# Beam vs Craft

Beam records 0 monthly visits with -100% month-over-month growth and Paid pricing. Craft records 703,417 monthly visits with +8.9% growth and Freemium pricing.

| Metric | [Beam](https://openaitools.app/tool/beam) | [Craft](https://openaitools.app/tool/craft-do) |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Website URL | https://getbeam.ai | https://craft.do |
| Categories | AI Assistant, AI Chatbot, AI Copilot, AI PDF | AI Assistant, AI Writing Assistants, AI Note Taker, AI Productivity Tools |
| Pricing Model | Paid | Freemium |
| Monthly Visits | 0 | 703,417 |
| MoM Growth Rate | -100% | +8.9% |
| Primary Market | Global | United States |
| Direct Visits | 0 | 368,317 |
| Review Score | 4.2 | 4.6 |
| Saved Count | 3 | 2 |
| Supported Platforms | Website | Website |

## Beam

Beam is built for people who live inside a handful of macOS apps and are tired of switching to a browser tab every time they want an AI answer. Rather than re-implementing a chat window, it bolts a lightweight, native launcher onto your desktop: press a hotkey, a small panel appears above whatever you are doing, and the result can be pushed straight back into the current field. Because it is written natively rather than in Electron, it starts quickly and uses little memory, and its creators emphasize that it is sandboxed and only talks to OpenAI's servers.

Beyond the basic chat panel, Beam layers in productivity plumbing. Templates let you turn frequently repeated prompts into fill-in-the-blank forms, profiles keep different assistants (a copywriter, a coder, a translator) configured with the right model and instructions, and PDF support turns long documents into something you can interrogate. Screen capture is exposed through the same hotkey model, so asking about a chart, an error message, or a design can be done without saving a file first.

Beam is a third-party client and is not affiliated with or endorsed by OpenAI; it uses the OpenAI API, so you bring your own API key and pay OpenAI for usage separately. It is distributed as a paid macOS app on a pay-what-you-want basis, with no subscription required and no login to the vendor's servers.

**Pricing & Plans:** One-time, pay-what-you-want purchase for the macOS app with no subscription. You supply your own OpenAI API key and pay OpenAI separately for the tokens you use. The site offers a free trial and a refund policy.

- **Hotkey access from anywhere:** Hit a global hotkey to open a floating chat panel over any app, ask a question, and drop the answer back into your document or field without switching windows.
- **Inline text editing:** Select a text snippet, chat about it, and insert the improved version back into your app with a single keystroke.
- **Chat with your screen:** Grab a screen region with a hotkey and ask ChatGPT to explain, transcribe, or describe what is shown in it.
- **Prompt templates:** Save frequently used prompts as reusable templates with blank fields, so repetitive writing tasks like emails or blog drafts take seconds.
- **AI profiles:** Create named AI profiles that pin a model and system instructions to a persona, so every conversation keeps the right tone and context.
- **Chat with PDFs:** Open and question PDF files directly to pull summaries, answers, and key points out of long documents.

**Strengths:** Native macOS build keeps memory use low and response times snappy; Global hotkey access means no window juggling or context switching; Templates and AI profiles cut repetitive prompt writing; Sandboxed design and local key storage reduce privacy concerns

[Profile (Markdown)](https://openaitools.app/tool/beam.md)

## Craft

Craft is built around the idea that notes, tasks and plans shouldn't live in separate tools. Documents sit alongside embedded tasks, a calendar view, whiteboards and daily notes, so a project brief can hold its own to-do list and its own timeline. Flexible organization lets you switch between spaces for work and personal use, nested folders, tags, or structured collections that behave like lightweight databases.\n\niPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro, Windows and Android apps share the same content, and offline access means you can capture ideas on a plane and refine them later. An AI assistant helps draft and rewrite text and summarize long documents, while publishing and sharing turn a page into a link you can send. Integrations extend the workspace outward: native MCP connections for Claude, ChatGPT, Claude Code, Cursor and other clients, plus an API and Apple Shortcuts, let Craft act as a hub that other tools read from and write to.\n\nCraft is free to use with a generous feature set, and a Plus subscription unlocks the full experience. The site currently lists Plus at $8 per month, discounted to $6.40 per month on an annual-style basis, with group discounts available. The app has won multiple design awards including an Apple Design Award and a Mac App of the Year title.

**Pricing & Plans:** Free plan with core features, plus a paid Plus tier (listed at $8/month, discounted to $6.40/month) with group discounts available. No credit card required to start.

