About AI By Role
Why AI By Role exists
The internet is full of "best AI tools 2026" lists. They're useless. Here's why:
They're generic. A tool that's brilliant for a marketer might be worthless for an accountant. A list that covers everything covers nothing.
They're funded by affiliate commissions. You don't know if the recommendations are because the tool is good or because the affiliate payout is high. Transparency is rare.
They're written by people who don't actually use the tools. There's a big difference between reading a tool's marketing page and actually using it in your job.
I started AI By Role because I was frustrated by this. I'm an Operations Manager at Starling Bank. I use AI tools daily to get my job done. So do my colleagues in HR, marketing, finance, and across the business. We know what works and what's vapourware.
How we choose
Every recommendation on AI By Role meets these criteria:
1. Someone on our team actually uses it
We don't write about tools we read about. We write about tools we use in our jobs. If it's on this site, one of us has hands-on experience.
2. We're honest about trade-offs
No tool is perfect. Every recommendation includes:
- What it's genuinely good at.
- What it's bad at.
- Who it's right for (and who it's not).
- The pricing (no hidden costs or "pricing on request").
3. We disclose affiliate relationships
Some links on AI By Role are affiliate links. We earn a small commission if you purchase through them. We're transparent about this. And we only recommend products if we'd recommend them regardless of affiliate commission.
4. We focus on specific job functions, not generic tools
"Best AI tools 2026" lists try to cover everyone. This site covers specific roles:
- Operations managers (processes, documentation, comms, data analysis).
- HR teams (recruitment, onboarding, compliance).
- Marketing teams (content, design, paid advertising).
- Finance teams (expense management, forecasting, analysis).
- And more to come.
Because what works for an ops manager doesn't work for a marketer.
About the founder
I'm Adam. I've been an Operations Manager for seven years, primarily in UK financial services. I've worked with AI tools across recruitment, marketing, finance, and operations.
AI By Role started because I wanted recommendations from someone actually doing the job, not someone writing about jobs they've never had.
How we make money
We use affiliate links. If you click a link to purchase a tool and buy it, we earn a small commission. This is how we pay for the site and continue to update recommendations as new tools emerge and old ones get better or worse.
We don't take payments from tool vendors. We don't do sponsored content. We don't have deals where we recommend a tool because they're paying us. The only thing that changes our recommendations is if the tool genuinely gets better or worse.
Our business model is simple: we recommend good tools, people buy through our links, we make a small commission, and we reinvest that into researching new tools and updating recommendations.
What we commit to
- Honest reviews. We'll tell you when a tool is overhyped. We'll tell you when it's not right for you.
- Regular updates. AI is fast-moving. We revisit every recommendation quarterly and update based on new features, new competitors, and real-world usage.
- Transparency. You'll always know if a link is an affiliate link. You'll always know if something has changed since we last reviewed it.
- No spam. We don't sell your email. We don't bombard you with "new tools" daily. Our newsletter goes out quarterly with major updates.
What we're not
- We're not a venture capital funded startup. We're bootstrapped.
- We're not trying to get acquired. We're not hunting for exit.
- We're not building a "platform" to eventually monetise in some unclear way. We make money from affiliate commissions. That's it.
- We're not neutral arbiters of which tool is objectively best. Best is context-dependent. We tell you the context we're evaluating tools in.
Contact
If you work in a role we haven't covered yet (data science, product management, customer support), and you'd like us to research AI tools for your function, get in touch.
If you disagree with a recommendation or think we've missed a tool, email us at hello@aibyrole.co.uk.
If you've found a tool through one of our affiliate links and it's genuinely helped your job, we'd love to hear that too.
Privacy
We take your data seriously. We don't sell it. We don't trade it. We don't use it for anything other than what you explicitly opt in to.
We use ConvertKit for email. You can read their privacy policy here. They're UK-compliant for data handling.
That's it. AI By Role exists because generic tool lists are useless. We focus on specific jobs, we use the tools ourselves, and we're transparent about money and trade-offs.
If that appeals to you, welcome. If you'd rather trust tool recommendations from someone who's never actually done the job, there are plenty of other sites.