Tools

Has a free version: Completely free. You need about 2GB of disk for a usable model.

By role: Documentation and monitoring, Journalist or editor

By task: Transcribing testimonies and interviews, Translation into and out of local languages

Has a free version: No payment card needed to sign up. Unlimited basic text chats on the free model, but daily limits on file uploads, image generation, voice chat, and access to the more advanced reasoning models.

By role: Documentation and monitoring, Researcher or analyst, Journalist or editor, Communications and campaigns

By task: Translation into and out of local languages, Making sense of large document sets, Research, Drafting reports and advocacy material

Has a free version: Free plan, no card required to sign up. Anthropic does not publish a fixed daily message count. Usage limits reset periodically and vary with demand; check current limits at the source linked below before relying on a number.

By role: Researcher or analyst, Journalist or editor, Communications and campaigns, Legal work and accountability, Director or leadership

By task: Making sense of large document sets, Research, Drafting reports and advocacy material, Translation into and out of local languages

Has a free version: Free with a Google account; no card required. Since April 2026 Google restricted its more capable "Pro" models to paid tiers on the API/AI Studio free plan, leaving the lighter "Flash" models free there; the consumer chat app's own free limits are not published as a fixed number and change often. Check the current limits at the source linked below rather than relying on a figure here.

By role: Researcher or analyst, Communications and campaigns, Journalist or editor

By task: Translation into and out of local languages, Making sense of large document sets, Research, Monitoring news and social media at scale

Has a free version: Free "Hobby" plan, no card required, with limited AI agent and chat requests per month.

By role: Researcher or analyst

By task: Cleaning and analyzing data

Has a free version: Generous free plan, no card required, covering most design, template, and basic Magic Studio AI features with some limits on premium AI credits.

By role: Communications and campaigns, Director or leadership, Grants and operations

By task: Drafting reports and advocacy material

Has a free version: OpenCode itself is completely free and open source. Cost, if any, comes only from whichever AI model provider you choose to connect. Free if you connect a local model.

By role: Researcher or analyst

By task: Cleaning and analyzing data

Has a free version: Free workspace plan includes a limited trial of Notion AI features.

By role: Grants and operations, Director or leadership, Communications and campaigns

By task: Grants and admin, Drafting reports and advocacy material, Making sense of large document sets

Has a free version: Completely free, no usage limits, no subscription. You need enough disk space and RAM for whichever model you choose to run, several gigabytes for a usable model.

By role: Documentation and monitoring, Legal work and accountability

By task: Protecting sensitive information, Translation into and out of local languages, Making sense of large document sets

Has a free version: Free with a Google account; the notebook count and source-per-notebook limits are not published as a fixed number here. Check current limits at the source linked below.

By role: Researcher or analyst, Legal work and accountability, Director or leadership

By task: Research, Making sense of large document sets, Following legislation, courts and gazettes

Has a free version: Free web and app translation with a daily character limit that DeepL does not fix at a permanent number; check current limits at the source linked below. No account required for basic use.

By role: Journalist or editor, Communications and campaigns

By task: Translation into and out of local languages

Has a free version: The Check code is free and open source to self-host. Access to Meedan's own hosted service is arranged directly with Meedan rather than through self-serve pricing; see the source linked below.

By role: Journalist or editor, Communications and campaigns

By task: Verifying images, video and claims, Monitoring news and social media at scale

Has a free version: Free to self-host, with no user or record limits set by the software itself, limited only by your own server's capacity.

By role: Documentation and monitoring, Legal work and accountability

By task: Protecting sensitive information, Following legislation, courts and gazettes, Making sense of large document sets

Has a free version: Completely free, no usage limits.

By role: Documentation and monitoring, Researcher or analyst

By task: Making sense of large document sets, Cleaning and analyzing data