Chat assistants
12Where you talk to a model. The same model behaves differently in different products — system prompts and tooling matter more than the parameter count.
CChatGPTHotOpenAI's general chat entry point. The GPT-6 line launches here, with Canvas, web access and code execution in one place.Broadest ecosystemFreeOverseas↗
CClaudeHotAnthropic's chat product. The best reputation for long-document handling and writing quality, and Artifacts renders a previewable page on the spot.Best for long textFreeOverseas↗
GGeminiHotGoogle's multimodal assistant, wired into Search, Workspace and Android. Very long context is its home turf.MultimodalFreeOverseas↗
DDeepSeekHotDeepSeek's official chat. The open weights and the API are the same model, the reasoning trace can be expanded, and prices are among the lowest in its tier.ValueFree↗
DDoubaoHotByteDance's chat product. The most complete voice interaction and persona features, and the easiest for ordinary users to pick up.Strong voiceFree↗
KKimiMoonshot's long-context assistant. Whole-page parsing and batch file handling are smooth — built for grinding through reports and papers.Long contextFree↗
QQwenAlibaba Cloud's chat entry point, where you can try the whole Qwen size range. Attachment parsing and document translation are the common uses.Full stackFree↗
CChatGLMZhipu's chat product. The GLM line reads naturally in Chinese, and agent and tool-call configuration is fairly open.Natural ChineseFree↗
TTencent YuanbaoRuns both Hunyuan and DeepSeek with a switch between them; its WeChat Official Account search is a corpus you cannot get elsewhere.WeChat corpusFree↗
LLe ChatMistral's chat product. Response speed is the selling point, and European compliance often makes it the default choice.FastFreeOverseas↗
GGrokxAI's assistant. Dense real-time information and a looser tone — good for reading public sentiment and how a story is developing.Real-timeFreeOverseas↗
PPoeCompare dozens of models and community bots under one subscription — the least painful place to run model-selection experiments.Multi-modelFreeOverseas↗AI search
8Retrieval-style answers with cited sources. Good for checking facts and doing research; not for tasks that need deep reasoning.
PPerplexityHotThe benchmark for retrieval-style answers, with clickable sources; Pro search breaks the question into sub-queries and runs several rounds.Cites sourcesFreeOverseas↗
MMetasoHotOne of the best academic-leaning searches in China: no ads, source types can be restricted, and it generates mind maps and outlines directly.No adsFree↗
PPhindSearch built for developers — answers come with runnable snippets and links to the official docs.For developersFreeOverseas↗
FFeloA Japanese AI search with strong cross-lingual retrieval — it works well when you ask in Chinese and need English sources.Cross-lingualFreeOverseas↗
GGensparkTurns one search into a readable page or deck — good for a quick industry scan.Report builderFreeOverseas↗
TTiangongKunlun's search assistant with broad Chinese coverage, including documents, audio and video.Broad ChineseFree↗
YYou.comResearch search with switchable models and custom agents for multi-step tasks.Multi-modelFreeOverseas↗
EExaA semantic search API built for AI: it finds pages by meaning rather than keywords, which suits RAG corpora.For developersFreeOverseas↗Coding & dev
11From single-line completion to whole-repo rewrites — the levels differ enormously. Decide whether you want a line completed or a module refactored.
