AI Foundations
Free tier
Perplexity AI
AI-powered search that shows its sources. Ask any question and get a direct answer with citations you can verify.
Unlike ChatGPT, it tells you where the answer came from. For any kind of business research, this is now the default first step.
Open →
AI Foundations
Free
NotebookLM
Upload your documents — reports, contracts, research — and ask questions about them. Also generates audio summaries (podcasts) from any source.
Genuinely surprising. Drop a 40-page report in and have a real conversation with it. The audio summary feature is unlike anything else currently free.
Open →
AI Foundations
Free course
Elements of AI
Free university course from the University of Helsinki. Non-technical. Explains how AI works without requiring any maths or coding knowledge.
The best free non-technical foundation available. If you want to understand AI well enough to make good decisions about it, start here.
Start learning →
AI Foundations
Free · YouTube
How LLMs Work
The best visual explanation of how large language models (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini) actually work — without needing a computer science degree.
One hour. After this, you'll understand what AI can and can't do better than most people calling themselves AI experts.
Watch →
AI Foundations
Free guide
Prompt Engineering Guide
Anthropic's official guide to writing effective prompts for Claude. Covers structure, context-setting, formatting instructions, and common mistakes.
Written by the people who built Claude. The techniques apply broadly — even if you use ChatGPT or Gemini, this guide makes you significantly better at prompting.
Read →
Free Toolkit
Free tier
Claude
AI assistant from Anthropic. Exceptionally good at long documents, structured analysis, nuanced writing, and following complex instructions.
Our day-to-day tool for anything requiring careful thinking. Better than ChatGPT for research synthesis, document analysis, and writing that needs to sound like a real person wrote it.
Open →
Free Toolkit
Free tier
ChatGPT
OpenAI's AI assistant. Free tier includes GPT-4o. Strong for brainstorming, first drafts, Q&A, and tasks where speed matters more than depth.
The most widely used AI tool for good reason. Keep a tab open. Use it for quick tasks. Upgrade to Claude when you need more nuance or longer context.
Open →
Free Toolkit
Free
Google Gemini
Google's AI assistant. Deeply integrated with Google Workspace — if you live in Docs, Sheets, or Gmail, Gemini is the natural choice.
The Google integration is genuinely useful. If your business runs on Google Workspace, Gemini in Docs alone pays for itself in saved time.
Open →
Free Toolkit
Free tier
Canva AI
Design platform with AI built in. Magic Write generates copy. AI image generation. Free templates for social, presentations, marketing materials.
The fastest route from zero to a professional-looking graphic. The AI features are usable in the free tier. Most small businesses should have this open daily.
Open →
Free Toolkit
300 mins/mo free
Otter.ai
AI meeting transcription. Joins your Zoom or Teams calls, records, transcribes, and produces a searchable summary with action items.
Every business owner who has re-read their notes after a meeting and found them useless needs this. Stops you having to choose between taking notes and being present.
Open →
Free Toolkit
Free
Microsoft Copilot
Microsoft's AI assistant, powered by GPT-4. Free via web and integrated into Windows. Good for everyday tasks if you're in the Microsoft ecosystem.
If you're on Windows and haven't tried it yet, it's there already. The web version is a capable free alternative when you don't want to pay for ChatGPT Plus.
Open →
Free Toolkit
25 credits/mo free
Adobe Firefly
Adobe's AI image generator. Creates images, expands backgrounds, removes objects, and generates variations of existing images.
The images are commercially safe — trained on licensed content. For anything going into marketing materials, this matters more than you might think.
Open →
Free Toolkit
10k chars/mo free
ElevenLabs
AI voice generation. Convert text to natural-sounding speech in hundreds of voices and languages. Clone your own voice with 1 minute of audio.
Useful for adding voiceover to social videos without recording yourself. The quality gap between this and professional voice-over has essentially closed.
Open →
Marketing
Free · No login
Meta Ad Library
See every active Facebook and Instagram ad from any business in the world. Free, no login required. Filter by country, date, and ad type.
The most underused free research tool in marketing. Search any competitor and see exactly what they're running. Use it before you spend a penny on ads yourself.
