AI tool prices in 2026: what 4,024 tools really cost
AI tool prices in 2026: the typical paid plan starts at $19.99 a month, and about four in five tools let you start free. Data from 4,024 tools.
AI tool prices sit around $20 in 2026: the typical tool in Recaply's directory starts at $19.99 a month, and about four in five let you begin without paying. The most common starting price is $20, followed closely by $19 and $29, while sales software costs the most.
Four in five tools let you start free
Each of the 4,024 tools in our directory carries one of four price labels, based on the maker's own pricing page:
- Free plan: 1,537 tools, about two in five, offer a plan you can continue using indefinitely, with no expiry date.
- Trial or free credits: 1,195 tools, about three in ten, let you experiment until the time or the credits run out.
- Paid only: 866 tools, about one in five, offer no free option, so you are paying from the very first day.
- Open source: 426 tools, about one in ten, publish their code or model under an open licence you can run yourself.
So most tools cost nothing to start, although a free plan is usually an introduction rather than the complete product. Of the 1,537 tools with a free plan, 1,043 also sell a monthly subscription in US dollars.
How much does a typical tool cost?
We identified a published monthly price in US dollars for 2,140 tools, recording the cheapest paid plan for each. The median, or middle value, is $19.99, and half of these tools begin between $10 and $37.
- Under $20: 1,087 tools, or 51 percent, including 459 inexpensive tools under $10 a month.
- $20 to $99.99: 863 tools, or 40 percent, the majority concentrated between $20 and $30.
- $100 and above: 190 tools, or 9 percent, including 20 that begin at $1,000 or more monthly.
The average starting price is $62, about three times the median, because a small group of expensive tools pulls it upward. That is why we use the median throughout this analysis.
$20 is the most common price, just ahead of $19
These seven starting prices appeared most frequently, together covering 800 tools, or 37 percent of the total:
- $20: 155 tools, including Claude Pro and 38 developer tools for coding and building websites.
- $19: 151 tools, a single dollar cheaper and almost exactly as popular.
- $29 and $10: 139 and 102 tools, the most popular alternatives immediately above and below that pair.
- $15, $9.99 and $49: 93, 87 and 73 tools respectively, completing the list of seven.
Combine $19, $19.99 and $20, including the occasional price between them, and you get 368 tools, or roughly one in six. In Agents & Chat, the share rises to one in three: 40 of its 119 tools start between $19 and $20, with Claude among them.
Prices ending in 9 are everywhere: just over half of all starting prices end in 9, such as $9, $19.99 or $49. Only 14 percent are charged per person or per seat, while the others are a single flat monthly price.
How AI tool prices vary by job
Software for selling costs the most, while apps for personal notes and photos cost the least. Here are the median starting prices for categories with at least 30 readable prices:
- Highest: Sales & CRM at $50 a month, Customer Support at $36, Business at $30, and Marketing & Social at $29.99.
- Middle: Agents & Chat, Coding & Web, Research & Data, and HR & Recruiting, all at exactly $20.
- Lowest: Image & Design at $14.99, Audio & Voice at $14.95, Productivity at $12, and Health & Wellness at $11.99.
The differences grow wider within each category. Tools that find sales leads start at a median of $70 a month, and advertising tools at about $62. Meanwhile, note-taking apps and photo editors typically start at roughly $10.
Three findings that stand out
Many paid tools hide their price
Of the 866 tools with no free option, 367 publish no plan prices, which is more than two in five. Almost every one of them sells through a demonstration, a sales call or a custom quote instead.
Open source does not always mean free
Open-source software is free to run on your own machine. Even so, 152 of the 426 open-source tools in our directory also sell a monthly subscription, at a median of $19. Ollama is one example: it runs models on your computer at no cost, while Pro costs $20 a month.
Paid-only tools start higher
When a paid-only tool does publish a monthly price, its median is $29. That compares with $19 for tools offering a free plan and about $22 for tools offering a trial. Judging by the medians, offering something free does not come with higher prices afterwards.