CCursorHotA VS Code-based AI editor with whole-repo indexing and multi-file rewrites; the gap to a completion plugin is cross-file refactoring.Repo-wide editsFreeOverseas↗
WWindsurfAn editor driven by the Cascade flow that chains multiple edits together — built for letting the AI run the whole path.Agent flowFreeOverseas↗
CClineAn open-source VS Code agent with your own API key. Every step needs your approval — control in exchange for peace of mind.Open, controllableFreeOverseas↗
CContinueAn IDE plugin that can point at local models — the usual answer when code cannot leave the corporate network.Local modelsFreeOverseas↗
TTraeByteDance's AI IDE with a Chinese interface and direct domestic access — a lighter alternative to Cursor.Direct in ChinaFree↗
QLingmaAlibaba Cloud's coding assistant; the enterprise edition can be self-hosted, and its Java completion is among the best in China.Private deployFree↗
Vv0By Vercel: one sentence produces a working React/Tailwind page — the fastest route to a front-end prototype.Instant front-endFreeOverseas↗
BBolt.newRuns a full project in the browser and deploys as soon as you finish editing — for validating ideas, not long-term maintenance.Full stack in browserFreeOverseas↗
RReplitAn online IDE with an agent that goes from writing code to deploying on one page — handy for teaching and group projects.All-in-oneFreeOverseas↗
DDevinAn autonomous agent sold as an AI engineer: it reads docs and opens PRs, though a human still needs to watch the critical steps.AutonomousOverseas↗Image generation
10Text-to-image and image editing. Chinese tools generally understand Chinese prompts better than overseas ones.
MMidjourneyHotStill in the top tier for aesthetics — style consistency and mood are its steadiest strengths, useful for concepts and visual reference.Top-tier aestheticsOverseas↗
JJimengHotThe image and video tool from the CapCut ecosystem: good Chinese prompt comprehension, fast output, and it plugs into an editing workflow.Chinese-friendlyFree↗
KKlingHotFrom Kuaishou: the strongest domestic image-to-video on motion plausibility and physical feel, and it does image generation too.Top domestic videoFree↗
LLiblibAIChina's largest model and workflow community, with a huge library of LoRA and ComfyUI workflows you can run online.Model hubFree↗
SStability AIThe official Stable Diffusion home. Open weights you can deploy locally, with a level of control and ecosystem no closed product offers.Open, localFreeOverseas↗
FFLUXBlack Forest Labs' model: strong text rendering and photoreal detail, and it sits under many commercial products.Strong detailFreeOverseas↗
RRecraftBuilt for vector work and brand visuals, exporting SVG so recolouring or retexting needs no redraw.SVG outputFreeOverseas↗
LLeonardo.AiA generation platform aimed at game art: model training, inpainting and upscaling in one chain, so assets come out fast.Game artFreeOverseas↗
KKreaA live canvas that renders as you draw — better for finding composition and lighting than rolling the dice on prompts.Live canvasFreeOverseas↗Video generation
8Text-to-video, image-to-video and digital humans. Consistency is still the bottleneck — finished clips mostly come down to how many times you roll.
SSoraHotOpenAI's video generation, strongest on narrative continuity and camera language, though length and controllability remain limits.Best narrativeFreeOverseas↗
RRunwayAimed at professional work: camera control, motion brush and green-screen keying are all there, which is why ad and short-film teams use it.Pro toolchainFreeOverseas↗
PPikaLight and playful with plenty of effect templates — the fastest route to social media clips.Effect templatesFreeOverseas↗
HHailuoMiniMax's video product, with natural facial expression and camera movement and accurate responses to Chinese prompts.Accurate ChineseFree↗
LLuma Dream MachineSteady image-to-video with controllable start and end frames — good for animating a still.Image-to-videoFreeOverseas↗
VViduShengshu's product, built around multi-subject consistency, so scenes with recurring characters hold together.Consistent charactersFree↗
HHeyGenDigital humans with lip sync that matches multilingual dubbing — saves time on product and training videos.AvatarsFreeOverseas↗
SSynthesiaAn enterprise avatar-video platform with full compliance and collaboration flows — good for producing multilingual courses at volume.EnterpriseOverseas↗Audio & music
7Speech synthesis, voice cloning and music generation. The gap between Chinese and overseas tools on Chinese prosody and emotion is closing.