Open →
Marketing
Free
Google Trends
Real-time search trend data from Google. See what people are searching for, compare keywords, find seasonal patterns, drill into UK regions.
Free, real-time, authoritative. If you're writing content or running ads, check Trends first. Seasonal intelligence alone is worth the 5 minutes it takes to use it.
Open →
Marketing
3 searches/day free
Answer The Public
Shows every question people ask online about any topic. Generates visualisations of search intent — what people want to know, compare, and understand.
Invaluable for content planning. Type your service and see exactly what potential customers are typing into Google. Each result is a content brief.
Open →
Marketing
Free for your site
Google Search Console
Google's free tool showing exactly how your website appears in search results. See which queries bring visitors, which pages rank, and what needs fixing.
If you have a website and aren't using this, you're flying blind. Free, authoritative, and it tells you specifically what Google thinks of your content.
Set up →
Marketing
Free: 3 channels
Buffer
Social media scheduling for LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, X, and more. Free plan includes 3 channels and 10 scheduled posts per channel.
Simple, reliable, genuinely free for small volumes. If you're posting manually from your phone, switch to Buffer. Batch your posts once a week and reclaim the time.
Open →
Marketing
9,000 emails/mo free
Brevo (Email)
Email marketing platform with a generous free tier. GDPR-compliant, EU-hosted, with automation, templates, and contact management included.
Better than Mailchimp for UK businesses — GDPR-native and EU-hosted matters for compliance. The free tier handles most small businesses until they hit real volume.
Open →
Marketing
Free
Google Business Profile
Your free business listing on Google Maps and Search. Manage reviews, post updates, add photos, and see how customers find and interact with your listing.
If you serve local customers and haven't claimed this, do it today. It's free and it's often the first thing a prospect sees before they even reach your website.
Claim listing →
Marketing
3 searches/day free
Ubersuggest
SEO keyword research tool. Shows search volume, competition, and content ideas for any keyword. Free for basic usage.
Not as powerful as Ahrefs or Semrush, but free and good enough for most small business keyword research. Start here before paying for anything fancier.
Open →
Operations
Free: 5 zaps
Zapier
Connect your apps and automate tasks without code. "When X happens in app A, do Y in app B." 6,000+ app integrations. Free tier covers 5 automations.
The fastest way to automate repetitive work. Start with one Zap: new contact form submission → add to email list → send welcome email. Then keep going.
Open →
Operations
Free tier
Notion + AI
All-in-one workspace for notes, docs, projects, and databases — with AI built in. Summarise meeting notes, generate action items, draft documents.
If your business knowledge lives across sticky notes, email threads, and your head, Notion is the fix. The AI layer turns it from storage into something you can actually query.
Open →
Operations
Free tier
Fireflies.ai
AI meeting notetaker. Joins calls, records, transcribes, and generates summaries with action items, speaker identification, and searchable archives.
Similar to Otter but better for teams — the action item extraction is more reliable. Free tier includes 800 minutes of storage and basic AI summaries.
Open →
Operations
Free: 1,000 ops/mo
Make (formerly Integromat)
Visual no-code automation platform. More powerful than Zapier's free tier. Build multi-step workflows with branching logic and error handling.
1,000 operations/month free is genuinely enough for a small business. If you've outgrown Zapier's free tier, Make is the logical next step before paying for Zapier.
Open →
Learning
Free · IAB certified
Google Digital Garage
"Fundamentals of Digital Marketing" — 26 modules, fully free, accredited by the IAB UK and Open University. Covers SEO, social, analytics, mobile, and more.
The certification is genuinely respected and it's free. If you want to understand digital marketing properly — not just use it — this is the structured starting point.
Start free →
Learning
Many free
DeepLearning.AI
Short AI courses from Andrew Ng's team. "ChatGPT Prompt Engineering for Developers" and "AI for Everyone" are both excellent and free to audit.
"AI for Everyone" is what we'd recommend to every entrepreneur. Non-technical, well-structured, and it gives you a framework for thinking about AI strategy — not just tools.
