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I tested Google Sheets and found it to be a highly collaborative spreadsheet editing tool with robust features
11:38 am | October 9, 2025

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro Software & Services | Tags: | Comments: Off

For a long time, Microsoft Excel has been synonymous with the idea of spreadsheets, owing to its status as the best spreadsheet software. You’d think Microsoft Excel invented spreadsheets, but that’s not the case. The first spreadsheet program was developed several years before Excel.

Excel’s dominance has spawned many competitors seeking to eat into its market share. Google Sheets is one of the leading competitors and, as the name implies, is offered by Google, the company best known for running the most popular search engine.

Google Sheets is a formidable Excel rival designed with a focus on collaboration. It works primarily online, enabling multiple people to collaborate on the same spreadsheet. It has a free tier and paid business plans with advanced features.

I extensively tested Google Sheets so that you don’t have to go through the same stress. This review dives into Google Sheets’ features, pros, cons, and how it fares against Excel and other rivals. Read on to learn what Google Sheets offers and whether it’s the best choice for your business.

Google Sheets 2

(Image credit: Google)

Google Sheets: Plans and pricing

Google Sheets has free and paid plans. The free plan is notably versatile, although the paid Workspace plans come with extra features. On the free plan, you can edit documents together with other users and access all core Google Sheets features. The free tier’s drawback is that the collaborative features are limited, and it lacks the extensive integration with other Google tools.

Google Workspace has three plans: Starter, Standard, and Plus. At $7 per user per month, the Starter plan unlocks 30 GB of storage for each corporate account and Gemini, Google’s advanced artificial intelligence (AI) assistant. However, Gemini isn’t integrated directly with Google Sheets on this plan; you have to use it as a separate app.

At $14 per user per month, the Standard plan unlocks a sizable 2 TB of storage per corporate account and direct integration with Gemini. On this plan, you can use Gemini directly on Google Sheets, for example, by asking it to create visualizations with the data on your spreadsheet. Gemini adds much more resourcefulness to Google Sheets, which we’ll dive into later.

At $22 per user per month, the Plus plan unlocks 5 TB of storage per account and the same integration with Gemini as the Standard plan. The storage allowance is important because spreadsheets can get voluminous, and so can other files from other Google services, such as videos, photos, and text documents, which also share the same storage space.

With 2 TB to 5 TB of storage on the Standard and Plus plans, respectively, there’s ample space to store many spreadsheets and other essential corporate files. The Starter plan has a lower 30 GB storage allocation, but it can work well for small to medium-sized businesses if managed well.

Notably, there’s an Enterprise Plus plan targeted at large organizations, usually 500+ employees. This plan has no standard pricing. If you represent such an organization, you can contact Google’s sales team to directly negotiate a sales deal.

Google offers a 14-day free trial for its Workspace plans. The free version of Google Sheets also lets you test the features before making a payment.

Google Sheets: Features

If you’ve used Microsoft Excel or other spreadsheet tools, you wouldn’t have issues adjusting to Google Sheets. It has similar mathematical functions and advanced formulas for manipulating data. You can visualize data with charts and graphs, and with the help of the Gemini AI assistant if you’re subscribed to the Standard plan or higher.

Before diving deeper into Google Sheets’ features, it’s crucial to point out its competitive edge: collaboration. Google Sheets was late to the spreadsheet software market, having launched in 2006, compared to Microsoft Excel, which launched way back in 1985 and cemented itself as the go-to spreadsheet software provider.

To compete with Excel, Google tuned its focus to collaboration and shared editing. It made the process of collaborative editing as seamless as possible. Many people can collaborate on the same spreadsheet and monitor each other’s changes.

The owner of a spreadsheet document can invite collaborators and control their access to the document (Viewer, Commenter, or Editor). A Viewer can only scroll through and monitor the changes made on a spreadsheet.

A Commenter can’t implement changes, but they can leave comments on specific parts and suggest changes. For example, they can suggest changing a figure, and the suggestion will be highlighted for the document owner. If the document owner agrees with the suggestion, they can click on “Accept” and implement it with a single click.

Alternatively, the document owner can reject a suggestion from a Commenter. The document owner can accept or reject each suggestion individually, or accept or reject all suggestions at once.

Editors have the same rights as a document owner. They can implement changes without the original owner's prior approval. Google Sheets logs the changes made by every user, so collaborators can always know when and which user implemented specific changes.

You might wonder, “What if an editor makes a change I’m not comfortable with? Can I revert?” Yes, you can quickly resolve this issue with the Version History feature.

Google Sheets automatically saves each version of a document at different points in time. Hence, you can view past edits and restore previous versions of a document. For example, if you don’t like the changes someone made yesterday to a shared document, you can revert the document entirely to the version made the day before yesterday.

Google Sheets 3

(Image credit: Google)

The Version History feature maintains the integrity of shared documents. It incentivizes accountability from each collaborator, knowing that any change they make can be traced back to them and reverted if needed.

I’ve discussed the collaborative features, but Google Sheets also offers much more. A noteworthy feature is the integration with Gemini, the Google AI assistant unveiled in 2024.

Gemini is a valuable AI assistant that’s similar to the popular ChatGPT. In this case, Gemini is integrated directly with Google Sheets, so you can ask it to perform tasks on your spreadsheet. For example, if you have a spreadsheet listing the salaries of all employees in your organization, you can tell Gemini to calculate the average and median salary from the data. You can also ask it to visualize the salaries in a chart, enabling you to know which teams or levels the salaries are skewed towards.

Gemini has endless more applications. It can create templates for various spreadsheets, generate summaries of spreadsheet data, write formulas for specific calculations, and extract insights from raw data. Gemini cut down the time I would have spent manually handling tasks, and it made using Google Sheets much more convenient.

In this era, a tool like Gemini might seem common, but it wasn’t the case as recently as five years ago. The AI boom, kick-started by ChatGPT in late 2022, has brought many benefits in a relatively short time. Though Google Sheets has many upsides, Gemini was my main highlight. The drawback is that direct Gemini integration is only available on the Standard plan or upwards.

As mentioned, Google Sheets has similar built-in mathematical functions and advanced formulas as Excel. You can apply these formulas to your spreadsheet data and extract insights. If you have an existing spreadsheet made with Excel, you can upload it to Google Sheets and share it with colleagues for collaborative editing.

However, I noticed a flaw when working with Google Sheets. It often slowed down when working with vast spreadsheets, think thousands of columns and rows. The same also occurred when running complex formulas or third-party add-ons to manipulate the spreadsheet data.

However, “slow” is relative. When working with these large datasets, Google Sheets was still very much usable, but it wasn’t as lightning-fast as when working with smaller datasets.

Google Sheets mainly works online, although it has an offline mode that lets you edit spreadsheets without an internet connection. The dilemma is that you need an internet connection to open the spreadsheet in the first place. Another issue is that the collaborative features can’t work without an internet connection, defeating the main benefit of using Google Sheets. The offline version is very limited; Google Sheets is built for collaborative use with an active internet connection.

Google Sheets 4

(Image credit: Google)

Google Sheets: Interface and in-use

Google Sheets is an intuitive tool that I had no complaints about using. The interface is arranged neatly, making it easy to find the features you need at a specific time. It’s like a typical spreadsheet, with the formatting features at the top and the body below.

When multiple users work on the same tool, you’ll see an icon representing each account currently working on the document. Each account has a unique highlight market, and you can easily monitor every user’s changes.

A slight hiccup is that Google Sheets has a steep learning curve, especially on the keyboard shortcuts, but that’s a general characteristic of spreadsheet tools and not limited to Google.

You can access Google Sheets on your web browser or download the mobile app for Android or iOS. Either way, Google Sheets offers a smooth interface that you can easily familiarize yourself with.

Google Sheets: Support

Google provides sufficient support to Google Sheets users. Its Help Center contains abundant informative resources, including user guides, tips, and tutorials. If you’re new to Google Sheets and need help in familiarizing yourself with its features, this Help Center is the go-to resource because it offers extensive assistance for free.

If you’re a paid Google Workspace subscriber, you can get direct help from Google’s team via email, live chat, or telephone. Support is available 24/7, expectedly for a company as large as Google with global customers.

The good thing is that Google Sheets is a well-designed, user-friendly app, so it wouldn’t give many problems in the first place. The little issues I encountered were in learning how to use key features, but I resolved them via the Help Center. Google Sheets’ numerous features constitute a steep learning curve, so expect some time to get used to its ins and outs.

Google Sheets: The competition

Microsoft Excel is undeniably the main competitor to Google Sheets. Whenever people hear about spreadsheets, Excel is the first platform that comes to mind, and Google Sheets is often an afterthought, but it has some pros compared to Excel.

Google Sheets is cloud-based and highly leans towards collaboration. It’s much easier for multiple people to work on the same document on Google Sheets than on Excel.

Another benefit is that Google provides a completely free version of Google Sheets that includes all core features, unlike the free version of Excel, which has very limited features compared to Excel's full capabilities.

That said, Google Sheets isn’t as advanced as Excel when it comes to analyzing complex, vast datasets. It doesn’t have as many formulas and third-party add-ons to analyze massive datasets. As I mentioned earlier, Google Sheets also often slows down when working with huge datasets, while Microsoft Excel handles these datasets more smoothly.

In summary, Google Sheets excels more (no pun intended) in collaboration and accessibility, while Excel outshines Google Sheets in data analysis and computations.

Google Sheets: Final verdict

Google Sheets has its benefits and drawbacks. If you need a tool that enables seamless collaboration when editing everyday corporate spreadsheets, Google Sheets is a perfect choice. It’s intuitive, easily accessible, and has the typical features you’ll expect in a spreadsheet.

On the other hand, if you need a tool to analyze massive and complex spreadsheets, Google Sheets may not be the best choice. Though advanced, it’s not as sophisticated as Microsoft Excel. Google Sheets’ biggest strength lies in collaborative, real-time editing.

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I tested Google Slides and found it a cost effective presentation tool with an intuitive interface and unmatched collaborative features
11:07 am |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro Software & Services | Comments: Off

PowerPoint has been the go-to presentation software for decades, but competition has gradually eaten into its market share, although PowerPoint remains dominant.

Google Slides is one of the main competitors that are grabbing some market share from PowerPoint. It’s a cloud-based presentation software whose strengths lie in collaboration, an intuitive interface, and advanced features.

Google Slides is a formidable PowerPoint competitor, but is it the best presentation software for you? I tested the app extensively to help you answer this question. Read on to learn about Google Slides’ features, pros, cons, and how it fares against PowerPoint and other rivals.

Google Slides 2

(Image credit: Google)

Google Slides: Plans and pricing

Like most Google tools, Slides has a free version available to anyone with a Google account. This free version gives you access to the core presentation creation features. However, storage is limited to 15 GB, and the free plan doesn’t offer advanced collaborative features that the paid plan does.