- **Documents, tasks and calendar together:** Embed tasks directly inside documents and pair them with a calendar view so planning and execution stay connected.
- **Spaces, folders, tags and collections:** Choose the structure that matches your thinking — separate work and personal spaces, nested folders, tags, or database-style collections.
- **AI writing assistance:** Draft, refine, rewrite and summarize content without leaving the document.
- **Offline-first across every device:** Apps for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro, Windows and Android with local access when you're offline.
- **Publish, share and integrate:** Publish documents as web pages and connect the workspace to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and other tools via MCP and API.

**Strengths:** Elegant, fast editor that works well offline on Apple and Windows devices; Unifies documents, tasks, calendar and whiteboards instead of scattering them; Strong publishing and sharing plus MCP/API integrations for automation; Received multiple design awards, including an Apple Design Award

**Limitations:** Some of the most capable features — AI, publishing and advanced structure — sit behind the Plus subscription; Very advanced relational database needs may exceed what Collections offer; The richest experience is on Apple platforms, so cross-platform teams should test Windows and Android first

[Profile (Markdown)](https://openaitools.app/tool/craft-do.md)

## Frequently Asked Questions

### How do Beam and Craft compare in monthly traffic?

Beam has 0 monthly visits, while Craft has 703,417. Traffic estimates describe audience size, not product quality.

### How do their growth rates compare?

Beam has a month-over-month growth rate of -100%; Craft has +8.9%.

### How does pricing compare?

Beam: Paid. One-time, pay-what-you-want purchase for the macOS app with no subscription. You supply your own OpenAI API key and pay OpenAI separately for the tokens you use. The site offers a free trial and a refund policy. Craft: Freemium. Free plan with core features, plus a paid Plus tier (listed at $8/month, discounted to $6.40/month) with group discounts available. No credit card required to start.

## Alternatives

| # | Tool Name | Monthly Visits | MoM Growth Rate | Pricing Model | Summary | Profile (Markdown) |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 1 | [ChatGPT](https://openaitools.app/tool/chatgpt-4) | 6,048,022,723 | +2.2% | Freemium | OpenAI's flagship multimodal assistant powered by GPT-6 and GPT-5.6 for reasoning, coding, and deep research. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/chatgpt-4.md) |
| 2 | [Notion](https://openaitools.app/tool/t) | 173,441,670 | +0.1% | Freemium | Offers vastly more powerful database and project management features, but is less visually polished for simple note-taking. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/t.md) |
| 3 | [Goodnotes](https://openaitools.app/tool/goodnotes) | 3,227,341 | +10.8% | Freemium, Free Trial | Handwritten notes, PDF markup, and AI study tools on one canvas | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/goodnotes.md) |
| 4 | [Chatbot App](https://openaitools.app/tool/chatbot-app) | 2,170,883 | -9.7% | Freemium | Chat with 30+ leading AI models in one clean, fast workspace | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/chatbot-app.md) |
| 5 | [ChatPDF](https://openaitools.app/tool/chatpdf) | 1,044,477 | -3.7% | Freemium | Chat with any PDF, video, or website and get cited answers in seconds | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/chatpdf.md) |
| 6 | [Raycast](https://openaitools.app/tool/raycast) | 710,581 | -24.5% | Freemium, Free Trial | An extendable launcher that puts your tools, AI, and automations one keystroke away | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/raycast.md) |
| 7 | [Motion](https://openaitools.app/tool/usemotion-com) | 511,886 | -15.5% | Free Trial, Paid | Automates task scheduling and calendar management with AI, but lacks Craft's elegant document and note-taking canvas. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/usemotion-com.md) |
| 8 | [Capacities](https://openaitools.app/tool/capacities) | 339,396 | +5.7% | Freemium, Paid | Organizes notes into connected typed objects rather than traditional pages, offering a different but structured knowledge system. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/capacities.md) |
| 9 | [Coda](https://openaitools.app/tool/coda-io) | 337,167 | -2.9% | Freemium | Combines documents and relational tables with powerful automation, but has a steeper learning curve than Craft's clean UI. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/coda-io.md) |
| 10 | [T3 Chat](https://openaitools.app/tool/t3-chat) | 209,352 | -22.9% | Paid | One subscription, every top AI model, one fast chat window. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/t3-chat.md) |

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Source: https://openaitools.app/compare/beam-vs-craft-do

More Markdown: [Categories](https://openaitools.app/categories.md) · [Traffic rankings](https://openaitools.app/rankings.md) · [llms.txt](https://openaitools.app/llms.txt)