> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://intelligence.artificialrealitymedia.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Best AI tools for copywriters, from a $1M solo business - URL: https://intelligence.artificialrealitymedia.com/ai-tools-working-copywriter-stack/ - Published: 2026-08-25T09:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-25T09:00:00.000Z - Description: Neville Medhora runs a $1M-a-year copywriting business on a $20 ChatGPT subscription. The full stack, what each tool does, and what he refuses to buy. - Author: Galina Fendikevich - Tags: Creative, #For AI Buyers, #AI tools, #Import 2026-09-03 03:45 A working copywriter with an AI-dependent business runs almost no AI tools. Neville Medhora, who owns [Copywriting Course](https://copywritingcourse.com/?ref=intelligence.artificialrealitymedia.com) and [Swipe File](https://swipefile.com/?ref=intelligence.artificialrealitymedia.com) and does roughly $1M a year, uses a consumer [ChatGPT](https://chatgpt.com/?ref=intelligence.artificialrealitymedia.com) subscription at **$20 a month** and [Codex](https://openai.com/codex?ref=intelligence.artificialrealitymedia.com) for coding. That is the stack. Asked directly what he uses, he said: *“My tooling has always been very simple, and it’s generally ChatGPT, Codex for coding, and then just like a basic $20 ChatGPT subscription.”* ## What does he use ChatGPT for? Images, not writing. This is the part most people get backwards. *“I am using it not to write my newsletter, not to replace my social media. I am using it to make a lot of images.”* His reasoning is specific to the job: *“Imagery previously was the hardest thing about my job. So I say every copywriter should also be able to make images… you need to be able to make images because they’re easy to understand.”* He does use it for first-draft sales pages under deadline, and is candid that this is a trade-off rather than an upgrade. ## What does he use for coding? Codex, [OpenAI](https://openai.com/?ref=intelligence.artificialrealitymedia.com)’s coding agent. He also works with a developer who runs a wider set of tools — *“he uses all the different tools and stuff like that.”* That division is the practical shape of his operation: a minimal, cheap, generalist stack for him, specialist tooling with the person who actually needs it. ## Does he use [Claude](https://claude.ai/?ref=intelligence.artificialrealitymedia.com) or [Grok](https://grok.com/?ref=intelligence.artificialrealitymedia.com)? Yes, and he tests across all three — but ChatGPT is the default. *“They’re all almost the same, is my opinion. I use all of them and I try prompts out on different ones.”* His argument for not agonising over it: *“For the average person, all these tools are within three months of each other… the benchmarks are slightly different for the regular plebs like me.”* He settled on ChatGPT because *“the markup and everything gives me the best results and it’s just the easiest to use.”* That is a description of his practice, not an endorsement. His stated position is that for a non-specialist the frontier models are close enough that picking one and staying is rational. ## What runs the rest of the business? The non-AI tools do more work than the AI ones. - [**Kit**](https://kit.com/?ref=intelligence.artificialrealitymedia.com) (formerly [ConvertKit](https://kit.com/?ref=intelligence.artificialrealitymedia.com)) — email, roughly **100,000 tagged subscribers** - [**WordPress**](https://wordpress.org/?ref=intelligence.artificialrealitymedia.com) — the publishing substrate for Swipe File - [**Bunny.net**](https://bunny.net/?ref=intelligence.artificialrealitymedia.com) — media delivery, **$8 a month** for what he describes as millions to tens of millions of images - [**Ahrefs**](https://ahrefs.com/?ref=intelligence.artificialrealitymedia.com) **and** [**Google**](https://www.google.com/?ref=intelligence.artificialrealitymedia.com) **Trends** — SEO and trend data, pulled automatically inside his pipeline rather than used by hand - [**Google Keep**](https://keep.google.com/?ref=intelligence.artificialrealitymedia.com) — note-taking, which he calls one of Google’s best products - [**Calendly**](https://calendly.com/?ref=intelligence.artificialrealitymedia.com) — which he argues most businesses need before they need any AI - [**Canva**](https://canva.com/?ref=intelligence.artificialrealitymedia.com) **and** [**Photoshop**](https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop.html?ref=intelligence.artificialrealitymedia.com) — the pre-AI design floor, named as a capability rather than a vendor ## AI Tools Named in This Report | Tool | Named by | Verdict | Used for | What he said | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------- | ----------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------- | | ChatGPT | Neville Medhora, owner, Copywriting Course & Swipe File | Worked | Image generation, draft sales pages | “Just like a basic $20 ChatGPT subscription” | | Codex | Medhora | Worked | Coding | “ChatGPT, Codex for coding” | | Claude | Medhora | Worked | Cross-model prompt testing | “They’re all almost the same, is my opinion” | | Grok | Medhora | Worked | Cross-model prompt testing | Named in the same comparison | | [Gemini](https://gemini.google.com/?ref=intelligence.artificialrealitymedia.com) / [Nano Banana](https://deepmind.google/models/gemini/image/?ref=intelligence.artificialrealitymedia.com) | Medhora | Worked, then switched away | Image generation | “Nano Banana came out. We switched to that” | | Kit | Medhora | Mixed | Email, \~100k subscribers | Abandoned its MCP connector in two weeks | | Ahrefs | Medhora | Worked | SEO keyword data, via API | “It pulls from Ahrefs SEO data” | | Google Trends | Medhora | Worked | Trend data, via API | “It also pulls Google Trends data” | | [Perplexity](https://www.perplexity.ai/?ref=intelligence.artificialrealitymedia.com), [Lovable](https://lovable.dev/?ref=intelligence.artificialrealitymedia.com), [Supabase](https://supabase.com/?ref=intelligence.artificialrealitymedia.com) | Galina Fendikevich (host) | — | — | Named by the host, not Medhora | *Tools named by the operator on the record. Inclusion is reporting, not endorsement.* ## How to read this stack if you’re choosing tools **Note what’s missing.** No dedicated AI writing tool. No agent platform. No content-marketing suite. **The automation is custom, not purchased.** His pipeline was built, not bought — and he declines to call it an agent. **Model choice is deliberately shallow.** He switches image models when one pulls ahead and expects to switch again. That only works because nothing in his workflow is tightly coupled to a vendor. **The price is the headline.** A $20 subscription and $8 of bandwidth, running a business he describes as doing a million a year. ## The Artificial Reality take The expensive, differentiated part of his operation is the part AI never touched. He automated titling, describing, categorising and uploading — the work he liked least. What he sells is judgment about which ad is worth saving. He tested the alternative and reports it failed: *“we tried to make AI go full bore and just run the whole thing and it kind of sucked.”* If you are assembling a stack from this: the tool list is nearly free, the pipeline was built rather than bought, and the thing customers pay for sits outside both. ## Where this comes from S2E1: AI should have killed his career. He's making $1M a year instead — the full interview with Neville Medhora. Listen or watch: [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS5rVwjOZxQ&ref=intelligence.artificialrealitymedia.com), [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/5DDP9d3rqQ9VeR0B51e80D?ref=intelligence.artificialrealitymedia.com) or [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ai-should-have-killed-his-career-hes-making-%241m-year-instead/id6780699025?i=1000785831972&ref=intelligence.artificialrealitymedia.com).