What each assistant actually costs
Prices below are official published amounts with check dates. Note where the official page does not publish a figure — that is recorded as such rather than estimated.
| Assistant | Free tier | Paid step | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | $0 | Paid self-service plans are billed per user per month; exact localized prices were not exposed by the official pricing page during verification, so no figure is stated here | 2026-08-25 |
| Claude | $0 | Pro $17/mo with $200 annual prepayment, or $20 month-to-month. Max from $100/mo | 2026-08-25 |
| Gemini | $0 | Google AI Pro $19.99/mo; Ultra from $99.99/mo | 2026-08-25 |
| Grok | $0 | SuperGrok $30/mo; SuperGrok Plus $100/mo | 2026-08-25 |
| Mistral Le Chat | $0 | Pro $14.99/mo; Team $24.99/user/mo (excl. tax) | 2026-08-25 |
| DeepSeek | Free web chat | No official paid consumer or team plan located | 2026-08-25 |
| Meta AI | Free | Meta states higher usage is available via subscription plans but publishes no plan names, prices, or limits | 2026-08-25 |
| Poe | Free daily points | From $49.99/yr (~$4.17/mo) up to $2,499.99/yr (~$208.33/mo) in five tiers | 2026-08-25 |
Two entries deliberately show no dollar amount. ChatGPT's and Meta AI's official pages did not publish verifiable consumer figures at check time, and this site does not print an amount it cannot source.
How to choose in ten minutes
Most people over-research this decision and then buy on a feature they never use. The three questions that actually separate these products:
- Where does your work already live? If it is Google Docs, Gmail, and Android, Gemini's inclusion in Workspace editions removes a decision entirely. If it is a corporate Microsoft tenant, Copilot is already partly provisioned — Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat works for work or education without an additional Copilot licence. Buying against your existing stack is usually cheaper than buying the best standalone model.
- Do you need your assistant to read long documents? This is where Claude is distinctive — sustained long-context work where the whole document stays coherent. If your job is long contracts, policy documents, or research synthesis, that capability is worth a premium. If your job is short drafting and questions, it is not.
- Do you need current information with visible sources? That is a search problem, not an assistant problem, and it points at Perplexity or Gemini rather than a chat model.
The free tiers are more capable than most people assume
Every assistant in the table above has a usable free tier, and several are genuinely good rather than crippled trials. The honest test: run your single most repeated weekly task on the free tier for two weeks. If it completes without hitting a limit that interrupts real work, you do not have a reason to pay — and "I might need more" is not a reason.
Upgrade when a published, specific limit interrupts you more than once a week. That is a measurable trigger. Anything vaguer means you are buying reassurance, not capability.
What matters beyond the model
- Data handling on the tier you are buying. Consumer tiers and business tiers carry different terms at every vendor here. Anthropic publishes its training policy explicitly; Google and OpenAI publish theirs; Mistral documents admin-level data controls. Check the policy for your plan, not the vendor's reputation.
- Team administration. Claude Team supports 2-150 users with Standard seats at $20/seat/mo and Premium at $100/seat/mo. Microsoft Copilot Business lists at a promotional $18/user/mo paid yearly against a $21 list. If you need to onboard and offboard people, an individual plan is the wrong shape regardless of model quality.
- What you can take with you. Export, API access, and whether your conversation history is portable differ widely. Poe is the outlier here — it is a multi-model front end rather than a single vendor, priced from $49.99/year.
Assistant questions we get asked
Which AI assistant is actually the best?
There is no single answer, which is why this page scores eight of them rather than crowning one. Claude leads on long-document editing, Gemini on ecosystem integration if you use Google products, ChatGPT on breadth and ecosystem, Grok on newest-model velocity and real-time information. The right question is which one fits the work you actually repeat.
Should I pay for two assistants?
Usually not. Two paid assistants is the most common form of AI subscription overlap: capability that duplicates rather than adds. The exception is a genuine split of jobs — a long-context editor plus a search-and-citations tool are doing different work. Two general chat assistants are not.
Is the free tier enough for professional work?
Often yes, and you should prove it before upgrading. Run your most repeated task for two weeks on free. If a specific published limit interrupts you more than once a week, upgrade that tool. If not, you have your answer for $0.
Does my employer's licence cover personal use?
No. A work Copilot or Workspace licence is administered by your employer, and using it for personal work typically breaches the acceptable-use terms. Personal use needs a personal plan. If you need both, that is a legitimate reason to hold two — and it is a different situation from paying twice for the same capability.
Quick picks
If you want a fast shortlist, start with ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, Gemini. Then test each candidate on three real tasks before paying for a plan.
ChatGPT
A flexible AI assistant for drafting, analysis, brainstorming, coding help, and everyday knowledge work.
Best angle: Best default starting point for broad capability.
Claude
A thoughtful assistant especially useful for editing, long-context analysis, and turning messy notes into structured outputs.
Best angle: Best for long-form writing and careful document analysis.
Grok
xAI’s conversational assistant for fast answers, coding help, current-event context, and personality-forward brainstorming.
Best angle: Best when social/current-event context and a sharper conversational style matter.
Gemini
Google’s AI assistant with strong multimodal capabilities and a natural fit for people already working in Google products.
Best angle: Best for Google users and multimodal everyday help.
Microsoft Copilot
Microsoft’s AI assistant for workplace productivity, search, writing, meetings, and enterprise software workflows.
Best angle: Best for Microsoft 365-centered workplaces.
DeepSeek
An AI assistant and model provider known for reasoning and coding capabilities with strong price-performance interest.
Best angle: Best for technical users evaluating reasoning and coding price-performance.
Mistral Le Chat
Mistral’s assistant for general chat, reasoning, writing, coding help, and working with Mistral’s model family.
Best angle: Best for teams interested in the Mistral ecosystem.
Meta AI
Meta’s assistant for consumer chat, image generation, social contexts, and broad AI access across Meta surfaces.
Best angle: Best for free consumer access inside Meta surfaces.
What makes an AI assistant worth paying for?
A paid assistant is worth it when it improves a repeated workflow after review time is included. Look for stronger model quality, larger context windows, team controls, integrations, and reliable export or collaboration features.
Which AI assistant should most people start with?
Most users should compare ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, and Microsoft Copilot first because they cover the broadest set of everyday assistant needs.
How to test these tools
- Pick one real workflow you repeat weekly.
- Run the same input through two or three tools.
- Score output quality, review time, factual accuracy, collaboration, privacy, and price.
- Adopt the winner only if it saves time after human review.
FAQ
Is Grok included in the AIToolsEssentials shortlist?
Yes. Grok now has a dedicated review page and appears in the AI assistants directory.
Can one assistant replace all the others?
Usually no. Teams often use one primary assistant plus specialist tools for research, coding, creative work, and automation.