FWIW, Since some of you asked, I wanted to share the various AI tools that I currently pay for
If readers have other AI tools that you think are worthwhile paying for, please let me know.
Many readers may not realize that it is not possible in Hong Kong where I reside to create end-user or developer accounts of OpenAI, Gemini, Claude by their respective organisations Only when connected to chat.openai.com via a VPN to an endpoint outside of HK can one create a free account at OpenAI
If you want to subscribe to ChatGPT Plus or Claude Pro/Max then you need a credit or debit card which is not issued from Hong Kong
The Gemini consumer app has recently started to be made available in Hong Kong.
You can get access to NotebookLM which I feel is the most highly underrated product within Google’s AI product family only if you are Google Workspace (GWS) Standard and higher plan but you still need to VPN to access NotebookLM.
Paid access to developer API’s of OpenAI and Anthropic API’s via their respective platforms also are not possible to be paid with HK issued credit cards.
For developer access to various API’s, my goto is OpenRouter but they have also starting clamping down on HK issued credit cards and disabling access to OpenAI, Anthropic and Gemini models if such payment methods are used
The reasons for lack of access to AI models and their frontends are speculated to be geopolitics considerations between the United States and China and for various services Hong Kong is now considered equivalent to China
So if you are an existing ChatGPT/ChatGPT Plus and/or a Gemini/Claude user and visiting Hong Kong (I, for one, welcome our tourist overlords and their tourist dollars 😃 ) remember that you will have to enable a VPN and connect to an endpoint outside of HK to use those services
Whilst I’m grateful that I consider myself relatively privileged enough to be able to have subscriptions to ChatGPT , Claude, Grok and even Gemini (via my organisation’s Google Workspace setup) and therefore able to use them, I feel for the vast majority of my fellow Hong Kong citizens and residents. I’ve not listed these below though
Therefore I listed products that I pay for that a regular person in Hong Kong with only a HK payment method can easily subscribe to
| Tool | Price | Short explanation of the tool |
|---|---|---|
| Perplexity | USD 20/month | |
| USD 200/yr | Perplexity is an AI-native answer engine that runs on top of multiple frontier models and live web search, so every answer is grounded in current sources and fully cited. It does not just chat; for Pro users it can run multi-step “deep research” workflows that issue many searches, read large batches of documents and files, execute code, and then synthesize everything into clear, referenced outputs. On top of that, Perplexity Computer turns it into a general-purpose digital worker that can browse, write, code, analyze data, and generate images or videos for you in the background, so it feels less like a chatbot and more like a small autonomous research and engineering team you can talk to in natural language. | |
| Read below for social signals from A-listers | ||
| MacWhisper Pro | Euro 20 one-time | MacWhisper is a macOS application that uses OpenAI's Whisper technology to transcribe audio files into text locally on your device, ensuring privacy and security |
| Whilst the free version could work for me, I think ethically and given the cost , its was worth paying for the Pro version. Relentless updates by the developer. I’m now able to send transcripts to LLM’s via openrouter.ai. As features are added, price has been increased by the developer. I purchased it when it was version 3. It’s currently at version 13.20 | ||
| Wispr Flow | USD 144/yr | Wispr Flow is an AI-powered voice-to-text layer that sits on top of every app you already use, so you can write emails, docs, code, and messages at roughly 4x your normal typing speed just by talking. You speak naturally, and Flow not only transcribes but also auto-edits and formats your text in real time—cleaning up filler, fixing typos, and dropping in reusable “snippets” like your elevator pitch, scheduling links, or canned replies with a single voice cue. It runs on Mac, Windows, and mobile, hooks into any site or tool in your stack, and is built with enterprise-grade security and compliance (including HIPAA-ready and SOC 2 Type II support) so teams can safely adopt voice as a primary input method at work |
| Eightify | USD 36/yr | Eightify is an AI copilot for YouTube and other video platforms that turns any long video—lectures, podcasts, Senate hearings, deep-dive explainers—into an instant TL;DR with the 8–10 key ideas and timestamps so you can decide in seconds whether it’s worth watching at all. With one click it generates a concise summary, accurate transcript, and time-linked bullets, supports 40+ languages, and even surfaces top comments so you get both the core content and the crowd’s take without spending hours in front of a screen. |
| Combined with Youtube Premium this lets me consume Youtube content at a much faster pace. It’s a browser extension so works both in Perplexity’s Comet and Google Chrome browser | ||
| Krea | USD 60/yr | Krea.ai is a browser-based AI creative suite that lets you generate, edit, and enhance images, videos, and 3D assets in real time using a large collection of state-of-the-art generative models plus Krea’s own models. Its standout feature is a real-time canvas that renders photorealistic outputs in tens of milliseconds as you sketch or type, effectively acting as a high-speed “control room” over 60+ image, video, and 3D models in a single interface |
| Replit | USD 120/yr | Replit is a cloud-based, AI-powered platform that enables users to build, deploy, and share software applications directly from their web browser, without the need for any local setup or installation. Originally launched in 2016 as an online integrated development environment (IDE), Replit has evolved into a comprehensive software creation ecosystem that leverages artificial intelligence to make programming and app development accessible to everyone, regardless of technical background |
| Opencode Go | USD 10/month | OpenCode is an open source AI coding agent. It’s available as a terminal-based interface, desktop app, or IDE extension. OpenCode Go offers generous limits and reliable access to the most capable open-source models, |
| Droid from FactoryAI | USD 20/month | Agentic harness which supports many models [OpenAI,Gemini,Anthropic,GLM,Minimax,Kimi] and supports features such as skills,sub-agents,plugins,hooks,MCP which are available in Claude Code. It’s context management is very good so my token budget goes a long way |
Social signals about Perplexity so you understand why there is so much buzz about it