Alternatives

ChatGPT alternatives

ChatGPT: A general AI assistant for drafting emails, quotes, policies and posts, summarising documents and answering questions. Its price when we checked: Free plan available. Paid plans (Go, Plus, Business, Enterprise) are priced per user per month; see the pricing page for current amounts. If it isn't right for you, these tools do a similar job.

Prices at a glance

Tool	Cheapest paid plan	Free plan
ChatGPT	Not published	Yes
Claude	$20 (Pro, per month)	Yes
Perplexity	$17 (Pro, per month, billed annually)	Yes
Notion	$10 (Plus, per seat a month)	Yes
Gemini (Google AI plans)	$4.99 (Google AI Plus, per month)	Yes
Microsoft 365 Copilot	£13.80 (Copilot Business, per user a month, paid yearly, excl. VAT (offer))	No

Our verdict

Free plans: Claude, