30+ AI Tools For Early-Stage Startups; For Engineering, Marketing, Sales, and More

AI tools and early-stage startups are a match made in heaven. According to McKinsey, adoption of AI in business has shot up dramatically in the last year, with no sign of slowing down in 2025. If you’re not already on board, you might already be falling behind!

When you’re an early-stage startup every choice you make matters, but especially where it concerns the tools you invest in. Using AI tactically and responsibly can supercharge your productivity and fill skills gaps in your team.

But how do you choose which ones to go for? That’s what we’re here for! Here you’ll find our recommendations for the best AI tools for engineering, marketing, sales, design, and more!

What Makes an AI Tool ‘The Best’?

With the sheer volume of AI tools out there, to label something ‘the best’ is a pretty bold claim. So what’s our criteria?

• Price: must be budget-friendly for the majority of founders. Bonus points for including a free trial, and not needing to go through any long-winded deal-making processes with sales teams.
• User-friendliness: not only does this shorten the learning curve for teammates, but the reality is that in startups, at some point, people have to roll up their sleeves and help out with a job that isn’t their speciality. So having user-friendly tools that are easy to learn is key to managing staff changes.
• Integration: having a working tech ecosystem is everything, and an important investment in your future tech stack.
• Support: if you’re making a new tool an integral part of your stack, you need to know that the customer service is top-notch.

There rarely is a one-size fits all solution, so while we’ve picked our favorites in each category, you’ll also get the other contenders for the title.

AI Tools Every Early-Stage Startup Needs

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Best AI Tool for Engineering: GitHub Copilot

GitHub is a mainstay of engineering, and GitHub Copilot is no different. While it’s no replacement for real engineers, its real-time code suggestions and autocompletion significantly speed up the development process. When you’ve got a lot to do and few hands to do it with, this is an obvious advantage. By taking care of the monkey work with AI, your engineers will be freed up to solve the problems that require their expertise and creativity.

We’re big fans of harnessing the AI features of tools and platforms that your teams will already be familiar with. It makes adoption that much easier! Since GitHub integrates seamlessly with so many popular development environments, you should have no trouble adopting it into your stack.

Price: Enterprise plans start from $19 USD per month, with individual plans costing $10 USD per month

Runners Up:

• Tabnine: Great for coding across multiple languages, and can train private AI models from your repositories.
• DeepCode: Best for bug detection and intelligent cybersecurity options, with both cloud-based and on-premises solutions.
• Amazon CodeGuru: Automate code reviews and get automatic suggestions for improving performance and removing bottlenecks.

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Best AI Tool for Marketing: HubSpot

HubSpot is one of the biggest names in the digital marketing world. Its user-friendliness makes it a favorite among more junior marketers, and its breadth of features and integration options keeps it in the stacks of more seasoned professionals. Its AI workflows are built from plain language descriptions, making it easy to pick up for non-technical teammates.

While there are tools which handle individual marketing tasks, HubSpot is a great all-in-one tool for when you’re light on marketing teammates. They’re also very big on education, with a wealth of resources on everything from upcoming trends to getting the most out of the tool. Both of these make it a great choice for early-stage startups.

Price: Get started completely for free, with Enterprise plans going up to $150 USD.

Runners Up:

• Albert: Take the guesswork out of your ad campaigns, with AI-driven optimizations. Track performance and maximize ROI.
• Smartly.io: Take control of your social ads, with AI-driven optimizations and tracking. Loved by companies like Uber, Spotify, and McDonalds…you’d be in good company!
• MarketMuse: Easy keyword research that’ll tell you not just what to write, but how to gain topical authority and differentiate yourself from your competitors with content.
• Sprout Social: The best tool specifically for social media management. Automate manual tasks and focus on what matters most, with access to over a decade of historical social data.
• Style AI: Forget pricey SEO agencies, this is your AI alternative! Automate code changes and get advanced SEO analytics.

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Best AI Tool for Customer Service: Zendesk

Zendesk is an all-in-one customer service platform loved by companies of all sizes, allowing you to streamline your customer support processes across multiple platforms. With a long list of customization and integration options. Zendesk can be made to fit your business at the early stage and grow with you. 

It’s no wonder one of the world’s most popular customer service platforms has great customer service! You need tools you can rely on, and Zendesk’s support is unparalleled.

Price: Prices vary from $19 USD to $115 USD per month depending on your plan. Speaking to their Enterprise team may help you bag a bargain.

Runners Up:

• Intercom: Intercom’s AI-powered chatbots help customers get through simple FAQ with minimal human contact, and help you scale your customer service with ease.
• Freshdesk: Promising to help you ‘control the chaos’, Freshdesk can automate your conversations with customers across multiple channels.
• Tidio: A user-friendly option for less technical teams, with no-code solutions and flow visualizations.
• Drift: Now acquired by Salesloft, Drift focuses on conversational AI allowing for more human-sounding interactions with your customers.

Best AI Tool for Productivity: Bash

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Bash makes information overload a thing of the past. Automate tedious tasks like note-taking, meeting minute-writing and creating basic documents, freeing you up for more important things. Bash is also incredibly versatile, whether you’re keeping up with industry trends, keeping an eye on your competitors, or building key project documentation.

Bash integrates with your data sources, to help you get more up-to-date insights that you can act on quickly. It also allows you to harness the power of your meetings, with recordings and automated minute-taking so you never have to miss an action point again.

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Productivity and collaboration are the cornerstones of growth for early-stage startups, and Bash helps even the most junior managers be great at both. Transform the way you manage projects, and get everyone in the team on the same page!

With Bash you also get a library of templates to get you started, 

Price: Get started completely for free!