The paid version of Google Slides isn’t a standalone subscription. Rather, it’s offered as part of a Google Workspace subscription, which includes Slides, Google Docs, Google Sheets, and many other tools. A Google Workspace subscription gives you access to numerous tools that help your business run smoothly; Slides is one of these tools.

You can choose from one of three Google Workspace plans: Starter, Standard, and Plus. The Starter plan costs $7 per user per month and unlocks 30 GB of storage for each account. It also unlocks access to Gemini, Google’s artificial intelligence chatbot, which assists you in creating the best presentations on Google Slides. However, you can only use Gemini as a separate app on this plan; it’s not directly integrated with Google Slides.

The Standard plan costs $7 per user per month. It provides a sizable 2 TB of storage for each corporate account, enough to store a massive volume of presentations made on Google Slides. The Standard plan unlocks direct Gemini integration with Google Slides. Instead of using Gemini as a separate app, you can interact with it directly on your Google Slides dashboard, which is more convenient than constantly switching between Slides and Gemini tabs.

The Plus plan costs $22 per user per month. It unlocks a whopping 5 TB of storage per account, which covers presentations and other files created with Google apps. Like the Standard plan, it includes Gemini integration, which enables you to ask the AI assistant for direct help when creating presentations. For example, you can ask Gemini to create a presentation template or give you ideas for what to include in your presentation.

There’s also an Enterprise Plus plan, albeit reserved for large corporations. This plan has no standard pricing, so interested companies have to contact Google’s sales team to negotiate a deal. It has the most advanced security features, making it ideal for large corporations (think 500+ employees) with high security needs.

Each Google Workspace plan includes a 14-day free trial, which you can leverage to test the features before making your final decision. The free version of Google Slides, which includes access to the core features, also gives you a hint of what to expect on a paid plan.

Google Slides: Features

Google Slides offers tools that enable you to create visually appealing, informative presentations. If you’ve used PowerPoint, the interface feels very similar. You have access to dozens of pre-built templates covering various topics, which you can edit to create your presentations. Otherwise, you can start from scratch and add different elements (shapes, images, videos, text boxes, etc.) to create your presentation.

Collaboration is Google Slides’ main competitive edge. It makes it easy for multiple people to work together on the same presentation. Under Google Workspace, team members have access to Google Chat, so they can hold real-time conversations on the same dashboard as they create presentations.

Team members can leave comments on specific parts of a presentation, for example, to recommend new information to add. They can also directly suggest changes, and the document owner can decide whether to accept or reject their suggestions. If a suggestion is accepted, it’ll be automatically implemented.

When multiple people work on the same presentation, each person will have a unique icon displayed at the top. These icons let others know who is currently on the same presentation document. Each person will also have a live pointer indicating where their cursor is positioned on the presentation.

You might be wondering who controls access to a presentation during collaborative editing. The answer is you, or the person who created the presentation originally. As a document owner, you decide how to share a document and what others can do with it. When sharing a presentation, you can set one of three permissions for other users: Viewer, Commenter, or Editor.

As the name implies, a Viewer can only view a presentation and monitor the editing process, but they can’t comment or suggest their own edits. A Commenter can leave comments or suggestions for the document owner; it’s up to the owner to accept or reject the suggestions.

In contrast, an Editor has the same permissions as the document owner. They can directly make changes without the owner’s prior approval. These precise permission levels let you assign different roles to people working on the same presentation. For example, you can assign a colleague as an Editor and your supervisor as a Commenter. The colleague can make direct changes, and the Supervisor can suggest ideas without making direct changes.

I liked the Version History feature, which let users restore previous versions of a document if the current one isn’t ideal. For example, when someone edited a presentation in a way I didn’t like, I quickly reverted to a previous version that existed before their edits.

As collaborators edit a document, Google stores each version at different time instants. On the Version History menu, you can view all the previously stored versions and restore any of them. With the Version History feature, you’re confident that any accidental mistakes can be undone. This feature also fosters accountability among collaborators, as everyone knows their changes can be tracked and undone if needed.

Google Slides 3

(Image credit: Google)

Gemini integration was a major highlight when using Google Slides. I used Gemini in many ways that made creating presentations more fun and convenient. For example, I used Gemini to generate images for presentations. The images weren’t always the best (some looked too unnatural), but they were suitable for use in real presentations.

I instructed Gemini to provide ideas for new presentation slides, and it excelled at this task. It gave valuable ideas and helped me rewrite or generate new text when needed. However, Gemini isn’t perfect. Its text often sounded robotic, requiring further editing to make it sound human-like.

Other ways you can use Gemini include asking it to summarize existing presentations or creating templates for a unique topic you’re about to present. The drawback is that direct Gemini integration is only available on the Standard plan or above. If you’re subscribed to the Starter plan, you can use Gemini as a separate app but not directly in Google Slides, which is less convenient. Gemini isn’t available on the free Google Slides plan.

Google Slides has a wide range of pre-made templates. You can use these templates as the foundation of your presentations instead of creating them from scratch. The pre-built templates cover everything from status reports to case studies, project wireframes, book reports, and many more.

If you don’t find a suitable template in Google’s pre-built library, you can create your own and reuse it many times. As I mentioned earlier, Gemini provides valuable help in creating your templates.

I liked Google Slides’ versatility regarding presentation files. You can upload files created on rival platforms, such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Canva, and edit them on Google Slides.

For example, you may have created a presentation with PowerPoint but need others to help you refine it. In that case, you can upload the PowerPoint file to Google Slides, then take advantage of the collaborative features to edit it together with your colleagues. Note that you may observe some formatting inconsistencies after importing presentations from other apps, but you can easily correct them.

Although it’s primarily built for online use, Google Slides has an offline mode where you can edit a presentation without an internet connection. Once your internet connection returns, every change made offline automatically syncs online.

Google Slides has a network of third-party add-ons that provide extra functionality, from translation to custom fonts, stock images, icons, and more. All in, Google Slides is a reliable presentation platform with many valuable features. If you need a tool for employees to collaboratively create and edit presentations, it’s the go-to choice. Google Slides outshines most competitors in collaborativeness and intuitiveness.

Google Slides 4

(Image credit: Google)

Google Slides: Interface and in use

It may just be my personal observation, but Google tools usually excel in user-friendliness. Google Slides is one of the most intuitive tools I’ve used. Its interface is easy to grasp even for first-time users.

If you’ve used any presentation software before, Google Slides feels very similar. The homepage displays some templates and a button to begin a new presentation, as well as previews of the presentations you’ve previously created. When you tap the button to create a presentation, you’ll be taken to the main page where you can begin working on it.

With formatting options and other features arranged neatly at the top and the main body below, Google Slides is as easy to grasp as it gets. However, some complex features may require time to get used to.

Google Slides: Support

Google Slides users have access to significant support resources. When facing issues, the first place to consult is the Slides section of the Google Workspace Learning Center. This section includes detailed user guides, cheat sheets, and manuals for troubleshooting issues. It also includes tips for creating and sharing the best presentations.

The Learning Center has extensive details and is sufficient to solve most issues. But if you need further help as a Google Workspace subscriber, you can contact Google’s support team via email, live chat, or telephone. Free-tier users don’t have direct access to the support team, but the Learning Center provides ample resources to resolve issues.

Google Slides: The competition

PowerPoint and Canva are the two main Google Slides competitors I’d like to highlight. PowerPoint is the most widely used presentation software, and Google created the Slides app to grab a slice of PowerPoint’s market share.

Google Slides outshines PowerPoint in collaboration and accessibility. It’s a cloud-based tool that enables many people to work on the same presentation seamlessly. PowerPoint also has a cloud-based version that enables collaboration, but it doesn’t feel as seamless as using Google Slides.

However, PowerPoint outshines Google Slides with its advanced features and offline capabilities. If you want to create the most complex presentations full of rich visual elements, PowerPoint is a better choice. It has a broader collection of templates, visual elements, and add-ons that provide functionalities not natively available on PowerPoint.

Canva is similar to Google Slides as it emphasizes seamless collaboration and the ability to create visually appealing presentations. It’s a decent tool for creating presentations, but the drawback is the relative cost.

A Canva Teams subscription isn’t as economical as a Google Workspace subscription, considering that the latter gives you access to not just Slides but many other tools like Google Docs, Sheets, Meet, and more. In contrast, you’ll be paying only for a design tool with a Canva subscription, unlike Google Workspace that kills multiple birds with one stone.

Google Slides: Final verdict

Google Slides has its unique strengths and drawbacks, but it’s a presentation tool I’d recommend to anyone. It’s cost-effective, considering the other tools a Google Workspace subscription also unlocks, and enables seamless collaboration to create presentations. Google Slides might not be a PowerPoint killer, but it’s a reliable alternative for personal and business use.

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Pineapple Builder website builder review 2025
5:37 pm | October 8, 2025

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro Website Building | Tags: , | Comments: Off

Pineapple Builder is an AI-powered website creator that promises to generate professional business websites in minutes rather than hours. Founded by solopreneur Peter Kowalczyk, this platform targets small business owners, entrepreneurs, and freelancers who need an online presence but don't have the coding expertise.

TechRadar reviewers have spent hundreds of hours testing more than 80 website builders, from our best website builder pick Wix to niche solutions like Framer and Webflow.

Pineapple Builder stands apart for its AI-first approach, which carries on past the initial results. Once the AI is done building your site, you can rely on it again for design, content generation, and SEO. We don't think it's groundbreaking, but perhaps it's the modern equivalent of straightforward entry-level tools like Google Sites.

Pineapple Builder: 2-minute review

Pineapple Builder keeps it simple, delivering on its core promise of rapid website creation, generating functional business sites in under 5 minutes through its AI platform. It combines automated design with practical business features like SEO optimization, analytics, and mobile-responsive templates. You simply describe your business and its target audience, then watch as the platform creates a customized website complete with content and styling.

In many ways, Pineapple Builder feels like the AI-powered iteration of simple no-code builders like Google Sites and Weebly. While it doesn't match the template variety of established players like Wix or Squarespace, it can potentially carve out a niche as a fast website builder for busy professionals. Its pricing starts competitively at $15/month, with features like unlimited pages, custom domains, and widget integrations.

What is Pineapple Builder?

Pineapple Builder is an AI-powered website creation platform designed for businesses, freelancers, and professionals who need to establish an online presence quickly. Think of it as having a personal web designer, copywriter, and developer all rolled into one AI assistant that works at lightning speed.

Instead of spending weeks learning the ropes of an advanced no-code platform like Bubble or Webflow, you can simply tell the platform about your business so it automatically generates a complete website tailored to your industry and goals.

Pineapple eliminates the traditional complexities of website building by using AI to handle all the technical aspects automatically. You don't need to understand coding, web hosting, or search engine optimization. What you get is a professional-looking website that includes everything from branded design elements to search-optimized content, even if some of the customization choices are pretty barebones.

