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Setapp is a subscription with 300+ curated Mac, iOS, and web apps, and it has six AI apps you can try without paying upfront: Pinchbar, Refolder, and AgenToDo are free to install, and Vexel, ImageWiz, and Eney run on AI credits or a free trial.
Paid AI tools often cost $5 to $20 USD a month each, and the bill adds up fast. Free AI tools often have strict usage limits or unclear data handling. Here’s how each one works.
Setapp gives you two ways to get free AI tools for Mac.
Some apps are available on Setapp Marketplace with a free Setapp account. You can install them without subscribing, but using their AI features requires AI credits. You can buy a Setapp AI credit subscription and use them as you go.
| Option | Cost | What you get |
| Free Setapp account | $0 | Pinchbar, Refolder, AgenToDo |
| Setapp 7-day trial | $0 for 7 days | 270+ apps and AI credits |
| Setapp Membership | $14.99 USD/mo + tax | 1,000 AI credits a month* |
| AI credit subscription | From $14.99 USD/mo | 10,000 to 50,000 credits |
| Eney trial | $0 for 14 days | 10,000 AI credits |
The other option is Setapp’s 7-day free trial. It gives you access to 300+ apps, including 20+ AI apps, plus AI credits.
After the trial, Setapp Membership costs $14.99 USD/month + tax and includes 1,000 AI credits a month on monthly billing (300 on annual billing). Setapp AI+ plans offer larger monthly credit allocations.
For more picks beyond the free tools, see this guide to the best AI apps for Mac.
Pinchbar is an AI clipboard tool that lives in your menu bar and helps you rewrite, summarize, translate, or fact-check text without leaving the app you’re working in. Copy or highlight text, and a pop-up lists actions you can run in one click.
You can also run each action from a keyboard shortcut, such as ⌃1 for fixing grammar. The app keeps a searchable clipboard history and automatically detects and locks sensitive items such as passwords and tokens.
Vexel lets you turn text you don’t want to read into an audio you can listen to. It offers cloud voices in English, Ukrainian, German, Arabic, and Portuguese, plus every voice already installed on your Mac.
What I like most is that you can create a conversation with several people, so you can even use it to make a podcast or audiobook. You can tweak the voice settings to make them sound as natural or balanced as you like.
Refolder is among the best free AI apps for Mac if you want to tame the persistent chaos in your Downloads, Desktop, or Misc folder. Refolder works with Apple Intelligence (on-device) or Setapp AI credits, and you can set it to watch a specific folder so new files are sorted in the background. You can review moves before they happen.
Let AI sort your Downloads folder for you. Refolder proposes a plan, and you approve the moves. Free with a Setapp account. Needs macOS 15 or later. Get Refolder Free.
AgenToDo lets you create events and tasks in plain language. Instead of breaking an event into specific action items, tell the agent what you need to do, and it will structure the work. You can also use it to reschedule events or even ask the agent to plan your day. It will structure it around your existing tasks and events.
AgenToDo shows a preview of each change and applies it only after you approve.
Tell your task manager what to do in plain language. AgenToDo previews every change before it happens. Free forever; AI features use Setapp credits. Get AgenToDo Free.
ImageWiz is a web-based AI image generator that turns a text prompt into an image, in styles from photorealistic to pixel art. It offers preset styles such as Pencil Sketch, Photorealistic, and anime, making it easy to steer an image towards a particular aesthetic.
To change part of an image, bring it into the Edit tool and describe the change. ImageWiz can also remove backgrounds and upscale images.
Stop paying for a separate image generator. ImageWiz is included with Setapp Membership. Cancel anytime. Uses AI credits. Start My 7-Day Trial.
Eney is a Mac AI assistant that takes over Mac and work admin tasks that waste your time. You can use it to convert files, split PDFs, summarize documents, or create tasks in your work apps.
The AI assistant also connects to apps like Notion, Linear, Google Docs, Google Drive, Mail, and Gmail to handle tasks that distract you from higher-level work. You can just tell Eney to “Plan my day,” or “Organize my desktop,” and it will do it.
Say you subscribe to one app in each category above: writing, text-to-audio, file organization, task management, and image generation.
The monthly bill quickly adds up and actually exceeds a monthly Setapp membership.
| AI tool category | Illustrative monthly cost |
| AI writing assistant | $6 USD |
| Transcription and voice tool | $10 USD |
| File organization tool | $8 USD |
| AI task manager | $5 USD |
| AI image tool | $10 USD |
| Total for five tools | $48 USD/month |
*Estimates based on market prices
Compare that with Setapp’s subscription, which costs $14.99 USD per month plus tax and offers 1000 credits. The subscription includes 20+ AI apps from a library of 300+, letting you try different AI and standard Mac apps to find what fits your workflow.
There’s also the Setapp AI credits alternative. Pinchbar, Vexel, Refolder, AgenToDo, and ImageWiz work with a free Setapp account. You only need to add AI credits.
The Starter AI credit subscription gives you 10,000 credits for $14.99 USD/month. Boost gives 25,000 for $29.99, and Power gives 50,000 for $49.99. In my experience, sorting a 4GB Downloads folder with Refolder costs about 75 credits, and you can use the AI credit subscription with any of the free AI tools included in Setapp to consolidate your monthly AI app bill.
Here’s how to access Setapp’s free AI tools:
This will give you access to 300+ apps and 1000 free AI credits. Cancel before day 7, and you won’t be charged.
Stop paying for AI tools. Try them in one place. Setapp Membership includes 20+ AI apps. Free for 7 days. 1,000 AI credits a month on monthly billing. Start My 7-Day Trial.
Pinchbar, Refolder, and AgenToDo are free to install with a free Setapp account. Vexel, ImageWiz, and Eney run on AI credits or a free trial. Free features work without credits, but Setapp AI features use them.
Yes. Setapp offers a 7-day free trial to new users with access to 300+ Mac, iOS, and web apps and AI credits. If you cancel before day 7, you won’t be charged. After the trial, Setapp Membership costs $14.99 USD/month + tax.
No. Setapp AI apps run through Setapp AI Gateway, which gives access to models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and others using Setapp AI credits, so you don’t need separate subscriptions or API keys. Some apps, such as Pinchbar and Refolder, can also use Apple Intelligence on-device.
Setapp AI credits are the usage currency for AI features, and the cost varies by task. Membership includes 1,000 per month on monthly billing, and an AI credit subscription adds 10,000 (Starter), 25,000 (Boost), or 50,000 (Power). For example, sorting a 4 GB Downloads folder with Refolder costs about 75 credits.
Often, yes. Setapp Membership costs $14.99 USD/month + tax and includes 20+ AI apps among 300+ apps. If you pay for three or more AI apps separately, Membership is likely cheaper. For example, five illustrative tool subscriptions total about $39 USD a month.
Some do. Pinchbar and Refolder can use Apple Intelligence on-device, which needs macOS 15 or later (macOS 15.6 for Pinchbar), and AgenToDo works offline for its non-AI features. Vexel can read with voices installed on your Mac. Online models use Setapp AI credits.
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