Not using AI (artificial intelligence) tools isn’t an option anymore because it could mean the difference between unlockingNot using AI (artificial intelligence) tools isn’t an option anymore because it could mean the difference between achieving your full potential and getting left behind.

AI is shaping how teams work, making it one of the most effective ways to boost productivity without increasing headcount or hours.

We’re also seeing a boom in AI tools in the market; in fact, AI is everywhere these days.

so the questions that remain are:

• Which AI tools are actually a necessity vs. which ones are a fad?
• What AI technology do you need for your organization, and for which use cases?
• How can you benefit from these tools (especially as a small business)?

We created this guide to discuss the top AI tools everyone should have in their tech stack so you can get more done in less time.

Here’s a quick comparison of the tools we’ll be talking about:

Tool	Best for
PandaDoc	Saving time on contract/quote creation and document workflows (proposals, contracts, quotes, invoices), especially when you want fast, consistent, professional documents with eSign and tracking.
Qloo	Customer/audience insight and segmentation; ideal if you want data-driven understanding of customer tastes/preferences across demographics or psychographics.
Asana (with “Asana Intelligence”)	Project & workflow management productivity; great for teams wanting to plan, track, and optimize tasks more efficiently, especially when scaling work or managing many moving pieces.
Grammarly	Writing productivity booster; good for individuals or teams producing content, emails, proposals, or any written communication with improved clarity, consistency, and speed.
Midjourney	Visual content creation for marketing/design; best for marketing, social media, promotional visuals or creative assets when you don’t want to rely on stock or hire a designer.
ChatGPT	Productivity support & ideation; useful when you need versatile help for things like drafting content, ideation, research summaries, quick problem-solving, or customer-facing chat.
Jasper	Bulk content creation & marketing copywriting; ideal for blogs, marketing materials, ad copy, website copy when you need consistent volume and want to streamline content workflows.
Fliki	Video content generation from text; good for marketing teams, educators, social media content creators who want quick video assets without shooting video.
Writer	Team content coordination and consistency; best when multiple people contribute to documents or content and you need brand-aligned, quality-controlled writing at scale.
AutoResponder	Automated customer support & communication; useful for small businesses with frequent customer inquiries who want to respond quickly without manually managing every message.
Textio	HR / recruiting communications and inclusive writing; ideal if you want your job postings, internal communications or outreach to be polished, compelling, and free from unintended bias.
Otter.ai	Streamlined meeting documentation & knowledge capture; great for teams with frequent meetings, interviews, calls, or lectures who want to avoid manual note-taking and easily review or share meeting content.

What are AI productivity tools?

AI productivity tools are software apps that are powered by artificial intelligence. They typically use techniques like natural language processing (NLP), machine learning (ML), or generative AI.

These tools help teams complete tasks more efficiently and intelligently than relying on manual work.

Automating routine or time-consuming work like drafting emails, summarizing content, sorting data, etc. allows employees to focus their time on higher-value, creative, or strategic work. That means no more unnecessary repetitive tasks.

Examples of AI tools

AI tools can be writing assistants, chatbots, project-management enhancements, automated customer service agents, document-processing platforms, and more.

How AI tools boost productivity

AI tools make teams more productive by speeding up routine tasks, reducing cognitive load, and improving output quality.

For example, you can have a generative AI assistant draft emails, reports, or content much faster than it would typically take to write it from scratch. This cuts down on the busywork.

Many AI tools can help your team find bottlenecks and allocate resources more effectively by providing analysis, summarization, or workflow optimization.

This saves you time while improving quality, allowing your teams to deliver consistent, polished work without as much manual oversight.

Does ChatGPT actually increase productivity?

Yes, there’s evidence showing that ChatGPT can improve productivity in a meaningful way for some types of work.

One study from MIT found that workers using ChatGPT could complete writing tasks about 40% faster, while the quality of their work increased by 18% (judged by independent evaluators).

That said, the productivity boost isn’t universal. An experimental study found that ChatGPT helped many participants complete writing and analysis tasks more efficiently, but a significant share of participants, particularly those in non-English languages or specialized contexts, saw little to no improvement.

This data suggests that ChatGPT can help you see gains when tasks align with its strengths, like common language use, standard writing or coding tasks, general business workflows, etc. But it’s less helpful when dealing with niche or highly specialized work.

