The 5 most useful AI tools in web development

What else is there to say by way of introduction? Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is on everyone’s lips and impossible to overlook. Even as I write this article, Gemini is waiting on the sidelines, ready to suggest grammatically brilliant and eloquent texts. However, I’m not about to give up the joy of writing blog articles myself anytime soon.

We’ll dive into the details of specific AI topics in future articles. Today, we’re focusing on tools that are making big waves in web development—and some of which we’re already using ourselves. From code-writing programs to tools that analyze entire applications: new tools are arriving faster than you can test them. In this fast-paced phase, a few providers stand out, and we’ve compiled our five favorites.

Number 5: Freepik

A surprise hit kicks off the list. Freepik is packed from top to bottom with tools for all kinds of applications. Not just images, illustrations, sounds, or music, but also a variety of AI tools to generate these media yourself. Fun fact: We generated the cover image for this blog article with Gemini and edited it with Freepik.

The most fascinating feature at Freepik is probably the sketch-to-image generation tool. Here, you first enter a prompt like “jellyfish in the ocean” and draw a rough sketch to determine the placement of individual objects:

Number 4: Figma AI

We design our UI with the software Figma. With the right know-how, you can design just about anything with this tool—from logos and wireframes to entire websites. Recently, Figma has introduced several AI tools that automate tedious tasks and can quickly generate different design variants. We’ll still need to test and explore these tools further before using them daily, but at this point, they look more than promising.

Number 3: Canva

Many of us are currently testing Canva AI. After all, web development isn’t just about programming and design, but also a lot of marketing and communication with clients. With Canva AI, we can create presentations, mockups, and even videos just the way we need them—without losing much time. We’ll certainly need to run more tests, but the added value of Canva AI is already clear even in the trial version.

Let us know if you’d like to read a dedicated blog article about Canva or any other tool featured here!

Number 2: Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude

The now well-known Large Language Models (LLMs) are part of many different industries and applications today. Which of these various models is the best depends on what day of the week it is. There are countless LLMs, and each one is constantly evolving. We’ve given it a lot of thought and stick to the popular keep it simple principle. We use the Google Suite for our emails, storage, etc., so we currently use Gemini.

For web development, the value of these tools starts with learning complex concepts. What you used to type into Google and look up on Stack Overflow, you can now learn much more directly and interactively with Gemini and the other LLMs.

Number 1: AI Copilot

One of the first major tools was GitHub Copilot. A small extension for your code editor of choice that automatically reads your currently open code and suggests improvements. Initially, Copilot was limited to completing a line or block of code. Today, there are many different extensions and even entire code editors with AI already integrated.

My personal favorite in this category: Cursor. Built as a subset of the very popular Visual Studio Code editor, Cursor is AI-powered from the ground up. The tool can read an entire codebase and solve problems based on context. Very handy for repetitive tasks, such as changing all text to a new font and size. The chat function allows you to interact with the AI, and all suggested code changes can be reviewed clearly and step by step.

That’s our top 5 list of the latest AI tools. Especially LLMs like Gemini and the Copilot category have proven themselves over time and will continue to play a major role for us. How everything else will develop is hard to predict today.

We’ll keep at it (for example, as part of our Innovation Day) and focus only on those tools that provide the greatest value to us and our clients. The world of artificial intelligence remains exciting and is almost indispensable. So look forward to more articles on the topic.