AI tools we actually use every day in 2026 (Australian shortlist, AUD pricing)
Not 'top 50 AI tools to try'. The 12 tools we pay for every month, what each one is for, what we'd drop if we had to cut by half.
The 12 tools we pay for every month, what each one is for, and the three that we’d keep if we had to cut by half. Total monthly spend per person at full setup: ~$340 AUD. Total spend at minimum-viable setup: $60 AUD. Updated quarterly.
The full shortlist
| Tool | Monthly AUD | What it’s for | Could we drop it? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Pro | $30 | Daily driver for writing, code review, longer tasks | No |
| Claude Code (API) | $60-120 | CLI tool for technical work + agents | No (for technical team) |
| ChatGPT Plus | $30 | Image generation, Microsoft integration, second opinion | No |
| Cursor | $30 | In-editor AI for code (alongside Claude Code) | Yes, swap to Claude Code only |
| Granola | $25 | AI meeting notes (auto-recorded, no bot in call) | Yes, but it’s saved us hours |
| Perplexity Pro | $30 | Source-cited research, beats Google for some queries | Yes, free tier works |
| Imagen / Midjourney | $15-30 | Image generation when DALL-E falls short | Yes, fallback only |
| NotebookLM | Free | Source-grounded research + audio summaries | Free, keep |
| ElevenLabs (light) | $8 | Voice cloning + audio generation when needed | Yes, occasional use |
| Whisper (API) | Pay per use | Audio transcription | Replaced by Granola for meetings |
| Ahrefs Lite | $120 | SEO data (not AI but pairs with Claude for the SEO workflow) | No (for SEO-heavy work) |
| Google Workspace | varies | Email + Drive + Docs (Gemini included) | No (table stakes) |
Total at full stack: ~$340 AUD per person per month.
The minimum-viable setup ($60 AUD/month)
If you’re starting from zero:
- Claude Pro ($30 AUD/month). The single most useful tool. Use it for writing, drafting, research, long-document work.
- ChatGPT Plus ($30 AUD/month). The complementary tool. Use it for image generation, Microsoft 365 integration, second opinion on Claude outputs.
That’s it. Total $60 AUD/month. Adds 4-6 hours per week of saved time for a typical owner-operator.
The three tools we’d never drop
If we had to cut to three, these stay:
1. Claude Pro — $30 AUD/month
The daily driver. Used for: writing, code review, long-document analysis, anything where output quality matters more than integration breadth.
What’s good: Best prose of any 2026 model. Less LLM filler. Better at following tone instructions. 1M token context window on Sonnet 4.6.
What’s not: No image generation. Browser app less polished than ChatGPT.
2. Claude Code (API) — $60-120 AUD/month
The CLI tool. Used for: anything technical, building agents, running automation on our Hetzner VPS.
What’s good: Direct filesystem + terminal access. MCP server ecosystem. Headless mode for cron-driven agents (we run several at $5/month each in API costs).
What’s not: Higher learning curve than chat. Not needed for non-developers.
See How to install Claude Code on Windows and Mac if you want to add it.
3. ChatGPT Plus — $30 AUD/month
The complementary tool. Used for: DALL-E image generation, voice mode, Microsoft 365 integration when needed, comparison testing.
What’s good: Strong consumer polish. Image generation built-in. Custom GPTs ecosystem. Voice mode.
What’s not: Drafts slightly more “LLM-flavoured” than Claude. FX cost (USD-billed) adds 2-3% over Claude’s direct-AUD billing.
The specialised tools
Cursor — $30 AUD/month
In-editor AI coding alongside or instead of Claude Code. We use Cursor about 20% of the time, Claude Code 80%. Cursor is better for tight-loop in-editor work; Claude Code is better for agentic background tasks.
If you’re a developer, see our Claude Code vs Cursor vs Copilot for Australian developers in 2026 deep-dive.
Granola — $25 AUD/month
AI-generated meeting notes. Records your meeting (you and your laptop, no bot in the call), produces structured notes after. We’ve replaced manual note-taking entirely. Saves 30-60 minutes per meeting.
Perplexity Pro — $30 AUD/month
Source-cited search. Different beast from Claude/ChatGPT: it cites where it got information from. We use it for fact-checking, fresh research (recent news, recent product releases), and anything where citation matters. Free tier is genuinely useful too.
Imagen / Midjourney — $15-30 AUD/month
For image generation beyond DALL-E’s quality. Midjourney is the better aesthetic ($15/month). Google Imagen is the better photorealism (included in some Google AI plans). Use only when DALL-E (built into ChatGPT) doesn’t cut it.
NotebookLM — Free
Google’s source-grounded research tool. Upload 5-50 sources (papers, PDFs, URLs), ask questions, get cited answers. Free for personal use. Particularly useful for evergreen research that won’t change.
ElevenLabs — $8-30 AUD/month
Voice cloning + AI voice generation. We use it occasionally for audio versions of articles + the podcast (in development). Light tier is fine for most uses.
Whisper (OpenAI API) — Pay-per-use
Audio transcription via the OpenAI API. Cheap ($0.006 USD/minute, about $0.01 AUD/minute). We use it for one-off transcriptions; replaced for meeting notes by Granola.
Ahrefs Lite — $120 AUD/month
Not strictly AI, but lives in our SEO + content stack alongside Claude. Used for: keyword research, backlink analysis, SERP-volume data that AI doesn’t have. See How to use AI for SEO for the workflow.
Tools we DROPPED in the last 12 months
Just as useful as the keep list:
- Notion AI ($12/month): replaced by Claude Pro. Same drafts, better prose, $42 less.
- Jasper ($59/month): same logic. Generic content tool. Claude does it better and cheaper.
- Cohere (free tier): didn’t fit our workflow. Good model, no enterprise pull for us.
- Suno ($16/month): AI music generation. Fun but not load-bearing for the business.
If you’re paying for any of those and a separate Claude/ChatGPT plan, you’re paying twice for the same capability.
Microsoft Copilot in Microsoft 365
A standalone callout because the calculus is different for Microsoft-heavy businesses.
If you run on Microsoft 365 (Outlook, Teams, Excel, Word), Copilot at $45 AUD/user/month on top of M365 makes a different kind of sense:
- It reads your calendar + email + files natively.
- It’s available in every Office app.
- Less context-switching.
If we lived in M365, we’d pay for Copilot. We don’t (web Gmail + Google Workspace), so the standalone ChatGPT Plus tab works fine.
Rough decision rule: if you spend 4+ hours/day in Outlook/Teams/Excel, Copilot is worth the $15 premium over standalone ChatGPT. Otherwise, standalone wins on flexibility.
What this list isn’t
- Comprehensive. There are ~500 AI tools we don’t use. Most are wrappers around Claude or ChatGPT charging a premium.
- A buying recommendation for your business. Your stack depends on your work. Start with the minimum-viable ($60 AUD/month) and add specialised tools only when you hit specific friction.
- Set in stone. This list changes quarterly. Ask us in October 2026 and the shortlist will look different.
What’s next
- Claude vs ChatGPT for Australian small business for the deep dive on the two anchors.
- How to write better AI prompts for getting the most out of any tool on this list.
- AI for email and AI for Excel for specific applied workflows.
If you want help picking the right stack for your team, book a free 30-minute audit. Most calls end with a 2-tool recommendation, not a 12-tool one.
Common questions
Why so many subscriptions? Can't I just use ChatGPT for everything?
Is there a free / minimum-spend version of this stack?
What about Microsoft Copilot?
How often does this list change?
Do you get affiliate revenue from these?
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