10 Great Free AI Tools for Writing & Research
A curated list of the best free and freemium AI tools that every student should be using.
Staring at a blank page, trying to start an essay, or feeling buried under a mountain of research papers? Every student knows this struggle. Writing assignments, managing sources, and ensuring your work is top-notch can be incredibly stressful. But what if you had a team of smart assistants, ready 24/7 to help you write clearer, research faster, and stay organised?
That’s exactly what AI tools can do for you. This guide is dedicated to students who need powerful tools without the high price tag. We’ve specifically searched for tools that have the best “free forever” plans or very generous free tiers—like the ones offered by QuillBot and Google Gemini—so you can get real value without needing a subscription. Here are 10 of the best AI tools (not a ranking, so try and see what fits your needs) for writing and research that you can start using today.
What Can You Actually Do With These AI Tools?
Before we dive into the list, it’s helpful to understand what makes these tools so game-changing for students.
Write Faster and Clearer: Overcome writer’s block, fix grammar mistakes, and improve the style of your essays.
Research More efficiently: Quickly summarize long research papers, find credible sources, and get direct answers to your questions.
Stay Organized: Keep all your research notes, sources, and citations in one place so you never lose track of important information.
Avoid Plagiarism: Learn how to properly paraphrase and cite your sources to ensure your work is original.
Quick Comparison Table
Tool Name
Google Gemini
Grammarly
QuillBot
Perplexity AI
ResearchRabbit
Otter.ai
Hemingway Editor
Consensus
MyBib
Zotero
Best For
Brainstorming & Drafting
Grammar & Editing
Paraphrasing & Summarizing
Research & Sourced Answers
Discovering Research Papers
Transcribing Lectures
Improving Writing Clarity
Finding Scientific Evidence
Creating Citations
Organizing Research
Pricing Model
Freemium
Freemium
Freemium
Freemium
Completely Free
Freemium
Free Web Tool
Freemium
Completely Free
Open-Source
Ease of Use
Beginner
Beginner
Beginner
Beginner
Intermediate
Beginner
Beginner
Beginner
Beginner
Intermediate
1. Google Gemini/ChatGPT
Best for: Brainstorming ideas, creating outlines, and drafting initial thoughts.
Sometimes the hardest part of writing is just getting started. Large language models like Gemini and ChatGPT are your ultimate brainstorming partners. You can use them to explore different angles for an essay topic, generate a clear outline to structure your thoughts, or get a simple explanation of a complex idea before you begin writing about it.
Use Case Example: A student is assigned an essay on a broad topic. They ask Gemini, “Can you give me five different essay outlines on the topic of ‘the future of renewable energy’?” This gives them a clear structure to start their research and writing.
Pricing Details: Excellent Freemium Models. The free versions of both Gemini and ChatGPT are extremely powerful and more than sufficient for most student brainstorming and drafting tasks.
What You’ll Need: A web browser or their mobile apps.
Learning Curve: Beginner. The conversational, chat-based interface is very intuitive.
What to Watch Out For: Never copy and paste directly from these tools for your assignments. Use them for ideas and outlines, but always do the final writing yourself.
Beginner Tutorial: Google has a great guide on how to get started with Gemini here on YouTube.
2. Grammarly
Best for: Your essential, everyday grammar, spelling, and punctuation checker.
Grammarly is like having an English teacher looking over your shoulder as you write. It goes far beyond the basic spell check in Microsoft Word or Google Docs, catching complex grammatical errors, punctuation mistakes, and awkward phrasing. It’s the foundational tool that ensures every piece of writing you submit—from a simple email to your final thesis—is clear, professional, and mistake-free.
Use Case Example: A student is finishing their history essay at 2 AM. They run it through Grammarly, which catches a dozen small errors, including a misplaced comma and a subject-verb agreement mistake, instantly improving the quality of their paper.
Pricing Details: Excellent Freemium Model. The free plan is incredibly powerful and sufficient for most students. It checks for critical grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors. A paid plan offers more advanced features like tone suggestions and plagiarism detection.
What You’ll Need: A web browser. Grammarly has extensions for all major browsers and can be integrated into Google Docs and Microsoft Word.
Learning Curve: Beginner. Once you install the extension, it works automatically.
What to Watch Out For: The free version constantly shows you the advanced errors it could fix if you paid, which can be a bit distracting.
Beginner Tutorial: Grammarly has a great official “Getting Started” on Youtube
3. QuillBot
Best for: Paraphrasing text in your own words and summarising long articles.
