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Task guides
28 common tasks, each with a top pick and alternatives, comparing pricing and mainland China access.
Images and photo editing
Cutouts, product images, posters, illustrations, logos
Best software for removing image backgrounds?
Top pick: PicWish (Zuotang). It is directly accessible in mainland China, removes backgrounds and creates white-background e-commerce images from a single upload, and has a free plan. For e-commerce templates, consider Gaoding Design or Meitu Design Studio.
Top pick: PicWish (Zuotang)Alternatives: Gaoding Design, Meitu Design Studio, ClipdropUpdated 2026-10-27
How to make AI product images for e-commerce?
Top pick: Meitu Design Studio. Upload product images and enter selling points to generate a product image set. To adjust templates and assets by hand, consider Gaoding Design; for scene ideas, consider Jimeng.
Top pick: Meitu Design StudioAlternatives: Gaoding Design, JimengUpdated 2026-10-27
Best AI tool for making posters?
Top pick: Gaoding Design. It is directly accessible in mainland China, offers a full range of poster and e-commerce templates, and supports online background removal and editing. Alternatives: Chuangkit, Canva China and Microsoft Designer.
Top pick: Gaoding DesignAlternatives: Chuangkit, Canva China, Microsoft DesignerUpdated 2026-10-27
Best AI image generator?
Top pick: Jimeng. It is directly accessible in mainland China, supports Chinese prompts and gives free credits daily. Alternative: Tongyi Wanxiang; for a specific style, choose a community model on LiblibAI.
Alternatives: Tongyi Wanxiang, LiblibAIUpdated 2026-10-27
How to make a blurry photo clear?
Top pick: PicWish (Zuotang). It is directly accessible in mainland China, sharpens blurry photos in the browser, has a free plan, and basic membership is CNY 198 per year. To avoid uploading photos or to process in batches, consider the free, open-source Upscayl, installed on your computer.
Top pick: PicWish (Zuotang)Alternatives: Upscayl, ClipdropUpdated 2026-10-27
Best AI logo generator?
Top pick: Recraft. It is directly accessible in mainland China, generates vector icons and exports SVG for further editing. Images generated on the free plan are public and not for commercial use, so a logo for real use needs the Basic plan (USD 10 per month billed annually). For Chinese prompts, consider Jimeng; for templates, consider Gaoding Design.
Top pick: RecraftAlternatives: Jimeng, Gaoding DesignUpdated 2026-10-27
Video, voiceover and music
Subtitles, voiceover, AI video, AI songs
Best software for adding subtitles to video automatically?
Top pick: Jianying. It is directly usable in mainland China and combines editing, subtitle recognition and voiceover in one app; some features such as subtitle recognition require membership. To edit by transcript, consider Descript; to cut long videos into clips, consider OpusClip.
Alternatives: BaoCut, Descript, OpusClipUpdated 2026-10-27
Best text-to-speech software for voiceovers?
Top pick: Jianying. Text-to-speech voiceover is available while editing, without switching software. For the most realistic voices or voice cloning, consider ElevenLabs, whose free plan covers about 10,000 characters per month.
Alternatives: TTSMaker, Fish Audio, ElevenLabsUpdated 2026-10-27
Best AI video generator?
Top pick: Kling. It is directly accessible in mainland China, generates video from text or images, and gives 66 credits for each daily login. Alternatives: Jimeng and Hailuo Video, both directly usable in mainland China; Runway's free plan gives a one-time 125 credits, with an English interface.
Top pick: KlingAlternatives: Jimeng, Hailuo Video, RunwayUpdated 2026-10-27
Best AI song generator?
Top pick: Haimian Music. It is made by ByteDance, directly accessible in mainland China, supports Chinese and is currently free. Alternative: Udio, whose free plan includes 10 credits per day; Suno is well known, but it is not directly accessible in mainland China and its free plan does not allow downloads or commercial use.
Top pick: Haimian MusicAlternatives: Udio, SunoUpdated 2026-10-27
Recording and transcription
Meeting minutes, video to text, local transcription, noise reduction
Best software for transcribing meeting recordings?
Top pick: Tongyi Tingwu. It is directly accessible in mainland China, focuses on Chinese meeting transcription and generates minutes automatically; during the new-user trial, 2 hours of audio/video can be uploaded per day. For English meetings, consider Otter, whose free plan includes 300 minutes per month.
Top pick: Tongyi TingwuAlternatives: Buzz, Otter, Feishu Minutes, Notta, iFlytek TingjianUpdated 2026-10-27
Best software for converting video to text?
Top pick: Tongyi Tingwu. It is directly accessible in mainland China and transcribes uploaded audio and video; during the new-user trial, 2 hours can be uploaded per day. For video being edited in Jianying, get the text through subtitle recognition; for English video, consider Otter.
Top pick: Tongyi TingwuAlternatives: Buzz, Jianying (CapCut China), OtterUpdated 2026-10-27
Best software for transcribing audio and video locally?
Start with Buzz: it has a graphical interface and transcribes audio and video with a local model, exporting subtitles. Users comfortable with the command line and Python can also use the open-source Whisper project.
Alternatives: Whisper, MacWhisper, Subtitle EditUpdated 2026-10-29
How to remove background noise from a recording?
Top pick: Adobe Podcast. It is directly accessible in mainland China, removes noise and echo automatically from an uploaded recording, and its free plan processes 1 hour per day. For video already being edited in Jianying, use Jianying's noise reduction; Descript also offers voice enhancement.
