Compare AI tools

	Cursor S	Fathom S	Perplexity S	Adobe Firefly A
Tagline	VS Code fork that made AI coding actually work.	Meeting notes, free forever for individuals.	AI search done right. Cited answers, not chat theater.	Commercially safe image gen, deeply integrated with Photoshop.
Category	coding	meeting	research	image
Pricing	Free + $20/mo Pro + $40/mo Business	Free for individuals + $15-$29/user/mo teams	Free + $20/mo Pro	Free + included with Creative Cloud
Best for	Developers. Non-developers who want to ship working code.	Solo operators, freelancers, small teams on a budget.	Replacing Google for any question where you want a cited answer in seconds.	Anyone in Creative Cloud. Brands that need copyright clarity.
Strengths	Tab completion feels like mind-reading Composer for multi-file edits Runs Claude, GPT, Gemini — you pick	Unlimited free tier for solo use Strong summaries + action items Works in Zoom, Meet, Teams	Sources every claim Fast, current answers Pro Search runs multi-step research Spaces for persistent context	Trained on licensed content — commercially safe Generative Fill in Photoshop is incredible Native to Adobe ecosystem
Weaknesses	Can feel overwhelming for non-coders Expensive at scale	Bot-joining model Team features gated	Not a general chatbot Answers can be shallow on complex topics	Aesthetic ceiling below Midjourney Tied to Adobe subscription
Kai's verdict	S-tier for coding. If you write code of any kind, this pays back the $20 in a day.	S-tier for solo + free. The best free option, hands down.	S-tier for search. I use it before Google now. If you're still Googling everything, try this for a week.	S-tier inside Photoshop (Generative Fill). B-tier standalone.
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