QuillBot is a student’s best friend for tackling two major tasks: rephrasing information and condensing long texts. Its paraphrasing tool helps you express ideas from your research in your own unique voice, which is a crucial skill for avoiding plagiarism. Its summarizer can take a dense, 10-page research paper and boil it down to the key points, saving you hours of reading time.
Use Case Example: A student finds a perfect paragraph in a research paper for their essay. They paste it into QuillBot to get several rephrased options, helping them understand and integrate the idea into their own writing while still citing the original source.
Pricing Details: Generous Freemium Model. The free plan allows you to paraphrase up to 125 words at a time and summarize up to 1,200 words. This is more than enough for most day-to-day student tasks.
What You’ll Need: A web browser.
Learning Curve: Beginner. The interface is very simple: just paste your text and click a button.
What to Watch Out For: The 125-word limit on the free paraphraser means you have to work with small chunks of text at a time.
Beginner Tutorial: You can find a great, quick guide on how to use all of QuillBot’s features here on YouTube.
4. Perplexity AI
Best for: Getting direct, sourced answers to your research questions.
Perplexity AI acts less like a creative chatbot and more like a powerful “answer engine.” When you ask a question, it doesn’t just give you an answer; it searches the web and provides a direct, concise summary with numbered citations that link directly to the sources it used. This is a game-changer for academic research, as it allows you to quickly find trustworthy information and the sources to back it up.
Use Case Example: A student needs to find three academic sources for the introduction of their paper. They ask Perplexity, “What are the main causes of the industrial revolution?” and get a clear summary with links to three different university websites and historical articles.
Pricing Details: Excellent Freemium Model. The free version is very powerful, offering unlimited “Quick Searches” and a number of daily “Pro Searches” which use more advanced models.
What You’ll Need: A web browser or their mobile app.
Learning Curve: Beginner. If you know how to use a search engine, you know how to use Perplexity.
What to Watch Out For: While it cites sources, you still need to click on them and evaluate their credibility for yourself.
Beginner Tutorial: There’s a great tutorial for using Perplexity AI on YouTube.
5. ResearchRabbit
Best for: Discovering new research papers and visualizing academic connections.
Often called the “Spotify for research papers,” ResearchRabbit is an incredible tool for literature reviews. You start by adding a few key “seed” papers to a collection. The AI then creates an interactive, visual map of all the related research, showing you the authors, the papers that cite your sources, and other similar work. It helps you discover crucial articles you might have missed with a standard keyword search.
Use Case Example: A PhD student is starting their thesis. They add their top 5 most important papers to a ResearchRabbit collection and discover a whole network of influential authors and foundational studies they weren’t aware of.
Pricing Details: Completely Free. ResearchRabbit is committed to being free for all researchers.
What You’ll Need: A web browser.
Learning Curve: Intermediate. The interface can look a bit complex at first, but once you understand the concept of collections and visualizations, it becomes very powerful.
What to Watch Out For: It’s a tool for discovering research, not for reading or managing it. You’ll want to use it alongside a tool like Zotero.
Beginner Tutorial: You can find an excellent step-by-step guide on how to use ResearchRabbit here on their website.
6. Otter.ai
Best for: Transcribing your lectures and interviews into searchable text.
Otter.ai is like having a personal stenographer for all your classes. You can record a lecture or an interview on your phone, and Otter’s AI will automatically transcribe the audio into a full text document, complete with timestamps and speaker labels. This transforms your audio notes into a searchable database, so you can instantly find that one important thing your professor said.
Use Case Example: A student records their 1-hour-long economics lecture. Otter.ai transcribes it, and later, while studying, the student can simply search for the word “inflation” to find every time the professor mentioned it.
Pricing Details: Generous Freemium Model. The free plan gives you 300 minutes of transcription every month, with a limit of 30 minutes per recording. This is perfect for transcribing individual classes.
What You’ll Need: A web browser or their mobile app (for recording).
Learning Curve: Beginner. You just press record and the app does the rest.
What to Watch Out For: The AI transcription isn’t perfect; it might struggle with complex names or heavy accents, so you may need to make minor corrections.
Beginner Tutorial: Otter.ai has a simple tutorial on how to get started here on YouTube.
7. Hemingway Editor
Best for: Improving the clarity, strength, and style of your writing.
