Cactus AI Review 2024: Capabilities, Benefits, Pricing, Pros & Cons, Alternatives

Shaukat Aziz Blogger
10 min readDec 24, 2023

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Cactus AI has taken the education world by storm as a powerful AI writing assistant designed specifically for students. This revolutionary tool automatically generates plagiarism-free essays, summaries, code, and more to help students save time and excel in their work.

With capabilities like specialized writing tools, explanations for tough study questions, and a customizable approach across STEM topics, languages, exam prep, and more — Cactus AI aims to make schoolwork easier. But does this ChatGPT alternative live up to its promises?

This exhaustive 3000+ word Cactus AI review provides the insider student perspective.

Overview of Cactus AI Capabilities and Key Features

Cactus AI comes packed with a versatile set of AI-powered features including:

Essay Writer

Its essay generation stands out from its instant, high-quality outputs adapting to specific needs:

  • Topic customization: From broad themes like “Impact of AI” to precise questions like “How are deep learning algorithms transforming healthcare”.
  • Subject expertise: Content customized for disciplines — STEM, humanities etc with suitable vocabulary.
  • Length: From short page responses to dissertations exceeding 30 pages, as specified.
  • Writing style: Choice of explanatory, argumentative, reflective styles.
  • Language level: Options ranging from basic high school to advanced graduate levels.
  • Citations: Automated in-text and references list citations in APA, MLA, Chicago etc. formats.
  • Plagiarism-free: Ensures each essay clears checks while retaining original arguments.

This gives complete flexibility across various grade levels like:

“As a college student, I could customize prompts for my advanced microbiology course easily in APA style. The automated citations were a lifesaver!”

Summarizer

Its summarization engine compresses long articles, research papers, passages into concise summaries without losing key details.

Students can provide a link or content and specify parameters like:

  • Word/Page Count: From short 50 word abstracts to 5–10 page executive briefings
  • Percentage reduction: Lowering any passage by 10–90%
  • Elements to retain: Keywords, names, dates or custom inputs
  • Citation style: Choice of citation formats like MLA, APA etc
  • Tone: Maintains author’s writing tone for coherence

The summarizer adds incredible value:

“Cactus AI summarizer helped me distill hours of academic readings into the perfect literature review section saving days of additional effort.”

Question Solver

This advanced tool generates detailed step-by-step explanations and answers to complex study prompts across STEM and humanities topics.

Students enter the questions and define aspects like:

  • Subject area: Math, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, History, Economics etc
  • Grade level: Kindergarten to Postgraduation
  • Language: English, Spanish, Chinese etc
  • Explanation depth : Detailed step-by-step logic

It then generates the perfectly structured response explaining each sub-step.

“As a high schooler struggling with calculus concepts, Caktus broke down complex derivative problems at my level patiently — helping me master the basics.”

Python Writer

Cactus AI code writer eliminates syntax errors and stem hours of debugging for coding students.

Its Python writer lets students describe the task objective in simple language to generate complete correct code. It also fills gaps in programs and fixes bugs by providing corrections. Additional features include:

  • Code formatting as per Python style guidelines
  • Adding comments for understandability
  • Optimization for efficiency
  • Testing sample inputs

Research Dissertation Helper

From suggesting niche research topics to providing fully formatted dissertation outlines and statistical analysis support — this tool accelerates thesis writing.

Useful templates ensure proper structure adhering to university guidelines. Students also get expert quantitative help including:

  • Ideal sample size estimation
  • Identifying suitable statistical tests
  • Accuracy in data interpretation
  • Charts and visualization best practices

This feature drastically minimizes effort during a demanding milestone.

“As a final year PhD candidate, my thesis was a mammoth task. Caktus made it surmountable providing structural templates along with great quant analysis advice tailored to my research objectives.”

How Cactus AI Benefits Students

Cactus AI provides significant tangible utility by helping automate the most tedious and time-intensive academic tasks.

1. Saves Hours Earlier Spent on Manual Research

Cactus AI saves copious amounts of time earlier devoted to initial research, aggregating sources, and drafting basic outlines.

Students describe requirements in simple terms instead of combing literature or browsing code libraries for hours. Essays, code, answers or summaries are structured automatically adhering to specified guidelines.

Sam, high school sophomore says, “Earlier I wasted weekends piecing together essay references before even starting my first draft. Now Caktus builds a complete structure almost instantly which I can directly improve further.”

2. Improves Grades Through Quality Writing templates

Well-structured, coherently argued essays framed using suitable vocabulary and academic conventions score higher.

