Best AI Chrome Extensions: What I Actually Keep Installed

I’ve installed and tested over 30 AI Chrome extensions in the past year. Most are bloat - slow, redundant, or just ChatGPT wrapped in a sidebar.

Here are the 7 I actually keep installed and use.

Quick Reality Check

Most AI extensions fall into one of these categories:

Actually useful: Adds functionality you can’t easily get otherwise Convenient but optional: Nice to have, could live without Bloatware: Slows browser, duplicates features, not worth it

I’m only recommending the first category.

The Extensions I Keep

1. Perplexity Extension (Free)

What it does: Right-click any text to research it. Or use the popup to search with Perplexity’s AI.

Why I keep it: Perplexity is my go-to for quick research. Having it one right-click away is genuinely faster than opening a new tab.

Best for:

• Researching unfamiliar terms while reading
• Quick fact-checks
• “What is this company/person/concept?”

Limitation: Requires Perplexity account. But the free tier is generous.

2. Monica AI (Free tier / $9.90 month)

What it does: AI assistant in a sidebar. Access ChatGPT, Claude, and other models. Write, summarize, translate on any page.

Why I keep it: It’s like having ChatGPT always available without opening a new tab. Free tier gives you enough for casual use.

Best for:

• Quick AI questions while working
• Summarizing long articles
• Translating content
• Email drafting in Gmail

Limitation: Free tier has daily limits. I hit them maybe once a week.

3. Sider (Free tier / $10 month)

What it does: Similar to Monica - sidebar AI assistant with page summarization.

Why I keep it: The summarization is slightly better than Monica in my testing. “Summarize this page” works well on articles.

Best for:

• Summarizing articles and reports
• Getting key points quickly
• Research across multiple pages

I use both Monica and Sider because they’re free and each has slightly different strengths.

4. Grammarly (Free / $12 month)

What it does: Real-time writing suggestions across the web.

Why I keep it: Catches errors I miss. The free tier handles basics. Paid version offers better suggestions.

Best for:

• Email writing
• Form submissions
• Any web-based writing

Reality check: If you already use ChatGPT/Claude for writing, Grammarly is redundant for drafting. Still useful for catching typos in quick messages.

5. Save to Notion (Free)

What it does: Clip web pages directly to Notion with AI summary.

Why I keep it: If you use Notion, this is essential. The AI summary feature saves time processing later.

Best for:

• Research collection
• Bookmark organization
• Building reference libraries

Limitation: Only useful if you’re a Notion user.

6. Wappalyzer (Free)

What it does: Shows what technologies any website uses. AI recently added for analysis.

Why I keep it: As someone who evaluates websites, knowing the tech stack is valuable.

Best for:

• Competitive research
• Understanding how sites are built
• Finding technologies to explore

Note: The AI analysis is a newer feature. Basic tech detection has been around for years.

7. Glasp (Free)

What it does: Highlight content on the web with AI-powered notes and organization.

Why I keep it: I highlight a lot for research. The AI helps connect and summarize highlights later.

Best for:

• Active readers and researchers
• Building a personal knowledge base
• Connecting ideas across sources

Extensions I Removed

Merlin AI

Tried it. Too slow. Added noticeable page load time. Monica does the same thing better.

UseChatGPT.AI

Redundant once you have Monica or Sider. And often glitchy.

Wiseone

Interesting concept but slowed everything down. The “AI summary” on articles was often wrong.

ChatGPT Sidebar

Just opens ChatGPT in a sidebar. I can… open a new tab. Pointless.

AIPRM for ChatGPT

Prompt templates. If you know how to prompt, you don’t need this. If you don’t, these templates teach bad habits.

Compose AI

Autocomplete for writing. More annoying than helpful. Suggested things I didn’t want to say.

Performance Reality

AI extensions can slow your browser. I tested page load times with various combinations:

My current 7 extensions: +30ms average (negligible) With bloated extensions: +200-500ms (noticeable)

If your browser feels slow, disable extensions one by one and test.

What I’d Add for Specific Needs

If you’re a developer:

• Blackbox AI: Code snippets and suggestions
• GitHub Copilot extension: If you’re already paying

If you do social media:

• Taplio: LinkedIn content suggestions
• Hypefury: Twitter/X scheduling

If you do research heavily:

• Scholarcy: Academic paper summarization
• Elicit: Research assistant

My Setup Philosophy

Less is more. Every extension is:

• Potential security risk
• Potential performance hit
• One more thing to update

I only keep extensions that save me meaningful time. Everything else gets removed.

The Honest Recommendation

Start with:

1. Monica AI (free tier) - general AI assistant
2. Grammarly (free tier) - writing help

Add if needed: 3. Perplexity extension - if you research frequently 4. One summarization tool (Sider or Glasp) - if you read lots of articles

Skip:

• Extensions that just wrap ChatGPT
• Extensions with vague value propositions
• Anything that noticeably slows your browsing

The best AI extension setup is minimal. Use web apps for serious AI work. Use extensions only for quick, in-context tasks.