2 Powerful AI Agents You Can Set Up Today (Zero Tech Skills Required)

Reading this post will get you up to speed on simple AI agents while giving you 2 Agent Apps that are easy and cheap to use (no technical expertise required)

Author

Brad Costanzo
June 04, 2026

AI agents are the hottest thing in tech right now. And the hype is only accelerating.

But if you're not a developer, don't have hours to tinker, or just don't have an obvious reason to use them yet, agents can feel like something that's "not for you."

I want to change that.

Below I'll share a couple of free-to-cheap (but powerful) AI Agents you can actually try today. No setup headache, no technical background required.

First though, let me clear up something that confuses almost everyone: what's the actual difference between an AI chat, an automation, and an agent?

They get lumped together constantly. They shouldn't be.

AI Chat vs. Automation vs. Agents

Think of it like three kinds of workers.

AI Chat is like a really smart consultant you call on the phone. You ask a question, they answer it. You ask another question, they answer that too. But when you hang up, they forget the whole conversation.

That's ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini. Incredibly useful. But reactive. You always have to be the one dialing.

An Automation is like a worker who follows a very precise checklist. Every time X happens, they do Y. No thinking required, no deviation allowed. Someone fills out your form, they send a welcome email. A new invoice comes in, it gets filed in the right folder.

Zapier, Make, n8n. These are automations. Reliable, fast, zero judgment. Also zero flexibility. If something unexpected happens, the checklist breaks and nothing gets done.

An Agent is different. An agent is more like a junior employee you give a goal to.

  • "Go research these five companies and tell me who the best fit is."

  • "Monitor my inbox for any leads that mention pricing and draft a response."

  • "Take this list of tasks and figure out the best order to do them in."

The agent can use tools. It can browse the web, read files, send messages, check calendars. It can make decisions along the way. And it keeps going until the job is done, or until it hits something it needs to ask you about.

Instead of just answering your question, it's actually working for you.

That's the real difference.

  • A chat responds.

  • An automation reacts.

  • An agent acts with intelligence.

I use all types of AI Agents every day, but this is my business.

From Claude’s managed agents to, Lindy agents and more.

I’ve got an Openclaw agent and I recently build my Hermes agent which has been an easier to use evolution of Openclaw.

But these can intimidating for some people to set up and maintain. (me included)

And most people just want something that works, does useful work and doesn’t require them to be too technical.

That’s why I’m going to show you 2 simple agents anyone can set up quickly and try out without any intimidation (or at least minimal irritation).

*SIDE NOTE: Neither one of the apps below sponsored this post or paid me to promote (the second one however will give me & you free credits if you decide to use it)

AI Agent #1: Ollie AI

I just discovered Ollie.ai on X the other day (btw, if you aren’t following me on X/Twitter here’s my handle, follow and say hi: https://x.com/bradcostanzo)

I tried Ollie out and was super impressed by a few core things they’re doing and the way they’re positioning themselves.

There’s 3 things Ollie does that I think are uniquely genius.

  1.  No app interface, no login, no password: You click the get started button, it asks what you want to connect, sends you an SMS/iMessage and you begin to set it up purely via text message.

  2. FREE for basic usage, no monthly fees, no credit card to start. If you’re a power user you just top up your account

  3. Offer Positioning: (this is the smart one) they’re not positioning themselves to be your business agent who does your work for you. They’re simply your family & household AI assistant. (More on this part below)

This is how my onboarding went directly in my iMessage.

The genius part (from my entrepreneurial lens) is this…

Everyone is rushing to get others to adopt their high tech business agents.

But a busy parent has zero interest in prompts, agents, or which model is winning this week. They have a different problem: too much to track, too little time, everything living in one person's head

So they positioned their offer to be a Family Assistant first.

…the one that texts them "you have 14 emails, 3 matter, want me to reply to the school?" right inside the app they already check 100 times a day

no fancy setup or terminal commands lol

that's the entire challenge with adoption... you don't teach people to use AI, you hide it inside the thing they already use and let it handle what they hate doing

retail doesn't adopt technology… retail adopts relief!

Phenomenal offer.

Speaking of “offers”, if you sell anything, services, products, software etc and aren’t selling as much as you want I’m hosting an Offer Sprint (powered by AI) on June 16-17, 2026 and you can get more information here.

Ollie is completely free to try out, no credit card required and if you don’t know how to use it you just text it questions and it tells you.

If you’ve been wanting to start using agents but a bit intimidated it’s a great way to start with zero tech hassle.

Now when you want the power of a full fledged assistant but don’t want to install Openclaw or Hermes yet, there’s an agent that gives you most of the power they give you with zero technical hurdles and is designed for everything Ollie does and a lot more.

AI Agent 2: Vellum

Unlike Openclaw, Hermes and others, this one does the same things (with a little less flexibility and a lot less technical expertise.)

Your Vellum assistant learns your preferences, improves its skills over time, and gradually takes over the work you shouldn’t be doing yourself.

And this does both your personal stuff like Ollie AND your business-related work.

Vellum

You can learn more about how it works by visiting Vellum.ai BUT before you do, I can give you 5 free credits (which is similar to $5 free) when you click this “Share Link” they gave me. You and I both earn 5 credits there.

So lick this link to sign up to Vellum and get us both 5 free credits https://www.vellum.ai/r/7S9FB3 I don’t think you even need to add your credit card until you run out of credits.

Once you get in, just ask Vellum what else you can do. The set up is really easy.

Bottom Line

If you’re not using AI Agents yet it’s ok. You WILL be sooner or later (unless your Amish and avoid technology altogether) and you might as well get a start on it now.

These are two easy ways to do it.

And if you’re like me and like to go a bit deeper on things like Hermes but don’t know where to start I created a free guide to get started on Hermes agent quickly.

Hope that’s helpful. Give them a try.

And if you want personalized guidance reply back and ask about my private client groups, trainings and communities.

Speaking of training, I mentioned this above but on June 16-17, 2026 I’m teaching a 2 day “Offer Sprint” where I’ll help to double the conversions on the offer you sell (or help you create offers that convert into high paying customers quickly).