Browse courses →
Learning
Free certifications
HubSpot Academy
Free marketing certifications. Covers inbound marketing, content, email, social, SEO, and more. Certificates are widely recognised.
The content marketing and inbound certifications are genuinely good. If you're building your marketing knowledge base, HubSpot Academy is one of the few free options worth trusting.
Browse →
Learning
Free
Meta Blueprint
Facebook and Instagram advertising courses from Meta. Covers everything from setting up your first campaign to advanced audience targeting and creative strategy.
If you're going to run Meta ads — which most UK small businesses should — learn from the people who built the platform. Free, current, and more useful than most paid courses.
Start learning →
Learning
Free certifications
Google Skillshop
Free Google certifications for Ads, Analytics, Search, Shopping, and more. The Google Analytics and Google Ads certifications are particularly useful.
If you're paying for Google Ads without the Google Ads certification, you're likely wasting money. This course will save you more than it costs (which is nothing).
Start →
Stay Current
Free newsletter
The Rundown AI
Daily AI news digest. Covers the biggest AI developments every morning in plain English. One of the highest-quality free AI newsletters available.
5 minutes each morning keeps you current without becoming an AI obsessive. If you read one AI newsletter, make it this one.
Subscribe →
Stay Current
Free newsletter
Superhuman
Practical AI tools and productivity hacks for business professionals. Focuses on how to use AI tools in your daily work — not just news about AI.
More practical than most AI newsletters. Each edition usually has at least one tip you can use the same day. Good signal-to-noise ratio.
Subscribe →
Stay Current
Some free articles
MIT Technology Review
Deep, rigorous journalism on AI and technology from MIT. Not the place for daily news — the place for understanding what developments actually mean.
When you want to understand an AI story beyond the headlines, this is the source. Several free articles per month before the paywall — enough to be useful.
Read →
Stay Current
Free
Product Hunt — AI
Daily launches of new products and tools. Filter by AI category to see every new AI tool the day it launches. Community votes surface the ones worth trying.
The fastest way to stay ahead of new AI tools. Not everything here is worth your time, but the community curation means the top-ranked tools usually are.
Browse →
UK Resources
Free · Official
DSIT AI Guidance
The UK government's official guidance for businesses on using AI responsibly. Covers procurement, deployment, data handling, and governance frameworks.
If you're deploying AI in a business context — especially with customer data — this is the authoritative UK reference. Straightforward and practical, not just legal boilerplate.
Read →
UK Resources
Free · Official
ICO — AI and Data Protection
The Information Commissioner's Office guidance on AI and UK GDPR. Covers how data protection law applies when you use AI tools that process personal data.
Essential reading if you're using AI to process any customer or employee data. UK GDPR obligations don't disappear because you're using an AI tool — this explains what you need to know.
Read →
UK Resources
Free (eligibility-based)
Innovate UK EDGE
Free expert business support for UK innovative businesses. Advisors help with AI adoption, growth strategy, funding, and commercialisation.
Most UK founders don't know this exists. If you're doing something innovative — including meaningful AI adoption — you can access expert advice for free. Worth a call.
Find out more →
UK Resources
Free access
British Business Bank
Government-backed bank offering Start Up Loans, equity investment schemes, and the Finance Hub — a free tool that matches your business to relevant funding.
The Finance Hub is underused. If you've ever thought "there's probably funding I'm missing" — there is, and this is how you find it. Free to access, no obligation.
Find funding →
UK Resources
Free
UK Growth Hubs
Regional business support across England. Each Growth Hub offers free advice, workshops, and signposting to funding and specialist support.
Every region has one and most business owners have never contacted them. Free, local, and often have access to grant funding and specialist AI adoption support.
Find yours →
UK Resources
Free · Official data
Office for National Statistics
The UK's official source of economic and social statistics. Business demography, sector data, productivity metrics, regional breakdowns — all free.
The authoritative source for UK market data. If you're writing a business case, pitching investors, or just trying to understand your market — start here, not with someone's blog post citing someone else's blog post.
Browse data →
No resources match your search.
Resource library · Updated April 2026 · Curated by the Marketing AI Hub team · No affiliate links