Alternatives to Merlin
AI assistant for Chrome, web and mobile that chats, summarizes pages and writes content. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
Merlin
AI assistant for Chrome, web and mobile that chats, summarizes pages and writes content.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as Merlin.
Monica
An AI assistant for chat, writing, summarizing and translation, available as an extension and app.
Monica offers an AI sidebar with several model families on Windows, macOS, mobile and web, with its browser extension covering Chrome and Edge only.
Sider
AI sidebar for the browser that summarizes pages and chats with several AI models.
Sider is a browser sidebar with several AI models, page summaries and notes, available as extensions plus Windows and mobile apps.
HARPA AI
Chrome extension that brings several AI models and web automation to any page you visit.
HARPA AI is mainly a Chrome extension that works with many AI providers and local models and adds a Gmail helper and browser automation.
Page Assist
An open-source browser extension that adds a sidebar and web UI for chatting with local AI models.
Page Assist is a free open-source browser extension for chatting with local models such as Ollama, keeping processing off hosted servers.
HyperWrite
An AI writing assistant with a document editor and Chrome extension for autocomplete, rewriting and research.
HyperWrite pairs a Chrome extension with a document editor, focusing on autocomplete, rewriting and research with scholarly citations.
Also worth comparing
These listings name Merlin as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.
Poe
A chat platform from Quora that gives access to several AI models in one place.
Merlin is a freemium assistant with several AI models on Chrome, web, Android and iOS, adding page, search and video summaries.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
ChatGPT
OpenAI's AI assistant for conversation, writing, coding, analysis and image creation.
Immersive Translate
A translation extension and app that shows bilingual side-by-side translations of web pages, PDFs and videos.
ChatPDF
An AI tool that summarizes PDFs and answers questions about them, with citations to the source.
Perplexity
An AI answer engine that searches the web and replies with cited sources.
ChatGPT Atlas
OpenAI's Chromium-based web browser with ChatGPT and an agent mode built into every page.