Features

Pineapple Builder features

(Image credit: Pineapple Builder)

Pineapple Builder offers a suite of AI-powered features to simplify the website creation and management process. It creates customized business sites from simple descriptions, offering access to over 10 million template variations across 7 design styles. Beyond basic site creation, you also get built-in SEO optimization, AI-powered copywriting assistance, mobile-responsive designs, SSL certificates, and integrated hosting.

The AI SEO assistant automatically optimizes site structure, content, and metadata for search engines, while the drag-and-drop editor with AI assistance makes customization intuitive. Integration capabilities include popular tools like Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, and various payment processors, plus support for widgets, forms, and newsletter subscriptions.

Plus, the platform also includes multilingual support for 99+ languages and a built-in blogging system with AI-powered content generation. It will appeal to small business owners, startups, and freelancers, but has limited scalability for growing organizations or high-end professionals.

Pricing appears reasonable given the feature set, with plans starting at $15/month. You get unlimited pages, custom domain, and core business features. For users prioritizing speed and simplicity over extensive customization options, we think the feature-to-price ratio represents solid value overall.

Tools

Pineapple Builder templates

(Image credit: Pineapple Builder)

Pineapple Builder provides an integrated suite of AI-powered tools designed to handle every aspect of website creation and management from a single platform. These tools work together to eliminate the need for multiple separate services or technical expertise.

AI website generator

Pineapple's core AI website generation tool creates complete business websites from simple text descriptions, analyzing your input to select appropriate templates, colors, layouts, and content structure. It draws from over 10 million template variations to ensure each generated site feels unique and tailored to your industry and audience.

Copywriting assistant

The built-in AI copywriter generates website content, blog posts, and marketing copy that aligns with your business goals and brand voice. This tool helps users who struggle with writing by automatically creating SEO-optimized text that speaks directly to their target customers without any copywriting expertise.

SEO optimization suite

Pineapple Builder's AI SEO tools automatically optimize website structure, meta descriptions, headers, and content for search engine visibility. It handles technical SEO elements like site speed optimization, mobile responsiveness, and schema markup, ensuring your website meets modern search engine requirements without manual intervention.

Drag-and-drop editor

Their visual editor combines traditional drag-and-drop functionality with AI assistance, allowing users to customize layouts, add sections, and modify design elements intuitively. The AI provides real-time suggestions for improvements while maintaining design consistency and mobile compatibility across all changes.

Analytics and integration hub

Pineapple includes built-in analytics tools and seamless integrations with popular services like Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, payment processors, and email marketing platforms. This eliminates the complexity of managing multiple third-party connections while providing insights into website performance and visitor behavior.

Blogging platform

AI-powered blogging helps users create and manage content marketing efforts through automated blog post generation, SEO optimization, and content scheduling. While more basic than dedicated CMS platforms, it provides sufficient functionality for small businesses looking to establish thought leadership and improve search rankings.

Ease of use

Pineapple Builder interface

(Image credit: Pineapple Builder)

Pineapple’s AI-powered website generation tool requires only basic business information to create fully functional sites, eliminating the traditional learning curve associated with website building. But while it gets the basics right, Pineapple does show several limitations in advanced customization compared to more established competitors like Wix or Squarespace.

Those searching for deep design control or complex functionality may find it very restrictive. And the AI blogging features remain basic compared to dedicated CMS tools, while some marketing integrations are only available on higher-tier plans.

Pricing

Pineapple Builder

(Image credit: Pineapple Builder pricing)

Pineapple Builder offers a straightforward three-tier pricing structure designed to accommodate businesses at different stages of growth.

The platform starts with a free Starter plan that includes up to 3 pages and a Pineapple subdomain, making it perfect for testing the waters. The Basic plan costs $12 per month ($15 when billed monthly) for unlocking unlimited pages, custom domain support, badge removal, widgets, and code embeds—ideal for small businesses establishing their online presence.

The top-tier Grow plan at $24 per month adds blogging, advanced analytics, and enhanced membership features for up to 1,000 members.

This pricing structure represents solid value in the AI website builder market, particularly when considering the comprehensive feature set and AI automation capabilities included at each tier. While the Basic plan at $12/month is comparable to other business-focused builders, the inclusion of unlimited pages, AI copywriting tools, and SEO optimization makes it a compelling option despite the limited feature-set.

The free Starter plan offers genuine functionality rather than just a trial, allowing you to build and publish basic websites without any upfront investment. For businesses requiring features like blogging and detailed analytics, the Grow plan provides substantial value compared to paying for separate services for CMS functionality and SEO optimization.

Security

Pineapple Builder privacy policy

(Image credit: Pineapple Builder)

Pineapple Builder prioritizes website security through comprehensive protection measures built into every plan. All websites created on the platform automatically receive SSL certificates that ensure encrypted connections between users and websites, protecting sensitive data during transmission.

Also, the platform implements regular security updates and monitoring to safeguard against emerging threats, with automatic backup features that protect user content against data loss and allow restoration of previous site versions when needed.

Beyond basic security protocols, Pineapple Builder also maintains a secure hosting infrastructure and pushes out regular system updates that keep websites protected without user intervention.

Support

Pineapple Builder support hub

(Image credit: Pineapple Builder)

Pineapple Builder provides 24/7 customer support across all plans, including the free Starter tier, so users can access assistance whenever needed during their website building process. It includes multiple channels such as email, live chat, and a knowledge base designed to address both technical issues and general website building questions.

Support quality appears consistently high based on user feedback, with the team providing personalized guidance tailored to specific website needs and challenges rather than generic responses. The support extends beyond basic troubleshooting to include custom advice on design decisions, SEO optimization, and platform feature utilization, effectively serving as an extension of users' technical teams. Notably, even free plan users receive the same level of support access as paid subscribers, which is uncommon in the website builder space and demonstrates the company's commitment to user success regardless of plan tier.

However, users should note that while support is available 24/7, response times may vary depending on query complexity and current support volume. The platform's emphasis on AI automation means that many common issues are resolved automatically, but more complex customization requests may require escalation to technical specialists, potentially extending resolution timeframes.

Alternatives

Pineapple Builder competes with the best AI website builders rather than traditional drag-and-drop systems, positioning itself as an alternative to manual website creation for time-constrained entrepreneurs and small business owners.

Its main competitors include Squarespace as the overall market leader, Wix AI for AI-assisted building, Durable for comprehensive AI business solutions, and emerging players like Gamma, 10Web, and Butternut AI that focus on different aspects of automated website creation.

Pineapple Builder: Summary

Pineapple Builder delivers on its promise of rapid AI-powered website creation for business users, combining intelligent automation with practical features at competitive pricing. While it lacks the customization options of established competitors like Wix or Squarespace, its generous free plan with round-the-clock support is sure to be a draw for many users.

FAQs

How quickly can I build a website with Pineapple Builder?

Pineapple Builder can generate a complete business website in under 5 minutes using its AI technology. You simply provide a business description and target audience information. The AI creates a customized website with appropriate design, content, and SEO optimization.

Do I need coding experience to use Pineapple Builder?

Pineapple Builder is specifically designed for users without any coding background. It handles all technical aspects automatically, from hosting and SSL certificates to SEO optimization and mobile responsiveness.

Can I use my own custom domain with Pineapple Builder?

Yes, custom domains are supported on both the Basic ($12/month) and Grow ($24/month) plans, allowing you to use your own branded web address rather than a Pineapple subdomain. The free Starter plan includes only a Pineapple-branded subdomain (yoursite.pineapplebuilder.com), but upgrading to any paid plan enables custom domains.

What happens to my website if I cancel my subscription?

While the specific details of cancellation policies aren't explicitly covered on the website, you can contact Pineapple Builder's support team 24/7 for detailed information about data retention, export options, and grace periods before making any subscription changes.

How does Pineapple Builder compare to other AI website builders?

While platforms like Wix AI website builder offer broader customization options, Pineapple Builder specifically targets business users who need functional websites quickly rather than extensive design flexibility. It's also very competitively priced, with a generous free plan that offers quality support to reflect their commitment.

Freshworks review
1:52 pm |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro Software & Services | Comments: Off

Freshworks is a multiproduct, scalable software solution that offers total support for commercial businesses. Its five products provide customer relationship management (CRM) support for customer service, sales and marketing, as well as software support for IT and HR.

With this Freshworks review, we go over every aspect of the Freshworks product suite, compare its products with the competition, and tell you everything you need to know to decide if Freshworks is the best CRM software solution for your business.

Freshworks review: Snapshot

The Freshworks software suite offers a comprehensive CRM solution for commercial businesses. There are five products available to users: customer support, sales, marketing, HR, and IT.

Budget-sensitive users can benefit from Freshworks’ generous free offering, which provides enough functionality to meet the needs of a solopreneur or small business. Freshworks also boasts a very short setup time—around 48 hours. Conversely, most competitor products can take weeks or months to set up.

On the other hand, Freshworks has a smaller range of customization options relative to its competitors. Some users, especially larger organizations, may need to make major changes to the UI or create very specific custom fields, and might be better served by Salesforce (US-only link) or HubSpot in this regard.

Despite the limited amount of customization, though, we consider Freshworks to be a well-rounded software suite that is best suited for small business users.

Score: 4.5/5

Read on for the full review.

Freshworks: Key features

Freshworks offers five products, each with four levels of pricing depending on your needs and the size of your organization. Each product is a fully functional platform that provides support for a specific business need: customer service, sales, marketing, human resources, or IT.

Freshdesk

Freshdesk is a CRM focused on customer service across all channels. Its core function is to provide a ticketing system that converts customer inquiries from all channels into one inbox. From there, tickets are automatically processed and forwarded to the relevant agent. Users can customize which agent receives each type of ticket and which tickets are considered a priority. Read our full Freshdesk CRM review for more.

Freshsales

Freshsales is a CRM designed to maximize the effectiveness of users’ sales teams. Its key features include a visual sales pipeline and a system for automatically prioritizing and qualifying leads. It also has configurable automation settings for repetitive tasks, such as sending follow-up emails to clients. To learn more, read our Freshsales CRM review.

Freshmarketer

Freshmarketer is a CRM for streamlining and automating marketing activities. You can use Freshmarketer to run email marketing campaigns, optimize your website for maximum conversion, and communicate directly with customers via email and chat. Find out more in our detailed Freshmarketer CRM review.

Freshservice

Freshservice is Freshworks’ IT support CRM. It’s functionally similar to Freshdesk, in that it is primarily a CRM for optimizing support tickets. It contains the same basic features, such as aggregating inquiries from multiple channels into a single ticket inbox. However, unlike Freshdesk, it is ITIL compliant and therefore suitable for IT support. It also adds IT-specific functions for incident management handling, change, problem and release management, and asset management. For more, take a look at our Freshservice review.

