly is this?
11:36I just don't let them into my meetings.
11:38I'll tell you why granola is cooler.
11:39Granola actually records on your end,
11:41meaning the people that are on the call
11:43don't know that you're recording.
11:45It's not meant to be sneaky.
11:46It's meant for you to take notes
11:47so that you have clear understanding of what's been said,
11:50recaps and action items and all that stuff.
11:52And it does it auto-magically.
11:53And the cool part is it works across
11:54all the major video platforms.
11:56Do I think it'll save you money?
11:58If you're not the kind of person that writes things down,
12:00yes.
12:01If you don't have somebody in your meetings, yes.
12:02Easy for you to use?
12:03Yep.
12:04Literally click, click, install.
12:06It starts working.
12:07Is it going to be the one that's going to win the future?
12:09Amongst all my smart technical AI people,
12:12it's their favorite.
12:13And that's usually a good sign.
12:15So I'm going to make it mandatory.
12:17I think it's S.
12:18I think everybody should use granola.
12:20I think it's in front of your atlas for sure.
12:22And honestly, even in front of gamma,
12:24if you don't use it, check it out.
12:25I think you'll be happy you do.
12:27Number 15, we got ChatGPT, the big dog,
12:30the one that started it all.
12:31Okay.
12:31Two and a half years ago.
12:32Do you know close to 700 million people
12:34use ChatGPT every week is bananas.
12:37Conversational AI for writing, coding, automation.
12:40It does more than most people realize.
12:43Obviously, it's going to make you a ton of money.
12:45It's incredibly easy to use.
12:47Literally, if you want to learn how to use AI, ask AI.
12:50It'll tell you.
12:51Wild.
12:51I know.
12:52They've raised so much money
12:53that they're at the point where they're too big to fail.
12:55So where do I put GPT?
12:57At the very, very, very front.
12:59It's dominating the market.
13:00It's number one S.
13:02Use it.
13:02If you're not using it, learn it.
13:04I created a whole masterclass video on ChatGPT.
13:07You can search for that.
13:08It'll teach you how to become next level.
13:10It's number one.
13:11Number 16, Claude, which is the AI by Anthropic.
13:15I use all the AIs and I'm going to rank them today,
13:18but Claude's won specifically for writing and for code.
13:21Yes, GPT-5 is getting better,
13:23but still on certain types of projects,
13:26it's still winning there.
13:27Will it make you money?
13:28Less than ChatGPT because I think it's a use case
13:31if you're not using it as much, very easy to use.
13:33Are they going to be around long-term?
13:35Yeah, they're not going anywhere.
13:36They'll probably get bought by somebody.
13:37I'm going to put it in front of Zapier.
13:39Number 17, we've got perplexity.ai.
13:42This is like the battle of the language models.
13:45Perplexity was the first search engine
13:47that was powered by AI.
13:49Now it's kind of like everywhere.
13:51GPT launched Atlas, their own browser.
13:53Google's got the AI answers
13:55integrating the search results,
13:56but perplexity was the first one.
13:58And what's unique is that feedback is verified sources,
14:00which is cool because sometimes you have a hallucination
14:02with the other language models.
14:04In many ways, it's kind of a novelty.
14:05I'm not going to put it even after granola.
14:07We're going to go Zapier granola perplexity.
14:10Some of you guys will be like,
14:11no, I disagree.
14:11That's cool, my ranking.
14:13That's where I'm going to put it.
14:14Number 18, Gemini, Google.
14:16What Google is doing that it's got an advantage over
14:19is that it integrates all of its existing tools.
14:22So here's the thing,
14:23is it would go ahead of everybody
14:24if it was not integrated,
14:27but if you're not a Google ecosystem customer,
14:30then I'm going to put it third behind Claude.
14:33Number 19, Notebook LM.
14:36Essentially, it's Google's AI for analyzing
14:38and summarizing files, information, research.
14:41There's one use case that I think most people don't know about
14:43where you can feed it to like YouTube videos
14:46and actually tell it to like talk to you through the videos,
14:50but it generates like a narrative back and forth.
14:53It's like creating your own podcast.
14:54And I think it's really tailored for like researchers,
14:57writers, and students.
14:57So it's not an every company.
15:00I wouldn't even say it's an A.
15:01It's kind of a niche thing.
15:02If you want to get nerdy on this stuff,
15:04it's in the C.
15:05It's interesting, but it's not necessarily needed.
15:08Number 20 is Grok.
15:10Elon buys X, takes the AI team,
15:13spins it out as XAI,
15:16brands it as Grok, raises a bunch of money,
15:18built this crazy data center.
15:20The reason why it's on this list is because I use it more and more.
15:25It keeps getting better week over week.
15:27I actually use Grok Heavy, which is the $300 a month plan.