SSunoHotOne sentence yields a finished song with usable vocals and arrangement — the de facto standard in music generation.Full songsFreeOverseas↗
EElevenLabsHotThe most natural timbre and the best emotional control in speech synthesis, common for multilingual dubbing and audiobooks.Most natural voiceFreeOverseas↗
FFish AudioA platform that started in open-source TTS: rich Chinese voices, cloning from a few seconds of audio, and cheaper than overseas options.Chinese cloningFreeOverseas↗
UUdioMore careful about sound quality and arrangement complexity — for music that needs polishing.Detailed arrangementFreeOverseas↗
TTTSMakerFree online text-to-speech with dozens of languages and voices — enough for short voice-overs, no signup needed.FreeFree↗
NNetEase TianyinNetEase's music generator, with arrangement templates leaning Chinese pop — handy for short-video soundtracks.Chinese popFree↗Writing & office
8Documents, spreadsheets, meeting notes, email. The value here is fitting into an existing workflow, not how strong the model is.
NNotion AIHotAsk and rewrite straight inside your document library, searching the whole workspace — most valuable where a lot of knowledge is already written down.Knowledge baseFreeOverseas↗
WWPS AIHotKingsoft's AI edits inside Word, Excel and PowerPoint directly, so Chinese typesetting and official-document formats survive untouched.Local officeFree↗
GGammaHotFeed it an outline and get an editable web-style deck; layout changes need no dragging boxes. The fastest way to a presentation.Fastest decksFreeOverseas↗
QTingwuTranscribes meetings and lectures, splits segments and extracts action items; Chinese recognition and speaker separation are reliable.Meeting notesFree↗
FFeishuAI is embedded in docs, sheets and multi-dimensional tables, and Minutes turns a meeting straight into notes and tasks.Team workspaceFree↗
JJasperA marketing copy platform built around brand voice libraries and channel templates — good for keeping a team on message.MarketingOverseas↗
GGrammarlyReal-time proofing for English writing; its tone and clarity suggestions are far more useful than grammar checking alone.English polishFreeOverseas↗
NiFlytek TingjianA long-standing transcription service that still holds an edge on dialects and noisy rooms — good for cleaning up interviews.Dialects↗Agents & automation
8Models calling tools and running processes on their own. Whether it can finish ten steps reliably is what separates a toy from a tool.
MManusHotA general-purpose agent: give it a goal and it opens a browser, writes code and produces deliverables. Finishing long tasks is the draw.General agentFreeOverseas↗
CCozeHotBuild bots and workflows without code and publish to WeChat, Feishu or the web in one click — the most complete Chinese-ecosystem integrations.No-codeFree↗
Nn8nAn open-source automation platform that wires hundreds of services as nodes — cheaper than Zapier and self-hostable.Self-hostedFreeOverseas↗
ZZapierThe widest set of integrations; AI steps drop into existing flows. Reliable, but billed per task.Most integrationsFreeOverseas↗
MMakeVisual flow building where complex branches and loops are easier to draw than in Zapier, and per-operation pricing is cheaper.Visual flowsFreeOverseas↗
LLangChainA framework for building agents and RAG, with LangSmith tracing every call — the debug trail you cannot work without.Dev frameworkFreeOverseas↗
BBrowser UseLets a model drive a browser — logging in, clicking, filling forms — as the low-level piece for web automation.Browser controlFreeOverseas↗Design & creation
6Posters, decks, UI and brand assets. AI drafts fast; a human still has to close it out.
CCanvaHotA template-driven design tool with AI cutout, outpainting and text-to-image built in — a floor for non-designers producing assets.Many templatesFree↗
FFigmaThe industry standard for UI design, with AI focused on auto-layout, copy filling and prototype generation.Team collaborationFreeOverseas↗
GGaoding DesignAimed at Chinese e-commerce assets: main images, detail pages and promo posters follow platform rules, so changing the text is enough.E-commerce assetsFree↗
MMeitu Design StudioAI generation for product and model shots — cutout, background swap and virtual try-on in one chain, which makes e-commerce imagery fast.Product imageryFree↗
JJishi DesignA Chinese online UI tool that imports Figma files, with collaboration and handoff that fit domestic workflows better.Chinese FigmaFree↗
CChuangkitAn online design platform covering posters, WeChat article headers and e-commerce images; after AI cutout and resizing the result is commercially usable.Commercial licenceFree↗Research
8Literature search, paper skimming and citation tracing. Run through these before writing a review and save hours of filtering.
