Riff review
A free Chrome extension that drafts replies, DMs and posts on-device with Gemini Nano, for founders and freelancers who promote their offer on X, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.
By Noahlast updated
Riff screenshots & video
Riff in 20 seconds
Best for: drafting daily LinkedIn and X comments that lightly pitch your own service, on-device and free
Pricing: Riff is free ($0) with no paid tier, account or API key; the only cost is a one-time Gemini Nano download that needs 22 GB of free disk space.
- Riff is free, with no account, subscription or API key; it drafts with Gemini Nano, the AI model built into Chrome, on the user's own computer.
- Riff needs desktop Chrome 138 or newer on Windows 10 or 11, macOS 13 or later, Linux or a Chromebook Plus, plus 22 GB of free disk space and a GPU with more than 4 GB of video memory or 16 GB of RAM and 4 CPU cores.
- Riff drafts comments on X, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram, DMs in LinkedIn Messaging, Messenger, Instagram Direct and X Chat, and messages in Slack and Microsoft Teams on the web.
- Each Riff draft is checked against the user's last 60 replies or posts and rewritten up to twice if it repeats them, exceeds the site's limit or uses a banned phrase.
- Riff writes LinkedIn posts of up to 3,000 characters and X threads of 3 to 7 posts, but never presses Post, Reply, Send or Enter itself.
- As of October 26, 2026, Riff version 0.5.2 had 33 users and one 5.0-star rating on the Chrome Web Store.
Limitations: Desktop Chrome 138 or newer only, with 22 GB of free disk space and a GPU with more than 4 GB of video memory or 16 GB of RAM required for Gemini Nano.; No scheduling, publishing or analytics: Riff fills one box at a time and the user sends every message.; Writes in five languages; Slack and Teams work only in the browser, and Instagram captions are in beta.; Little track record: 33 Chrome Web Store users and one rating as of October 26, 2026.
Top alternatives: ChatGPT, Olly, Google Gemini, Grammarly, Claude, Buffer — full list
What is Riff?
Riff is a Chrome side-panel extension that turns a rough point into a reply, comment, DM or post written for the exact site and conversation on screen. Clicking the wave button beside a post's Reply or Comment button, or clicking into a chat or new-post box, makes Riff read the post or the visible conversation and note the author's mood, what they want and how well a pitch fits. Gemini Nano then drafts inside Chrome in four stages (read, write, check, polish): a draft that breaks the site's limit, uses a phrase from your Never-say list or repeats your last 60 replies is rewritten up to twice. Post mode adds a chat-style canvas with three hook options, numbered versions, repurposing a draft for another site, X threads of 3 to 7 posts and separate brand voices. Settings, saved links and history stay in Chrome's local storage, nothing is sent to a server, and the user always presses Reply, Post or Send.
Riff is a free Chrome extension from Estonia's Zima Media OÜ that drafts replies to posts on X, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram, answers DMs in LinkedIn Messaging, Messenger, Instagram Direct and X Chat, replies in Slack and Microsoft Teams on the web, and writes posts and first messages. You type your point, set dials for pitch, tone, sales tactic and length, and Gemini Nano, the AI model built into Chrome, writes a draft sized to the site's limit on your own computer. Riff fills the box but never presses Reply, Post or Send, and needs no account, API key or subscription. It requires desktop Chrome 138 or newer, 22 GB of free disk space and a GPU with more than 4 GB of video memory or 16 GB of RAM and 4 CPU cores. On October 26, 2026, version 0.5.2 had 33 Chrome Web Store users and one 5-star rating.
Standout feature: On-device drafting with Gemini Nano inside Chrome: the extension makes no network requests, needs no account or API key, and keeps an opened conversation only until the tab closes.
Biggest weakness: Riff runs only in desktop Chrome 138 or newer on a fairly powerful machine: the one-time Gemini Nano download needs 22 GB of free disk space, and drafting needs a GPU with more than 4 GB of video memory or 16 GB of RAM and 4 CPU cores. Machines below that bar show 'AI unavailable', and there is no phone, Edge, Firefox or Safari version.
Riff: pros and cons
Pros
- Free with no account, subscription or API key, because Gemini Nano runs inside Chrome instead of on a paid cloud service.
- Posts, conversations and drafts stay on the computer: the extension makes no network requests, and an opened conversation is cleared when the tab closes.
- One panel covers replies and comments on X, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram, DMs in LinkedIn, Messenger, Instagram Direct and X Chat, and Slack and Teams on the web, with each site's character limit and link rules built in.
- A Pitch dial (Off, Hint, Clear, Direct) and eight sales plays set how hard a reply sells, and Riff suggests turning the pitch off on personal or sad posts.
- Riff never presses Reply, Comment, Post, Send or Enter, so every message is read and sent by hand, which Riff says keeps use within each site's automation rules.
Cons
- Needs desktop Chrome 138 or newer, 22 GB of free disk space and a GPU with more than 4 GB of video memory or 16 GB of RAM and 4 cores; there is no phone, Edge, Firefox or Safari version.
- Drafts come only from Gemini Nano, with no option to switch to a larger cloud model, and output languages are limited to English, Spanish, French, German and Japanese (older Chrome builds run only English, Spanish and Japanese).
- Slack and Teams work only in Chrome tabs, not their desktop apps, messenger.com is not supported, and Instagram captions are still in beta.
- A very young product: version 0.5.2 had 33 Chrome Web Store users and one rating on October 26, 2026, and settings move between computers only through a manual backup file.
Riff pricing
Free
| Plan | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | All features: replies, DMs, posts, first messages, brand voices, presets and the link Library. No account, subscription or payment, and no API key because drafting runs on Gemini Nano inside Chrome. |
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