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Best AI Tool for Design: Figma

Figma hardly needs an introduction, as it’s one of the most well-known design tools around! But what you may not know is that they’ve just announced a whole host of new AI features. Fiddly tasks like removing backgrounds are now done with the click of a button, and you can now design first draft prototypes in seconds. Your designers can spend less time getting bogged down by the basics, and more time doing what they do best.

We love Figma for early-stage startups for its user-friendliness and for how well-known it is in the startup design world. Any designer you bring on board will likely be familiar with it, allowing them to jump right in and start making great stuff.

Price: Anyone can start using Figma for free, going up to $75 USD monthly for enterprise plans.

Runners Up:

• Uizard: Spend less time agonizing over wireframes, and iterate on UI designs faster
• Looka: Get AI assistance with your brand design, with templates to get you started. Craft everything from a great logo to your business cards.
• Canva: The best beginner-friendly design tool with a library of templates and AI tools to help even the least artistic among you make great designs.
• Sketch: Similar to Figma, Sketch is known for being more precise and for its strong community of designers who create plugins and resources. 

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Best GenAI Tools for Images and Content: Midjourney

Now that Midjourney has made it off of Discord, it takes the #1 spot thanks to its high-quality images and large community of enthusiastic users. It’s also incredibly versatile, allowing you to choose from a range of artistic styles. Do you want photorealistic images for your ad campaigns, or abstracts for your website backgrounds? Midjourney can do it all! For the time-strapped startup, its model also requires fewer prompts thanks to its focus on text-to-image efficiency.

And don’t worry - Midjourney offers plans for businesses with commercially-safe images.

Price: For light usage, the basic plan costs $10 USD per month. The ‘mega plan’ for heavy users costs $120 USD per month, with a couple of plans in between.

Runners Up:

• Lummi: On a mission to rid the world of boring stock, Lummi is the best choice for easily tweaking generated images to your exact needs.
• DALL-E 3: From OpenAI, DALL-E works hard to make sure that all images are ethically sourced, with creators able to opt-out of having their work included in the model.
• Adobe Firefly: A great choice if you’re already using Adobe for a more seamless design experience, but also if you want to be 100% sure your GenAI designs are commercially safe.
• Suno: Suno was built by a team of musicians and AI experts, helping you generate music no matter your background. They’re currently partnering with Timbaland…yes, that Timbaland!
• Heygen: Video production is expensive, a common pain point for startups. Heygen lets you create and translate video content without footing the bill.

Best AI Tool for Operations: Make

Automation tools are nothing new, but they’re often not the most user-friendly. Enter, Make. If it’s possible to automate something, Make can probably handle it. This makes it incredibly versatile, used by marketing, sales, IT, HR, finance, and many more. This versatility is what makes it a perfect choice for early-stage startups.

What really sets it apart from the competition is its user-friendliness, with intuitive drag-and-drop designs that practically anyone can learn. But this doesn’t make it any less powerful.

Price: Make comes with a free plan, with more robust plans priced according to usage.

Runners Up:

• Tray.ai: An alternative to Make, but geared towards more complex automations and with more comprehensive integration options.
• Zapier: Another Make competitor, Zapier is more well-known and it may be easier to find professionals who are well-versed in it. It’s also top of the charts in terms of integration options, and may be the best choice if you’re growing fast.
• Dataiku: Make it easier for teams to collaborate on data projects together, with both visual tools and coding interfaces making it accessible for technical and non-technical teammates alike.

Best AI Tool for Sales: Smartlead.ai

Simplify and scale your outreach processes with Smartlead.ai. This is a perfect choice for early-stage startups for a few reasons. Firstly, it’s cost-effective and ideal for businesses on a budget. Secondly, it offers multi-channel capabilities allowing you to manage all of your sales outreach in one place. Thirdly, it integrates with most major CRMs. Finally, it provides detailed analytics and A/B testing, allowing you to optimize with speed.

Price: Basic plans start at $39 USD per month, going up to $174 USD per month for the all-inclusive Custom plan

Runners Up:

• Gong: Analyze customer interactions to see where you need to improve. Get real-time coaching and forecast with accuracy.
• Hunter.io: Curate a verified contacts list based on your ideal customer profile. Make cold emailing less of a chore with solutions for sending personalized emails at scale.
• 11x.ai: A Sales Development Rep who has access to every buyer on Earth in real-time? It’s not science fiction, it’s Alice; the world’s first digital SDR.

Tips for Adopting AI Tools

Still shopping around? If you haven’t found a specific tool you’re looking for, or you’re just enjoying seeing what’s out there, you won’t be surprised to know that there are dozens of great directories. We recommend checking out There’s An AI For That, OpenTools, and PowerUsers.ai. 

Once you’ve chosen the tool you want to use, the next step is adopting it into your stack. Some tools will slide in seamlessly, and others will require some integration. Whatever the case, there is an art to adopting new tools and lessening the learning curve for your team:

1. Invest the time: There’s a learning curve so if you’re not getting the results you want on the first day, don’t toss it out of the window. Take the time into learning how your new tool works and how to get the best out of it.
2. Set realistic goals, and measure them: Understand exactly what you’re trying to achieve with each tool, with set KPIs and realistic goals. Keep an eye on the evolution of the results, to make sure it’s doing what it’s supposed to.
3. Take advantage of free education: Most tools will come with templates, how-to’s, webinars, and guides. These aren’t just marketing materials, they’re there to help you understand how to make the most of the tool.
4. Listen to team feedback: Tools will only work for you if everyone is willing to try them. Encourage experimentation and curiosity, but be open to taking less positive feedback onboard too!

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