Paywall Dodgers
Free ways to do the job of an expensive creative or coding app. Each area lists what the paid tools cost, then the free options that fit.
Prices and project pages were checked on , Pacific time. These picks come from the project pages. They are not a hands-on test.
A designer working on a 3D model. Photo by cottonbro studio, Pexels License.
Badge key
- Fully free / open source. A standard open-source license.
- Free tier. The product has a free plan.
- Free app, paid API. The app is free to install. Making something still costs money.
- Unofficial: use at your own risk. Someone else built this. It can break. Back up your files.
- Early. Not a finished replacement.
- Not yet tested by us. Listed from the project page. Not a hands-on test.
- Tested by us. We ran it on our own machine. The card has the result.
Areas
AI voices
Speak or clone a voice on your own computer instead of paying for a hosted studio. Cloning and plain readout are listed apart.
Voice cloning · Speech without cloning
Open the area
AI image generation and editing
Finish photos or generate new pictures without a Photoshop, Lightroom, or Midjourney plan.
Photo editing · Image generation
Open the area
AI video
Make AI video on your own machine, or with a free app that still calls a paid service. Higgsfield and Runway are the paid hosts on this list.
AI video generation
Open the area
AI 3D generation
Turn a photo or a prompt into a 3D mesh without Meshy, Tripo, or Rodin.
Mesh generation
Open the area
AI music
Generate songs on your own computer instead of a Suno plan.
Song generation
Open the area
Audio and video editing
Transcribe speech and cut video without Descript. The free tools here cover transcripts and ordinary cuts.
Transcription and editing
Open the area
AI coding
Coding agents you can install without Cursor or Copilot. The apps are free. A hosted model still costs money, and a local model needs a decent graphics card.
Coding agents
Open the area
AI chat
A chat window and a local model runner in place of ChatGPT Pro.
Local chat
Open the area
Design and creative suites
Vector, PDF, and film tools instead of Illustrator, Acrobat, and Premiere. Photo apps are on the image page.
Vector drawing · PDF · Film editing
Open the area