Built This Week/Explore

Original data

AI Tool Leaderboard

Which AI tools do builders actually use? We counted every tool across 52 builds and 57 episodes of Built This Week.

By Jordan Metzner & Sam Nadler · Data from Jun 2025 to Oct 2026 · Updated November 2026

9
of our 52 builds used ChatGPT, more than any other tool.
39%
of builds since January 2026 used Claude Code or Codex (7 of 18), up from 12% in 2025 (4 of 34).
56% → 6%
of builds used Replit, Bolt, Lovable, Cursor or Google AI Studio: 19 of 34 in 2025, 1 of 18 in 2026.
34
episodes mention ChatGPT, the most-discussed tool on the show.

Key findings

Across 52 things we built live on the show between Jun 2025 and Oct 2026, ChatGPT was the most-used tool (9 builds), followed by Claude (7), Claude Code (7), Gemini (7), Supabase (7). The biggest change is how we build: in 2025, 56% of builds started in an app builder or AI editor like Replit, Bolt or Cursor; in 2026 that fell to 6%, while builds using a terminal coding agent (Claude Code or Codex) went from 12% to 39%.

The leaderboard: top 40 tools

#ToolBuildsEpisodesUsedOur take
1ChatGPTAI model · OpenAI
9
34Jun 2025 to Oct 2026Chosen as judge since no model knows which is smartest; Carina prefers compiling Lean over an LLM judge. (Ep 22 at 04:45)
2ClaudeAI model · Anthropic
7
26Jul 2025 to Oct 2026Jordan: very slow and seemingly expensive, confusing effort levels, but accurate with world-class design output. (Ep 46 at 02:42)
3Claude CodeCoding agent · Anthropic
7
25Jul 2025 to Sep 2026Results were amazing; Jordan noted advanced teams moved from Cursor to Claude Code and Codex. (Ep 40 at 06:44)
4GeminiAI model · Google
7
18Jul 2025 to Sep 2026Scored best (98) on Fermat's Little Theorem. (Ep 22 at 03:08)
5SupabaseDatabase · Supabase
7
8Jul 2025 to May 2026Sam finds it very easy to understand. (Ep 29 at 07:34)
6Google AI StudioApp builder · Google
7
6Sep 2025 to Apr 2026Both hosts' go-to for quick prototypes and throwaway demos; Jordan loves it for little web apps because it's fast and clean, though API-key setup is a bit complicated. (Ep 38 at 10:31)
7OpenAI CodexCoding agent · OpenAI
6
21Aug 2025 to Oct 2026Deep reasoning finds a ton of bugs but takes 5–10 minutes per run. (Ep 30 at 06:47)
8ReplitApp builder · Replit
6
11Jun 2025 to Apr 2026Planning feature makes builds easier and more robust before building starts. (Ep 18 at 08:34)
9ReactInfrastructure · Meta
6
5Jul 2025 to Sep 2026Bloated for agents; agents can build leaner bespoke front ends. (Ep 51 at 15:23)
10CursorCoding agent · Anysphere
5
28Jun 2025 to Sep 2026Jordan: zero switching costs make Cursor's position dangerous; his engineers moved off it. (Ep 14 at 08:00)
11BoltApp builder · StackBlitz
4
10Jun 2025 to May 2026Good for getting a first version up really quickly. (Ep 14 at 08:00)
12GrokAI model · xAI
3
10Jul 2025 to Oct 2026Not enough for the amount of data in the P&Ls and balance sheets. (Ep 14 at 06:59)
13Google VeoVideo · Google
3
9Jun 2025 to Apr 2026Hard to tell the videos are AI; 60–70% right on first pass. (Ep 20 at 06:28)
14Nano Banana (Gemini 2.5 Flash Image)AI model · Google
3
9Aug 2025 to Jul 2026Fast (about 20–40 seconds); kept pose and hands well, likeness not perfect. (Ep 18 at 05:29)
15FLUXAI model · Black Forest Labs
3
4Jun 2025 to Aug 2025Kept Jordan recognizable across several chained edits with natural lighting; struggled with the beer product-placement edit. (Ep 10 at 04:19)
16ViteInfrastructure · Vite
3
3Jul 2025 to Nov 2025Jordan's preferred front-end setup. (Ep 14 at 08:21)
17GitHubInfrastructure · Microsoft
2
5Aug 2025 to Sep 2026Built for the shape of human attention; would be designed differently agent-first. (Ep 51 at 12:08)
18AWS AmplifyInfrastructure · Amazon
2
3Sep 2025 to Apr 2026
19Claude DesignDesign · Anthropic
2
3Apr 2026 to Jul 2026Sam loved it: incredible design quality, easy to use, a step function in his capabilities; Jordan called it a bit of a Figma killer. (Ep 40 at 01:49)
20GmailProductivity · Google
2
2Jul 2025 to Oct 2025
21n8nAutomation · n8n
2
2Oct 2025 to May 2026A leading agentic workflow platform; low/no-code but with a learning curve. (Ep 17 at 10:43)
22ReplicateInfrastructure · Replicate
2
2Jun 2025 to Oct 2025A very interesting API-as-a-service that constantly adds new models across image, video, speech, 3D, music and voice cloning. (Ep 1 at 22:49)
23shadcn/uiDesign · shadcn
2
2Jul 2025 to Sep 2025Responsive and looks good. (Ep 14 at 08:21)
24Tailwind CSSDesign · Tailwind Labs
2
2Jul 2025 to Sep 2025Responsive and looks good. (Ep 14 at 08:21)
25WebflowApp builder · Webflow
2
2Jul 2025 to Mar 2026Moved from WordPress to avoid maintenance; SEO is as good as WordPress, if not better. (Ep 2 at 03:00)
26Claude CoworkProductivity · Anthropic
1
6Jan 2026 to May 2026An easy entry point for anyone, essentially a wrapper around Claude Code; nice UI for plans and trade-offs, but harder to run in parallel. (Ep 29 at 10:56)
27SoraVideo · OpenAI
1
6Jun 2025 to Apr 2026Good but less realistic than Veo 3.1 Fast in their side-by-side. (Ep 17 at 02:18)
28PerplexityAI model · Perplexity
1
5Jul 2025 to May 2026Probably the first to step up for financial research. (Ep 4 at 17:43)
29KalshiOther · Kalshi
1
3Jan 2026 to Jun 2026CFTC-regulated, available in California, feels like gambling; fees are high; 'the house always wins'. (Ep 26 at 02:07)
30Google Search ConsoleAnalytics · Google
1
2Jul 2025 to Mar 2026
31SlackProductivity · Salesforce
1
2Aug 2025 to Apr 2026
32Amazon S3Infrastructure · Amazon Web Services
1
1Mar 2026 to Mar 2026
33AttentionAnalytics · Attention
1
1Jun 2026 to Jun 2026“We'll fill every single field in your CRM. Right?” (Ep 45 at 14:59)
34Bambu Lab X1COther · Bambu Lab
1
1Sep 2025 to Sep 2025Works well but still needs significant maintenance. (Ep 13 at 07:48)
35EntreVistaOther · Ryz Labs
1
1Mar 2026 to Mar 2026
36Google MapsOther · Google
1
1Oct 2025 to Oct 2025
37Google SheetsProductivity · Google
1
1Oct 2025 to Oct 2025
38Lean 4Other · Lean FRO
1
1Nov 2025 to Nov 2025Carina: only ~10M tokens of Lean exist vs 1T+ of Python, so data scarcity is the bottleneck; taught at UW, CMU, Stanford and Imperial. (Ep 22 at 05:41)
39LeverOther · Employ
1
1Aug 2025 to Aug 2025“So, you know, at Ryz Labs, we use Lever as our applicant tracking system, but Ntrvsta actually integrates with a bunch of different ATS and CRM tools.” (Ep 6 at 14:47)
40MakerWorldOther · Bambu Lab
1
1Sep 2025 to Sep 2025The hosts' favorite marketplace for 3D print files. (Ep 13 at 08:37)
Download the data (CSV)