12 AI tools to boost productivity

1. PandaDoc

PandaDoc is an AI-enabled automation software that streamlines your entire document workflow end-to-end — it’s mainly PandaDoc is document automation software that streamlines your entire document workflow. It’s mainly known for its ability to collect legally valid e-signatures, customize and manage documents, and track analytics based on the interactions customers have with your documents.

However, besides this core functionality, you may not be familiar with the other capabilities in PandaDoc to optimize workflows.

• Create documents faster. Thanks to the drag-and-drop editor, prebuilt templates, Smart Content, and Content Library, you can create professional, customized documements in minutes not hours.
• Get documents approved faster. Workflow automation and approval workflows let you collaborate in real time and ensure documents reach the right people, preventing delays.
• Connect your tools. PandaDoc integrates with CRMs like HubSpot and Salesforce, as well as tools like Slack, Google Drive, and Zapier, so your documents can sync with the systems you already use.

PandaDoc AI Assistant capabilities

PandaDoc’s AI Assistant helps you work through documents faster by making it easier to find information, understand contract terms, stay organized, and monitor document progress.

• Summarize long documents or key sections so you don’t have to read everything line-by-line.
• Answer questions about agreement terms, pricing details, deadlines, or other content found in your documents.
• Find documents quickly — even if you don’t remember the file name or where it was saved.
• Monitor progress and recipient engagement, including who has viewed a document and which pages received the most attention.
• Organize files automatically with AI-driven tagging and folder management.
• Draft emails when sending documents (in supported workspaces).
• Update catalog items, such as pricing changes, via simple prompts.

How the AI Assistant boosts productivity:

Supports smoother communication through AI-suggested email drafts.

Reduces time spent searching by surfacing any contract, proposal, or file based on natural language prompts.

Eliminates manual review with instant summaries and answers you can trust.

Keeps deals moving by showing real-time status, engagement metrics, and activity updates.

Improves organization with automatic tagging and folder structuring.

2. Qloo

Qloo is a “cultural-AI” platform that helps companies understand consumer preferences.

Basically, if you want to understand your customers’ thoughts and ideas, this tool will provide you with the knowledge you need.

For example, you can ask it questions like, “What kind of hotels do people between the ages of 25-35 who like Versace also like?” or “What movies do people who like The Weekend also like?”

Here are a few other things it can do:

• Its directory consists of datasets containing billions of people, places, and things, giving it a well-rounded understanding of your customers regardless of niche, location, or other parameters.
• It uses a mix of technologies, including deep learning, search engine visibility, machine learning algorithms, neural networks, and natural language processing (NLP), to provide contextual answers that support decision-making.

You can use Qloo’s API to generate taste-based insights for your audience using anonymized behavioral and cultural data. The API returns correlations and recommendations across categories like music, film, travel, or dining, which you can apply to audience research, segmentation, or strategy work.

How it boosts productivity

• Provides fast, AI-driven customer insights without manual research
• Helps you quickly identify new market opportunities and audience segments
• Reduces time spent analyzing large sets of preference or behavioral data
• Supports more accurate targeting, making marketing more efficient

Pricing: Pricing is not listed on its website, but sources list the price at $12/month. A free trial is available too.

3. Asana

Most people know about Asana as a project management tool that helps in task organization, project tracking, and team collaboration.

It’s one of the more popular productivity tools in the market.

Asana includes a set of AI features called Asana Intelligence that help teams work more efficiently inside the platform.

• Create clearer goals with AI-assisted suggestions that help you define priorities and structure objectives.
• Summarize long task threads or descriptions into brief, digestible updates for faster review. You can also rewrite task descriptions and adjust tone or length when needed.

• Ask questions about your work to surface relevant project information, such as recent updates, task context, or assigned responsibilities.
• Identify potential blockers with insights that highlight workload pressure, timeline risks, and dependency issues.
• Draft project status summaries that give your team a quick view of progress without manual writing.

How it boosts productivity

• Summarizes task lists, updates, and project progress automatically
• Detects bottlenecks so you can fix workflow issues faster
• Supports goal creation with AI-assisted suggestions that help teams define priorities
• Helps teams stay aligned by generating clear status updates and reducing time spent writing manual reports.

