# ExplainThis vs Gene ExplainThis records 1,463 monthly visits with -54% month-over-month growth and Free pricing. Gene records 2,491 monthly visits with +87% growth and Free pricing. | Metric | [ExplainThis](https://openaitools.app/tool/explainthis) | [Gene](https://openaitools.app/tool/gene) | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Website URL | https://explainthis.ai | https://askgene.io | | Categories | AI Assistant, AI Productivity Tools, AI Marketing, AI Sales | AI Assistant, AI Summarizer, AI Chatbot, AI PDF Summarizer | | Pricing Model | Free | Free | | Monthly Visits | 1,463 | 2,491 | | MoM Growth Rate | -54% | +87% | | Primary Market | United States | Global | | Direct Visits | 428 | 980 | | Review Score | 3.9 | 4.1 | | Saved Count | 0 | 0 | | Supported Platforms | Website | Website | ## ExplainThis ExplainThis is an AI assistant aimed squarely at people who read for a living. It is distributed mainly as a Chrome extension, so instead of copying text into a separate tool you can summarise and explain a page right where you found it. That low-friction placement is the point: the tool is meant to slot into an existing browsing habit rather than demand a new workflow. Its core jobs are summarisation and explanation. Long articles can be distilled into the essentials, and YouTube videos can be turned into the key points without watching start to finish. For startup knowledge workers — founders, marketers, salespeople and product managers — that means faster grounding when researching a market, a competitor or a topic that just came up in a meeting. The product fits a category of lightweight AI copilots that augment browsing rather than replace it. It will not do your thinking for you, and summaries should still be checked against the source for anything high-stakes, but it removes a meaningful amount of reading overhead from the day. Check the official site for the current feature set and plan limits, since AI assistant products in this space evolve quickly. **Pricing & Plans:** ExplainThis is generally offered as a free-to-start AI assistant with paid options for heavier usage. Review the official site for current pricing, as details may change. - **Page and article summarisation:** Turn long articles and pages into a readable summary so you can decide what deserves a full read. - **Video explanation:** Get the key takeaways from YouTube videos without sitting through the entire runtime. - **Browser extension workflow:** Primarily a Chrome extension, so it sits alongside whatever you are already browsing rather than forcing a separate app. - **Built for fast-moving teams:** Built for startup knowledge workers who need context fast across marketing, sales and product research. - **Explanations on demand:** Ask follow-up questions about the content you are viewing to dig into the parts that matter to you. **Strengths:** Sits inside the browser as a Chrome extension, so there is nothing new to launch; Handles both web pages and YouTube videos; Speeds up research for founders, marketers and product teams; Useful for triaging which long articles actually deserve a full read **Limitations:** Relies on a browser extension, so it is most useful inside desktop Chrome; Summary quality depends on how well the page is structured; You need to review AI output before acting on it for anything important; Best experience requires signing in, which some users prefer to avoid [Profile (Markdown)](https://openaitools.app/tool/explainthis.md) ## Gene Gene is an AI assistant delivered as a Chrome extension rather than a standalone chat site. Its core interaction is the Ctrl+Q shortcut: press it mid-browse and an assistant panel opens over the page you are reading, so you can ask questions about that specific content without copying it elsewhere. It reads web pages, Google Docs, YouTube videos, and PDFs, accepts screenshots of on-screen text or images, and can generate images from short prompts. The pitch is economics as much as capability. Gene's marketing compares its own pricing with roughly $20-per-month mainstream AI subscriptions and positions Gene Power at $3 per month, or $24 per year, as an everyday alternative for routine assistant work — summarizing, explaining a paragraph, translating, or drafting a short reply. A cheaper Gene Pro tier at around $1.50 per month is also listed. The developers describe these as published rates that may vary by region. One more distinctive feature is live page rewriting: you describe the layout, copy, or color changes you want and Gene updates the visible page accordingly. It is a practical fit for people who live in the browser and want quick AI help contextualized to what is on screen, without another tab or