The buyer's glossary
The words on pricing, security and AI pages, in plain English. Every entry says why it matters when you are choosing and what to ask the vendor. Where we hold the data, it ends with the tools we found it on.
AI that can plan steps and take actions on its own toward a goal, rather than only answering one prompt at a time.
An AI system that carries out tasks on its own, taking actions in other tools instead of only answering questions.
A digital presenter that speaks your script on video, so you can make talking-head videos without filming anyone.
A tool that estimates whether a piece of text was written by an AI model rather than a person.
A tool that rewrites AI-generated text so it reads more like natural human writing.
The AI-written answers Google shows at the top of some search results, summarizing information with links to sources.
Whether a vendor uses what you put into its tool to train its AI models, and whether you can stop it.
AI that translates the speech in a video into another language and often dubs it in a matching voice.
The saving you get for paying for a year up front instead of month by month.
A way for other software to talk to a tool directly, without anyone clicking through its screens.
A record of who did what in a tool, and when.
Subtitles generated automatically from the speech in a video, ready to edit and style.
AI that cuts the subject out of an image or video and removes everything behind it.
A standard test used to compare AI models on the same set of tasks.
Using your own AI model account (OpenAI, Anthropic) inside a tool, so the model usage is billed to you directly.
A small add-on that brings a tool into your web browser, so you can use it on any page.
The four-ink color system used in printing, as opposed to the RGB colors of a screen.
The method used to compress and store video or audio in a file, such as H.264, HEVC or ProRes.
Adjusting the color and tone of video footage to set a look or mood, after basic correction.
Permission to use what a tool makes, such as images, video or audio, in paid work.
How much text an AI model can take in at once, including your instructions, files and the conversation so far.
A plan that gives you a number of credits to spend, where each generation, export or task uses some of them up.
Where a vendor stores your data, and whether you can choose a region such as the EU.
Software for recording, arranging and mixing music, with tracks, instruments and effects.
A mode where an AI searches many sources over several minutes and writes a cited report instead of a quick answer.
A video, image or audio clip made or altered by AI to show someone saying or doing something they never did.
Training an existing AI model further on your own examples so it learns a style, format or task.
A version of a tool you can use for free with no end date, usually with limits on usage or features.
Time-limited free access to a paid plan, after which you pay or lose access.
One of the most capable AI models available at the time, from labs such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Google.
When an AI model states something false with confidence, such as a made-up fact, quote or source.
The US law that protects health information. A vendor handling it must sign a business associate agreement.
AI that animates a still image into a short video clip, adding movement to a photo or artwork.
AI editing that repaints a selected area of an image, to remove, replace or add something.
An international certification for how a company manages information security.
Separate stacked sheets in an image, each holding one part of the picture so it can be edited on its own.
AI that moves a face's mouth to match new audio, used for avatars, dubbing and translated video.
The kind of AI model behind chatbots and writing tools, trained on huge amounts of text to predict and generate language.
A saved color recipe that turns footage into a set look in one step.
An open standard that lets AI assistants connect to tools and data in a common way.
A standard way of recording musical notes as data, so any instrument can play them back.
AI that can work with more than one kind of input or output, such as text, images, audio and video.
A free trial you can start without entering payment details, so nothing is charged when it ends.
Editing that stores your changes separately, so the original file is never overwritten and every step can be undone.
The standard behind "Sign in with Google" and "Connect your account": it gives an app limited access without your password.
Software you pay for once and keep using, rather than renting it by the month or year.
Software whose code is published under a license that lets anyone read, change and run it.
An AI model whose trained weights are published, so anyone can download and run it themselves.
The security standard any business that stores, processes or sends card payment data has to meet.
A price charged for each person on the account, so the bill grows with the size of the team.
Hidden instructions in a web page, email or file that trick an AI model into doing something it should not.
A way of making an AI answer from your own documents by looking them up first, then writing the reply.
The unprocessed file a camera records, holding far more detail than a JPEG for editing later.
An AI model that works through a problem in steps before answering, trading speed for better results on hard questions.
Giving people permissions by role (admin, editor, viewer) instead of one by one.
A standard that adds and removes users in a tool automatically from your company directory.
Running a tool on your own servers or cloud account instead of the vendor's.
An independent audit of how a company protects customer data, reported against a standard set by the AICPA.
Software that listens to spoken audio and writes it out as text, also called transcription.
Logging in to a tool with your company account (Google, Microsoft, Okta) instead of a separate password.
Editing video or audio by editing its transcript: delete a sentence and the matching clip is cut.
AI that creates a picture from a written description, called a prompt.
Turning written text into spoken audio with a synthetic voice.
AI that turns a written prompt into a short video clip, with no camera or footage needed.
The small chunk of text an AI model reads and writes in, and the unit most AI usage is priced by.
Enlarging an image or video with AI that adds believable detail instead of just stretching the pixels.
Paying for what you use, such as per minute, per resolved ticket or per task, rather than a fixed monthly fee.
Images made of shapes and paths instead of pixels, so they stay sharp at any size.
Building software by describing what you want to an AI and accepting its code, writing little or no code by hand.
Creating an AI copy of a real person's voice from recordings, which can then read any script.
An add-on instrument or effect that runs inside audio software, in the widely used VST format.
A logo or label a tool stamps on images, videos or audio made on its free plan.
A message a tool sends to another system the moment something happens in it.
Putting your own brand on a tool (or its reports) so clients see your name, not the vendor's.
Browse tools by feature
Every tool we checked that has it, across all categories.