How our stack changed

The five most-used tools in each half-year, by number of builds.

2025 H1 · 1 builds

Replicate1
MiniMax Image 011
Seedance1
Google Veo1
Replit1

2025 H2 · 33 builds

ChatGPT8
Google AI Studio7
Gemini7
Claude5
Replit5

2026 H1 · 17 builds

Claude Code6
Supabase3
OpenAI Codex3
Claude2
AWS Amplify2

2026 H2 · 1 builds

Webflow1
Grok1

Leaders by category

  • AI model: ChatGPT (9), Claude (7), Gemini (7), Grok (3)
  • Coding agent: Claude Code (7), OpenAI Codex (6), Cursor (5)
  • Database: Supabase (7), SQLite (1)
  • App builder: Google AI Studio (7), Replit (6), Bolt (4), Webflow (2)
  • Infrastructure: React (6), Vite (3), GitHub (2), AWS Amplify (2)
  • Video: Google Veo (3), Sora (1), Remotion (1), Seedance (1)
  • Design: Claude Design (2), shadcn/ui (2), Tailwind CSS (2), Unsplash (1)
  • Productivity: Gmail (2), Claude Cowork (1), Slack (1), Google Sheets (1)
  • Automation: n8n (2)
  • Other: Kalshi (1), Bambu Lab X1C (1), EntreVista (1), Google Maps (1)
  • Analytics: Google Search Console (1), Attention (1)

How we counted

Every Built This Week episode is transcribed. For each episode we extracted the things built on the show and the tools used to build them, with timestamps. A tool’s Builds count is the number of the 52 builds by the hosts and the Ryz Labs team whose stack included it. Episodes counts every episode where the tool came up at all, including news and guest conversations. Guest product demos (18) are left out of the build counts. The “Our take” column summarizes the latest thing said about the tool during a build or demo, linked to the moment in the video. Nothing here is a paid placement or a hand-picked score.

The full table (56 tools) is free to use with a link to this page.

Questions

What AI tool does Built This Week use most?

ChatGPT. It appears in 9 of the 52 builds on the show, followed by Claude (7), Claude Code (7), Gemini (7).

Do the hosts use Claude Code or Codex?

Both. Claude Code is in 7 builds and Codex in 6; since January 2026, 39% of builds used one of them.

Is Cursor still used on the show?

Cursor appears in 5 builds and 28 episodes, last mentioned in Sep 2026. Most newer builds use a terminal coding agent instead.

Want the details? Read every tool review or see every build.