Comparison guide

AI assistants for beginners

General-purpose assistants that need no setup. Compare free-plan limits, apps and how each handles everyday questions.

Criterion	ChatGPT	Claude	Google Gemini	Microsoft Copilot	Grok
Provider	OpenAI	Anthropic	Google	Microsoft	xAI
What it is for	OpenAI's general-purpose AI assistant for chat, writing, coding, research and file work, built on OpenAI's GPT models.	Anthropic's AI assistant for writing, analysis, coding and research, available on web, desktop and mobile.	Google's AI assistant, bundled with Google One storage and Workspace apps on paid Google AI plans.	Microsoft's AI assistant, free on its own and built into Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook through Microsoft 365 plans.	xAI's chatbot with voice, image and video generation, now sold through The X Subscription bundle with Cursor and X Premium.
Latest confirmed model	GPT-6 Sol / GPT-6 Luna (in ChatGPT); GPT-6.1 Sol in Work and Codex Oct 7, 2026	Claude Opus 5.5 Sep 22, 2026	Gemini 4 Argon Oct 13, 2026	—	Grok 4.7 (API, Cursor and Grok Build; consumer apps planned later) Sep 21, 2026
Main capabilities	GPT-6 models in Chat (Depends on plan) GPT-6 Pro reasoning (Depends on plan) Codex coding agent (Depends on plan) Credits for extra usage (Depends on plan) Ads on lower tiers (Limited)	Artifacts and file creation Claude Code (Depends on plan) Research (Depends on plan) Connectors Claude Dashboards (Preview)	Deep Research Gemini 4 Argon (Depends on plan) Image and video generation (Depends on plan) Gemini in Workspace apps (Depends on plan) Agent Mode (Preview)	Copilot in Office apps (Depends on plan) Advanced Copilot chat (Depends on plan) Agentic research and analytics (Depends on plan) Copilot Chat for work	Chat, voice and media generation (Depends on plan) Shared Grok + Cursor usage pool (Depends on plan) Grok Bot (Depends on plan) Team seats
Free plan	Yes Limited usage; exact caps not published on the pages checked	Yes Usage aimed at everyday questions; up to 5 projects	Yes Base limits	Yes Limited Copilot usage	Yes Limited daily Grok access; starter Cursor allowance
Cheapest paid plan	Go: $8/mo US price; localised elsewhere	Pro: $20/mo $17/mo billed annually $200 billed up front annually	Google AI Plus: $4.99/mo	Microsoft 365 Personal: $9.99/mo $8.33/mo billed annually $99.99 per year	Plus: $8/mo $7/mo billed annually $80/year
API access	Yes · docs (opens in a new tab)	Yes · docs (opens in a new tab)	Yes · docs (opens in a new tab)	No	Yes · docs (opens in a new tab)
Learning curve	Beginner-friendly	Beginner-friendly	Beginner-friendly	Beginner-friendly	Beginner-friendly
Last verified	Oct 19, 2026	Oct 19, 2026	Oct 19, 2026	Oct 19, 2026	Oct 19, 2026

Open in the comparison builder (all rows)

How to choose

Pick the one whose free plan covers the way you will actually use it (phone app, voice, file uploads).
If you already live in Google or Microsoft apps, the assistant built into them saves switching.
Check the privacy settings before pasting anything personal.

Also in this group

DeepSeek

DeepSeek's chat app and low-cost API, running its V4.1 Flash model.

Meta AI

Meta's assistant across WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, the Meta AI app and AI glasses, powered by Muse models.

Le Chat

Mistral AI's assistant with web search, coding sessions via Vibe and 100+ connectors.

Qwen Chat

Alibaba's free Qwen assistant on web and mobile, with Qwen models also sold per token through Alibaba Cloud Model Studio.

The table shows up to five entries in the directory's editorial order, not a ranking. Every value links back to a record with sources and a last-verified date.