Freshteam

Freshteam is an HR management service that provides paperless onboarding, automation for repetitive tasks like resume screening and follow-up emails, and a system for tracking employee time off. It also aggregates staff information into one employee database. Employees can access the system to request time off, browse internal job openings, and connect with other members of the organization easily within the CRM.

Freshworks: What’s new?

Freshworks continues to update its total business CRM suite on a monthly basis, and 2021 saw numerous changes. A particularly noteworthy feature is CRM migration. It is now possible to migrate CRM data from competitors, such as HubSpot, directly into the Freshworks suite with just a few clicks.

In terms of cross-platform features, Freshworks has implemented full Slack integration in its sales CRM, Freshsales. Users can create a private chat channel specific to a particular deal, and chat directly from an integrated window in the Freshsales web app.

Another change is the ability to reorder sections of the page in Freshworks. The Freshworks UI features multiple sections. For instance, in Freshsales, some sections show recent conversations, recent activities, and related accounts. These sections can be hidden or unhidden, and rearranged as needed. Although customization still remains limited, this change gives users more options than they had before.

Freshworks pricing

Freshsales' pricing plans

Plan type/feature

Free

Growth*

Pro*

Enterprise*

HubSpot* Sales Starter

Salesforce Essentials*

Cost per month

$0

$15

$39

$69

$22.50

$25

Cost per year

$0

$180

$468

$828

$270

$300

Customer database

X

Mobile app

X

24x5 support

X

Limited pipelines

X

X

X

X

Unlimited pipelines

X

X

X

Custom modules

X

X

X

X

Freshworks offers four different pricing tiers across each of its five products: Free, Growth, Pro, and Enterprise. Overall, we find its pricing to be quite competitive, especially for the lower-end plan options.

Billing is flexible, with monthly and annual options available. Compared to the monthly option, the annual pricing is discounted 17% across the board for all of Freshworks’ pricing plans. Below is a comparison of one of Freshworks’ most popular offerings, Freshsales, against comparable offers by key competitors.

*Prices are per user. HubSpot pricing is $45 for a minimum of two users, so one user is priced at $22.50.

Freshworks competitors

How does Freshworks compare to the competition?

Freshworks

HubSpot

Salesforce

Score

4.5/5

4.5/5

5/5

Pros

- Wide range of products - Robust free offering - Quick setup

Decent free offering - Over 300 customizable apps

Very wide range of tools - Large community with active peer support

Cons

Less customization than competitors - Premium plans are expensive if all five products are purchased

Free plan lacks telephone support - Setup takes eight to 12 weeks

No free plan - Can be expensive compared to competitors

Verdict

Freshworks is great for small businesses seeking a CRM at an affordable price, with a quick and easy setup.

HubSpot is powerful CRM software, with many customization options that are relatively easy to use.

Salesforce offers unparalleled customization options for mid- to large-sized businesses with the time and capital to implement it effectively.

View deals

Visit site

Visit site

Visit site (US link)

Salesforce and HubSpot are Freshworks’ closest competitors in the CRM market.

Salesforce is an established total CRM solution. At its core, it functions similarly to Freshworks, providing CRM products to fit specific business needs. The difference is in the scope: where Freshworks offers five products, Salesforce offers 14. It also offers near total customization to the user.

Implementation is a two-to-eight week process, during which the user works with the Salesforce development team to create a CRM experience that is uniquely tailored to their needs. The software is priced accordingly, being significantly more expensive than a Freshworks subscription.

Salesforce is most suitable for an organization with a large budget and CRM needs that go beyond what a basic product package can provide. Read our Salesforce review to find out more.

HubSpot is also a total CRM solution, offering products for sales, customer service, and marketing. Unlike Freshworks, HubSpot does not offer HR and IT support. Also, we found that HubSpot is a bit more expensive than Freshworks at each pricing tier.

On the other hand, all fields in the HubSpot CRM, as well as most of the UI, can be modified, rearranged, or removed as the user requires. Additionally, HubSpot’s app marketplace is larger than Freshworks’, with 900 apps to Freshworks’ 650. This means that overall, HubSpot provides more customization options than Freshworks. Read our HubSpot CRM review to learn more.

Freshworks is less expensive, offers IT and HR products, and is faster to set up. So unless the user places a huge amount of importance on customization, we consider Freshworks to be the best option for small commercial businesses.

For mid- to large-sized enterprises, it comes down to how much they want to tailor the software to their specific needs. If a default product that is ready to go quickly is sufficient, then Freshworks is again the best option. Otherwise, Salesforce is probably the best CRM solution.

Let’s see just how Freshworks compares to its primary competitors.

Getting started with Freshworkds

Freshmarketer's login page

Getting Freshmarketer up and running was easy, and took less than five minutes (Image credit: Freshworks)

We tested setup time by downloading Freshmarketer, the marketing CRM, which was very easy to implement. After we input our login information, the system was ready to use in-browser, leading to a total setup time of fewer than five minutes.

With the help of Freshmarketer’s tutorial, it took another 10 minutes or so to import some contacts and create a basic marketing "journey". Journeys are Freshmarker's marketing campaigns. Our journey mapped out our cold email campaign and set follow-up dates.

Freshworks’ website features testimonials describing setup in less than 48 hours. Based on our own testing experience, this timeframe is realistic. It can be even shorter, depending on the user’s customization needs.

Some users will want customization beyond the default offering, so we decided to test just how much customization Freshworks offers.

Freshworks customizations

Freshworks' user interface demonstrated

Freshworks features limited customization, allowing users to edit and move some fields while keeping most of the UI static (Image credit: Freshworks)

Customization is an important part of any CRM software. Every user has their own unique needs, and some tailoring of the software will inevitably be required. With this in mind, we tested exactly how much customization Freshworks offers to users.

The major features of the program UI, like sidebar layout and navbar position, are fixed, but there is a large amount of useful customization within the existing fields. For example, contacts in the database can be edited with up to 27 pre-set fields such as name, address, annual revenue, and territory. If none of those 27 options suit you, it is easy to create your own custom field in just a few clicks.

Moreover, Freshworks features one-click import from other CRMs and easy integration of apps from the Freshworks marketplace. Although Freshworks may not have the same level of customization as some of its competitors, the available options are more than sufficient for a client looking to make tweaks to the basic package.

How we test CRMs

Since Freshworks features five separate products, we chose to test features that are common across all of them: namely, setup time and customization. These features are particularly important to small business owners and solopreneurs, who may not be able to accept weeks of downtime while setting up a CRM service.

Freshworks: Final verdict

Freshworks is a powerful platform offered at a reasonable price. It offers comprehensive HR and IT support, something that is missing from many CRMs. It's great for empowering collaboration and boosting employee productivity.

It is also extremely straightforward to install. Many features, such as the Freshmarketer product, are ready to use almost immediately. Most CRMs can take several weeks to get up and running, while Freshworks can be online in less than 48 hours.

Its customization options are decent, with a growing marketplace of over 650 apps. But CRMs with a larger customization offering, like Salesforce or HubSpot, might be more suitable for companies with high customization needs.

Customer support is present 24/5 by live chat, phone, and email on all product tiers. At the highest pricing tier, Enterprise, users receive a dedicated support person for their account. This means that Freshworks support improves for premium users, but is still highly accessible for free and growth tier users.

Overall, thanks to its broad umbrella of software, Freshworks offers something for everyone. Its products are quick to get up and running, and are easy to use. They cover a wide range of use cases and offer limited but sufficient customization. Moreover, Freshworks is highly scalable and offers a robust free plan for all its products.

For these reasons, we consider it to be the perfect solution for budget-conscious users, or businesses that prioritize a quick launch and ease-of-use over extensive customization.

Freshworks FAQ

What sort of tools can Freshworks integrate with?

Freshworks CRM offers a number of native integrations with popular platforms, including Google Calendar, QuickBooks, and Mailchimp. It also provides an API for custom integrations.

What are Freshworks AI capabilities?

Freshworks' AI functionalities revolve around its AI tool, Freddy. Freshworks' AI assistant Freddy provides smart deal insights and a built-in AI chatbot, as well as email and sales sequences. IT can also score contacts based on historical data and engagement.

What features are not included in the Freshworks basic plan?

They say nothing in this life comes for free and certainly there are some Freshworks features that only become available the higher you move up the pay scale. Some essential features, for example, like custom reports, sales forecasting, and certain AI capabilities may not be included in the entry-level plans. If, say, you want multiple sales pipelines or access to Freddy AI, you'll need the Pro plan. However, it's worth bearing in mind that there is a 21-day free trial if you want to check out a pricing tier without committing.

Freshworks review
1:52 pm |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro Software & Services | Comments: Off

Freshworks is a multiproduct, scalable software solution that offers total support for commercial businesses. Its five products provide customer relationship management (CRM) support for customer service, sales and marketing, as well as software support for IT and HR.

With this Freshworks review, we go over every aspect of the Freshworks product suite, compare its products with the competition, and tell you everything you need to know to decide if Freshworks is the best CRM software solution for your business.

Freshworks review: Snapshot

The Freshworks software suite offers a comprehensive CRM solution for commercial businesses. There are five products available to users: customer support, sales, marketing, HR, and IT.

Budget-sensitive users can benefit from Freshworks’ generous free offering, which provides enough functionality to meet the needs of a solopreneur or small business. Freshworks also boasts a very short setup time—around 48 hours. Conversely, most competitor products can take weeks or months to set up.

On the other hand, Freshworks has a smaller range of customization options relative to its competitors. Some users, especially larger organizations, may need to make major changes to the UI or create very specific custom fields, and might be better served by Salesforce (US-only link) or HubSpot in this regard.

Despite the limited amount of customization, though, we consider Freshworks to be a well-rounded software suite that is best suited for small business users.

Score: 4.5/5

Read on for the full review.

Freshworks: Key features

Freshworks offers five products, each with four levels of pricing depending on your needs and the size of your organization. Each product is a fully functional platform that provides support for a specific business need: customer service, sales, marketing, human resources, or IT.

Freshdesk

Freshdesk is a CRM focused on customer service across all channels. Its core function is to provide a ticketing system that converts customer inquiries from all channels into one inbox. From there, tickets are automatically processed and forwarded to the relevant agent. Users can customize which agent receives each type of ticket and which tickets are considered a priority. Read our full Freshdesk CRM review for more.

Freshsales

Freshsales is a CRM designed to maximize the effectiveness of users’ sales teams. Its key features include a visual sales pipeline and a system for automatically prioritizing and qualifying leads. It also has configurable automation settings for repetitive tasks, such as sending follow-up emails to clients. To learn more, read our Freshsales CRM review.

Freshmarketer

Freshmarketer is a CRM for streamlining and automating marketing activities. You can use Freshmarketer to run email marketing campaigns, optimize your website for maximum conversion, and communicate directly with customers via email and chat. Find out more in our detailed Freshmarketer CRM review.

