In this world where AI is everywhere, it would only make sense to use it to our advantage, right? The good thing is that AI helps us to be more efficient. For instance, people nowadays use AI tools to summarize long articles instantly.
As a researcher, I use AI tools to initially summarize long papers so that I can decide whether I will read them further or not. Not only does this help me save time, but it also helps me read many papers. A similar thing applies to people from fields involving reading long texts. Sometimes for research purposes, sometimes for gaining knowledge.
Today, I am going to share the top 7 free AI tools to summarize long articles instantly. These are the tools that I also use on a daily basis. So you can rely on them.
Advantages of Using AI Tools to Summarize Long Articles
In the age of so much false information and propaganda, many people like to read reports, news, whitepapers, and research papers from authentic sources. This helps people to come to a more informed decision backed by evidence and strong rationale. However, the authentic information sources are often long and too complex to understand in one go. That is where AI summarizers come into play. These AI tools can turn long texts into bullet points or short summary that normal readers can read.
Here is why AI summarizers are good:
- They save a lot of time by compressing hours of reading into minutes.
- They give you the key reading points
- They are a good way to catch up with industry news, whitepapers, and trend reports.
Free AI Tools to Summarize Long Articles
Now, let’s see some of the best free AI tools to summarize long articles that are available right now:
Quillbot
Quillbot has to be one of the OG tools in the field of research. From their paraphraser tool to their AI summarizer, the platform is a savior for many researchers and writers globally. Their AI summarizer is great if you are looking to summarize some basic research papers or long articles. The free version of the summarizer will take up to 1200 words at a time and will provide you with a summary of them in a paragraph or bullet points, whichever you like. Additionally, you have the choice to select how long a summary you want. It has been my go-to choice for AI summaries for a while now, and you should also try it. The only disadvantage is that with the free version, you will have to summarize long articles section by section, which isn’t that bad.
ChatGPT
For someone who wants AI to summarize yet has the need to have customization available at every step of the way, ChatGPT is the perfect tool. The best thing is that it is free to use and more often than not, it gives you one or two allowances to use the premium GPT 4o model for free. So you don’t need to worry about the word count. With ChatGPT, you can easily summarize text, links (with plugins/extensions), or even upload PDFs. Then you also have the freedom to select your output. You can customize the style by mentioning “Bullet points,” “Detailed explanation,” “Simple language,” etc. One of the best things about ChatGPT is that you can further ask for follow-up questions and clear any doubts. In fact, you can combine summarization with “critical analysis” prompts to get insightful commentaries beyond just short summaries. So make sure to check it out.
Note: We have a detailed guide on How to Use ChatGPT in Research. This guide should help you utilize ChatGPT in your research journey even better.
TLDR This
TLDR This is another AI summarizer that works seamlessly with websites, texts, and documents. The thing that I like about TLDR This is how easy it is to use. All you have to do is select the document you want to summarize, upload it, and the tool will do the rest. It will give you a very short summary of the entire document. So you will know the main things that you need to know, but you might also miss out on some little details. Personally, I use this for quick, short summaries of the news, but I don’t use it that much for research papers. The outputs on this one are clean and bullet points. Additionally, you can ask follow-up questions that make it one of the best.
Noiz
Who said that only texts are long? YouTube videos can be long, too, and that is why we have Noiz, which is an AI summarizer for YouTube videos. The tool is very simple to use. All you have to do is paste the URL of the YouTube video and hit Enter. The tool takes some time to go through the transcript of the video and then gives you an excellent summary of the entire video. In my usage, I found that if the video has English transcripts, then the tool has no issues in summarizing the video. However, with Hindi videos, it was a bit challenging. So if you want to summarize long English YouTube videos, this is one of the best tools that you can try right now.
Ahrefs Summarizer
Ahrefs has its own unique standing in the world of SEO and keywords. The good thing is that they also have a great AI summarizer tool that allows users to summarize long texts instantly. The best thing is that it is seamless to use, as you do not have to sign up for summarizing the text. All you have to do is paste your text and click on Summarize. The best thing is that you can also choose what type of tone you want as output. The tool will give you a good and reliable summary of the text. It takes around 13000 characters at once in the free version, which is more than enough for you to summarize a long text.
Grammarly AI Summarizer
Just like QuillBot, Grammarly is also a lifesaver tool for writers all over the world. They also have an AI summarizer tool that can summarize long articles into short bite bite-sized reading pieces. The only disadvantage is that the free version has a very small cap on character limit, that is, 3000 characters at once, which is not very good. But its output is very good, and the summaries are reliable.
Glasp
Glasp is a highly useful tool that can generate summaries of a variety of online pages and comes with a browser extension. Its social feature, which allows you to share notes and highlights from any webpage with other users, is what makes it unique. It is free to use and quite seamless. So make sure to check it out.
Closing Thoughts
So these are the best free AI tools to summarize long articles instantly. Whether you are a professional working in the research field or just a hobbyist who likes to read information from authentic sources, these tools should help you get the best and most reliable AI summaries. However, it is important to note that AI tools can make mistakes, so be mindful whenever you are reading any claims from AI tools. We hope this guide helps you.
FAQs
A: AI summarizer tools help you save time, extract key points quickly, and make it easier to decide whether a long article is worth reading in full.
A: Yes, all the tools listed have free versions, but some may have character or word count limits unless you upgrade to a paid plan.
A: Noiz is recommended for summarizing YouTube videos, especially if they have English transcripts.
A: Yes, tools like ChatGPT allow you to customize summaries into bullet points, simple explanations, or even detailed analyses based on your needs.
A: While AI tools are helpful, they can occasionally miss nuances or details. It’s always a good idea to verify important information by reviewing the original source.
