Best Free AI Chrome extensions

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming how we live and work. From helping write emails to generating content, AI is making routine tasks easier and freeing up more time for creativity. AI capabilities are being built into many AI Chrome extensions to bring smart features right into your browser.

Here are some of the best free AI Chrome extensions to try out:

1. Grammarly

Grammarly is one of the most popular writing assistant tools powered by AI. The Grammarly Chrome extension checks your writing for grammatical errors, misused words, punctuation mistakes, and other issues. It makes suggestions to help you fix errors and improve the clarity and effectiveness of your writing.

Grammarly offers advanced suggestions on word choice, tone, formality, cadence, and more. It even catches plagiarism by flagging unoriginal text. The basic Grammarly extension is free while more robust premium plans are available for a subscription fee. If you do a lot of writing online, Grammarly can help take your writing to the next level.

2. OttoPlay

OttoPlay uses AI to transform website text into audio. The Chrome extension will read aloud text-based articles, blogs, and webpages with a synthesized voice. This allows you to listen to content without having to read it, which is great for multitasking or retaining information.

OttoPlay’s voices sound very natural. You can adjust the speech speed and choose between male and female voices. The free version has limited use per month while premium plans provide unlimited access. If you prefer consuming content by listening rather than reading, OttoPlay can save you time and effort.

3. Text Blaze

Text Blaze is a powerful text expander and autosuggest tool driven by AI. It can generate custom keyboard shortcuts and snippets that will autocomplete repetitive text you type frequently. This could be your email signature, common phrases in emails, addresses, greetings, and more. Whenever you type the defined shortcut, Text Blaze will autocomplete the full text.

The AI capabilities go beyond simple text substitution. Text Blaze can auto-insert contextually relevant dynamic text snippets. For example, it can detect keywords in your message and suggest appropriate openings like “Hope you are well!” or “Apologies for the late reply.” This saves time and makes your communication more natural. The basic version is free while advanced options require a subscription.

4. Unplug for Chrome

Unplug is an AI assistant extension that blocks distractions and helps you stay focused. When enabled, Unplug will detect distracting websites and prevent you from opening them during periods of focus time you define. The AI learns which sites tend to sidetrack you and customizes its blocking accordingly.

Unplug’s Focus mode locks you out of distracting sites completely for set periods of time like 30 minutes. Its Moderation mode just limits time on sites through short breaks. Unplug will also monitor your browsing behavior and productivity, generating insights on your focus levels. The core functionality is free while a premium version unlocks more AI features. If you want to be more productive online, Unplug can help minimize digital distractions.

5. Adnix for Chrome

Adnix utilizes AI to remove ads from websites for an interrupted browsing experience. It detects ads, popups, and other clutter on pages and blocks them without breaking the underlying site content. This makes reading articles or consuming any web content much easier.

The AI powering Adnix is trained on millions of webpages to identify both obvious and subtle ads. It continuously learns to detect new patterns. When viewing a webpage, clicks meant for miscellaneous ads will be blocked seamlessly. For those looking to eliminate annoying ads without paying for a subscription service, Adnix delivers with its free browser extension.

6. Text Optimizer by SEO Tools for Google

Text Optimizer is an AI-powered extension created by the SEO Tools company. It analyzes any article or webpage content and provides optimization suggestions to improve readability. The AI examines aspects like sentence length, word complexity, keyword usage, and more. It then delivers a tailored report with actionable tips to enhance your text.

For example, Text Optimizer may suggest breaking long sentences into shorter ones or replacing complex words with simpler alternatives. The goal is to reshape text for easier reading at high school levels. Writers, marketers, and other content creators can use Text Optimizer to refine their work. The extension is completely free with no limits on usage.

7. Assistant by Anthropic

Assistant is an AI chatbot extension powered by Anthropic’s conversational AI. It serves as your personal assistant inside the browser. You can chat with Assistant to get summaries of webpages, search results, and online content without reading it fully. Ask it questions and it will provide concise answers pulling from reliable sources.

Assistant can also generate content on demand. Tell it to write emails, essays, notes, or any form of text and its AI will produce high-quality results tailored to your needs. Its conversational abilities keep improving with more user interactions. For those wanting in-browser access to advanced AI, Assistant delivers for free. A paid pro version unlocks more features.

8. OttoCaption

OttoCaption harnesses AI to automatically add captions to video and audio content. As you play media that lacks captions, OttoCaption listens and transcribes what is said. The extension populates the captions in real-time as the media plays. Captions make online video and audio more accessible for those with hearing impairments.

OttoCaption’s voice recognition AI achieves high accuracy in transcription. It works on the vast majority of media with spoken audio. The captions created can be downloaded as text files. OttoCaption offers a generous free version allowing up to 100 minutes of captions per month. It’s a simple way to make web multimedia more inclusive.

9. Phrase

Phrase is an AI writing assistant for Gmail powered by Anthropic. It provides autocomplete suggestions as you compose emails to help you write faster. Phrase learns your own writing style and vocabulary. Its AI writing model generates tailored autocomplete predictions specific to the email content and who you are addressing.

As you write an email, Phrase pops up autocomplete options letting you accept its suggestions with a single tab. This saves time while maintaining your authentic voice. Beyond autocomplete, Phrase summarizes long emails and reminds you to follow up on unreplied emails. The core features are free with advanced options requiring an Anthropic subscription.

10. Text Generator

Text Generator allows you to instantly generate content from a wide range of AI models. Simply customize your preferred type of text like blog posts, tweets, lyrics, essays, marketing copy, stories, and more. Text Generator will produce original text samples for you to use or refine. Adjust length, tone, keywords, and other attributes.

The extension gives you easy access to advanced AI generators like GPT-3. Text Generator is great for ideation when starting a new project. Let the AI work give you ideas or kickstart your own creation process. It’s also handy for generating rough drafts. The basic version of Text Generator has limited usage for free before paid plans unlock more generation capabilities.