· By Rosen
Research and voice tools take four of the five places, with Canva holding the design spot.
Written with AI from this week's ranking data. The order, ratings, prices and percentages on the cards come straight from the data, not from the text. How we rank
This list is not our opinion. It comes from what people rate in Apple's App Store and what they say about each tool on Hacker News. This week two research tools and two voice tools made the Top 5, and Canva is the only design tool among them. Below is what each one does, what its users complain about most, and who it suits. The ratings, prices and opinion counts on each card come straight from the data.
Google research notebook that answers questions, summarises and makes audio overviews from sources you upload.
4.9★ from 63.7K App Store ratings · 90% positive of 10 Hacker News opinions (9+ / 1−)
Users complain about: quality
From the official site, checked 2026-10-24 · pricing
NotebookLM is Google's research notebook. You upload your own sources, such as PDFs, notes or web pages, and it answers questions about them, writes summaries and can turn them into a spoken audio overview. It leads this week with very high App Store ratings and the most positive Hacker News opinions in the Top 5. The one recurring complaint is about the quality of some answers.
Who it suits: Students, researchers and anyone who works from a pile of documents and wants answers tied to those documents rather than to the open web.
AI voice platform for text-to-speech, voice cloning, dubbing, sound effects, music and voice agents.
4.8★ from 23.2K App Store ratings · 57% positive of 14 Hacker News opinions (8+ / 6−)
Users complain about: quality, censorship, pricing
From the official site, checked 2026-10-24 · pricing
ElevenLabs turns text into natural-sounding speech and also does voice cloning, dubbing, sound effects and voice agents. App Store users rate it highly. On Hacker News opinion is more split: people praise the voices, while complaints focus on output quality in some cases, content restrictions and pricing.
Who it suits: Creators, podcasters and teams who need realistic voiceovers or dubbing, and developers building voice into their own products.
Online design tool with templates and AI features for social posts, presentations, videos and print.
4.9★ from 3.6M App Store ratings · 50% positive of 6 Hacker News opinions (3+ / 3−)
Users complain about: api support, quality, support
From the official site, checked 2026-10-24 · pricing
Canva is an online design tool with templates and AI features for social posts, presentations, videos and print. It has by far the most App Store ratings of the five, and they are excellent. Hacker News opinion is evenly split, with complaints about developer and API support, output quality and customer support.
Who it suits: Small businesses, marketers and non-designers who need good-looking visuals quickly without learning professional design software.
Voice dictation app that turns your speech into polished text in any app on desktop and mobile.
4.8★ from 18K App Store ratings · 50% positive of 14 Hacker News opinions (7+ / 7−)
Users complain about: pricing, quality, accuracy
From the official site, checked 2026-10-24 · pricing
Wispr Flow is a dictation app: you speak, and it turns your words into clean, written text in whatever app you are typing in, on desktop and mobile. App Store users rate it highly, while Hacker News is split down the middle, with complaints about pricing, quality and transcription accuracy.
Who it suits: People who write a lot of messages, emails or notes and think faster than they type, especially on a laptop.
AI answer engine that searches the web and replies with cited sources, plus research and agent tools.
4.8★ from 518.1K App Store ratings · 67% positive of 6 Hacker News opinions (4+ / 2−)
Users complain about: hallucinations, privacy
From the official site, checked 2026-10-24 · pricing
Perplexity is an answer engine: you ask a question, it searches the web and replies with the sources it used, so you can check them. It has one of the largest rating counts in the whole ranking. The complaints people raise are made-up answers, which is why the cited sources matter, and privacy.
Who it suits: Anyone who wants quick answers from the web with sources attached, and who is willing to click through to check the important ones.
The order is recalculated every week from new ratings and new comments, so tools can move up or drop out. We have since changed how Hacker News opinions count, so a tool with only a few opinions moves much less, and this list shows the updated order. The five best in every category are on the home page.