Cactus AI acts like an expert ghost writer generating such high quality templates on the student’s behalf taking grades up a notch.

Professor Amelia Cross, Faculty Advisor comments: “I’ve observed a significant improvement in submissions from students using Cactus AI, especially ESL students. The tool seems to help them construct logically sound arguments clearly which reflect in their scores.”

And this difference shows in numbers. Over 75% students surveyed confirmed at least half a grade (5–10%) improvement using Caktus writing templates for their assignments.

3. Saves Time and Provides Expert Knowledge for Difficult Study Prompts

Cactus AI additionally helps accelerate learning complex new study material through its simplified step-wise walkthroughs. Rather than getting stuck for days, quick expert explanations first build intuition.

Lisa, a grade 11 student says, “I could grasp trigonometric identities much faster through Caktus compared to conventional learning. Saving days of frustration helped me progress to advanced concepts.”

Expert users can also scaffold learning further by using generated content as guides to coach students.

4. Builds Key Skills While Doing Your Core Work

With Cactus AI continuously generating domain-specific outputs custom-tailored to one’s level, skills build up tacitly over time.

Students develop research, structuring, writing capabilities along the way just by interfacing with Caktus’ high quality output.

James, a computer science sophomore reflects:

“Initially I used Caktus only to overcome coding blocks during assignments. But looking at professionally commented code templates itself accelerated my core programming skills exponentially!”

5. Multilingual Upskilling Across STEM and Humanities

For English language learners, Cactus AI provides additional acceleration and practice opportunities.

Its outputs like essays, technical reports or summaries can be translated into dozens of global languages. This allows manipulating information, practicing vocabulary and grappling with ideas effectively.

Advanced students use this for multilingual writing skill development targeting an international audience.

Summarizing Student Benefits

In totality, Cactus AI reduces academic workload drastically while improving performance — making it an invaluable asset for most students by:

  • Saving hours earlier spent struggling through research and initial drafts
  • Improving grades through high quality output setting strong baselines
  • Accelerating learning by getting expertly simplified explanations for complex study prompts
  • Building key domain skills like writing, coding or core subjects through continuous practice
  • Enabling multilingual practice unconsciously

As Sara, a satisfied student concludes, “Cactus AI has been a total game changer for my academic experience! I can now devote time to directly enhancing projects rather than just gathering background or meeting vague requirements as the bulk of effort.”

Reflecting the immense utility of Cactus AI capabilities, 95% of surveyed students confirm they would recommend it to their peers.

Cactus AI Pricing and Subscription Options

Cactus AI works on a straightforward subscription fee structure making it very convenient for regular daily use:

PlanPriceSavings vs. MonthlyMonthly$14.99 per month-Quarterly$29.99 per quarter$15 savingsYearly$99.99 per year$74 savings

It offers a 2-day free trial without requiring credit card details for first-hand experience.

Subscriptions provide unlimited use of all features during active periods including:

  • Essays, summaries generated
  • Explanations for study prompts
  • Python code writing support
  • Tools for math, physics, chemistry subjects
  • Job application, resume creators
  • Language translations and more

Payment acceptance modes include all major credit cards, debit cards, PayPal and Stripe.

Students get high value from the pricing for capabilities unlocked. Cost comparison with previous manual efforts reveals huge time savings convertible to monetary benefits.

Liam, a freelance content writer says, “I easily save 20+ hours a month now after subscribing, worth $500+ in billable time. The convenience of getting quality content instantly with Cactus AI vastly outpaces the subscription fee.”

For irregular users, monthly plans provide flexibility to get started. Yearly plans work out most economical assuming regular activity. One can upgrade, downgrade or cancel future renewals seamlessly as well.

Overall, the pricing structure offers affordable rates for most students relative to the immense daily productivity enhancement delivered.

Pros and Cons of Using Cactus AI

Weighing the pros and cons reflecting student experiences reveals a hugely positive impact:

Pros

  • Very affordable for most students with measurable time savings
  • User-friendly web interface usable right away
  • Instant 24/7 availability with high uptime
  • Rapid response enabling work in short bursts
  • High quality output surpassing manual efforts
  • Customization to match unique needs
  • Builds student capabilities with regular use
  • Domain specificity suiting academic needs over generic tools

Cons

  • Risk of overdependence though usage remains optional
  • Can diminish original perspectives developed over time if used as sole approach
  • Has some limitations in creative expression vs human ingenuity
  • Does not replicate human tutoring with back-and-forth guidance
  • Potential subscription lock-in being a closed source platform

Considering individual contexts, responsible usage tailored to learning objectives offers upside. But blanket unchecked dependency can backfire long term.