CConsensusHotAnswers straight from paper conclusions, noting how many studies support or contradict them — a time saver for evidence-based calls.Conclusion-levelFreeOverseas↗
EElicitHotTurns the literature into a structured table — sample sizes, methods and conclusions compared column by column; the prep step for a review.Literature tablesFreeOverseas↗
SSemantic ScholarAn AI-driven academic search engine whose citation context and influence analysis beat traditional databases.Free academicFreeOverseas↗
CConnected PapersDraws a paper's citation graph, so the founding work in a field and the newest follow-ups are obvious at a glance.Citation graphFreeOverseas↗
PPapers with CodePapers paired with code and leaderboards: check who leads a benchmark and what it costs to reproduce, in one place.Paper + codeFreeOverseas↗
CCNKIThe database Chinese research cannot avoid, with the fullest coverage of theses and journals. Its query syntax is worth ten minutes of learning.Chinese literature↗Models & infrastructure
10Model hosting, inference services and routing gateways. The line where self-hosting beats calling an API is lower than you think.
HHugging FaceHotHome to open models and datasets, with model cards, inference endpoints and Spaces demos in one place — the first stop when choosing a model.Open model hubFreeOverseas↗
OOpenRouterHotOne key for hundreds of models with live price and availability comparison — the easiest way to set up multi-model fallback.One key, all modelsFreeOverseas↗
OOllamaHotOpen models on your own machine in one command — the standard for development and privacy-sensitive work, and best on a Mac.One-command localFreeOverseas↗
MModelScopeAlibaba's open model community with fast domestic downloads, and a free Notebook allowance that covers small models.Fast in ChinaFree↗
RReplicatePay-per-call open models, with image and video models added fastest — for validation rather than long-term production.Pay per callFreeOverseas↗
TTogether AIHosted inference and fine-tuning for open models, with throughput and pricing that pay off at volume.Hosted fine-tuningFreeOverseas↗
GGroqCustom LPU silicon makes inference unusually fast — the first choice for real-time voice and low-latency work.Very fastFreeOverseas↗
VvLLMA high-throughput inference engine; PagedAttention squeezes the most out of VRAM, which makes it the default for self-hosted serving.Self-hosted servingFreeOverseas↗
AAlibaba Cloud BailianThe API platform for the whole Qwen family, with enterprise quotas, auditing and private knowledge bases in one place.Enterprise APIFree↗News & community
7See how others use these models and where they get stuck. First-hand news on new releases usually lands here first.
SSyncedHotThe most technically dense of the Chinese AI outlets, following both paper write-ups and vendor progress closely.TechnicalFree↗
VQbitAIHotFast to publish and close to what practitioners care about — a teardown of a new model appears the same night.Fast updatesFree↗
Rr/LocalLLaMAHotThe most honest testing ground for open models — people post real numbers on quantisation, VRAM and actual benchmarks.Open-model dataFreeOverseas↗
HHacker NewsThe day's temperature in the English-speaking tech world; the comments often carry more than the article.English-firstFreeOverseas↗
PProduct HuntWhere new products launch; its signal on whether an AI tool is actually hot beats any advertorial.New launchesFreeOverseas↗
336KrCovers AI venture funding and commercial rollout — who raised, who is cutting — sensing the temperature earlier than technical media.Business viewFree↗
IInfoQ ChinaPractice-oriented: how teams put models into production, with architecture and failure modes written up in detail.In productionFree↗