While Grammarly is your grammar expert, Hemingway is your writing style coach. It doesn’t just look for errors; it helps you make your writing more bold and clear. The app highlights sentences that are too long and hard to read, instances of passive voice, and words that could be simpler. It’s a fantastic tool for learning how to write more direct and impactful prose.
Use Case Example: A student pastes a paragraph from their essay into Hemingway. It highlights a long, winding sentence in yellow and suggests they split it into two. It also highlights the passive voice, prompting them to make the sentence more active and powerful.
Pricing Details: Completely Free. The web-based version of the editor is 100% free to use with no limitations.
What You’ll Need: A web browser.
Learning Curve: Beginner. Just paste your text and the app instantly gives you feedback.
What to Watch Out For: Its suggestions are just that—suggestions. Sometimes a long sentence is okay for stylistic reasons. Use it as a guide, not an unbreakable rule.
Beginner Tutorial: You can find a great, quick tutorial on how to use the editor here on YouTube.
8. Consensus
Best for: Finding direct, evidence-based answers from scientific research.
Consensus is an AI search engine designed specifically for finding scientific evidence. When you ask a question, it scans a massive database of over 200 million peer-reviewed papers and extracts the actual findings related to your query. This is incredibly powerful for science students who need to find real, data-backed answers, not just opinions or blog posts.
Use Case Example: A biology student asks Consensus, “Does intermittent fasting improve metabolic health?” The tool returns a list of direct quotes and findings from multiple scientific studies, giving them an evidence-based answer instantly.
Pricing Details: Generous Freemium Model. The free plan allows for unlimited searches and gives you a number of free credits each month for its more advanced AI analysis features.
What You’ll Need: A web browser.
Learning Curve: Beginner. It’s as easy to use as a standard search engine.
What to Watch Out For: It’s focused on scientific research, so it’s not the best tool for questions about the arts, humanities, or current events.
Beginner Tutorial: Consensus provides a helpful “Getting Started” guide on their blog here.
9. MyBib
Best for: Creating accurate citations and bibliographies, instantly and for free.
Citing your sources is one of the most tedious and stressful parts of academic writing. MyBib is a free tool that completely automates it. It can create a perfectly formatted citation from a website link, a book title, or a journal article’s DOI. It supports over 9,000 styles (including APA, MLA, and Chicago) and helps you build your bibliography as you research.
Use Case Example: A student finds a useful website for their project. They paste the URL into MyBib, and it instantly generates a perfectly formatted citation that they can copy into their paper’s bibliography.
Pricing Details: Completely Free. MyBib is 100% free, with no ads, time limits, or restrictions.
What You’ll Need: A web browser.
Learning Curve: Beginner. The interface is incredibly simple and guides you through the process.
What to Watch Out For: While the automatic citations are very accurate, it’s always a good practice to double-check them for any missing information.
Beginner Tutorial: MyBib has a quick “How To” guide directly on their homepage that shows you how it works.
10. Zotero
Best for: Collecting, organizing, and managing all your research sources.
As you progress in your studies, you’ll collect dozens, if not hundreds, of research papers, articles, and books. Zotero is a powerful, open-source research assistant that helps you keep everything organized. With a browser extension, you can save sources from the web with a single click, add notes and tags, and create a searchable personal library of all your research materials.
Use Case Example: A university student is working on a major research paper. Every time they find a useful PDF or web article, they save it to their Zotero library and tag it with keywords. When it’s time to write, they have all their research neatly organized and searchable in one place.
Pricing Details: Free & Open-Source. Zotero is free to download and use, and it gives you 300 MB of free cloud storage to sync your library across devices. This is enough for thousands of text-based sources.
What You’ll Need: The Zotero desktop app and the Zotero Connector browser extension.
Learning Curve: Intermediate. It’s more complex than a simple web app and takes a little time to set up and learn, but the long-term payoff is huge.
What to Watch Out For: To store a large number of PDFs in the cloud, you may eventually need to pay for a storage upgrade, but the core software is always free.
Beginner Tutorial: You can find a great, clear beginner’s guide to Zotero here on YouTube.
Which Tool Should You Start With?
Feeling a bit overwhelmed by the options? Here’s a quick guide:
If you just want to improve your writing today… get Grammarly. It’s the single most useful tool for instantly improving your grades and making your writing more professional.
If you spend a lot of time reading long articles… start using QuillBot’s Summarizer. It will save you a massive amount of time.
If you’re starting a big research project… your first two stops should be Perplexity AI (to find sources) and Zotero (to organize them).
