This module names one tool for each job a small creative team in India does, with what it costs and when to use another. It was checked on 9 October 2026. The shelf is refreshed every quarter, and the first of its five items is the map itself, a one-page Markdown file to copy into the doc your team already shares. The next four take a row each, starting with images and video, then words and research, then design and layout, and last the automations that carry work between tools.
Each item names a , an alternative and the one reason you would switch. Every price comes from the maker's own pricing page, read on 9 October 2026 in the currency that page showed us from India, which means rupees for Google, OpenAI and Canva, euros for n8n and US dollars for everyone else. Adobe is the gap. Its India plans page draws prices in by script, and we could not read a rupee figure there. Most pages open on , which shows a lower monthly figure for a year paid up front, so the map gives both prices where a page showed both.
The prompt
The tool mapMarkdown # [TEAM OR STUDIO NAME] tool map Version: October 2026, from the Tastebud toolstack. Prices were read on each maker's own pricing page on 9 October 2026, in the currency the page showed. Check the page again before anyone pays. Map owner: [NAME]Next review: [DATE, THREE MONTHS FROM TODAY] ## One tool for each job | Job | First choice | Alternative | Switch when ||---|---|---|---|| Words | Claude Pro, US$20 a month, or US$17 a month billed yearly | ChatGPT Go, ₹399 a month, or Plus, ₹1,999 a month | The person paying needs rupees and UPI || Research | Gemini free plan, which includes Deep Research | Claude Pro, which adds Research | The research has to sit beside the writing in one project || Images | ChatGPT Images, on every ChatGPT plan | Midjourney Basic, US$10 a month, or US$8 a month billed yearly | The picture is a world or a mood with no product in it || Video | Google Flow on Google AI Plus, ₹399 a month, or Pro, ₹1,950 a month | Runway Standard, US$15 a month, or US$12 a month billed yearly | A visible watermark on the clip is not acceptable || Design and layout | Canva Pro, ₹4,000 a year for one person, or Business, ₹6,800 a year per person | Figma Professional, US$20 a month for a Full seat, or US$16 a month billed yearly | The work is screens, such as a website or an app || Print and vector | Affinity, free for individuals | Adobe Illustrator and InDesign, rupee price not readable on 9 October 2026 | A client or a printer works in Adobe files || Automation | n8n Starter, €20 a month billed yearly, or the Community Edition on your own server | Make Free, 1,000 credits a month | You want to start free and host nothing yourself | ## Who holds what | Tool | Plan and seats | Paid by, and how | Login held by | Renews on | Cost a month ||---|---|---|---|---|---|| [TOOL] | [PLAN AND NUMBER OF SEATS] | [NAME, AND CARD OR UPI] | [TEAM EMAIL] | [DATE] | [AMOUNT AND CURRENCY] || [TOOL] | [PLAN AND NUMBER OF SEATS] | [NAME, AND CARD OR UPI] | [TEAM EMAIL] | [DATE] | [AMOUNT AND CURRENCY] | Total a month: [AMOUNT IN RUPEES] ## House rules 1. One tool for each job. A second tool needs its reason written in the Switch when column.2. Finished files live in [SHARED FOLDER], never only inside a tool.3. Every login uses a team email the map owner controls.4. Nobody starts a trial without adding it to Who holds what, with the date it turns into a paid plan.5. At each review the owner checks every price on the maker's page, updates this map, and cancels anything nobody opened since the last review.Download it, put your team's name and the owner in the capitals, and fill in Who holds what before anything else.
Worked example
Filling in the map in one sitting
- 01Download the map and put it in the doc your team already shares, in Google Docs, Notion or a Claude Project.A map in one person's downloads folder helps nobody. The shared prompt library item on this shelf shows how to bring Markdown into each of the three.
- 02Go through the last three months of card and UPI payments and list every tool the team paid for, with the amount and the renewal date.The statements show what you really pay for, including the trial that quietly became a plan.
- 03Put each paid tool against its job in the first table, and mark any job that has two.Two tools on one job is where most waste sits. Keep the one the team opens most, unless the other has a reason written under Switch when.
- 04Fill in Who holds what for every tool you keep, with the plan, the seats, who pays and how, and the date it renews.Move each login to a team email the map owner controls. A login tied to one person's email leaves with them.
- 05Open each tool's pricing page and check the figure on the map, in the currency the page shows.Our prices were read on 9 October 2026. Where a page has changed, write the new figure and the date you read it.
- 06Put the next review in the calendar three months from today, with the map owner's name on it.At each review, cancel what nobody opened since the last one, and add a new tool only with its job and its reason.
What to do it with
- ClaudeFree tier, paid above it
A language model that writes, edits, reads long documents and runs tools, including agents that work inside a codebase.
Bad at It is agreeable by default, so it will improve a bad idea instead of telling you it is bad. Ask it to argue against you and the quality of the answer changes.
- GeminiFree tier, paid above it
Google's assistant, with a very long context window and tight links to their other products.
Bad at Behaviour changes between the app, the API and the versions inside other Google products.
- ChatGPTFree tier, paid above it
General assistant with image generation, data analysis and web access in one window.
Bad at Its default voice has become recognisable enough that readers now spot it, which is a brand problem if you ship it unedited.
- Google FlowFree tier, paid above it
A web studio for making and extending clips with Veo 3.1 and Gemini Omni, paid for in credits from a Google AI plan.
Bad at Credits do not roll over, features differ from the API (Quality takes no references), and Google's own help pages disagree on who can use it.
- CanvaFree tier, paid above it
Templates, brand kits and generation in one place, built so a non-designer can produce something acceptable.
Bad at Acceptable is the ceiling as well as the floor. Its templates are so widely used that a trained eye dates a deck in a second.
- n8nOpen weights or open source
Automation you can self-host, wiring APIs and models into a pipeline that runs on a trigger.
Bad at Visual automation hides its failure modes. Without logging you find out it broke from a client.
The words, in plain language
- Tool map
- A one-page document that names one tool for each job, with its price, who pays and when it renews.
- First choice
- The tool a job goes to by default, until the reason written in its Switch when column comes up.
- Yearly billing
- Paying for a year up front. Most pricing pages open on it, which makes the monthly figure look lower.
Why it matters
A small team rarely overspends on one big tool. The money leaks through small ones nobody owns, such as a trial that turned into a plan or a seat for someone who left. So the map's second table says who pays for each tool and when it renews. The AI course's lesson on choosing a stack argues for one tool per job and for checking the way out before you commit, and this is that argument filled in for October 2026. Studio owners disagree about how often to change tools. Some switch as soon as a better model ships, while others hold a stack for a year so the team gets fluent in it. We review every quarter.
Elsewhere
- Type
- technique
- Where
- South Asia
- Period
- ongoing