The latest articles on DEV Community by Daniyal Khatri (@daniyalkhatri). https://dev.to/daniyalkhatri https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F1042126%2Febd7aeb4-c345-4e1b-b05f-b545b10b50e5.jpg https://dev.to/daniyalkhatri en Daniyal Khatri Mon, 26 Oct 2026 13:38:11 +0000 https://dev.to/daniyalkhatri/i-checked-77-ai-tools-so-beginners-dont-have-to-kept-65-threw-out-12-1nd0 https://dev.to/daniyalkhatri/i-checked-77-ai-tools-so-beginners-dont-have-to-kept-65-threw-out-12-1nd0 <p>Most "awesome AI tools" lists have the same problem. They list hundreds of tools, half of them need a credit card just to try, and nobody tells you how the tools work <em>together</em>.</p> <p>So I built the list I wanted to find: <strong><a href="https://github.com/Daniyal-Khatri/awesome-ai-workflows" rel="noopener noreferrer">Awesome AI Workflows</a></strong> — AI workflows that work for beginners, free for people with no budget.</p> <h2> The rules I followed </h2> <ol> <li> <strong>Free or freemium only.</strong> If the free plan needs a credit card, the tool is out.</li> <li> <strong>Workflows, not just tools.</strong> Every workflow is a full recipe: step 1, step 2, step 3 — with the actual prompt to copy-paste at each step.</li> <li> <strong>Checked by hand.</strong> I checked 77 tools. 65 made the list. 12 were thrown out.</li> </ol> <h2> What got thrown out, and why </h2> <ul> <li>2 tools were paid-only (no real free plan)</li> <li>The rest were "fake free": trial-only plans, tools that shut down, tools whose free tier cannot do the one job they exist for</li> </ul> <p>When a listed tool dies or goes paid-only later, it gets marked ❌ (dead) or 💲 (went paid) instead of quietly disappearing. Lists should show their work.</p> <h2> What the workflows look like </h2> <p>17 workflows, each tagged by level (🟢 beginner, 🟡 intermediate, 🔴 advanced), each with an honest "free-plan catch" line. Two examples of the recipe cards:</p> <p><strong>Short-Form Video Stack</strong> — the Kling AI step:</p> <blockquote> <p>A steaming cup of coffee on a wooden table, soft morning light, slow camera push-in, vertical video, no people</p> </blockquote> <p><strong>Indie Developer Stack</strong> — the Claude step:</p> <blockquote> <p>Review this code like a kind teacher. Find the bugs, explain each one in easy words, and show the fixed version: [paste your code]</p> </blockquote> <p>There is also a 5-step beginner roadmap at the top, a "just the 5 best" box if you only have ten minutes, and cost markers on every tool: 🆓 free, 🔓 freemium. You will never see a 💳 (needs a card) marker on this list — that is the rule.</p> <h2> The data is open </h2> <p>The whole list is also a dataset — <a href="https://github.com/Daniyal-Khatri/awesome-ai-workflows/releases/tag/v1.0.0" rel="noopener noreferrer">tools.json and tools.csv</a> — free to use in your own projects. Version 1.0.0 is out now.</p> <p>If your own tool is on the list, there is a "Listed on" badge you can put on your README.</p> <h2> Who made this </h2> <p>I run <a href="https://saaslisty.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">SaaSListy</a>, a directory of AI tools and the workflows they belong to. This repo is the open companion to that work.</p> <p>Found a free tool I missed? The repo takes pull requests — one tool per PR, free plan must work without a credit card.</p> <p><strong>Repo:</strong> <a href="https://github.com/Daniyal-Khatri/awesome-ai-workflows" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://github.com/Daniyal-Khatri/awesome-ai-workflows</a></p> ai opensource beginners productivity