TextCortex Free tier

AI & Translation · Web dashboard, Chrome browser extension, and native Windows/macOS desktop app; connects to your files, Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 as knowledge sources · switch in A few minutes — export documents and knowledge-base files from the dashboard; no proprietary lock-in format for stored content

Best for: Best for teams that want to build custom AI writing agents wired into their own knowledge base and files, rather than use one generic chatbot for everything

The verdict

Reviewed by Matthis Duarte · checked 2026-09-05 · how we check

TextCortex positions itself less as a single AI writing tool and more as a platform for building custom AI agents — called 'Zeno' internally — that answer questions from a company's own documents, automate repetitive writing tasks, and act inside a browser via its Chrome extension. The company is headquartered in Berlin and was seeded with $1.2M in pre-seed funding from a genuinely European syndicate: btov Partners (Switzerland/Germany), Speedinvest (Austria) and Entrepreneur First (UK). It claims 2.4 million users globally and holds SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certifications, running on EU-hosted infrastructure with an explicit no-training-on-user-data policy — a stronger privacy stance than most AI writing tools. The trade-off is price and complexity: the free plan is a genuine taste rather than a daily driver, the Premium plan is priced like a per-seat enterprise SaaS product at €23.99/month per user (VAT excluded, billed annually), and getting real value out of the knowledge-base and agent features takes real setup time compared to opening a chat window and typing.

Based inGermany
This costsFree tier
Score69/100

How we scored it

Price12/20
Ease of use14/20
Security & privacy16/20
Feature completeness16/20
Support & reliability11/20

69 out of 100. Each of the five criteria is judged on its own, 0 to 20, and the five add up — never measured against another product. How we score.

What TextCortex actually does

TextCortex is an AI writing and knowledge assistant built around the idea that most useful AI work isn't a single chat window — it's an agent that already knows your company's documents, your writing style, and your recurring tasks. The company, headquartered in Berlin, calls its assistant "Zeno" and structures the product around three pillars: searching and answering questions from your own organizational data (Company Knowledge), automating repetitive writing and formatting tasks (Workflow Automation), and building, deploying and managing custom AI agents for specific jobs (Enterprise Agents). It was seeded with $1.2M in pre-seed funding from btov Partners, Speedinvest and Entrepreneur First, and the company reports 2.4 million users worldwide.

The core product

Day to day, most users interact with TextCortex through its Chrome browser extension, which drops an AI writing assistant into any text field across the web — email, LinkedIn, CRM notes, support tickets — plus a native desktop app for Windows and macOS and a standalone web dashboard. On top of straightforward AI writing (rewriting, summarizing, translating, generating from a prompt), the platform layers Knowledge Bases: you upload files or connect Google Workspace/Microsoft 365, and the AI can then answer questions or draft content grounded in those specific documents rather than generic training data. Custom "Agent Skills" and connectors let teams build repeatable automations — for example, an agent that drafts a specific type of client email using your actual templates and past correspondence.

What's new or notable

The most distinctive thing about TextCortex in 2026 is its privacy posture relative to competitors: the company holds both SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certifications, runs on EU-hosted infrastructure, and states explicitly that none of your data is ever used to train underlying models. For a category where "we use your data to improve our AI" is a common (if buried) clause, an explicit no-training commitment paired with formal certifications is a genuine differentiator, especially for regulated or security-conscious European teams evaluating AI writing tools.

Who should use TextCortex

Great fit if…

  • You want AI grounded in your own documents — the Knowledge Base and connector features are built for exactly this, rather than treating every query as a blank-slate prompt.
  • Data handling policy is a deciding factor — SOC 2, ISO 27001, EU hosting and a no-training guarantee are unusually concrete commitments for this category.
  • Your team needs repeatable AI workflows, not just one-off writing help — custom agents and skills are designed for recurring tasks.