15:31It is the best one for accuracy, depth of research that I've found.
15:35I'm just looking long-term.
15:37I'm thinking it's way better than Gemini.
15:39I think he's going to beat Claude,
15:41and I think it's going to be number two behind OpenAI's chat GPT.
15:44That's where I'm putting it.
15:45I see the updates.
15:46I see the focus, the first principles approach.
15:48It's one I'm going to bet on.
15:50Number 21, Revio.
15:52If you do any kind of selling over chat,
15:55I'm talking support emails, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook,
16:00then having an AI sales assistant is key.
16:03Revio is one of our portfolio companies
16:04instead of Martell Ventures.
16:06We use it all the time.
16:08I use it.
16:08My wife uses it.
16:09Can it make you money?
16:11A ton of money.
16:11Most people don't know that
16:13if you talk to your followers on social media,
16:16those are called leads.
16:17You make money with leads.
16:18Is it going to be relevant long-term?
16:20I think so.
16:21I'm going to put it in C,
16:23so it's tough to justify,
16:24but here's the deal.
16:25If you use Instagram for business,
16:28it's a must, okay?
16:29So it's niche.
16:30Number 22, Lovable.
16:32Now, this is one of my favorites.
16:34Lovable's been around for a while.
16:35It helps people that are not technical build apps.
16:38All my friends that come to me with,
16:39they're like,
16:40I've got a tech idea, Dan.
16:42I say, just go play with Lovable.
16:43The cool part is you can use chat GPT
16:45to write the prompt to then insert it into Lovable
16:47so that it can create the app the way you want.
16:49I think the future of business
16:51is these disposable apps that help run departments.
16:54Right now, we use spreadsheets.
16:55In the future, it'll be apps.
16:56Lovable's that platform.
16:57I know people that make a lot of money
16:59selling Lovable apps to businesses
17:01and charge $10,000, $15,000
17:03for these apps that AI generated.
17:05And I know a lot of businesses
17:06that are using it for that disposable idea
17:08to save time to build automation.
17:10You need to know how to prompt
17:12so it's not as easy to use,
17:13but they're well-funded.
17:15I think they'll be around for a while.
17:16The future's going there,
17:18but there's other tools
17:18that everybody should be using
17:19before then in your business.
17:21So I'm going to put it at the end of the row B.
17:23Number 23 is Cursor AI.
17:25If you're a technical person,
17:27Cursor is crazy cool.
17:29It's an AI coding assistant.
17:30It's an IDE,
17:31an integrated development environment
17:33for you to write code.
17:34It's super technical, super nerdy.
17:36I'm going to put it at the end of C.
17:38It's really cool.
17:39It's just super niche.
17:40Number 24, Apple Intelligence.
17:43I love that Apple branded AI,
17:45Apple Intelligence.
17:46Like if you saw their ads,
17:47they were like Apple Intelligence.
17:49AI for the rest of us.
17:50If you didn't know this,
17:52it sucks.
17:53It has always sucked.
17:55Nobody uses it.
17:56People that tried it
17:57go back to the other AI tools.
17:59They focus on privacy,
18:00which is kind of a cornerstone
18:01to Apple's brand.
18:03The problem is it's not good.
18:04Crazy I'm doing this
18:05because it's an Apple product.
18:06Apple hasn't innovated in a while.
18:07So I'm putting it into F.
18:10Run away.
18:11Until they launch something way better,
18:13don't use it.
18:14Use any of the other tools.
18:16So we've ranked all these tools
18:18and I can understand
18:19it might feel super overwhelming.
18:21Here's what I want
18:22to encourage you to do now.
18:23Take the one that you were like,
18:25oh, that's interesting.
18:26I could see how I would use
18:27that in my business
18:28and then just spend
18:29the next two weeks
18:30A, installing it.
18:31Like right now,
18:32go install it.
18:33Then set it up
18:34and then just like force yourself
18:35to build the new habit
18:36to use it.
18:37Because a lot of technology,
18:38it's not can it do the thing,
18:40is do you remember to use it?
18:41Go do a project
18:43and start trying
18:43to habit stack,
18:44connect the using
18:46of that new AI tool
18:47to another habit
18:48in your workday
18:49so that it becomes
18:50second nature.
18:52That's how we start
18:53the process
18:53of using these tools
18:54to make you a lot more money
18:55and getting a lot more time back.
18:57And again,
18:58if you haven't grabbed
18:59the internal AI company
19:00operating system doc
19:01that my team uses
19:02with all of our AI prompts
19:03that you can use
19:04by clicking the link below,
19:06just do that.
19:07That is my gift to you
19:08at no cost.
19:09Now, if you want to learn
19:10what are the best businesses
19:11to start,
19:12click here
19:13and I'll see you
19:13on the other side.
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