The shortlist
6 things that do it. Ours is in there, labelled, not on top.
Where one of our products fits, it sits in the list with an "ours" label, never forced to the top. Ours: made by the same studio that runs this site.
An AI-text detector that also runs image detection scans.
- Free
- Up to 2,000 words a day and 3 image detection scans a day; browser extension, Google Docs and API access included (vendor pricing page).
- Paid
- from $20 per month (billed annually, Individual plan)
- Best at
- Daily free checks for text, plus a few image scans, with a browser extension and Google Docs integration.
- The catch
- The free allowance is 2,000 words a day and 3 image scans a day; paid plans are billed in US dollars.
- web
- chrome
- google docs
- api
A free extension and web tools that check images, video, text and audio for AI generation, and guess which generator made an image or video.
- Free
- The Chrome extension is free with no login, per its Chrome Web Store listing; platform-scale use is by contacting sales.
- Paid
- price not checked
- Best at
- Covering every content type in one free tool, with no login.
- The catch
- It shows a likelihood, not a verdict. NewsGuard reported that a Hive result of 96.9 percent "likely AI-generated" was shared online to claim a real video was fake; Hive did not respond to NewsGuard's requests for comment.
- chrome
- web
- api
A detector for images, text, voice, music, video and deepfakes, sold mainly as an API with a file-upload checker on its home page.
- Free
- $5 in free credits to start: 1 million words of text detection free every month and 20 AI image checks.
- Paid
- from $5 per month (Pro, includes $10 of credits)
- Best at
- Spanning the most content types, from one set of credits.
- The catch
- In NewsGuard's 2026 test it flagged 1 of 15 real photos as AI; its CEO said low image quality can sometimes cause a false positive. Its 98.9% accuracy figure is the vendor's own, from its own evaluation.
- web
- api
Upload an image to Gemini and ask whether it was made or edited with Google AI; Gemini checks for the SynthID watermark.
- Free
- Google says it is rolling out to everyone in the Gemini app; plan limits not checked.
- Paid
- price not checked
- Best at
- Giving a firm answer for Google-made images, because it looks for Google's own watermark.
- The catch
- Per Google's post it verifies images from Google AI only; video and audio support is described as coming soon, and checking other makers' content depends on future C2PA support.
- Gemini app
Upload audio or video to see the probability it was generated with ElevenLabs voice technology.
- Free
- Free, no login required, per the vendor page.
- Paid
- price not checked
- Best at
- Checking suspect audio with no login; it uses the first minute of your sample.
- The catch
- It covers ElevenLabs audio only, and the page says it does not reliably classify audio from the Eleven v3 model.
- web
A free stylometric check for text: sentence-length variance, hedging, punctuation rhythm and phrases models favour.
- Free
- The check is free with a free account, no card (vendor page).
- Paid
- price not checked
- Best at
- Showing which style habits read as machine-written, not just a score.
- The catch
- Text only, and a free account is needed to see the result. It says every detector gives false positives, especially on well-edited prose and non-native writers.
- web
The same shortlist, as a table
| Thing | Free tier | Paid from | Platforms | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pangramrel="nofollow noopener" | Up to 2,000 words a day and 3 image detection scans a day; browser extension, Google Docs and API access included (vendor pricing page). | $20 per month (billed annually, Individual plan) | web, chrome, google docs, api | The free allowance is 2,000 words a day and 3 image scans a day; paid plans are billed in US dollars. |
| Hive AI Detectorrel="nofollow noopener" | The Chrome extension is free with no login, per its Chrome Web Store listing; platform-scale use is by contacting sales. | not checked | chrome, web, api | It shows a likelihood, not a verdict. NewsGuard reported that a Hive result of 96.9 percent "likely AI-generated" was shared online to claim a real video was fake; Hive did not respond to NewsGuard's requests for comment. |
| AI or Notrel="nofollow noopener" | $5 in free credits to start: 1 million words of text detection free every month and 20 AI image checks. | $5 per month (Pro, includes $10 of credits) | web, api | In NewsGuard's 2026 test it flagged 1 of 15 real photos as AI; its CEO said low image quality can sometimes cause a false positive. Its 98.9% accuracy figure is the vendor's own, from its own evaluation. |
| Google SynthID in the Gemini apprel="nofollow noopener" | Google says it is rolling out to everyone in the Gemini app; plan limits not checked. | not checked | Gemini app | Per Google's post it verifies images from Google AI only; video and audio support is described as coming soon, and checking other makers' content depends on future C2PA support. |
| ElevenLabs AI Speech Classifierrel="nofollow noopener" | Free, no login required, per the vendor page. | not checked | web | It covers ElevenLabs audio only, and the page says it does not reliably classify audio from the Eleven v3 model. |
| ScriptGrain AI-writing check ours | The check is free with a free account, no card (vendor page). | not checked | web | Text only, and a free account is needed to see the result. It says every detector gives false positives, especially on well-edited prose and non-native writers. |
How we checked
What we read, and what we haven't tested yet.
On 2 October 2026 we read each vendor's own page listed under sources: Pangram's and AI or Not's pricing pages, the Hive extension's Chrome Web Store listing and Hive's detection page, Google's Gemini and SynthID announcement, ElevenLabs' classifier page and ScriptGrain's check page, plus NewsGuard's published audit and Sheffield's guidance. We didn't test any detector hands-on.
If none of these fit
The manual way.
If you only need to know whether something came from one particular maker, check that maker's own tool, such as Gemini for SynthID-marked Google images. For text, universities and publishers often use their own checkers; the University of Sheffield says it does not use GenAI detection tools because of concerns over error rates. For images, a provenance check such as Content Credentials Verify shows details only if the file carries them.