Category guide63 tools documented
An AI chatbot is easy to find; the right one depends on how you will use it. This category covers 63 chat assistants. Some are general-purpose assistants such as ChatGPT, Claude and Google Gemini. Others are narrower: website support bots for online stores, multi-model chats that put several AIs in one window, and apps that run open models on your own Mac or phone. Usage limits, billing and where your data goes matter more than which model sits underneath. Google Gemini is described as a multimodal assistant, and higher ChatGPT plans list advanced reasoning models, Projects and custom GPTs.
The practical differences are mostly commercial. Of the 63 tools, 50 have a free plan and 41 have a verified starting price. Billing varies: flat monthly plans, credits, per-token usage, and one-time purchases. If you are looking for AI tools like ChatGPT, check how usage limits are counted before comparing prices, because a cheap plan with tight limits can cost more in practice than a pricier flat one.
Prices, plan names and limits come from each vendor's own US pricing page, recorded as published with the check date; unconfirmed prices are labelled. How we review.
Lowest fixed monthly price per pick, USD, as published by the vendor.
| # | Tool | Score | Pick it for | Models / engine | Starting price | Free tier | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  ChatGPTStart on Free for everyday text chat and move to Plus at $20/month for GPT-6 reasoning models, projects and scheduled tasks. |
9/10+3 Verified USD price; +2 Lasting free plan; +1 API or integrations documented; +2 Documented limits, setup and FAQ; +1 Checked in the last 30 days | General everyday assistant | Free: GPT-5.6 Luna. Paid: GPT-6 Astra, GPT-6.1 Sol, GPT-6 Luna, GPT-5.6 Sol/Terra/Luna, G… | $20/mo (Plus (consumer)) all plans |
Yes | Web, Desktop, Mobile, API |
| 2 |  ClaudeFree plan to start, then Pro at $20/month ($17/month billed annually) for higher limits, Claude Code, Research and the larger model lineup. |
9/10+3 Verified USD price; +2 Lasting free plan; +1 API or integrations documented; +2 Documented limits, setup and FAQ; +1 Checked in the last 30 days | Knowledge workers, higher limits | Sonnet 5.5, Opus 5.5, Fable 5.1, Haiku 4.5; older Sonnet 5, Opus 5, Fable 5, Opus 4.8 etc… | $20/mo (Pro) all plans |
Yes | Web, Desktop, Mobile, API |
| 3 |  Google GeminiHas a $0 tier and paid tiers from $4.99/month, with one assistant across chat, Workspace data and Chrome. |
9/10+3 Verified USD price; +2 Lasting free plan; +1 API or integrations documented; +2 Documented limits, setup and FAQ; +1 Checked in the last 30 days | Google Workspace users | Gemini app: 3.6 Flash, 3.1 Pro, Flash-Lite fallback; thinking levels Standard/Extended/De… | $4.99/mo (Google AI Plus) all plans |
Yes | Web, Desktop, Mobile |
| 4 | Microsoft Copilot A free assistant that steps up to higher usage through Microsoft 365 Personal at $9.99/month. |
8/10+3 Verified USD price; +2 Lasting free plan; +2 Documented limits, setup and FAQ; +1 Checked in the last 30 days | Existing Microsoft 365 users | GPT-5 with real-time router; Sonnet 5 in models menu | $9.99/mo (Microsoft 365 Personal) all plans |
Yes | Web, Desktop, Mobile |
| 5 |  LobeHubOne cloud workspace to build, schedule and group AI agents across many models, with a free monthly credit allowance and Starter at $9.90/month. |
8/10+3 Verified USD price; +2 Lasting free plan; +2 Documented limits, setup and FAQ; +1 Checked in the last 30 days | Managing multiple AI agents | Claude Fable 5.1, GPT-6.1 Sol, Gemini 3.8 Flash, DeepSeek V4.1, Grok 4.7, GLM, Kimi, Qwen | $9.9/mo (Starter) all plans |
Yes | Web |
| 6 |  LLMWiseSwitch between 17 AI models in one chat and see remaining message count before each send; Pro is $20/month after a no-card trial. |
8/10+3 Verified USD price; +2 Lasting free plan; +2 Documented limits, setup and FAQ; +1 Checked in the last 30 days | Many models, one subscription | 19 LLMs: Claude Fable 5.1, GPT-6.1 Sol, Gemini 3.1 Pro, DeepSeek V4, Grok 4.7, Kimi K3 | $20/mo (Pro) all plans |
Yes | Web |
| 7 |  SpringbaseChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and other models plus agents and meeting notes under one credit-based plan, with a free plan and Starter at $9.99 monthly. |
8/10+3 Verified USD price; +2 Lasting free plan; +2 Documented limits, setup and FAQ; +1 Checked in the last 30 days | Comparing models on credits | 60 models/23 providers: Claude, GPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, FLUX, Seedream, Kling, Veo | $9.99 (Starter) all plans |
Yes | Web |
| 8 |  GrokLive web and X search plus image and video generation, with the same models available through an API billed per token. |
6/10+1 Price listed, not vendor-confirmed; +2 Lasting free plan; +2 Documented limits, setup and FAQ; +1 Checked in the last 30 days | Live search, API access | Grok 4.5 on grok.com; Grok 4.7 via API/Cursor/Grok Build | Not published all plans |
Yes | Web, API |
| 9 |  Atomic ChatRuns open-source models like Qwen, DeepSeek or Llama entirely on your own Mac, PC or phone with no subscription and no cloud. |
6/10+1 Price listed, not vendor-confirmed; +2 Lasting free plan; +2 Documented limits, setup and FAQ; +1 Checked in the last 30 days | Fully local, no subscription | local Hugging Face models: K2 Horizon, GLM-5.3-Flash, Qwen3.8, Gemma, Llama, DeepSeek | Not published all plans |
Yes | Desktop, Mobile |
| 10 |  Private LLMOpen-source chat models run entirely on-device for iPhone, iPad and Mac after a one-time purchase, with Siri and Shortcuts integration. |
4/10+1 Price listed, not vendor-confirmed; +2 Documented limits, setup and FAQ; +1 Checked in the last 30 days | Private on-device chat | 140+ local models: DeepSeek R1 Distill, Llama 3.3 70B, Qwen3 4B, Phi 4, Gemma 3 | Not published all plans |
No | Desktop, Mobile |
OpenAI's general-purpose AI assistant for writing, research, analysis, image generation and coding help.
