What is Refinder AI?

Refinder AI is an AI-powered universal search and workspace assistant designed to solve one of the most persistent problems in the modern digital workplace: information silos. As businesses increasingly rely on a fragmented ecosystem of SaaS tools—ranging from Slack for communication to Notion for documentation and Jira for project management—valuable data often becomes "lost" in the noise. Refinder AI acts as a centralized intelligence layer that sits on top of these applications, allowing users to find files, messages, and insights across their entire organization from a single interface.

Developed by Thinkfree Inc., Refinder AI leverages advanced Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) technology. Unlike general-purpose AI tools like ChatGPT, which draw from public internet data, Refinder is built specifically for the enterprise. It connects directly to your company’s internal accounts, indexing content in real-time to provide contextually aware answers. It doesn't just return a list of links; it understands the intent behind a query and can synthesize information from multiple sources to provide a direct answer.

Beyond simple search, Refinder AI functions as a proactive assistant. It integrates deeply with collaboration platforms like Slack and Google Chat, transforming these chat environments into "command centers." Users can ask questions in natural language, summarize lengthy documents, or even automate repetitive tasks without ever leaving their primary communication window. This focus on "staying in the flow" is what distinguishes Refinder from traditional search engines that require users to open yet another tab to find what they need.

Key Features

Unified Universal Search: Refinder’s core strength is its ability to search across 30+ popular work applications simultaneously. Whether a document is buried in a Google Drive folder, a Slack thread from three months ago, or a Jira ticket, the tool can locate it in seconds using natural language queries.
AI-Powered Workspace Assistant: The tool features a conversational AI agent that lives within your workflow. You can ask it questions like, "What was the final decision on the Q1 marketing budget?" and it will pull data from relevant emails, meeting notes, and spreadsheets to give you a summarized response.
Deep Integrations: Refinder supports a wide array of connectors, including Google Workspace (Gmail, Drive, Calendar), Microsoft 365 (OneDrive, Outlook), Notion, Confluence, Jira, Slack, Dropbox, and GitHub. It also offers custom connectors for in-house intranets and databases.
Privacy and Data Isolation: Security is a major focus for Refinder AI. The platform uses a per-user data isolation model, ensuring that users only see information they already have permission to access in the source apps. Crucially, Refinder states that customer data is never used to train its global AI models.
Automated Task Management: Through its chat integrations, Refinder allows users to create, update, and track tasks. For example, you can tell the AI in Slack to "Create a Jira ticket for the bug reported by the client," and it will execute the action on your behalf.
Smart Summarization: The tool can instantly summarize long documents, email threads, or meeting transcripts. This is particularly useful for employees returning from vacation or joining a project mid-way who need to get up to speed quickly.

Pricing

Refinder AI offers a tiered pricing structure designed to accommodate everyone from individual freelancers to large enterprises. As of early 2025, the plans are as follows:

Free Plan ($0): Designed for individuals or small-scale testing. It includes 1 user seat, 1 AI Agent, and a limit of up to 150 messages per month. It supports standard work app integrations and Slack/Google Chat connectivity.
Pro Plan (~$20.90 per user/month): Aimed at power users and small teams. This plan increases the limits to 2 AI Agents and 500 messages per month, offering more frequent data crawling and priority support.
Team Plan (~$86.90 per month): This is a flat-fee plan for up to 10 users. It includes 10 AI Agents and a shared pool of 2,000 messages per month. It is ideal for departments or small startups looking for a collaborative search hub.
Enterprise Plan (Custom Pricing): For larger organizations requiring unlimited seats, advanced security features, SOC 2 compliance reports, and dedicated account management. This tier often includes custom data connectors for proprietary internal systems.

Note: Refinder AI frequently offers a 14-day free trial for its paid tiers, allowing teams to test the deep indexing capabilities before committing to a subscription.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Eliminates "App Hopping": The primary benefit is the massive time savings. Users no longer need to manually check five different apps to find a single piece of information.
Natural Language Understanding: You don't need to remember exact file names. Searching for "that project plan from last Tuesday" actually works.
Ease of Setup: Unlike traditional enterprise search solutions that require months of IT configuration, Refinder uses no-code connectors that can be set up in minutes.
Strong Privacy Stance: The commitment to not training models on user data and respecting existing app permissions makes it a safer bet for sensitive corporate environments.

Cons

Message Limits: The message caps on the Free and Pro plans can be restrictive for heavy users who rely on the AI assistant for daily summarization and task management.
Initial Indexing Time: Depending on the volume of data in your connected apps, it can take some time for the AI to fully "learn" your workspace and provide high-accuracy results.
Subscription Fatigue: At ~$21/user, it is another line item in a company's software budget, potentially competing with built-in AI tools like Google Gemini or Microsoft Copilot.
Integration Depth: While it supports many apps, the level of "actionability" (e.g., creating tickets vs. just searching for them) varies between different integrations.

Who Should Use Refinder AI?

Refinder AI is an ideal fit for several specific profiles:

Remote and Hybrid Teams: When you can’t tap a colleague on the shoulder to ask where a file is, Refinder acts as the "digital memory" of the company.
Project Managers and Team Leads: Those who need to keep track of moving parts across Jira, Slack, and Docs will find the summarization and universal search features indispensable.
Human Resources and Onboarding: HR teams can use Refinder to create "Internal Knowledge Bots" that help new hires find policy documents and benefits information without manual intervention.
Agencies and Consultants: Professionals managing multiple clients across different workspaces can use Refinder to quickly pivot between projects and find client-specific data.

Verdict

Refinder AI is a powerful contender in the burgeoning "Enterprise Search" category. While giants like Google and Microsoft are building AI into their own ecosystems, Refinder’s value lies in its agnosticism. It doesn't care if you use a mix of Notion, Slack, and Google Drive; it bridges the gap between them seamlessly.

For small to medium-sized teams struggling with "information overload," Refinder AI offers a tangible ROI by reclaiming hours of lost productivity. While the message limits on lower tiers require some management, the core search functionality is robust and the privacy-first approach is commendable. If your team spends more than 30 minutes a day just looking for things, Refinder AI is a tool you should seriously consider trialing.