AI tools tier list

16 Mar 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:56

In this informal YouTube monologue, Nick Kugelman rates a selection of AI tools using letter grades (S, A, B, D, etc.) and provides brief commentary on each. He praises Grok (B), NotebookLM (A), Gemini (A for its YouTube/Google Docs search), Manus (S for 10× productivity), Whisperflow (A for daily use and formatting), Claude Code (top tier for building products via natural‑language prompts), and OpenClaw (S+++ as a powerful AI agent). He criticizes ChatGPT (D) and Apple Intelligence (D‑‑‑) and notes he does not use Perplexity. He also mentions building a company called Apex around these tools and invites viewers to join a waitlist. The tone is conversational, enthusiastic, and peppered with profanity.

Chapters

Grok. I like Grok, but I'm going to put it in the B. It's just still not there for me. A. It's awesome. It's not S. It's slow sometimes. NotebookLM. A. I'm learning at a pace that scares me. ChatGPT. D. What the fuck? Gemini. A. The only thing it's got is it can search YouTube videos and Google Docs. I do need that. Perplexity. I don't use Perplexity. Bottom of B for complexity only because of the new computer feature. Manus. S. You can get a 10x productivity with Manus right now. Whisperflow. A. I use it every day. It takes all my crazy gibberish garish and it puts it into sensible output and formatting. Apple Intelligence. D minus minus minus. Claude Code. Claude Code is at the top of the top. You can build every product we just talked about with Claude Code yourself with a prompt that sounds like English. OpenClaw. S plus plus plus. Would you put it over a Claude? Oh yeah. I use OpenClaw on top using Claude CLI because it's a fucking AI agent. I'm even building a whole company around this called Apex cuz I think it's the future and anybody can join the waitlist below.