Gemini is hard to beat on price: a generous free tier, AI Plus at $4.99/mo and AI Pro bundled with 5 TB of storage. People switch for quality on hard reasoning, a steadier interface, or because they don't use Google's apps.
Claude ($20/mo) is the upgrade for careful reasoning, writing and code. ChatGPT is the steadier all-rounder, with Go at $8/mo and Plus at $20/mo. If you're on Microsoft Office instead of Google Workspace, Copilot via M365 Premium is the like-for-like swap.
| App | Free tier | Paid from | Top plan | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini | Yes | $4.99/mo | $99.99–199.99/mo | Google ecosystem users, video generation, very long documents (1M tokens) |
| Claude | Yes | $20/mo | $100–200/mo | Document analysis, research papers, nuanced writing, software engineering |
| ChatGPT | Yes | $8/mo | $500/mo | Everyday writing, brainstorming, image generation, casual coding |
| Copilot | Yes | $19.99/mo | $99.99/mo | Excel data, Word drafting, PowerPoint decks, Outlook triage |
| Perplexity | Yes | $20/mo | $200/mo | Research with verifiable sources, fact-checking, exploring unfamiliar topics |
| DeepSeek | Yes | — | — | Math, logic, coding for users on a budget — or curious experimenters |
Monthly prices in US dollars before tax, from each vendor's official pricing (US list price; weekly-billed plans converted to a monthly figure). Updated October 7, 2026
Gemini's weak spot is hard reasoning; Claude's whole pitch is careful reasoning, nuanced writing and software engineering, with Opus 5.5 included on Pro.
Pick it if: your Gemini answers fall apart on complex analysis, long-form writing or real codebases.
Full Claude pricing →ChatGPT matches Gemini on breadth (images, voice, file uploads) and adds custom GPTs and Codex on Plus. Go at $8/mo is the nearest match to Gemini AI Plus.
Pick it if: you want one assistant for everything and don't need Gmail or Drive integration.
Full ChatGPT pricing →M365 Premium ($19.99/mo) bundles full Office apps, up to 6 TB of OneDrive and Copilot across Word, Excel and PowerPoint, mirroring what AI Pro does for Google.
Pick it if: your documents live in Word, Excel and Outlook rather than Docs and Gmail.
Full Copilot pricing →Instead of Gemini's Deep Research, Perplexity puts sources under every answer, and its free tier includes 5 Pro searches a day.
Pick it if: you use Gemini mainly to research and want to verify every claim.
Full Perplexity pricing →If Gemini's free Flash model isn't strong enough for maths or code, DeepSeek's V4-Pro is free with no usage cap.
Pick it if: you won't pay and need stronger reasoning than Gemini Free.
Full DeepSeek pricing →If you use Gmail, Docs and Drive every day, Gemini's integration is the feature no rival can copy, and AI Pro also bundles 5 TB of storage and YouTube Premium Lite. Count what you'd pay for storage elsewhere before comparing headline prices.
For hard reasoning, writing and code, Claude. For a general assistant with images and voice outside Google's apps, ChatGPT. Gemini stays ahead on price and Google Workspace integration.
No. Gemini AI Plus ($4.99/mo) is cheaper than ChatGPT Go ($8/mo), and AI Pro and ChatGPT Plus cost about the same.
How we choose: prices come from each vendor's official pricing page and are re-checked every week. We take no affiliate fees, so rankings aren't for sale.