What is Altern?

Altern is a place to find almost anything related to AI.

Tools, LLMs, agents, skills, GPUs, companies hiring in AI… if it’s part of the AI world, we’re trying to make it easier to discover. The field moves so fast that it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. New tools launch constantly, models get updated overnight, and half the time you don’t even know what you’re looking for until you see it. Altern exists to cut through that noise.

What you can actually find here

AI tools of all kinds — coding assistants, image generators, writing tools, research helpers, and more
Large language models and the platforms that offer them
AI agents that can take real actions
Skills and building blocks people use to create agents
GPUs and hardware options
Companies working in AI (including places you might want to work)
And whatever else makes sense as the space keeps expanding

We’re not trying to be every directory at once. We’re trying to be the one that feels useful when you actually need something.

The parts that matter most

A fair leaderboard

There’s a Top AI Leaderboard on Altern. It ranks tools based on how useful and relevant they actually are — not on who paid the most. No payments, no ads influencing the ranking. Just a list that tries to stay honest.

Anyone can list their product for free

If you’ve built something in AI, you can add it to Altern without paying. That’s intentional. Good tools shouldn’t need a marketing budget just to be discoverable.

Save things and share them

When you find an AI you like, you can save it. You can also share it with friends. Over time this becomes a personal collection of tools that actually matter to you, not just another endless feed.

Follow people

You can follow other users on Altern. When someone whose taste you trust saves or shares something, you can see it. It’s a light social layer around discovery — more “people I respect found this interesting” and less algorithm noise.

Alternatives for everything

Every tool on Altern has an alternatives section. You can see both free and paid options, and anyone can suggest new ones. If you’re looking for a cheaper, open-source, or simply different way to solve the same problem, this is usually the fastest place to start.

Tasks

Sometimes you don’t know the name of the tool — you just know what you need to get done. The Tasks section organizes AI solutions around real jobs people are trying to finish.

→ Explore tasks

Lists

Lists are collections of tools grouped by theme or use case. Some are curated, some grow from the community. They’re useful when you want a starting point instead of searching from scratch.

→ Browse lists

Why we care about fairness

A lot of directories eventually turn into paid placement platforms. The more money you spend, the higher you rank. Altern is trying to avoid that. The leaderboard doesn’t take payments or ads. Submissions are free. Alternatives can be suggested by anyone. The focus stays on helping people find good AI tools rather than on selling visibility.

That doesn’t mean everything gets accepted without review. We still care about quality. But the core idea is simple: the best tools should be able to rise on their own merits.

Who this is for

Developers looking for solid tools, agents, or libraries
Founders and product people researching what to use next
Researchers and curious people who want to stay current
Makers who want their AI product to be found
Anyone who just wants a cleaner way to explore AI

Getting started

You can browse most of Altern without an account. When you want to save tools, share discoveries, follow people, or submit something, just sign in with GitHub or Google. Your account is created automatically the first time you do.

From there you can explore the leaderboard, dig into tasks and lists, save things you like, suggest alternatives, submit your own product, and follow people whose taste you trust.

Altern is still growing, and a lot of what makes it useful comes from the people using it. Every save, share, follow, and alternative suggestion helps.