The research desk

Guides, opinionated reviews, and original data on the AI tools worth your time — from the team that curates the directory.

Aug 10, 2026 Research IP

Is PimEyes Free? What the Free Search Shows — and the Real Alternatives

PimEyes lets anyone run a face search for free — but the results you actually need sit behind a paywall. We checked every plan at the live checkout and lined up the real alternatives. Aug 10, 2026 Text To Speech EP

ElevenLabs Pricing, Verified: What Every Plan Actually Costs in 2026

Six plans, a credits system, and a headline price that only lasts a month. We verified every ElevenLabs tier at the live checkout — here's the honest math, per minute of audio. Jul 28, 2026 Human Resources

AI Tools for HR in 2026: What Actually Works — and What’s Actually Free

Half of “HR AI” is actually job-seeker AI, and the real tools split into $10 candidate apps and call-us enterprise suites. A vendor-neutral map of what serves HR teams — with hand-verified pricing. Jul 7, 2026

The Annual-Billing Illusion: How AI Tools Advertise One Price and Charge Another

That $12/month AI tool? It's $30 if you actually pay monthly. We re-verified pricing across our directory and found the annual-rate-as-monthly-price trick everywhere — receipts included. Jul 2, 2026

The Real Cost of an AI Content Stack (2026): Every Layer, Priced

We priced the full AI toolkit creators use to turn one recording into a week of content — record, edit, transcribe, repurpose, voice, distribute. Start free; a serious stack runs about $60–100/month. Jul 1, 2026

The Real Price of AI: What 150 Tools Actually Cost

We re-verified the live pricing of 150 AI tools in July 2026. The median starts at $15/month — but two-thirds offer a way in for free, and the truly expensive tools are rarer than the hype suggests. Jul 1, 2026

The .ai Gold Rush: How 1,559 AI Tools Name Themselves

Nearly a third of AI tools now live on a .ai domain and a quarter put “AI” in the name. But the biggest group does neither — what 1,559 tools reveal about AI branding. Jul 1, 2026 Productivity

The Most Crowded Corners of AI: Where 1,562 Tools Actually Cluster

We mapped every tool in the toolhunter.ai directory across 54 categories. Ten soak up 42% of them — while dating, fitness, and fashion sit nearly empty. The saturation map.