The best AI assistants

By Web Tool Ratings editors · Updated Oct 10, 2026 · How we rate

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The major AI assistants all have a free plan, and most paid tiers sit around $20 a month (SuperGrok is $30; DeepSeek is free). The differences are in what they’re best at and what’s bundled. Here’s how we rank them.

The full list

Best overall

ChatGPT

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · Best for most people: the best all-round AI assistant

The broadest feature set (chat, files, images, voice, deep research and agent mode) and a new $8 Go tier.

Category: AI assistant
Free plan: Yes
Paid from: $8/mo

From $8 /moVisit ChatGPT Full review

Best for writing, documents & code

Claude

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · Best for writers, analysts and developers working with long documents or code

Careful writing, very long documents and Claude Code; cheapest billed yearly at $17/mo.

Category: AI assistant
Free plan: Yes
Paid from: $20/mo
Billed yearly: $17/mo

From $20 /moVisit Claude Full review

Best value for Google users

Google Gemini

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · Best for people who live in Gmail, Docs and Android

Built into Gmail and Docs, and AI Pro includes 2 TB of storage.

Category: AI assistant
Free plan: Yes
Paid from: $20/mo

From $20 /moVisit Google Gemini Full review

Best for research with sources

Perplexity

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · Best for research and questions where you want sources

Every answer cites its sources; superb free plan.

Category: AI assistant
Free plan: Yes
Paid from: $20/mo
Billed yearly: $16.67/mo

From $20 /moVisit Perplexity Full review

Best inside Microsoft 365

Microsoft Copilot

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · Best for microsoft 365 users who want AI inside Word, Excel and Outlook

AI in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.

Category: AI assistant
Free plan: Yes
Paid from: $9.99/mo

From $9.99 /moVisit Microsoft Copilot Full review

Best for real-time trends

Grok

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · Best for heavy X users who want real-time trends and news in their AI answers

Live posts and news from X; SuperGrok is $30/mo.

Category: AI assistant
Free plan: Yes
Paid from: $30/mo
Billed yearly: $25/mo

From $30 /moVisit Grok Full review

Best completely free

DeepSeek

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · Best for free reasoning and coding help, and developers who need a cheap API

Strong reasoning and code at no cost: data is processed in China.

Category: AI assistant
Free plan: Yes

Visit DeepSeek Full review

Compared at a glance

Tool	Our rating	Category	Free plan	Paid from	Year 1 (cheapest paid)
ChatGPT	4.7/5	AI assistant	Yes	$8/mo	$96
Claude	4.6/5	AI assistant	Yes	$20/mo	$204
Google Gemini	4.6/5	AI assistant	Yes	$20/mo	$240
Perplexity	4.5/5	AI assistant	Yes	$20/mo	$200
Microsoft Copilot	4.3/5	AI assistant	Yes	$9.99/mo	$120
Grok	4.3/5	AI assistant	Yes	$30/mo	$300
DeepSeek	4.3/5	AI assistant	Yes	-	-

Checked Oct 10, 2026. Details change: confirm on the provider’s site.

Do you need more than one?

Most people need one paid assistant at most. A common combination is a general assistant plus Perplexity’s free plan for research. Use our stack cost calculator to see what your subscriptions add up to.

Head-to-heads

ChatGPT vs Claude · ChatGPT vs Gemini · Claude vs Gemini · ChatGPT vs Perplexity

Frequently asked questions

What is the best free AI assistant?

ChatGPT’s and Gemini’s free plans are the most capable all-rounders; Perplexity’s is best for research.

Which AI assistant is best for business?

ChatGPT Business, Claude Team, Gemini for Workspace and Microsoft 365 Copilot all offer admin controls and don’t train on business data by default: pick the one that matches the apps your team already uses.