subscription. **Pricing & Plans:** Free to start. Paid tiers are listed as Gene Pro at about $1.50/month ($10/year) and Gene Power at $3.00/month ($24/year), positioned as substantially cheaper than mainstream AI chat subscriptions; listed rates may vary by region. - **Ctrl+Q in-tab assistant:** Summon the AI chat without leaving the page you are on, so context from your current tab stays in front of you. - **Summarize any content type:** Chat with web pages, Google Docs, YouTube videos, and PDFs to pull out key points quickly. - **Screenshot understanding:** Capture text or an image on screen and ask Gene to explain, translate, or interpret it. - **AI image generation:** Turn short prompts into illustrations and design assets for creative projects. - **Page redesign:** Describe layout, text, or color changes and Gene rewrites the visible page to match. **Strengths:** Ctrl+Q keeps you in the current tab instead of switching apps; Reads pages, PDFs, Google Docs, and YouTube videos in one place; Paid tiers are a fraction of mainstream AI subscription prices; Screenshot understanding covers text and images that are not selectable [Profile (Markdown)](https://openaitools.app/tool/gene.md) ## Frequently Asked Questions ### How do ExplainThis and Gene compare in monthly traffic? ExplainThis has 1,463 monthly visits, while Gene has 2,491. Traffic estimates describe audience size, not product quality. ### How do their growth rates compare? ExplainThis has a month-over-month growth rate of -54%; Gene has +87%. ### How does pricing compare? ExplainThis: Free. ExplainThis is generally offered as a free-to-start AI assistant with paid options for heavier usage. Review the official site for current pricing, as details may change. Gene: Free. Free to start. Paid tiers are listed as Gene Pro at about $1.50/month ($10/year) and Gene Power at $3.00/month ($24/year), positioned as substantially cheaper than mainstream AI chat subscriptions; listed rates may vary by region. ## Alternatives | # | Tool Name | Monthly Visits | MoM Growth Rate | Pricing Model | Summary | Profile (Markdown) | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | 1 | [Monica](https://openaitools.app/tool/monica-ai) | 4,512,775 | -11.3% | Freemium | All-in-one AI assistant across web, browser, desktop and mobile | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/monica-ai.md) | | 2 | [Sider](https://openaitools.app/tool/sider) | 2,644,740 | -10.6% | Freemium | AI sidebar and browser agent for reading, writing and research | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/sider.md) | | 3 | [Merlin AI](https://openaitools.app/tool/merlin-ai-plugins) | 1,382,634 | +13.1% | Freemium | One AI assistant that plugs ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini into every tab | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/merlin-ai-plugins.md) | | 4 | [Glasp](https://openaitools.app/tool/glasp) | 889,564 | -14.1% | Freemium | Highlight the web, learn in public, and build your AI clone | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/glasp.md) | | 5 | [HARPA AI](https://openaitools.app/tool/harpa-ai) | 537,461 | +99.3% | Freemium | One browser agent that combines every major AI model with web automation | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/harpa-ai.md) | | 6 | [Glarity](https://openaitools.app/tool/glarity-summarize-google-and-youtube) | 188,823 | -49.6% | Freemium | Summarize YouTube, Google, and any page with AI — free in your browser | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/glarity-summarize-google-and-youtube.md) | | 7 | [Kome AI](https://openaitools.app/tool/kome-ai) | 174,910 | -6.5% | Freemium | Summarize, bookmark and write with AI right in your browser | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/kome-ai.md) | | 8 | [Noiz](https://openaitools.app/tool/noiz) | 148,844 | -27.8% | Free Trial | Summarize any YouTube video into key ideas and timestamped notes in seconds. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/noiz.md) | | 9 | [genei](https://openaitools.app/tool/genei) | 23,178 | +1.2% | Freemium, Free Trial | AI summarisation, keyword extraction and research for long documents | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/genei.md) | | 10 | [Briefy](https://openaitools.app/tool/briefy) | 19,301 | +29.8% | Freemium, Free Trial | Turn long articles, videos and PDFs into structured summaries you can actually search. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/briefy.md) | --- Source: https://openaitools.app/compare/explainthis-vs-gene More Markdown: [Categories](https://openaitools.app/categories.md) · [Traffic rankings](https://openaitools.app/rankings.md) · [llms.txt](https://openaitools.app/llms.txt)