Freshservice

Freshservice is Freshworks’ IT support CRM. It’s functionally similar to Freshdesk, in that it is primarily a CRM for optimizing support tickets. It contains the same basic features, such as aggregating inquiries from multiple channels into a single ticket inbox. However, unlike Freshdesk, it is ITIL compliant and therefore suitable for IT support. It also adds IT-specific functions for incident management handling, change, problem and release management, and asset management. For more, take a look at our Freshservice review.

Freshteam

Freshteam is an HR management service that provides paperless onboarding, automation for repetitive tasks like resume screening and follow-up emails, and a system for tracking employee time off. It also aggregates staff information into one employee database. Employees can access the system to request time off, browse internal job openings, and connect with other members of the organization easily within the CRM.

Freshworks: What’s new?

Freshworks continues to update its total business CRM suite on a monthly basis, and 2021 saw numerous changes. A particularly noteworthy feature is CRM migration. It is now possible to migrate CRM data from competitors, such as HubSpot, directly into the Freshworks suite with just a few clicks.

In terms of cross-platform features, Freshworks has implemented full Slack integration in its sales CRM, Freshsales. Users can create a private chat channel specific to a particular deal, and chat directly from an integrated window in the Freshsales web app.

Another change is the ability to reorder sections of the page in Freshworks. The Freshworks UI features multiple sections. For instance, in Freshsales, some sections show recent conversations, recent activities, and related accounts. These sections can be hidden or unhidden, and rearranged as needed. Although customization still remains limited, this change gives users more options than they had before.

Freshworks pricing

Freshsales' pricing plans

Plan type/feature

Free

Growth*

Pro*

Enterprise*

HubSpot* Sales Starter

Salesforce Essentials*

Cost per month

$0

$15

$39

$69

$22.50

$25

Cost per year

$0

$180

$468

$828

$270

$300

Customer database

X

Mobile app

X

24x5 support

X

Limited pipelines

X

X

X

X

Unlimited pipelines

X

X

X

Custom modules

X

X

X

X

Freshworks offers four different pricing tiers across each of its five products: Free, Growth, Pro, and Enterprise. Overall, we find its pricing to be quite competitive, especially for the lower-end plan options.

Billing is flexible, with monthly and annual options available. Compared to the monthly option, the annual pricing is discounted 17% across the board for all of Freshworks’ pricing plans. Below is a comparison of one of Freshworks’ most popular offerings, Freshsales, against comparable offers by key competitors.

*Prices are per user. HubSpot pricing is $45 for a minimum of two users, so one user is priced at $22.50.

Freshworks competitors

How does Freshworks compare to the competition?

Freshworks

HubSpot

Salesforce

Score

4.5/5

4.5/5

5/5

Pros

- Wide range of products - Robust free offering - Quick setup

Decent free offering - Over 300 customizable apps

Very wide range of tools - Large community with active peer support

Cons

Less customization than competitors - Premium plans are expensive if all five products are purchased

Free plan lacks telephone support - Setup takes eight to 12 weeks

No free plan - Can be expensive compared to competitors

Verdict

Freshworks is great for small businesses seeking a CRM at an affordable price, with a quick and easy setup.

HubSpot is powerful CRM software, with many customization options that are relatively easy to use.

Salesforce offers unparalleled customization options for mid- to large-sized businesses with the time and capital to implement it effectively.

View deals

Visit site

Visit site

Visit site (US link)

Salesforce and HubSpot are Freshworks’ closest competitors in the CRM market.

Salesforce is an established total CRM solution. At its core, it functions similarly to Freshworks, providing CRM products to fit specific business needs. The difference is in the scope: where Freshworks offers five products, Salesforce offers 14. It also offers near total customization to the user.

Implementation is a two-to-eight week process, during which the user works with the Salesforce development team to create a CRM experience that is uniquely tailored to their needs. The software is priced accordingly, being significantly more expensive than a Freshworks subscription.

Salesforce is most suitable for an organization with a large budget and CRM needs that go beyond what a basic product package can provide. Read our Salesforce review to find out more.

HubSpot is also a total CRM solution, offering products for sales, customer service, and marketing. Unlike Freshworks, HubSpot does not offer HR and IT support. Also, we found that HubSpot is a bit more expensive than Freshworks at each pricing tier.

On the other hand, all fields in the HubSpot CRM, as well as most of the UI, can be modified, rearranged, or removed as the user requires. Additionally, HubSpot’s app marketplace is larger than Freshworks’, with 900 apps to Freshworks’ 650. This means that overall, HubSpot provides more customization options than Freshworks. Read our HubSpot CRM review to learn more.

Freshworks is less expensive, offers IT and HR products, and is faster to set up. So unless the user places a huge amount of importance on customization, we consider Freshworks to be the best option for small commercial businesses.

For mid- to large-sized enterprises, it comes down to how much they want to tailor the software to their specific needs. If a default product that is ready to go quickly is sufficient, then Freshworks is again the best option. Otherwise, Salesforce is probably the best CRM solution.

Let’s see just how Freshworks compares to its primary competitors.

Getting started with Freshworkds

Freshmarketer's login page

Getting Freshmarketer up and running was easy, and took less than five minutes (Image credit: Freshworks)

We tested setup time by downloading Freshmarketer, the marketing CRM, which was very easy to implement. After we input our login information, the system was ready to use in-browser, leading to a total setup time of fewer than five minutes.

With the help of Freshmarketer’s tutorial, it took another 10 minutes or so to import some contacts and create a basic marketing "journey". Journeys are Freshmarker's marketing campaigns. Our journey mapped out our cold email campaign and set follow-up dates.

Freshworks’ website features testimonials describing setup in less than 48 hours. Based on our own testing experience, this timeframe is realistic. It can be even shorter, depending on the user’s customization needs.

Some users will want customization beyond the default offering, so we decided to test just how much customization Freshworks offers.

Freshworks customizations

Freshworks' user interface demonstrated

Freshworks features limited customization, allowing users to edit and move some fields while keeping most of the UI static (Image credit: Freshworks)

Customization is an important part of any CRM software. Every user has their own unique needs, and some tailoring of the software will inevitably be required. With this in mind, we tested exactly how much customization Freshworks offers to users.

The major features of the program UI, like sidebar layout and navbar position, are fixed, but there is a large amount of useful customization within the existing fields. For example, contacts in the database can be edited with up to 27 pre-set fields such as name, address, annual revenue, and territory. If none of those 27 options suit you, it is easy to create your own custom field in just a few clicks.

Moreover, Freshworks features one-click import from other CRMs and easy integration of apps from the Freshworks marketplace. Although Freshworks may not have the same level of customization as some of its competitors, the available options are more than sufficient for a client looking to make tweaks to the basic package.

How we test CRMs

Since Freshworks features five separate products, we chose to test features that are common across all of them: namely, setup time and customization. These features are particularly important to small business owners and solopreneurs, who may not be able to accept weeks of downtime while setting up a CRM service.

Freshworks: Final verdict

Freshworks is a powerful platform offered at a reasonable price. It offers comprehensive HR and IT support, something that is missing from many CRMs. It's great for empowering collaboration and boosting employee productivity.

It is also extremely straightforward to install. Many features, such as the Freshmarketer product, are ready to use almost immediately. Most CRMs can take several weeks to get up and running, while Freshworks can be online in less than 48 hours.

Its customization options are decent, with a growing marketplace of over 650 apps. But CRMs with a larger customization offering, like Salesforce or HubSpot, might be more suitable for companies with high customization needs.

Customer support is present 24/5 by live chat, phone, and email on all product tiers. At the highest pricing tier, Enterprise, users receive a dedicated support person for their account. This means that Freshworks support improves for premium users, but is still highly accessible for free and growth tier users.

Overall, thanks to its broad umbrella of software, Freshworks offers something for everyone. Its products are quick to get up and running, and are easy to use. They cover a wide range of use cases and offer limited but sufficient customization. Moreover, Freshworks is highly scalable and offers a robust free plan for all its products.

For these reasons, we consider it to be the perfect solution for budget-conscious users, or businesses that prioritize a quick launch and ease-of-use over extensive customization.

Freshworks FAQ

What sort of tools can Freshworks integrate with?

Freshworks CRM offers a number of native integrations with popular platforms, including Google Calendar, QuickBooks, and Mailchimp. It also provides an API for custom integrations.

What are Freshworks AI capabilities?

Freshworks' AI functionalities revolve around its AI tool, Freddy. Freshworks' AI assistant Freddy provides smart deal insights and a built-in AI chatbot, as well as email and sales sequences. IT can also score contacts based on historical data and engagement.

What features are not included in the Freshworks basic plan?

They say nothing in this life comes for free and certainly there are some Freshworks features that only become available the higher you move up the pay scale. Some essential features, for example, like custom reports, sales forecasting, and certain AI capabilities may not be included in the entry-level plans. If, say, you want multiple sales pipelines or access to Freddy AI, you'll need the Pro plan. However, it's worth bearing in mind that there is a 21-day free trial if you want to check out a pricing tier without committing.

I reviewed this budget ergonomic chair and it delivers more support than expected for the price
6:03 pm | October 6, 2025

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro | Comments: Off

I've reviewed a significant amount of gear from Sihoo over the years. Sihoo is one of those companies that offer a wide range of prices, covering budget gear all the way to higher-end gear.

The Sihoo M56C-V2 favors the budget side, but it's not as budget-friendly as the Sihoo M76A-M101. However, it does remind me of it a lot. Where the M76A-M101 was very lightweight, making it feel a bit cheaper, the M56C-V2 feels a bit heftier, without significantly increasing the price tag. Is it one of the best office chairs around? I took it for a spin to find out.

Sihoo M56C-V2: Price and availability

Sihoo | M56C-V2

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )

The Sihoo M56C-V2 can be purchased from the Sihoo website, Amazon, Best Buy, and several other retailers, and I'm sure that number will grow over time, as this is still a relatively new release chair. The chair costs just over $200, and depending on where you buy it from, you could get next-day delivery, pickup, or relatively fast shipping.

Sihoo | M56C-V2

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )

Sihoo M56C-V2: Unboxing and First Impressions

I've reviewed a significant amount of gear from Sihoo over the years. Sihoo is one of those companies that offer a wide range of prices, covering budget gear all the way to higher-end gear. The Sihoo M56C-V2 favors the budget side, but it's not as budget-friendly as the Sihoo M76A-M101.

Some users or businesses want a good chair with some ergonomics, but they don't want to spend an exorbitant amount of money. Sadly, when it comes to budget chairs, ergonomic features are often the first to be sacrificed. For this chair, however, the ergonomics are still present, providing good back support, albeit with the lumbar support a little too low for some users.

