Free tiers got much better in 2026. For many people, the right answer is a free plan from the right company — not a cheap paid one.
ChatGPT Free is the best all-rounder now that it has unlimited text chats, voice and file uploads. DeepSeek is the only major assistant with no paid tier at all — unlimited and ad-free. Add NotebookLM (now Gemini Notebook) for free if you study or research from your own documents.
| App | Free tier | Paid from | Top plan | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | Yes | $8/mo | $500/mo | Everyday writing, brainstorming, image generation, casual coding |
| DeepSeek | Yes | — | — | Math, logic, coding for users on a budget — or curious experimenters |
| Gemini | Yes | $4.99/mo | $99.99–199.99/mo | Google ecosystem users, video generation, very long documents (1M tokens) |
| NotebookLM (Gemini Notebook) | Yes | $4.99/mo | $99.99–199.99/mo | Students, researchers, and analysts who need grounded answers and audio summaries from their own documents |
| Perplexity | Yes | $20/mo | $200/mo | Research with verifiable sources, fact-checking, exploring unfamiliar topics |
| Claude | Yes | $20/mo | $100–200/mo | Document analysis, research papers, nuanced writing, software engineering |
| Copilot | Yes | $19.99/mo | $99.99/mo | Excel data, Word drafting, PowerPoint decks, Outlook triage |
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
The free tier runs GPT-5.6 Luna with unlimited text chats (since August 6, 2026), plus voice mode, file uploads and a limited allowance of image generation.
Pick it if: you want the most complete free assistant with no setup.
Full ChatGPT pricing →No paywall, no ads and unlimited use of V4.1-Flash and V4-Pro with visible chain-of-thought — strong at math, logic and code. It's hosted in China, which matters if data residency does.
Pick it if: you want strong reasoning and never intend to pay.
Full DeepSeek pricing →Full chat with Gemini 3.6 Flash and multimodal input at no cost, and if you ever outgrow it, AI Plus is just $4.99/mo.
Pick it if: you use Gmail, Google Docs or Drive.
Full Gemini pricing →The free plan gives 100 notebooks with 50 sources each, 50 questions and 3 Audio Overviews a day — and answers come only from what you uploaded.
Pick it if: you work from your own notes, PDFs or readings.
Full NotebookLM (Gemini Notebook) pricing →Unlimited Quick searches with cited sources, plus 5 Pro searches a day for the questions that need more digging.
Pick it if: you want cited answers instead of a page of links.
Full Perplexity pricing →Claude Free runs Sonnet 5.5 with extended thinking, but daily usage is limited — fine for a few careful drafts, not for all-day use.
Pick it if: writing quality matters more than how many messages you get.
Full Claude pricing →Basic Copilot chat is built into Windows, Edge and the mobile apps, so there's no new app to learn — though the free features are basic.
Pick it if: you want quick help on a Windows PC without another account.
Full Copilot pricing →Grok's free tier allows only 2 prompts every 2 hours. Poe's free plan caps you at 300 points that don't roll over. Claude Free has a daily usage limit, and Perplexity Free gives just 5 Pro searches a day. ChatGPT Free and DeepSeek are the two where everyday text chat genuinely doesn't run out.
Upgrade when you need something free plans don't offer at all: Deep Research, long-context file analysis on Gemini AI Pro, or Claude's stronger Opus models. If you just want a bit more headroom, the cheapest step is Google AI Plus at $4.99/mo or ChatGPT Go at $8/mo.
DeepSeek is the only major assistant with no paid plan: unlimited use, no ads, on web, iOS and Android. ChatGPT Free is the most complete free tier from a company that also sells paid plans.
For text chat, yes — since August 6, 2026 ChatGPT Free has unlimited text chats on GPT-5.6 Luna. Image generation is still limited, and Deep Research needs a paid plan.
The main caveat is that DeepSeek is hosted in China, so think about data residency before pasting in anything sensitive or work-related.
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.