A Guide To The Best Chrome AI Extension For You
You surely have heard of many Chrome AI extensions, right? Let us introduce to some that can greatly help you not only in work, but also study, research, productivity, etc. Also, we will elaborate more on why you will need them and which to pick. Keep on reading to learn the right thing for your Google Chrome.
A Slight Look Into AI Chrome Extensions
The wave of AI has surely captured the attention from many of you. ChatGPT, Gemini or CoPilot have impressed many people by their great functions as assistant, helpers and friends. These powerful models have given users many benefits to the daily lives and are becoming more widely adopted.
Give such promising future, lots of developers have wrapped AI into Google Chrome web store extensions. This has led to the birth of various notable AI extensions for chrome like Monica, Sider.ai, Merlin and most recently, BuddyBeep.
However, with such a wide range of options, which should you choose from? Well, that depends on your needs, budget and requirements.
But first, let's see how AI extension helps you with your life.
The Benefits Of Using AI In Google Chrome
Basically, using these extensions do not require you to switch between tabs when asking AI something. Once you install them, you can directly talk to AI in a sidebar which means everywhere in your Google Chrome. Genius!
So, let's dive deeper into each benefit, shall we?
Functionality
As mentioned above, normally, you have to switch between different tabs when chatting with AI and doing so is sometimes really frustrating. But now, the AI directly appears in the sidebar, allowing you to have conversations whenever you want.
Moreover, with this, you save a lot of time, trust us. Instead of browsing then talking and waiting for AI to answer, now you can browse and talk simultaneously.
All-in-one
Different AI models have their own strengths and weaknesses. Additionally, they carry different tasks for example, some excel at generating text and responses, while the others only create images.
Here is when AI chrome extensions come to the rescue. With different models integrated into only one sidebar, you can freely switch based on the tasks. But, just sometimes, it comes with a cost.
Time Saving
Imagine that you spend maybe 5 seconds each time you switch between tabs to chat with AIs, then each day you will lose nearly 10 minutes if you perform around 100 queries. Just add up with the days, and your time is just flying away for nothing.
So, the Chrome extension here will help you get back the precious time by allowing you to do much more while still keeping in touch with the AI every time. Now, you have 10-20 minutes each day to do another fun thing, maybe like doing exercises, playing with your pets, etc.
Keeping your thoughts
Some extensions like BuddyBeep even help you to save website and notes to read later. Even more than that, you can arrange, edit those notes to form a second brain containing new ideas, knowledge from the Internet.
You do not have time to read later? No worries, because text-to-speech is always ready to help you go through the notes perhaps while driving.
Yeah, that is what we are talking about. Use AI in Google to its best and let it improve your life.
Some Worth-Using ChatGPT Chrome Extension
Actually, Chrome AI extension which will be mentioned here performs tasks just the same as ChatGPT, but they are not developed by the company created that AI. But, still, you can still use ChatGPT in them.
Now, let us walk you through the advantages and disadvantages of four most awesome new Google AI wrappers. They are Sider.ai, Monica, Merlin and BuddyBeep.
Let's go!
Sider.ai
Sider.ai is basically an extension offering AI assistant with the basic features like chatting, writing, reading, translating,... Also, it offers image generation through text as well.
It is undeniably a comprehensive tool and it is available on different platforms, too. You can use Sider.ai on both browser and mobile (yep, they have a mobile app).
Furthermore, it integrates different AI models like GPT, Gemini, Claude, etc. which should allow you to flexibly choose based on needs.
Apart from that, with a huge userbase and long time in the market, Sider.ai is obviously worth checking.
That being said, this Chrome extension still comes with some disadvantages that you really need to consider.
The first thing is the pricing. Sider.ai is not free to use as its basic plan costs nearly 7 USD/month if you purchase the yearly plan and will start from 10 USD/month on the monthly plan.
The second thing is related to the functionality. Since it includes several tasks, the learning curve is high as the interface gets more and more complex. Furthermore, this extension consumes lots of resources from your computer, thus might making the browser load slower.
Monica
In short, Monica is similar to Sider.ai except that it does not offer image generation (or not yet). If you need a personal assistant appearing as an AI extension for Chrome, then Monica should do the job well.
Monica also has many different models integrated, hence giving you options to choose from when needs arise. Also, since the features of this extension mainly circles around chatting and writing, it is easier to use than Sider.ai.
That does not mean Monica is a perfect AI extension. Like Sider.ai, it also takes up lots of your computer's power because of the integrations of different models, thus reducing the performance.
In addition to that, Monica's plans cost quite a lot. Its cheapest plan starts at 8.3 USD/month, higher than Sider.ai. Of course, it costs more if you want to upgrade to higher plan while the free version is quite limited in access.
BuddyBeep
Now, let's welcome a new AI assistant coming to the Google Chrome extension store. BuddyBeep offers writing, researching, chatting, translating, etc. with the base on three most popular models, Claude, Gemini and ChatGPT. Moreover, it offers YouTube integration which helps you transcribe videos and summarize them.
While BuddyBeep does not have a wide range of features like the two above, it is designed to simplify your experience with an AI assistant. It also has a note section (like Notion), where you can keep everything in reach and save it for later. Also, the interface is straightforward and user-friendly.
Regarding the strengths, BuddyBeep is really light, run fast and does not consume too much memory, hence giving your computer more room to breath. Also, it is currently free and has lots of potential in becoming your strong everyday buddy.
Of course, since it is a newcomer AI for Chrome, it does not offer much models and features which can become a hinderance. But, give us some time to develop and maybe you will see a miracle.
Besides, bugs and errors are hard to avoid, but maybe you can join the development of it to create an all-rounder Chrome AI extension
Merlin
Merlin is basically the same as Monica with a focus on text generation. It is always up-to-date with the newest models offered to users.
Regarding the strengths, Merlin is pretty easy to use and is powerful with the tasks. It also strives to improve with continuous updates to bring better user experience.
Along with that, the free plan of Merlin is quite generous with a large number of queries each day. But, besides that, all advanced features are locked.
Moreover, Merlin is better suited to team's use as the personal pricing plan is expensive while the team plan is much more affordable. So, if you are not in an organization or want to have something very "personal", Merlin might not be a good choice.
And that is the end of the summaries on four best AI extension for chrome.
A Summary Of The Four Chrome Extensions Mentioned
Aspects | Sider.ai | Monica | BuddyBeep | Merlin |
---|---|---|---|---|
Features | Writing Researching Translating Chatting Image generating | Writing Researching Translating Chatting | Writing Researching Translating Chatting YouTube summarizing Noting | Writing Researching Translating Chatting YouTube summarizing |
Strengths | Lots of models Available on different platforms Large userbase Long time in the market | Lots of models Available on different platforms Long time in the market | Simple, easy to use Free Light, run fast High potential in development | Easy to use Suited to team use Generous free plan |
Weaknesses | Steep learning curve High resources consumption Costly | Costly High resources consumption | Limited models integrated Limited number of features | Expensive in personal use High resources consumption |
Pricing | Starting from 7 USD/month | Starting from 8.3 USD/month | Free | Starting from 15 USD (team's plan) |
Final Thoughts
So, from this article, you surely have seen that there many Chrome extension as AI assistant to choose from and it all depends on your requirements and usages.
We hope that you have been able to decide a final pick through this post and if you want to join the development of BuddyBeep or try BuddyBeep, come here with us! We are more than ready to be your companion and assisting the growth regardless of your expertise and directions.