Assembly will depend on your comfort level with building chairs. If you know what you're doing and are fairly comfortable assembling items like this, you can probably build it in around an hour. However, those with less experience may take longer to build. Another thing that could help speed up the process of assembling this chair is an electric screwdriver.

Sihoo M56C-V2: Design & Build Quality

The Sihoo M56C-V2 has a firm mesh back with a self-adjusting lumbar system. It's designed to lean and adjust with you while you move in the seat, and for some, it will work great. For others, it may feel slightly lower than desired, although Sihoo aimed to support the true lower lumbar region, rather than the mid-to-low back, unlike many chairs.

The seat cushion, although not the best on the market, still provides a reasonably decent seat for the price. Lastly, the armrests and headrest provide enough flexibility and adjustment options to be helpful, without being ground-breaking and expensive.

Sihoo | M56C-V2

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )

Sihoo M56C-V2: In use

Sihoo | M56C-V2

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )

I've had the Sihoo M56C-V2 in my inventory for 100 days at the time of writing this review. So far, this chair has held up nicely to everything we have thrown at it, including long working days.

All around, I'm impressed with just how good this chair is for the price. Granted, it has its ups and downs, but for around $200, it's pretty impressive that it offers any ergonomic features. There is a comfortable headrest, a great cushion that provides support without being uncomfortable, and it has good armrests.

While, for the most part, this chair is excellent, some users on my team have noted that the chair's lumbar is lower than they prefer. Additionally, the armrests cannot move inward, though that's usually a feature I only see on the more premium chairs, so no marks against the M56C in that regard.

Sihoo | M56C-V2

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )

The members of my team who felt like the lumbar was too low took matters into their own hands and added a DIY towel roll to the top of the lumbar support to help adjust the relief to the proper spot.

Other members of my team like the lowest part of the lumbar support because it feels like it properly holds their lower back.

Over the last 100 days of use, I've had one member use this chair far more than anyone else on my team. They have found that this chair is just about perfect for them. The armrests are great, the seat is comfortable, the lumbar support is helpful, the headrest is supportive, and the overall feel is wildly beneficial. This team member has suffered from migraines and tension headaches for quite some time, so having a chair that can give them a comfortable seat, a supported back, and a headrest makes all the difference.

Sihoo M56C-V2: Final verdict

The Sihoo M56C-V2 is not the fanciest chair, nor is it perfect, but it is a budget-friendly option that is well worth the money. If you are looking for a great budget chair for your home office or want to buy in bulk for a conference room or office bullpen, this chair is a great option to consider.

Should you buy a Sihoo M56C-V2?

Value

Good level of ergonomics for the price

4.5 / 5

Design

Simple design, clean, aggressive lumbar support

4 / 5

Hardware

Basic armrests, and adjust-less lumbar are simple. They work but are not for everyone

3.5 / 5

Performance

Great for budget buyers, also for average height to shorter users

4 / 5

Overall

Not perfect, but one of the better wallet-friendly chairs you can buy today if you like lumbar support

4 / 5

Buy it if...

You want a budget-friendly chair with lumbar support
The Sihoo M56C-V2 is easy on the spending side and works well for most with the lumbar support. Simple and sweet.

You need to buy in bulk
If you are buying chairs for a conference room or for a bullpen or general office use, this chair may just what you are looking forView Deal

Don't buy it if...

You want a super ergonomical chair
While the M56C-V2 has good features, it's not the most adjustable and customizable chair

You are above average height
This chair may still work for you, but there are other options that may be a better fit

For more office furniture essentials, we've reviewed the best standing desks around.

I tested the Uplift V3 Standing Desk and everything I loved about the previous models is upgraded and updated
7:47 pm | October 5, 2025

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro | Comments: Off

I've worked with Uplift in the past, so when I heard they released a new desk, I, of course, had to try it out for myself.

I've tried out their V2 Standing Desk with commercial legs, and the team has reviewed the V2 standing desk with standard legs. Both desks scored 4.5 and are widely recognized by the TechRadar Pro team as fantastic standing desk options. Sometimes when companies knock it out of the park, they swing too far in a different direction and lose touch with what made their original product so successful. Uplift, on the other hand, did the right move - they listened to their customers.

The Uplift V3 is everything that made the V2 great, everything that the V2 Commercial refined, and made it just a little bit better. Assembly is improved, stability is enhanced, and we still have the same great desktop and accessory options. We also have a sturdier frame and the same high-quality materials. For me, this might be the best standing desk around right now.

Uplift V3 Standing Desk: Price and availability

Uplift | Standing Desk V3

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )

The Uplift Standing Desk V3 offers some of the most customizable options I have seen, including material choices and built-in features. Depending on what you choose, you'll adjust the price and time it takes to get to you drastically.

With the base-level desk in the smallest size, without any modifications, you'll come in around $700 and will get it shipped that day, free of charge. However, if you want to, and your budget allows of course, you could go all out and get a desk, and come out to over $2000 without accessories.

There are so many combination options that we could all make unique desks if we wanted to, and that is one of the things that sets Uplift apart.

Uplift | Standing Desk V3

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )

Uplift V3 Standing Desk: Unboxing and First Impressions

I've customized and ordered numerous standing desks. Uplift still has the most robust number of options for me to choose from when I build, making it feel like I have a truly customized and almost one-of-a-kind desk.

I get to design it to be precisely what I want. Granted, there are other companies, such as Oakywood, that allow you to customize down to the exact inch, but when it comes to options for materials, Uplift may have just about everyone else beat. Even with this incredible selection of desktops and accessories, delivery time is still within a week, which is insane, sometimes as quickly as three days.

Everything comes well-packaged, with all the accessories you chose, and easy-to-follow directions to help with setup. Right off the bat, the desk feels sturdier than the V2, providing the rigidity I wanted with the V2 and even the V2 Commercial, while still maintaining a sleek and minimal appearance. The biggest game changer for me is the inclusion of the FlexMount Cable Manager.

I am the kind of person who loves a clean desk, even if it's cluttered; I still like it to be tidy and have the cables organized. The FlexMount cable Manager is the cable management solution that FlexiSpot added to their E7 Pro, except on the back of the desk, which works out well, as that's where most of the cable mess is.

Uplift V3 Standing Desk: Design & Build Quality

Specs

Height range: 22.6” – 48.2” (BIFMA-certified)
Lift capacity: ~355 lbs
Frame: dual-motor, steel, crossbar stability design
Noise: <50dB
Keypad: programmable memory, hush or RGB options
Warranty: 15 years

For my V3 desk, I built out a beautiful Heritage Oak desktop paired with the V3 C-Shaped legs, a handful of accessories, and powered grommets. The Heritage Oak is lovely. It looks excellent from a distance, and even up close, it still looks great for a laminate. It is worth noting that it is laminate, so it's not solid wood, but for what it is, it feels very nice.

I wanted to see how good their laminate could be, and I'm glad I did. If a more accessible desk can be this good, and I've also tested a solid wood option from Uplift, I know that their desks, overall, are solid and worth suggesting and promoting now.

Another element I really like about the design is the ability to add features like powered grommets at the point of purchase. These wouldn't be as beloved as they are, but the powered grommets are frequently the most notable feature of this desk, according to my team. We use them all the time to plug in whatever we are working with, all without having to run an extension cord, leave out a cable mess, or look for an outlet. We can pop up the grommet, plug in, and get to work.

The upgraded V3 legs still feature the same four programmable presets, and we also have a selection to choose from when it comes to the controller, which is quite impressive. We can choose the variant that best suits our working style and aesthetic, and it will work seamlessly with the desk out of the box.

Uplift | Standing Desk V3

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )

Uplift V3 Standing Desk: In use

Uplift | Standing Desk V3

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )

I've had this desk set up and in use for my team and I for the past 39 days at the time of writing this review. In that time, we have had numerous people rotate using it.

We have had multiple meetings, working sessions, and full days of work at this desk. We have it set up with dual monitors, an external Logitech MX Keys Keyboard, and the Logitech MX Master 3. We added a desk pad to protect the desk and enhance its aesthetic appeal. We also built out dual docking stations, one to run dual monitors for a Mac (that shouldn't be able to run dual monitors) through DisplayLink Manager, and another Thunderbolt Dock pulled forward for easy port access.

On top of this, we added a lamp, speakers, and multiple power options with under-mounted power strips and both grommet power solutions all running to where the desk itself can be powered with a single cable, and one ethernet port for wired internet (though it could be wireless if required).

Uplift | Standing Desk V3

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )

This is how I like to build my desks, over-built but ready for modifications in the future if desired. Creating this way also highlights the limitations of a desk, if any exist. So far, this desk has withstood the hefty build beautifully, and it is working precisely as intended. The privacy screen blocks exactly where we'd want it to, and provides some lovely pouches for quick access to books or documents.

The grommets are easy to use and highly convenient. The desk has not bowed or sagged at all. The cable management solution keeps everything in place without allowing any cables to come into contact with the ground. Additionally, the wheels provide super-easy maneuverability.

After using this for a month and walking into the office every day, looking at the desk as I do in the photos, I wish that the cable management solution were either black to blend in or a more rigid and refined metal to match the desk frame. Everything looks so high quality, and then that stands out as an outlier. But not in a terrible way - just a little room for growth for V4.

Uplift V3 Standing Desk: Final verdict

The Uplift V3 is a significant and highly welcomed update from the Uplift V2 and V2 Commercial lines. Not to say that those are bad by any means, but the V3 is a definite step above. This desk has been excellent for all kinds of office work and would work beautifully in a dedicated office or a home office space. If you're investing in a standing desk, consider one that offers not only a fun, customizable option but also a quality, well-tested desk.

Should you buy an Uplift V3 Standing Desk?

Value

Can be built out to be very affordable, or very bougie depending on your budget

4 / 5

Design

Beautiful and sturdy design, with room to grow

4.5 / 5

Hardware

Dual motors, great range, sturdy, and high lift capacity

5 / 5

Performance

Quiet, responsive, stable, great to build a setup with

5 / 5

Overall

The V3 continues the line of greatness with Uplift's standing desk, giving us a fantastic desk all around

5 / 5

Buy it if...

You want a customized desk
The Uplift Standing Desk V3 builder allows for what feels like a custom desk, without paying absurd amounts of money for other companies. You get to choose most elements, creating a one-of-a-kind piece for your space.

You need a buy-it-once kind of desk
Sometimes you want a cheap desk that fits a space, sometimes you want to buy a desk that will last for a decade without even batting an eye.View Deal

Don't buy it if...

You need to adjust the size down to an inch
While Uplift has a ton of options, you do have a set number of options for sizing, if you need custom sizing, you'll have to look elsewhere

You expect the best cable management solution to come first party
There are a few desk companies that have better cable management solutions, but you could also grab those and add them to this desk, which is what we'd suggest

For more office furniture essentials, we've tested and reviewed the best office chairs.