Pricing: Asana has a freemium model with paid plans starting from 10.99 USD per month.

4. Grammarly

Grammarly, an AI-powered tool for content creation and error-finding, also has a handy-dandy AI copywriting assistant tool to make content generation an easy process.

Use Grammarly’s AI assistant to:

• Rewrite or rephrase text to improve clarity, tone, or structure
• Adjust length by shortening or expanding content
• Suggest tone or voice changes such as professional, confident, friendly, or neutral
• Generate ideas or help you start drafts for emails, messages, and short-form content
• Maintain context within a session so suggestions stay relevant to what you are writing
• Integrate with platforms like Microsoft Word, Chrome, LinkedIn, and other tools where you write
• Support voice typing on mobile devices through the Grammarly keyboard

Note: Grammarly’s AI prompt usage is limited and varies by subscription plan.

How it boosts productivity

• Instantly fixes grammar, typos, clarity issues, and tone mismatches
• Helps you draft emails and short-form messages faster with AI-assisted suggestions
• Reduces repetitive editing cycles with AI rewrite and style suggestions
• Keeps writing quality consistent across teams

Pricing: Grammarly offers a Free version and Pro and Enterprise plans. Contact Grammary for pricing details.

5. Midjourney

rney is an AI image generator that has the capability to generate high-quality images based on your text prompts.

Here’s the long and short of what this tool can do for you:

• Generate images in seconds based on the prompts you provide
• Follow brand, style, and image guidelines, for example, use specific artistic styles like realism, pop art, minimalism, or landscape photography
• Understand complex prompts and even create images based on hypothetical situations like “show someone from the 1700s taking a selfie.”
• It can also follow negative prompts to exclude certain things you don’t want in your images.

Safe to say, if you’re a company or content creator that produces visual content on social media but doesn’t want to spend money on Getty subscriptions and still want your images to be unique, this tool is what you need.

Perhaps the only limitation of Midjourney is its reliance on Discord as its core platform. If you’re new to Discord, it can be challenging to understand the platform.

Also, a quick FYI: You can also use Midjourney as an AI video tool, as it can generate short animations and video content based on your prompts.

How it boosts productivity

• Produces marketing visuals in seconds without design resources
• Speeds up creative brainstorming with instant concept variations
• Replaces stock-image searching and minimizes outsourcing delays
• Helps you quickly develop brand-aligned creative assets

Pricing: The Basic Plan starts at $10/month.

6. ChatGPT

This list wouldn’t be complete without mentioning open-source artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT.

It runs on large language models (LLMs) developed by OpenAI, including GPT-4 and the latest versions available to ChatGPT users.

ChatGPT can answer questions, help with reasoning tasks, generate content, and assist with coding. It can draft emails or articles, explain concepts, suggest ideas, and help you think through problems. Many teams also use it to support customer communication or assist with research, planning, or creative work.

You can provide context or instructions, and ChatGPT uses that information within the conversation to produce more relevant responses. Its ability to interpret natural language and follow the flow of a dialogue is a key part of how it works. The system continues to evolve and improve over time as new model updates are released.

How it boosts productivity

• Generates drafts for emails, blogs, reports, briefs, and code
• Summarizes long documents or research quickly
• Handles repetitive text tasks such as rewriting, cleaning up content, or reformatting
• Works as an on-demand assistant for brainstorming, planning, and problem-solving

Pricing: ChatGPT offers a free version with limited features. A paid plan is available starting at $20 per month and offers access to more advanced features.

7. Jasper

If you ever wanted an AI writing tool that’s geared towards writing high-quality content for your website, while If you ever wanted an AI writing tool that’s geared towards writing high-quality content for your website, while also considering your brand voice, check out Jasper AI.

But there are plenty of AI writing tools on the market, so what makes Jasper so special?

Here are some of the things Jasper can do:

• It can create full-fledged content pieces with just a single prompt
• It can connect with your favorite tools (e.g., Chrome and Google Docs) and become your writing sidekick when you need it (e.g., writing emails in Chrome on your behalf)
• It can also develop complete marketing campaigns from scratch (including press releases, video scripts, ad copy, and more)
• It can adhere to your brand style guide and tone. Plus, the more information you feed it, the more details it’ll memorize about your brand and develop personalized and information-rich content
• Jasper can also provide full project details, as well as the version history of each draft created. Moreover, you can also use its insights to optimize content for SEO.

