I Ranked the Best AI Tools to Make Money in 2026

About this video

Martell ranks popular AI tools into S, A, B, C and F tiers for making money in 2026, saying he has personally tested more than 500 AI tools at Martell Ventures, which he describes as an AI incubator launching a new company every month. His top S tier is led by ChatGPT, which he puts at the very front and says close to 700 million people use every week, followed in his discussion by tools including Grok — he says he uses Grok Heavy, the $300 a month plan in his account, and bets it will become number two behind ChatGPT — Claude, Zapier (which he says connects 6,000 apps), Granola and Gamma. A tier includes Gumloop, ElevenLabs, N8N and BuddyPro. B tier includes Runway, HeyGen, Midjourney, Leonardo and Lovable, noting in his account that people charge $10,000 to $15,000 for Lovable-built apps. C tier includes Notion AI, Fixer.ai, Notebook LM, Revio and Cursor AI. Apple Intelligence alone is placed in F tier, which he calls a waste with no real value. He closes by advising viewers to pick one interesting tool, install it now, and spend the next two weeks habit-stacking its use into the workday.

Key takeaways

• His S tier is for foundational tools every business should use: he puts ChatGPT first, and also places Claude, Zapier, Granola, Gamma and Atlas (youratlas.com) in S, with Zapier noted for 6,000 apps to automate workflows.
• A tier is widespread but not universal: Gumloop and ElevenLabs lead that group in his ordering, with N8N (open source, harder learning curve) and BuddyPro also in A.
• B tier is niche but valuable: Runway ahead of Midjourney for video over photos, HeyGen for avatar videos, Leonardo for designers, and Lovable at the end of B for non-technical app building.
• C tier may work only in rare cases: Notion AI, Fixer.ai, Notebook LM, Revio — though he says Revio is a must if you use Instagram for business — and the highly technical Cursor AI.
• Apple Intelligence is his sole F-tier pick — ‘don’t bother’ — and his practical advice is to choose just one tool from the list, install it immediately and force the new habit for the next two weeks by habit stacking.

Episode details: published January 9, 2026 · 19:15 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dan Martell’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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