The LiberNovo Omni is a minimalist chair with electronic adjustments, an external battery, impressive comfort – and it has me rethinking what an office chair can be
1:03 am |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro | Comments: Off

When I first saw the LiberNovo Omni announced, I thought that if they delivered half of what I am seeing in the previews in real life, I'd be impressed.

Now, I've reviewed some of the best office chairs for the home and office, but this? This is something very different. Let me explain.

LiberNovo Omni: Price and availability

LiberNovo | Omni

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )

The LiberNovo Omni began on Kickstarter and has recently emerged from that initial phase. The next round of chairs will start shipping on October 21, 2025, and LiberNovo is still accepting more pre-orders until October 20th.

The basic bundle is currently on sale for $848 through the LiberNovo website, originally priced at $ 1,099.

If you want to get your hands on this chair before the price increases or before there is a delay in shipping due to high demand, grab one from LiberNovo directly by clicking here.

LiberNovo | Omni

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )

LiberNovo Omni: Unboxing and First Impressions

The Omni arrived in a large box and took 10 minutes to assemble with minimal frustration or strain. The hardest part was coping with the realization that I had missed a step in the directions and hadn't moved the wire controls to the side before attaching the seat to the frame, meaning I had to undo everything.

That brings up another point -- the assembly was straightforward, partially due to a design and setup process that I have yet to see among my 50+ chairs that I have reviewed over the last several years. Most chairs I have tested have a backpiece that mounts directly to the seat of the chair, usually with three bolts.

This chair, though, has what I can only describe as a spine that extends to the top of the backrest, and then seats directly onto the pedestal. Then, a base is added on top of the spine, and a backrest is attached to the top section of the spine. This assembly and design method, while unique, also provides a tremendous amount of stability to the chair, making assembly a breeze.

From the moment I first sat in this chair, I have absolutely loved it. It's different than what I expected in feel, but in a good way. The seat is firm yet comfortable, the backrest functions well, and the adjustments are excellent. The shock for me was that the seat felt a bit narrower than expected.

Without taking too long, I was able to dial it in to be exactly what I wanted, and I got back to work, forgetting about needing to make any further adjustments, which speaks to just how comfortable the chair is.

LiberNovo Omni: Design & Build Quality

Specs

Height range:
Lift capacity:
Dimensions:
Warranty:

As I mentioned above, the frame for the LiberNovo Omni is unique. It has three main components, with the primary structure of the frame spanning where most chairs have a gap.

The spine portion of the chair effectively conveys the stability it offers. The mesh seat is comfortable, even for all-day use, the backrest is incredibly supportive, and the frame is stable.

The footprint is small enough to fit even in smaller setups, to the point where I moved this chair to my smallest desk setup, and it works perfectly.

LiberNovo | Omni

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )

LiberNovo Omni: In use

LiberNovo | Omni

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )

The LiberNovo Omni has a backrest that is not only comfortable but also hugs my spine when I sit. Most chairs require adjustment throughout the day, but I've spent several long days sitting in this chair without any issues.

Admittedly, even when I'm at my standing desk, I haven't stood up in a few days (while working, of course). The headrest can be adjusted to push forward or back, helping to support my neck when I'm sitting. I can recline when thinking or on a virtual call, and I can get a quick massage by pressing a simple button.

LiberNovo | Omni

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future )

One more thing worth mentioning is that this chair features a nice lumbar support, unlike many chairs that have a gap. Right at the lower back, where your seat meets the backrest, most chairs have a gap, or some padding is used to try to make up for it.

Since this chair is designed in such a unique way, there is not only an option for a small gap, but also a zero-gap option, utilizing electronics to close that gap, meaning you are supported all day without slouching to relieve pressure on your spine.

It wouldn't be a non-biased review without some cons. After a few days of using this chair, I noticed that the headrest drops too easily, and it moves side to side more easily than expected. This is probably due to the thin, small piece of plastic holding the headrest in place. If you're the kind of person expecting that to be rigid, you'll be sadly disappointed in this headrest's level of maneuverability.

LiberNovo Omni: Final verdict

The LiberNovo Omni is impressive. This is the kind of quality that I would expect from a well-established company, and several variations of a chair.

But, instead, I have found it within a chair that is still technically on Kickstarter at the time of writing this review. Yes, it's expensive, but it truly is worth the money if you spend all day at a desk.

If you're looking for a comfortable chair that supports your lower back all day long, consider LiberNovo's Omni offering before making your decision. It may change your mind - or at least make you reconsider what an office chair can be.

Should you buy the LiberNovo Omni?

Value

Good level of ergonomics for the price

4.5 / 5

Design

Simple design, clean, aggressive lumbar support

4 / 5

Hardware

Basic armrests, and adjust-less lumbar are simple. They work but are not for everyone

3.5 / 5

Performance

Great for budget buyers, also for average height to shorter users

4 / 5

Overall

Not perfect, but one of the better wallet-friendly chairs you can buy today if you like lumbar support

4 / 5

For more office furniture, we've reviewed the best standing desks.

I reviewed Adobe Premiere and saw the future of video editing on the iPhone
8:17 pm | October 4, 2025

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro Software &amp; Services | Tags: | Comments: Off

To me, as a video editor, being able to shoot, edit, and share a short film all from a small handheld device has always been these slabs of glass’ revolutionary concept. I’ve been editing and experimenting with them since I downloaded iMovie for the iPod Touch.

Since then, I've tested out all the best video editing apps, with some focusing on simplicity, while others try to cram a desktop video editor into a phone. There’s truly something for everyone. Even Adobe was on the scene with Rush.

But there's a new Adobe app in town that, I think, might be a massive game-changer for creators on the go. Adobe Premiere, also known as ‘Premiere on iPhone’, likely to differentiate it from its desktop big brother, Premiere Pro.

Adobe Premiere on iPhone: Pricing & plans

  • Most tools are free. What isn’t are the AI features and online storage, but if you already have a subscription with Adobe, it’s possible it could now include this new app, meaning you won’t have to fork out more of your precious money to take full advantage of Premiere.

Competing in the mobile market is hard, what with most apps being sold for so little… How can you expect to make a profit? That doesn’t seem to be too much of a concern for the mighty Adobe, as they’ve released Premiere on iPhone for free (henceforth just referred to as Premiere for simplicity). You can download it by clicking here.

Yes, there are in-app purchases in the form of monthly and annual subscriptions. These unlock some features on the app, including online storage, and likely a certain number of generative credits each month.

Do be aware however that these unlocked features can also be accessed simply by login into your Adobe ID, and if you already subscribe to one of their other plans, you might not even need to pay for an additional subscription.

For instance, I have access to the Creative Cloud All Apps package, and I’ve encountered no limitation in my use of Premiere. I realise this is quite nebulous: as of this writing I haven’t received a response from Adobe about what you get with a Premiere Mobile subscription, and which other subscriptions grant you the same access to this new app.

  • Score: 4.5/5

Adobe Premiere on iPhone: Interface

Adobe Premiere on iPhone during our review

(Image credit: Adobe // Future)
  • An excellent, well polished interface, which makes it easy to control, while getting out of your way when editing, letting you see only what you need to see, when you need it.

Although Adobe refers to this app as ‘Premiere on iPhone’, it’s a bit of a misnomer as it’s also designed to work perfectly on iPad. Sorry Android users, you’ll have to wait a little longer for yours; it’s coming, but it’s just not quite ready.

On iPhone, just like Rush was, you’ll be working exclusively in portrait orientation. The iPad is way more flexible, and the interface will work in either portrait or landscape.

When you first launch the app, you’ll be greeted with a handful of tutorials, and a series of 8 icons at the top of the screen. Any project you’ve worked on will appear beneath them, represented by large thumbnails.

These icons allow you to start a new project, either one from scratch, or by choosing some clips from your Photos library. You also have dedicated tools, like being able to extract audio from a file, adding captions, or even access AI tools such as generating an image, turning a photo into a video, or expand an image beyond its original borders.

Once you’re working on a project, the screen is divided into two parts. The top section is for a Preview of your film, and the lower part represents the Timeline. There’s a very handy slider to the left which lets you resize both sections, which is a very clever addition, especially when your project becomes very complex with multiple layers, and you need to see all of them to fine tune your edit.

At the bottom is a contextual toolbar: by default, this is where you get to add additional video clips, audio files and titles. Tap on a clip in the Timeline, however, to reveal adjustment tools instead; tap on an edit point to see a paltry number of transitions. It’s a simple concept: you only see the tools you need when you need them.

You’ll also find a handful of icons at the top of the screen, and perhaps the most interesting one offers you various aspect ratios for your project. By default, it’ll take on the format based on the first clip you add to it, but if this isn’t right for you, this button enables you to override that.

Overall, the interface is simple, uncluttered and clean, and allows you to control your project with ease.

  • Score: 4.5/5

Adobe Premiere on iPhone: Video editing

Adobe Premiere on iPhone during our review

(Image credit: Adobe // Future)
  • The interface is designed to make editing easy and fluid, and it works great, offering you surprising frame-accurate precision, whether you’re on an iPad or iPhone.

Editing is really nice and fluid. You can effortlessly zoom in and out of your project, select a clip, trim it, move it around, the works. I did mention when the app was announced, that it felt a lot more like Apple’s Final Cut Pro (FCP) than Adobe’s desktop Premiere Pro. The clips’ rounded look for one.

The fact clips reorder themselves when you drag one to another location, reminded me very much of Final Cut’s magnetic timeline. I’m obviously biased as I love the magnetic timeline, as it allows you to edit much quicker in my opinion, and here, it makes it so easy to work using only a finger or two. Also, just like FCP, the layers aren’t numbered; new ones appear as you need them. Good to see Adobe being comfortable with being inspired by its competitors, for the benefit of its users.

When it comes to altering clips, you have a handful of tools at your disposal. With them, you can change their speed, reverse them, alter their opacity, create a freeze frame, or perform some colour correction, among others. It’s all done through icons and sliders, and that interface resize tool I mentioned earlier to see more or less of the viewer and timeline, works great for this too, as you can see those parameters, your Timeline and the Viewer all at the same time, even on an (large) iPhone.

Some tools, such as Transitions and Adjust also have an ‘apply to all’ button which greatly speeds up your workflow if you wish to paste the same effects across the board. It’s impressive and very well done. Working with Premiere was slick and smooth, even on a 7 year old iPhone XS.

  • Score: 4.5/5

Adobe Premiere on iPhone: AI

Adobe Premiere on iPhone during our review

(Image credit: Adobe // Future)
  • A good selection of AI tools which, along with the usual generative text prompts, are designed to enhance your project in useful and creative ways, especially the ‘generate sound effect’ one.

