{"name":"Free-Tier Tracker: Which AI Tools Went Paid, and Which Opened Up","source":"RightAIChoice","url":"https://rightaichoice.com/research/free-tier-tracker","license":"CC BY 4.0","as_of":"2026-10-23","edition":"2026-10-01","temporal_coverage":"2026-08-01/2026-10-23","headline":"In October 2026, 332 AI tools closed a free option and 200 opened one; today 71.6% of 8,222 tracked tools offer a free way in.","summary":["Every tool carries one of four pricing models — fully free, a free plan with paid tiers, paid only, or contact sales — re-derived each time its pricing page is re-read. This report tracks the moves between them.","A move counts only when it is stable: the tool did not flip back within 30 days and still carries the new model on the as-of date. The raw count of recorded moves is shown beside it so the filter is visible rather than hidden.","On October 23, 2026, 5,887 of 8,222 tools offered a free plan or were fully free."],"tables":[{"title":"How many AI tools dropped or added a free option each month?","note":"\"Closed\" = moved from free or free-plan+paid to paid-only or contact-sales; \"opened\" = the reverse. Only stable moves count: the tool did not flip again within 30 days and still carries the new model today.","columns":["Month","Closed a free option","Opened a free option","Became fully free","Left fully free"],"rows":[["August 2026",107,88,"fewer than 5",17],["September 2026",39,142,42,28],["October 2026",332,200,44,60]]},{"title":"How many AI tools are free today?","note":"Pricing model of every published tool on the as-of date.","columns":["Pricing model","Tools","Share"],"rows":[["Fully free",1368,"16.6%"],["Free plan + paid tiers",4519,"55%"],["Paid only",1087,"13.2%"],["Contact sales",1248,"15.2%"]]},{"title":"Which pricing-model moves are most common?","note":"All months combined. \"Recorded\" is every observed transition; \"stable\" is those that held for 30 days and still hold.","columns":["From","To","Recorded","Stable"],"rows":[["free plan + paid","paid only",632,438],["paid only","free plan + paid",471,342],["free","free plan + paid",116,95],["free plan + paid","free",84,78],["contact sales","free plan + paid",90,77],["contact sales","paid only",69,60],["free plan + paid","contact sales",47,30],["paid only","contact sales",26,19],["free","paid only",10,9],["contact sales","free",9,9],["paid only","free","fewer than 5","fewer than 5"],["free","contact sales","fewer than 5","fewer than 5"]]},{"title":"Which categories are closing free options fastest (last 90 days)?","note":"Stable moves in the last 90 days by category. Categories with fewer than five moves in a column show a phrase instead of a count.","columns":["Category","Tools","Closed a free option","Opened a free option"],"rows":[["AI Video Generation",443,48,26],["Automation & Agents",586,45,44],["Image Generation",574,38,31],["Ad Creative & Media Buying",150,34,16],["Sales Prospecting & Outbound",267,33,35],["Customer Support",252,28,24],["Ecommerce & Retail",165,28,11],["Marketing & SEO",151,28,26],["Social Media Management",169,20,19],["Short-Form & Faceless Video",157,19,10],["Voice & Speech",236,18,13],["Voice AI Agents & Phone Automation",210,18,21],["Video & Audio",192,17,11],["Business & Finance",183,17,11],["Data & Analytics",358,16,24],["Writing & Content",256,15,15],["AI App & Website Builders",225,14,7],["Autonomous Coding Agents",222,14,7],["Chatbot Builders",128,14,10],["AI Digital Workers",112,14,13],["Document Q&A & Summarizing",267,13,8],["Photo Editing & Enhancement",245,13,12],["Transcription & Speech-to-Text",170,13,11],["CRM",113,13,13],["Productivity",272,11,17],["Music Generation",170,11,6],["Market & Competitive Intelligence",131,11,16],["AI Avatars & Talking Video",116,11,10],["Code & Development",457,10,12],["Audio Editing & Production",105,10,5],["Developer Infrastructure",214,9,7],["Business Intelligence",201,9,13],["Graphic Design",143,9,8],["Multi-Model AI Chat",110,9,7],["Agent Frameworks & Orchestration",389,8,16],["Research & Education",228,8,7],["3D Generation & Scanning",145,8,"fewer than 5"],["Study Tools",120,8,"none recorded"],["GPU Cloud & Model Inference",114,8,13],["Meeting Assistants & Notetakers",108,8,8],["Healthcare",150,7,12],["Presentations & Slides",105,7,5],["Browser & Computer-Use Agents",115,6,"fewer than 5"],["AI Assistants",191,5,8],["Local & On-Device AI",134,5,"fewer than 5"],["AI Governance & Guardrails",194,"fewer than 5",10],["Notes & Knowledge Management",142,"fewer than 5",8],["Document AI & Data Extraction",116,"fewer than 5",7],["Supply Chain & Logistics",107,"fewer than 5","fewer than 5"],["Translation & Localization",101,"fewer than 5",8],["LLM Observability & Evals",186,"fewer than 5",8],["MCP Servers & Agent Tooling",185,"fewer than 5",6],["Everyday Life",154,"fewer than 5",5],["Fun Photo & Video Apps",145,"fewer than 5","fewer than 5"],["LLM App Frameworks & SDKs",136,"fewer than 5","fewer than 5"],["Computer Vision",144,"fewer than 5","fewer than 5"],["Agent Memory & Runtimes",139,"fewer than 5","fewer than 5"],["Investing & Market Research",104,"fewer than 5",11]]}],"methodology":["Each tool's pricing model (free, freemium, paid, contact) is set from its pricing page on every scheduled re-read. Every change is written to tool_state_history with the previous and new value.","A transition is \"stable\" when the tool's pricing model today equals the new value AND no further pricing-model change was recorded within 30 days of it. Transitions on tools no longer published are excluded.","Categories are the tool's assigned categories; a tool in two categories counts in both. Only categories with at least 100 published tools are listed.","As-of date: October 23, 2026, the newest pricing-model change read."],"sources":["tools (pricing_type)","tool_state_history (field = pricing_type)","categories / tool_categories","SQL function research_free_tier_tracker()"],"variables":[{"name":"from / to","description":"Pricing model before and after the transition: free | freemium | paid | contact"},{"name":"recorded","description":"All transitions observed in the month"},{"name":"stable","description":"Transitions that held for 30 days and still hold on the as-of date"}]}