Six well-known tools against the numbers
Each tool's cheapest monthly plan, from its maker's pricing page on Nov 8, 2026, beside the median for its category in our directory.
| Tool | Free way in | Cheapest monthly plan | Category median |
|---|---|---|---|
 Claude | Free plan | $20 (Pro) | $20 (Agents & Chat) |
 Gemini | Free plan | $4.99 (Google AI Plus) | $20 (Agents & Chat) |
 Ollama | Open source, free to run | $20 (Pro) | $20 (Coding & Web) |
 ElevenLabs | Free plan | $6 (Starter) | $14.95 (Audio & Voice) |
 Midjourney | None on its website | $10 (Basic) | $14.99 (Image & Design) |
 Instantly | 14-day trial | $47 (Growth) | $50 (Sales & CRM) |
The six tools, one by one
1. Claude: right on the $20 line
Claude sits exactly on the most common price in our directory: Pro costs $20 a month, or $17 a month when billed annually. The free plan has no expiry date, while the Max subscription costs $100 a month.
Good
- A free plan with no end date
- A lower rate when you pay for the year
Watch for
- The next step up, Max, costs five times as much as Pro
2. Gemini: a cheaper step below $20
Gemini is available free with any Google account, and the Google AI Plus subscription costs only $4.99 a month. Google AI Pro, at $19.99, sits directly in the busiest price band. Google AI Ultra begins at $99.99, offering five times Pro's usage limits.
Good
- Free with any Google account
- A paid step under $5 a month
Watch for
- The page shows prices for your country, so they differ abroad
3. Ollama: open source, with a $20 plan
Ollama runs open models on your own computer, and its code is published under the MIT License. Pro costs $20 a month and adds $60 of usage credits every month, plus access to larger models.
Good
- Free and unlimited on your own hardware
- Open source under the MIT License
Watch for
- Pro keeps the same limit of 3 requests at once
4. ElevenLabs: a low first step
ElevenLabs turns written text into realistic speech, and it offers a free plan. Its Starter plan costs $6 a month, well under the $14.95 median for audio tools. The following steps are considerably steeper: Creator costs $22, Pro $99 and Scale $299 a month.
Good
- A paid plan from $6 a month
- A free plan to try the voices
Watch for
- Big jumps between the paid plans
5. Midjourney: paid only, but cheap to start
Midjourney's documentation says its website and Discord offer no free trial. The Basic subscription costs $10 a month, or $8 billed annually, which is below the $14.99 median for image and design tools.
Good
- Basic is $10 a month, or $8 billed yearly
- Four clear plan steps, up to $120
Watch for
- No free trial on the website or Discord
6. Instantly: a sales tool near its category's median
Instantly identifies potential customers and runs automated cold email campaigns. Its Growth plan costs $47 a month, close to the $50 median for sales software, although its pricing page lists no free plan.
Good
- A 14-day trial with no card
- A price on the page, unlike many sales tools
Watch for
- No free plan once the trial ends
How we counted
Every number here comes from Recaply's own directory on Nov 8, 2026, which lists 4,024 tools and agents, not counting its 12 courses. The plan prices were collected from each maker's pricing page between Sep 23 and Nov 8, 2026.
For each tool, we took the cheapest paid plan priced monthly in US dollars, including prices per person or per seat. Where a maker displays the monthly rate billed yearly, we used that figure. We excluded trials, other currencies, ranges, one-time fees, yearly-only plans and usage rates, such as prices per token or per image.
Some products have several listings, such as a model and the app it runs in; for example, 24 Claude listings share one pricing page. We therefore counted each pricing page once, at its lowest price, which left 2,140 prices from 2,293 listings.
The remaining 1,731 tools offered no monthly dollar price. Of those, 706 display no plans, 375 are entirely free and 198 charge by usage. Another 152 use different currencies, 132 charge once, and the others bill annually, give a range or require a quote.
We calculated everything with a short script and have not tested these tools ourselves, so every figure reflects what the makers publish. We verified the six featured tools on their makers' pages on Nov 8, 2026, and no company paid to appear here. Prices change frequently, so confirm them before you buy.
Questions people ask
How much do AI tools cost per month?
Across Recaply's directory, the median monthly starting price is $19.99. Half of the 2,140 tools with a published monthly price begin somewhere between $10 and $37.
How many tools are free?
About two in five, or 1,537 of 4,024, offer a free plan with no expiry date. Another 1,195 provide a limited trial or free credits, 426 are open source, and only 866 offer nothing free.
Which tools cost the most?
Sales & CRM software starts at a median of $50 a month, followed by customer support software at $36. Tools for finding potential customers start even higher, at a median of $70.
Why do some tools hide their prices?
Almost every one sells through a demonstration, a sales call or a custom quote instead, so you need to contact the company. Of the 866 paid-only tools, 367 publish no plan prices.