A sleek interface is already a big plus, and you get that for free, without having to log in to or create an Adobe ID. But if you don’t mind opening your wallet, or if you’ve already got an eligible subscription, then Adobe offers a string of very impressive tools, most based on some kind of AI.

Take ‘Enhance Speech’. It’s designed to improve the quality of spoken audio if you recorded something with a lot of background noise. It works extremely well, enriching the quality of the spoken audio immensely. You’re also offered a couple of sliders so you can choose how much of the background noise to keep.

You also have the ability to generate images and stickers, but perhaps the most impressive AI tool is ‘Generate Sound Effect’. On the surface, it looks like any other AI feature: you’ve got a text prompt where you input the description of what you hope to get, but what sets it apart is the optional extra: you can use your voice to ‘perform the sound’, and the AI will base the effect on your performance. It works surprisingly well, and could become quite addictive.

  • Score: 4.5/5

Adobe Premiere on iPhone: Exporting video

Adobe Premiere on iPhone during our review

(Image credit: Adobe // Future)
  • Two easy to use options, one offers simple changeable parameters when exporting your project to your Photos library, the other is a way to send your project to the beta version of Premiere Pro via the Cloud.

A sleek interface is already a big plus, and you get that for free, without having to log in to or create an Adobe ID. But if you don’t mind opening your wallet, or if you’ve already got an eligible subscription, then Adobe offers a string of very impressive tools, most based on some kind of AI.

Take ‘Enhance Speech’. It’s designed to improve the quality of spoken audio if you recorded something with a lot of background noise. It works extremely well, enriching the quality of the spoken audio immensely. You’re also offered a couple of sliders so you can choose how much of the background noise to keep.

You also have the ability to generate images and stickers, but perhaps the most impressive AI tool is ‘Generate Sound Effect’.

On the surface, it looks like any other AI feature: you’ve got a text prompt where you input the description of what you hope to get, but what sets it apart is the optional extra: you can use your voice to ‘perform the sound’, and the AI will base the effect on your performance. It works surprisingly well, and could become quite addictive.

Should I buy Adobe Premiere on iPhone?

Adobe Premiere on iPhone during our review

(Image credit: Adobe // Future)

Buy it if...

You’re on the lookout for a very easy to use, and elegantly designed video editing app for your iPhone or iPad, with most tools being available for free.

Don't buy it if...

To be honest, there’s no real reason not to get this app, at least to try it out. Most of the features are free, and you don’t need to subscribe to it if you don't need to use those advanced AI-driven tools. Shame it’s not available for Android just yet.

For more essential creative tools, we've reviewed the best video editing software, best free video editing software, and the best video editing software for beginners.

I reviewed Adobe Premiere and saw the future of video editing on the iPhone
8:17 pm |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro Software &amp; Services | Tags: | Comments: Off

To me, as a video editor, being able to shoot, edit, and share a short film all from a small handheld device has always been these slabs of glass’ revolutionary concept. I’ve been editing and experimenting with them since I downloaded iMovie for the iPod Touch.

Since then, I've tested out all the best video editing apps, with some focusing on simplicity, while others try to cram a desktop video editor into a phone. There’s truly something for everyone. Even Adobe was on the scene with Rush.

But there's a new Adobe app in town that, I think, might be a massive game-changer for creators on the go. Adobe Premiere, also known as ‘Premiere on iPhone’, likely to differentiate it from its desktop big brother, Premiere Pro.

Adobe Premiere on iPhone: Pricing & plans

  • Most tools are free. What isn’t are the AI features and online storage, but if you already have a subscription with Adobe, it’s possible it could now include this new app, meaning you won’t have to fork out more of your precious money to take full advantage of Premiere.

Competing in the mobile market is hard, what with most apps being sold for so little… How can you expect to make a profit? That doesn’t seem to be too much of a concern for the mighty Adobe, as they’ve released Premiere on iPhone for free (henceforth just referred to as Premiere for simplicity). You can download it by clicking here.

Yes, there are in-app purchases in the form of monthly and annual subscriptions. These unlock some features on the app, including online storage, and likely a certain number of generative credits each month.

Do be aware however that these unlocked features can also be accessed simply by login into your Adobe ID, and if you already subscribe to one of their other plans, you might not even need to pay for an additional subscription.

For instance, I have access to the Creative Cloud All Apps package, and I’ve encountered no limitation in my use of Premiere. I realise this is quite nebulous: as of this writing I haven’t received a response from Adobe about what you get with a Premiere Mobile subscription, and which other subscriptions grant you the same access to this new app.

  • Score: 4.5/5

Adobe Premiere on iPhone: Interface

Adobe Premiere on iPhone during our review

(Image credit: Adobe // Future)
  • An excellent, well polished interface, which makes it easy to control, while getting out of your way when editing, letting you see only what you need to see, when you need it.

Although Adobe refers to this app as ‘Premiere on iPhone’, it’s a bit of a misnomer as it’s also designed to work perfectly on iPad. Sorry Android users, you’ll have to wait a little longer for yours; it’s coming, but it’s just not quite ready.

On iPhone, just like Rush was, you’ll be working exclusively in portrait orientation. The iPad is way more flexible, and the interface will work in either portrait or landscape.

When you first launch the app, you’ll be greeted with a handful of tutorials, and a series of 8 icons at the top of the screen. Any project you’ve worked on will appear beneath them, represented by large thumbnails.

These icons allow you to start a new project, either one from scratch, or by choosing some clips from your Photos library. You also have dedicated tools, like being able to extract audio from a file, adding captions, or even access AI tools such as generating an image, turning a photo into a video, or expand an image beyond its original borders.

Once you’re working on a project, the screen is divided into two parts. The top section is for a Preview of your film, and the lower part represents the Timeline. There’s a very handy slider to the left which lets you resize both sections, which is a very clever addition, especially when your project becomes very complex with multiple layers, and you need to see all of them to fine tune your edit.

At the bottom is a contextual toolbar: by default, this is where you get to add additional video clips, audio files and titles. Tap on a clip in the Timeline, however, to reveal adjustment tools instead; tap on an edit point to see a paltry number of transitions. It’s a simple concept: you only see the tools you need when you need them.

You’ll also find a handful of icons at the top of the screen, and perhaps the most interesting one offers you various aspect ratios for your project. By default, it’ll take on the format based on the first clip you add to it, but if this isn’t right for you, this button enables you to override that.

Overall, the interface is simple, uncluttered and clean, and allows you to control your project with ease.

  • Score: 4.5/5

Adobe Premiere on iPhone: Video editing

Adobe Premiere on iPhone during our review

(Image credit: Adobe // Future)
  • The interface is designed to make editing easy and fluid, and it works great, offering you surprising frame-accurate precision, whether you’re on an iPad or iPhone.

Editing is really nice and fluid. You can effortlessly zoom in and out of your project, select a clip, trim it, move it around, the works. I did mention when the app was announced, that it felt a lot more like Apple’s Final Cut Pro (FCP) than Adobe’s desktop Premiere Pro. The clips’ rounded look for one.

The fact clips reorder themselves when you drag one to another location, reminded me very much of Final Cut’s magnetic timeline. I’m obviously biased as I love the magnetic timeline, as it allows you to edit much quicker in my opinion, and here, it makes it so easy to work using only a finger or two. Also, just like FCP, the layers aren’t numbered; new ones appear as you need them. Good to see Adobe being comfortable with being inspired by its competitors, for the benefit of its users.

When it comes to altering clips, you have a handful of tools at your disposal. With them, you can change their speed, reverse them, alter their opacity, create a freeze frame, or perform some colour correction, among others. It’s all done through icons and sliders, and that interface resize tool I mentioned earlier to see more or less of the viewer and timeline, works great for this too, as you can see those parameters, your Timeline and the Viewer all at the same time, even on an (large) iPhone.

Some tools, such as Transitions and Adjust also have an ‘apply to all’ button which greatly speeds up your workflow if you wish to paste the same effects across the board. It’s impressive and very well done. Working with Premiere was slick and smooth, even on a 7 year old iPhone XS.

  • Score: 4.5/5

Adobe Premiere on iPhone: AI

Adobe Premiere on iPhone during our review

(Image credit: Adobe // Future)
  • A good selection of AI tools which, along with the usual generative text prompts, are designed to enhance your project in useful and creative ways, especially the ‘generate sound effect’ one.

A sleek interface is already a big plus, and you get that for free, without having to log in to or create an Adobe ID. But if you don’t mind opening your wallet, or if you’ve already got an eligible subscription, then Adobe offers a string of very impressive tools, most based on some kind of AI.

Take ‘Enhance Speech’. It’s designed to improve the quality of spoken audio if you recorded something with a lot of background noise. It works extremely well, enriching the quality of the spoken audio immensely. You’re also offered a couple of sliders so you can choose how much of the background noise to keep.

You also have the ability to generate images and stickers, but perhaps the most impressive AI tool is ‘Generate Sound Effect’. On the surface, it looks like any other AI feature: you’ve got a text prompt where you input the description of what you hope to get, but what sets it apart is the optional extra: you can use your voice to ‘perform the sound’, and the AI will base the effect on your performance. It works surprisingly well, and could become quite addictive.

  • Score: 4.5/5

Adobe Premiere on iPhone: Exporting video

Adobe Premiere on iPhone during our review

(Image credit: Adobe // Future)
  • Two easy to use options, one offers simple changeable parameters when exporting your project to your Photos library, the other is a way to send your project to the beta version of Premiere Pro via the Cloud.

A sleek interface is already a big plus, and you get that for free, without having to log in to or create an Adobe ID. But if you don’t mind opening your wallet, or if you’ve already got an eligible subscription, then Adobe offers a string of very impressive tools, most based on some kind of AI.

Take ‘Enhance Speech’. It’s designed to improve the quality of spoken audio if you recorded something with a lot of background noise. It works extremely well, enriching the quality of the spoken audio immensely. You’re also offered a couple of sliders so you can choose how much of the background noise to keep.

You also have the ability to generate images and stickers, but perhaps the most impressive AI tool is ‘Generate Sound Effect’.

On the surface, it looks like any other AI feature: you’ve got a text prompt where you input the description of what you hope to get, but what sets it apart is the optional extra: you can use your voice to ‘perform the sound’, and the AI will base the effect on your performance. It works surprisingly well, and could become quite addictive.

Should I buy Adobe Premiere on iPhone?

Adobe Premiere on iPhone during our review

(Image credit: Adobe // Future)

Buy it if...

You’re on the lookout for a very easy to use, and elegantly designed video editing app for your iPhone or iPad, with most tools being available for free.

Don't buy it if...

To be honest, there’s no real reason not to get this app, at least to try it out. Most of the features are free, and you don’t need to subscribe to it if you don't need to use those advanced AI-driven tools. Shame it’s not available for Android just yet.

For more essential creative tools, we've reviewed the best video editing software, best free video editing software, and the best video editing software for beginners.

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