How it boosts productivity

• Creates marketing copy, blogs, and SEO content at scale
• Uses brand voice guidelines to maintain consistency across campaigns
• Reduces the time you spend on research with built-in content templates
• Speeds up content workflows for marketing teams and agencies

Pricing: The Pro plan is $69/month per seat.

By the way, we did a free trial of Jasper AI and reviewed it for writing and content marketing. Learn a brief story of Jasper AI, see its use cases and check yourself out if it’s worth investing.

8. Fliki

Need an AI tool that can create videos on-demand, keeping your language and voice preferences in mind? Well,
Fliki is an AI-powered video creation tool that keeps your language and voice preferences in mind.

With this tool, you can convert your written text, tweets, PPTs, or even ideas into publish-ready videos for different use cases (e.g., reels, promo videos, product explainer videos, pitch videos, educational content, etc.).

You can also use it to create videos in more than 75 languages and can even set preferences for regional dialects (the software currently has more than 1300 voices in its database).

Alternatively, if you wish to create content in your own voice, you’ll be happy to know Fliki supports voice cloning too.

Not just that — you can also set preferences for the following:

• Video duration
• Media (videos, images, and GIFs)
• Tone preferences (e.g., excited, terrified, sad, etc)
• Speaking style (e.g., you can customize tunes, pauses, pronunciations)
• Color grading
• Subtitles
• Sizing
• Display visualization
• Background music

How it boosts productivity

• Converts scripts, blogs, or ideas into videos without editing skills
• Cuts production time by offering auto-generated voiceovers, subtitles, and visuals
• Eliminates the need for filming, recording, or manual animation
• Helps you repurpose written content into video assets quickly

Pricing: Fliki offers a free trial and Standard plans start at $14 per month. They also offer Premium and Enterprise options.

9. Writer

We know we’ve already mentioned a generative AI tool in this list, but Writer is just one of those applications that deserves its own mention.

Why do we say this? Well, here are a few things that’ll help a convincing case:

• You can use Writer to develop blogs, product descriptions, in your writing, emails, job posts, training materials, reports, and more (you can also ask it to answer questions/write answers based on individual requests).

• If you feed it transcripts or video recordings, it can capture key takeaways.

• It’s specifically designed for teams who mainly require text content for different use cases, such as sales, marketing, HR, finance, product, and design.

• You can also be assured it’ll govern responses — that’s to say, it’ll always maintain accuracy, align with your brand requirements, and flag content that may use incorrect statements.

• Writer also lets you create templates and shortcuts for commonly-used phrases.

• You even get reports based on the way you create content — e.g., it’ll show you common issues, words used, etc.

Pricing: Writers offers a free trial and a Starter and an Enterprise plan. Contact their team for pricing details.

10. AutoResponder

Compatible with apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, Signal, and Viber, AutoResponder is one of those AI tools you’ll be surprised to know is free.

The tool is an AI chatbot that can share pre-set responses with your customers. If your customers question you about commonly asked topics like pricing and features, it can share pre-set responses.

You can connect AutoResponder with ChatGPT, Dialogflow AI, GPT-4, and even your own web server to create responses.

You can also set preferences about response times, pattern matching, reply conditions, and notifications.

It can even ignore responses from certain contacts, import/export data from CSV files, and create custom responses that can be sent multiple times.

How it boosts productivity

• Automatically replies to inbound messages 24/7
• Reduces time spent answering repetitive customer inquiries
• Provides instant responses across multiple messaging platforms
• Helps small teams manage customer communication without manual effort

Pricing: AutoResponder offers a Free plan and a Pro plan that starts at $3.33 per month, paid annually.

11. Textio

Used by names like Spotify, Hulu, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Textio is an AI tool specifically designed to help HR managers recruit a diverse team and retain them.

Let’s explore its benefits:

• Textio can help HR managers optimize job descriptions to appeal to more audiences.

• It can also use keywords and brand tone/voice that will help portray your brand in a positive light and keep your values at the forefront.

• It can also automatically generate job descriptions for almost any kind of job and requirement.