If you need to create a bibliography… go straight to MyBib. It’s free, fast, and will save you a huge headache.
Conclusion: Your Journey into Smarter Studying Starts Now
As you can see, there is an incredible suite of AI tools available to help you succeed in your academic journey, and many of the best ones won’t cost you a rupee. From polishing your grammar to organizing your research and citing your sources, these tools can help you study more efficiently, reduce stress, and produce higher-quality work.
The best way to learn is by doing. Pick one tool from this list that solves a problem you’re facing right now and try it out on your next assignment. You’ll be amazed at how much of a difference it can make.
Written By
Prateek Singh.
Last Updated – August, 2025
About The Author
Prateek Singh believes the best way to learn is to get your hands dirty. He went from talking to customers in sales to building the online platforms they use. IndiaShouldKnow.com is his way of sharing that practical, hands-on knowledge with you.
FAQs About AI Use.
Can I trust every answer an AI tool gives me for my studies?
A: No, you should not trust every answer completely. Think of an AI as a super-smart assistant that has read most of the internet—but not every book in the library is accurate.
AI can sometimes make mistakes, misunderstand your question, or use outdated information.
It can even “hallucinate,” which means it confidently makes up an answer that sounds real but is completely false.
Rule of Thumb: Use AI answers as a great starting point, but never as the final, absolute truth. Always double-check important facts.
How can I verify the information I get from an AI for my academic work?
A: Verifying information is a crucial skill. It’s like being a detective for facts. Here are four simple steps:
Check Your Course Material: Is the AI’s answer consistent with what your textbook, lecture notes, or professor says? This is your most reliable source.
Look for Reputable Sources: Ask the AI for its sources or search for the information online. Look for links from universities (.edu), government sites (.gov), respected news organizations, or published academic journals.
Cross-Reference: Ask a different AI the same question, or type your question into a standard search engine like Google. If multiple reliable sources give the same answer, it’s more likely to be correct.
Use Common Sense: If an answer seems too perfect, too strange, or too good to be true, be extra skeptical and investigate it further.
What is the difference between using AI for research and using it to plagiarize?
A: This is a very important difference. It’s all about who is doing the thinking.
Using AI for Research (Good ✅):
Brainstorming topics for a paper.
Asking for a simple explanation of a complex theory.
Finding keywords to use in your library search.
Getting feedback on your grammar and sentence structure.
You are using AI as a tool to help you think and write better.
Using AI to Plagiarize (Bad ❌):
Copying and pasting an AI-generated answer directly into your assignment.
Asking the AI to write an entire essay or paragraph for you.
Slightly rephrasing an AI’s answer and submitting it as your own original thought.
You are letting the AI do the thinking and work for you.
How can I use AI ethically to support my learning without violating my school's academic honesty policy?
A: Using AI ethically means using it to learn, not to cheat. Here’s how:
Know the Rules: First and foremost, read your school’s or professor’s policy on using AI tools. This is the most important step.
Be the Author: The final work you submit must be yours. Your ideas, your structure, and your arguments. Use AI as a guide, not the writer.
Do the Heavy Lifting: Use AI to understand a topic, but then close the chat and write your summary or solve the problem yourself to make sure you have actually learned it.
Be Transparent: If you used an AI in a significant way (like for brainstorming), ask your professor if you should mention it. Honesty is always the best policy.
Can an AI's answer be biased? How can I detect this in its responses?
A: Yes, an AI’s answer can definitely be biased. Since AI learns from the vast amount of text on the internet written by humans, it can pick up and repeat human biases.
Here’s how to spot potential bias:
Look for Opinions: Does the answer present a strong opinion as a fact?
Check for One-Sidedness: On a topic with multiple viewpoints (like politics or economics), does the AI only show one side of the argument?
Watch for Stereotypes: Does the answer use generalizations about groups of people based on their race, gender, nationality, or other characteristics?
To avoid being misled by bias, always try to get information from multiple, varied sources.
Is it safe to upload my personal notes, research papers, or assignments to an AI tool?
A: It is best to be very careful. You should not consider your conversations with most public AI tools to be private.
Many AI companies use your conversations to train their systems, which means employees or contractors might read them.
There is always a risk of data breaches or leaks.
A Simple Safety Rule: Do not upload or paste any sensitive information that you would not want a stranger to see. This includes:
Personal identification details.
Confidential research or unpublished papers.
Your school assignments before you submit them.
Any financial or private data.
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