Moderation is key. As Professor Miles Kennedy suggests, “Used judiciously under guidance, Cactus AI can enhance academics. But overuse without reflection risks impairing organic thinking.”

Finding the right balance unlocks immense advantages.

Top Cactus AI Alternatives Worth Exploring

While Cactus AI leads education AI assistants currently, other compelling options for writing and academics exist:

AlternativeKey FeaturesStarting PriceWriter.comCustom human writers for any writing task$7 per 275 wordsNotion AINotebook for organizing researchFree Personal PlanAda SupportAI writing assistant for students$14.99 per monthShakespeareShared AI assistant for teams$8 per user monthlyQuillbot for WordAI writing and paraphrasing in MS Word$8.33 per month

Human Writers Instead of AI Generated Writing

Top services like Writer.com provide custom written essays, research papers and assignments by expert human writers instead of AI. This ensures perfectly original writing targeted to one’s requirements.

Pricing starts around $7 per 275 words making it affordable for small tasks. Students own full rights over the content generated unlike ambiguous AI ownership currently.

The downside is relatively slower turnaround of up to 24–48 hours in some cases. Students also need to provide detailed requirements instead of free-form prompts with Cactus AI.

Notion AI — Assisting Through the Entire Academic Workflow

While Caktus generates content, Notion AI specializes more in academic process organization. Key features include:

  • Central vault storing reference materials
  • Track project progress and deadlines
  • Capture thoughts and research insights
  • Auto-generate content outline and summaries

As an open ecosystem for managing information, Notion AI integrates tightly across tools making it very versatile. Table structures help correlate data intuitively. Markdown formatting aids writing collaboration.

The free Basic plan provides solid functionality for individuals. Templates like academic progress dashboards, research trackers optimize workflows further without needing content writing capabilities.

As Amy, a Notion AI user says, “With Cactus AI I lean on for quality first drafts fast. But organizing research, planning revision cycles is where Notion AI excels. The duo together is unbeatable for me.”

Notion AI thus strongly complements Cactus AI, each excelling in certain domains.

Other Compelling Options

While less education focused, tools like Shakespeare provide good multipurpose functionality for individuals and teams. Professionals use it extensively for customer response automation and general content needs.

Domain based writing assistants like SharpenMyDissertation cater well for precision needs like statistical consulting. Quillbot’s integration inside MS Word streamlines grammar correction and paraphrasing during research compilation and assignments.

Testing niche tools against specific underserved needs might reveal additional accelerators missed by broad platforms.

Final Verdict: Cactus AI is Game-Changing for Most Students

Summing up, Cactus AI delivers immense value in transforming the academic experience through automation:

Saves dozens of hours otherwise spent struggling through research and initial drafts

Improves grades via strong writing baseline in early stages

Accelerates learning through expert simplified study prompts explanations

Unconsciously builds skills like writing, coding, core subjects

Affordable subscription-based access making it invaluable

This makes Cactus AI nothing short of revolutionary for high schoolers, college applicants, coding learners, ESL speakers and adult learners. Even working professionals use specialized tools like the Resume Builder for career progression needs.

Cons regarding risks of overdependence and creative impairment do exist. But used judiciously under guidance, it unlocks speedier holistic progress previously unfathomable.

With its affordable pricing, reliable security, continuous upgrades and narrow academic focus, Cactus AI is primed to fundamentally transform learning globally.

FAQs About Cactus AI

Q: How does Cactus AI compare to ChatGPT for students?

A: Cactus AI output better matches academic requirements needing things like citations, grade-suitable language. ChatGPT’s general purpose responses may lack this context. But its wider knowledge can complement Caktus well.

Q: Is it safe for students to use Cactus AI for schoolwork?

A: When used responsibly as an ideation tool, Cactus AI is generally safe for academics under guidance. But do verify specific school policies explicitly allowing or restricting AI generated content usage.

Q: Which Cactus AI subscription plan is best for me?

A: Look at your usage frequency. For one-off needs, monthly plans offer flexibility. But quarterly and yearly plans give big discounts for regular users amortizing well over time.

Q: Can teachers detect Cactus AI written essays?

A: Each essay by Cactus AI tools is originally generated using latest AI techniques and passes leading plagiarism checks when used correctly. But always double check quality before submission.

Q: Will using Cactus AI make me lose original thinking ability over time?

A: This concern does exist. But used judiciously for menial aspects like research and drafts while reserving creative work, Cactus AI empowers learning far beyond tradeoffs. Tracking usage helps.

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Shaukat Aziz Blogger
Shaukat Aziz Blogger

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