• Textio can even analyze the feedback you share with your employees and help remove any biases from it.

• It can also analyze other content materials like job descriptions and social media content to help remove any bias, exclusion, or inequity from them.

• Lastly, if you’re a Textio user, you can also access their online resources to become a better people manager.

How it boosts productivity

• Optimizes job postings and HR content automatically
• Reduces time spent editing for tone, clarity, and bias
• Ensures consistent messaging across hiring campaigns
• Improves candidate communication efficiency

Pricing: Provides customized pricing based on your team size and requirements.

12. Otter.ai

If you don’t already know about Otter, it’s one of the best transcribing tools to help you create meeting notes, generate summaries, and keep track of all verbal agreements.

Basically, you can integrate Otter with your favorite communication tools (like Zoom) or upload recordings on the platform and ask it to transcribe content for you — this is specifically helpful for:

• Media personnel who need to write accurate quotes
• Sales teams that need to be assured of their verbal agreements
• College lecturers who need to provide subtitles for their course content
• Any and every kind of business that needs to create meeting minutes

Moreover, you can also leverage Otter to easily collaborate with your team members from the same platform! What’s more one can need?

How it boosts productivity

• Eliminates the need for manual note-taking during meetings
• Auto-generates summaries and action items
• Makes it easy to share searchable transcripts with your team
• Reduces time spent recapping meetings or reviewing recordings

Pricing: Four pricing options are available — Free; Pro (priced at $8.33/user/month); Business (priced at $19.99/user/month); and Enterprise (requires customized pricing).

How to choose the best AI productivity tool

With so many AI tools on the market, choosing the best one for you depends on your workflow, team size, and the problems you’re trying to solve.

Here are some criteria you can use to guide your decision:

• Identify your core bottlenecks: What tasks slow you down? This could be anything, including writing, project management, customer communication, document creation, or creative work.
• Match the tool to the use case: Select tools that are built for your workflow. For example, you’d choose PandaDoc for document processes and Grammarly for writing, etc.
• Evaluate ease of use: Whatever tool you choose should simplify your work, not make it harder. Look for ones that have intuitive interfaces, minimal setup, and quick onboarding.
• Check integration compatibility: Your tools should work with your existing tech stack, like your CRMs, messaging apps, project management platforms, document systems, etc.
• Consider scalability and collaboration: Your tool should support shared workspaces, permissions, templates, and brand consistency across your team.
• Review pricing vs. ROI: Tools that replace manual work, reduce turnaround time, or get rid of repetitive tasks will help you save on costs and give you a bigger return.

Remember to choose tools based on your needs so you can meaningfully improve productivity, rather than adding noise to your workflow.

Boost your productivity and achieve more with AI tools

With the rapid increase of AI tools, it can be overwhelming to choose the best one for your needs and your tech stack.

Our suggestion is to start with the most important ones that can take bigger tasks off your plate.

For example, you can automate e-signing with PandaDoc, giving your team more time to focus on other tasks.

It can easily integrate with most AI tools and your existing workflow.

Want to see PandaDoc in action? Sign up for a 14-day trial or request a free, personalized demo.

Frequently asked questions

• What are the best AI tools for work?

  The best AI tools will always depend on what you need. For example, PandaDoc is best for automating proposals, contracts, quotes, and document workflows, while Grammarly is great for writing and Asana for project management. Each tool will specialize in something different to address your productivity needs.

• Why do AI productibivity tools matter?

  AI tools can help you work faster and reduce friction in your everyday work by automating repetitive tasks and improving accuracy. They also give your teams time back to focus on higher-value work like strategy, customer relationships, and creative problem-solving. The end result is better quality and operational efficiency.

• Can small businesses benefit from AI productivity tools?

  Definitely! Small businesses typically have limited time and resources. AI tools can help with things like writing, customer support, document creation, marketing, task management, etc. Even simple automations can help small teams save on hours every week, meaning they can move faster without increasing headcount.

Disclaimer

PandaDoc is not a law firm, or a substitute for an attorney or law firm. This page is not intended to and does not provide legal advice. Should you have legal questions on the validity of e-signatures or digital signatures and the enforceability thereof, please consult with an attorney or law firm. Use of PandaDoc services are governed by our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.