Free stops at: Unlimited everyday text chats subject to abuse-prevention safeguards, Separate usage limits for file uploads,…
Free · paid from $20/mo US · checked Sep 30
Anthropic's AI assistant for writing, analysis, coding and multi-step work, with free and paid plans.
Free stops at: Usage limits apply, Projects: up to 5
Free · paid from $20/mo US · checked Sep 30
Google's multimodal AI assistant, available free with higher limits through Google AI subscriptions.
Free stops at: Varying access to 3.1 Pro, Standard compute-based usage limits; refresh every 5 hours until weekly limit
Verified gemini.google.com (opens Google Gemini website in a new tab)
Free · paid from $4.99/mo US · checked Sep 30
Microsoft's AI assistant app on web, Windows, Mac, iOS and Android, connected to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams.
Free stops at: Some capabilities subject to usage limits
Verified copilot.microsoft.com (opens Microsoft Copilot website in a new tab)
Free · paid from $9.99/mo US · checked Sep 29
Agent platform for building, scheduling and collaborating with AI agent teams across many models, with a free credit tier.
Free stops at: 500,000 credits per month, File storage 15 MB
Free · paid from $9.9/mo US · checked Sep 29
Multi-model AI chat: 17 models from several AI families on one $20/mo plan, with a message count shown before each send.
Free stops at: 5 messages total
From $20/mo US · checked Sep 29
Multi-model AI workspace with chat, agents, meetings, knowledge bases and media generation under one credit-based subscription.
Free stops at: 100 credits/month, 5 meetings/month
Verified springbase.ai (opens Springbase website in a new tab)
Free · paid from $9.99/mo US · checked Sep 29
AI assistant from xAI with chat, image and video generation, voice, and a developer API.
Free stops at: Limits not stated on the pages checked
Pricing US price unconfirmed
Local AI chat app that runs open-source models on your own device, offline.
Free stops at: No rate limits stated, Models downloaded separately
Verified atomic.chat (opens Atomic Chat website in a new tab)
Pricing US price unconfirmed
Offline AI chat app for iPhone, iPad and Mac that runs open-source models on-device with a one-time purchase.
Watch out: It runs only on Apple devices, needs a large model download first, and performance depends on your device's h…
Verified privatellm.app (opens Private LLM website in a new tab)
Pricing US price unconfirmed
ChatGPT, Claude, Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot all have free plans, and Gemini's lowest tier is $0. 50 of the 63 chat assistants we track have a free plan, so compare their usage limits rather than just the price.
Claude Pro is $20/month, the same as ChatGPT Plus at $20/month, and Google Gemini paid tiers start at $4.99/month. Microsoft Copilot steps up through Microsoft 365 Personal at $9.99/month.
Atomic Chat, Osaurus and Private LLM run open models on your own device. Atomic Chat needs no subscription, and Private LLM is a one-time purchase for iPhone, iPad and Mac.
Not always. Claude's paid chat subscription does not include API access, and Grok lists its API separately, billed per token. If you plan to build on a model, budget for the API on top of any chat plan.
Use a purpose-built support bot rather than a general assistant. Paperchat suits Shopify, WooCommerce and WordPress stores (Basic at $35/month), and Simple Chat starts at $20/month with 50 free credits.
Browse all 63 tools with filters
Related: Research & search · Productivity & writing · Coding
Each pick is scored 0–10 from facts in its verified profile, not from popularity or payment. The score is shown in the table; hover it for the breakdown.
We have not benchmarked output quality; this ranks what each vendor publishes and how well we could verify it. No paid placements. How we review.
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