7 tool cards: use cases, strengths and weaknesses, pricing, alternatives.
OpenAI's flagship assistant. A universal tool for text, code, document analysis, voice input, and working with images. The most recognizable brand in the category, best supported by an ecosystem of plugins and custom GPTs.
Best for: Universal tasks: text, tech support, code, everyday questions, brainstorming. Good as a default 'second brain'.
Strengths
- A broad ecosystem and plugins
- Good writing quality
- Voice mode and image work
- Custom GPTs and projects with memory
Weaknesses
- Shorter context than Gemini/Claude
- Sometimes confidently wrong on facts
- A paid subscription for the best models
Pricing: Free tier with limits; ChatGPT Plus and Pro are paid·Difficulty: Beginner·Alternatives: claude, gemini, perplexity
Anthropic's assistant. Its strengths are a long context, careful work with large documents, reliable writing, careful code. Fewer 'hallucinations' in its cautious-phrasing mode.
Best for: Long documents, legal/financial text, careful fact-based answers, analytics, coding inside Claude Code.
Strengths
- A very long context
- Good writing and analysis quality
- Fewer confident errors
- Claude Code for development in the terminal
Weaknesses
- Fewer plugins and integrations
- A less developed voice mode
- Sometimes overly cautious in phrasing
Pricing: Free tier; Claude Pro and Max are paid·Difficulty: Beginner·Alternatives: chatgpt, gemini
A Chinese open-weight model lineup. Known for strong reasoning at a low price. Available both via an API and for local runs.
Best for: Reasoning tasks, code, math. A good choice when you need a budget API.
Strengths
- Strong reasoning
- Low API price
- Open weights — can be run locally
Weaknesses
- Regional restrictions and compliance
- A less developed ecosystem
Pricing: Cheap API; open weights are free·Difficulty: Intermediate·Alternatives: qwen, mistral, claude
Google's model lineup. Strong in multimodality (images, audio, video), in integration with Google Workspace, and in tasks with a very long context (up to a million tokens).
Best for: Work inside the Google ecosystem, analysis of long documents and video, multimodal tasks.
Strengths
- A huge context (up to 1M tokens)
- Integration with Gmail, Docs, Drive
- Good multimodality
- Access to Google Search
Weaknesses
- Writing quality sometimes lags behind Claude/GPT
- Behavior changes between versions
Pricing: Free tier; Gemini Advanced is paid·Difficulty: Beginner·Alternatives: chatgpt, claude
An xAI model with a focus on realtime data from X (Twitter). Less regulated than the mainstream, with a 'less polished' answer style.
Best for: Fresh news, realtime context from X, topics where other models bail out.
Strengths
- Realtime access to the X feed
- Less conservative phrasing
- Good speed
Weaknesses
- Fewer mature integrations
- Access via X Premium
- Lower code quality than the flagships
Pricing: Access via an X Premium subscription / the xAI API·Difficulty: Intermediate·Alternatives: chatgpt, perplexity
A French company and model lineup. Open-weight Mistral / Mixtral models and paid Le Chat and API. Strong in European languages and privacy.
Best for: Local runs, European languages, privacy-sensitive cases.
Strengths
- Open weights
- Good European languages
- EU compliance
Weaknesses
- Lower quality than the flagships
- A less developed plugin ecosystem
Pricing: API and Le Chat; open weights are free·Difficulty: Intermediate·Alternatives: deepseek, qwen
Alibaba's model family. Strong in multilingualism, code models, and vision. Many versions in open weights.
Best for: Multilingual tasks, local runs, vision tasks.
Strengths
- Strong multilingualism
- Code models in open weights
- Active development
Weaknesses
- Writing quality lags behind GPT/Claude in some languages
- Regional nuances
Pricing: API; open weights are free·Difficulty: Intermediate·Alternatives: deepseek, mistral