Top pick: Adobe PodcastAlternatives: Auphonic, Krisp, Jianying (CapCut China), DescriptUpdated 2026-10-27
Writing, reading and translation
Copywriting, long documents, translating documents and web pages
Best AI for writing copy?
Top pick: Doubao. It is directly usable in mainland China, chat and writing are free, and the mobile app is full-featured. For drafts that need clear reasoning first, consider DeepSeek; for rewriting based on a large amount of material, consider Kimi.
Top pick: DoubaoAlternatives: DeepSeek, KimiUpdated 2026-10-27
Best AI for summarizing long PDF documents?
Top pick: Kimi. It is directly accessible in mainland China, known for long-text reading, and lets you upload an entire document and ask questions. For everyday file summaries, consider Doubao; to search WeChat Official Account articles, consider Tencent Yuanbao.
Top pick: KimiAlternatives: ChatPDF, Doubao, Tencent Yuanbao, Gemini NotebookUpdated 2026-10-27
Best tool for translating PDFs into Chinese?
Top pick: DeepL. It is directly accessible in mainland China and translates uploaded Word and PDF documents in full; the free plan covers 1 document per month (up to 5 MB). For frequent reading of foreign web pages and PDFs, consider Immersive Translate, whose free plan is unlimited and shows bilingual text side by side; to get the gist only, upload the file to Kimi and ask directly.
Top pick: DeepLAlternatives: Baidu Translate, Google Translate, Immersive Translate, KimiUpdated 2026-10-27
Best tool for bilingual web page translation?
Top pick: Immersive Translate. Its browser extension shows web pages bilingually side by side. If you already use the Quark browser, try its page translation; to translate a single passage or document, consider DeepL.
Top pick: Immersive TranslateAlternatives: Quark, DeepLUpdated 2026-10-27
How to summarize web pages with an AI browser?
Top pick: Quark. The browser offers Q&A about web pages and multi-tab summaries. Comet is also worth considering, with a sidebar for questions about the page you are reading.
Top pick: QuarkAlternatives: CometUpdated 2026-10-27
Best tools for converting PDF to Markdown and extracting formulas?
Start with MinerU: it parses PDFs into Markdown and suits paragraphs, tables and formulas. To export Word or LaTeX, also compare Doc2X.
Alternatives: Doc2X, Docling, PaddleOCRUpdated 2026-10-29
Research and papers
AI search with citations, paper search
Best AI search engine with sources?
Top pick: Metaso AI Search. It is directly accessible in mainland China, searches in Chinese and cites sources in its answers. Perplexity is the best-known product in this category, but it is not directly accessible in mainland China.
Top pick: Metaso AI SearchAlternatives: Perplexity, FeloUpdated 2026-10-27
Best AI tools for finding papers and research evidence?
To find papers and see the sources behind answers, start with Consensus; to screen papers by research question and extract information, consider Elicit; to see how later research cites a paper, look at Scite.
Alternatives: Elicit, Scite, ResearchRabbit, Semantic ScholarUpdated 2026-10-29
Office documents
Slides, Excel formulas, mind maps, office files
Best AI for generating slides?
Top pick: WPS AI. It generates slides inside WPS, and the result can be edited right away without switching software. Gamma's automatic layout stands out, but it is not directly accessible in mainland China; to adjust templates by hand, consider Chuangkit.
Alternatives: Gamma, Chuangkit, iFlytek ZhiwenUpdated 2026-10-27
AI to help write Excel formulas?
Top pick: WPS AI. It works directly in WPS Spreadsheets and generates formulas from a description in Chinese. If you use Excel or only need the formula, send the requirement and column headers to DeepSeek or Doubao, then paste the formula in.
Alternatives: DeepSeek, DoubaoUpdated 2026-10-27
Best AI mind map generator?
Top pick: Xmind. It is directly accessible in mainland China, its mapping features are mature, and the free plan has unlimited nodes plus a one-time 50 AI credits. For lightweight online use, consider GitMind, whose free plan allows up to 60 nodes per map; Kimi can also turn a long article into a hierarchical outline first.
Top pick: XmindAlternatives: GitMind, KimiUpdated 2026-10-27
Choosing an AI agent for slides, spreadsheets and reports?
Top pick: WPS Lingxi. It generates Word, PowerPoint and Excel files from instructions. To configure models in a desktop workspace and generate files, consider Tokeny; if you already work in WPS, use WPS AI.
Alternatives: Tokeny, WPS AIUpdated 2026-10-27
Websites and coding
Websites without code, AI-assisted programming
Best AI website builder?
Top pick: Bolt. It is directly accessible in mainland China, builds complete web apps through conversation in the browser, and its free plan includes 1 million tokens per month. Alternatives: v0 and Lovable; for a Chinese interface and RMB pricing, consider the China edition of TRAE.
Top pick: BoltAlternatives: v0, Lovable, Trae, Replit AgentUpdated 2026-10-27
Best AI for writing code?
Top pick: TRAE China edition. It is made by ByteDance, has a Chinese interface, is directly accessible in mainland China, and its free plan includes 500 credits per month. Alternative: Cursor; GitHub Copilot's free plan includes 2,000 code completions per month, but access to GitHub from mainland China is unstable.
Top pick: TraeAlternatives: Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Tongyi Lingma, CodeBuddyUpdated 2026-10-27