Skip it if…

  • You just want occasional help drafting an email — the free plan is thin, and Premium's per-seat price is steep for light, occasional use compared to simpler writing tools.
  • You want zero setup — getting value from Knowledge Bases and custom agents requires uploading documents and configuring connectors, not just typing a prompt.

Pricing in detail

Checked live from an EU browsing session on 2026-09-05, TextCortex's own pricing page bills natively in euros. The Free plan costs €0, requires no credit card, and includes access to Knowledge Bases with up to 50 MB of file storage, custom agent creation, Agent Skills and Connectors, and Deep Research — but with limited underlying model usage, making it more of a guided trial than a sustainable free tier. The Premium plan is €23.99 per user per month, VAT excluded, billed annually (2 months free versus paying month to month), and adds access to all major AI models with included usage, up to 10 GB of file storage, and image generation. Enterprise pricing is custom and adds SSO/SCIM/SAML authentication, dedicated deployment, centralized billing and priority support.

PlanPriceWhat's included
Free€0Knowledge Bases (50 MB storage), custom agents, Agent Skills/Connectors, Deep Research, limited model usage
Premium€23.99/user/month (excl. VAT, billed annually)All major AI models, included usage, 10 GB storage, image generation
EnterpriseCustomSSO/SCIM/SAML, dedicated deployment, centralized billing, priority support

Where it falls short

  • Free plan is a demo, not a daily tool — 50 MB of storage and capped model usage push serious users toward Premium quickly.
  • Premium is priced like enterprise software — roughly €24/user/month (plus VAT) is high for an individual freelancer compared to lighter single-purpose writing tools.
  • Annual billing required for the headline rate — the pricing page defaults to the annual "2 months free" toggle, so confirm the monthly-billed rate before assuming the headline price applies.

Privacy & data

TextCortex is the strongest privacy story among this batch: the company states plainly that none of your data is used to train its models, runs on EU-hosted infrastructure, and holds both SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certification — third-party-audited standards rather than self-declared claims. As a Berlin-headquartered company it is directly subject to German and EU data protection law (GDPR).

How we checked this

Pricing verified live on textcortex.com/pricing from an EU browsing session on 2026-09-05, which billed natively in euros (€23.99/user/month, VAT excluded, on the default annual toggle). Company location and certification claims were confirmed on textcortex.com/about (2026-09-05). Funding details ($1.2M pre-seed from btov Partners, Speedinvest and Entrepreneur First) were confirmed via TextCortex's own funding announcement post and independent coverage on Nordic9.

What you get, what you give up

What you get

  • A genuine no-training-on-user-data policy paired with SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certification and EU-hosted infrastructure — a stronger, more specific privacy commitment than most AI writing assistants publish.
  • Custom agent and knowledge-base building (Knowledge Bases, Agent Skills, Connectors) rather than a single fixed chatbot, letting teams point the AI at their own files and internal documentation.

What you give up

  • The free plan's value is mostly in exploring the interface: file storage is capped at 50 MB and there's no meaningful volume of premium AI model usage included, so it functions as a demo more than a usable daily tool.
  • Premium's per-seat price applies on top of VAT, and the discounted rate shown requires annual billing rather than paying month to month.

What we check on every tool

Five things get checked on every tool, free or paid, and the answers are printed on the page with the date they were checked. Nothing is hidden because it looks unflattering — a tool with a short trial is listed exactly like any other, and labelled so you know what you are signing up for.

Legal options only. No cracks, no key resellers, no stream-ripping. Read the policy →

  • 1Card up front? Whether you have to hand over card details before you can use it at all.
  • 2Does it expire? Whether the free version stops working after a set number of days.
  • 3Where's the wall? Whether the free tier's real limit — an advert, a quota, or a feature held back for the paid plan — is named, not left vague.
  • 4Easy to cancel? How many steps it takes to stop paying, and whether it auto-renews quietly.
  • 5Still maintained? Whether the project has shipped anything in the last twelve months.