My AI tool tier list: the bad, good and great tool for writing, research, slides and coding

A lot of people open ChatGPT for every job. That works, but it's not always the best fit. I sort my tools into three tiers for each job: bad, good and great. Bad is the slow manual way. Good is a solid tool that does the job. Great is the one I reach for now. Here's my list for writing, research, slides and coding. The good tools are genuinely good, so I'll say what each one does well too. For every great option you get the steps to start and a prompt you can copy.

01How the tiers work

Bad means doing it all by hand. Good means a popular tool that saves you real time. Great means the tool that saves me the most time and gives me something I can use straight away.

This is my personal list, not a ranking of which company is best. If a good-tier tool already works for you, keep it.

021. Writing: ChatGPT is good, Claude is great

Bad: writing every email and post from a blank page. Good: ChatGPT. It's quick, flexible and great for brainstorming. Great, for me: Claude. I like how it follows my tone and keeps edits tight when I paste in a draft.

Go to claude.ai and sign up. There's a free plan to start.
Paste one or two things you've written before, so Claude can see your voice.
Ask for a draft, then ask for changes in plain words: shorter, warmer, fewer adjectives.

Write in my voice

Here are two things I wrote before: [paste]. Study my tone, sentence length and word choice. Now write a [email / post / message] about [topic] for [who it's for]. Keep it under [number] words. Don't add hype or words I wouldn't use.

032. Research: Perplexity is good, Claude Research is great

Bad: twenty Google tabs and no notes. Good: Perplexity. Its help center says answers come with numbered citations to the original sources, so it's great for quick, checkable answers.

Great, for bigger questions: Claude's Research mode. Anthropic's help page says it runs several searches that build on each other and decides what to look at next. It's on paid plans: Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise.

Make sure web search is turned on, because Research needs it.
In a new chat, click the + button at the bottom left.
Choose Research. A blue indicator shows it's on.
Ask your question and let it work. Click the indicator again to turn it off.

Research brief

Research [topic] for me. I need to decide [the decision you're making]. Compare the main options, list the pros and cons of each, and flag anything that changed in the last 12 months. Cite a source for every key fact, and tell me where the sources disagree.

043. Slides: Gamma is good, Claude making the PowerPoint file is great

Bad: dragging boxes around by hand. Good: Gamma. It builds good-looking decks fast, and its help center says you can export them as PowerPoint, PDF or images. On the free plan, exports get a Gamma badge.

Great, for me: Claude makes the actual .pptx file. Anthropic's help page lists PowerPoint, Word, Excel and PDF among the files Claude can create. The feature is called Code execution and file creation, and it's on by default for Free, Pro and Max.

Check Settings > Capabilities and make sure Code execution and file creation is on. On Team or Enterprise, an owner controls this.
Paste your notes, outline or document into a chat.
Ask for a PowerPoint file, then download it and edit it in PowerPoint or Google Slides.

Make my deck

Turn these notes into a PowerPoint (.pptx) file: [paste notes]. Make [number] slides for [audience]. One idea per slide, a short title, no more than 4 bullets each, and speaker notes under every slide. Use a simple, clean style with [colour] as the accent.

054. Coding: Cursor is good, Claude Code is great

Bad: copying code from a chat window into your files and hoping it works. Good: Cursor. It's an AI code editor with autocomplete as you type and an agent that can plan and write changes.

Great, for me: Claude Code. It works inside your project, reads your files, runs commands and runs your tests. It asks for permission before it changes files or runs commands. It works in the terminal, VS Code, JetBrains, the Claude desktop app and the browser.

Claude Code comes with the Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans, or you can pay per use with a Claude Console account.
Install it with the command on claude.com/product/claude-code, or use the desktop app or claude.ai/code.
Open your project folder, type claude to start, then sign in.
Ask it to explain the project before you ask for changes.

Fix a bug safely

Read this project and explain its structure in a few lines. Then find the cause of this bug: [describe what happens and what should happen]. Show me your plan before editing. After the fix, run the tests and tell me what passed and what failed.

06Good to know

Plans and features change often. Everything here was checked in October 2026, so check each tool's own pages before you pay.
Research and Claude Code need a paid Claude plan. Writing and file creation work on the free plan.
AI tools make mistakes. Check facts, numbers and code before you send or ship anything.
Never paste passwords, API keys or private client data into a prompt.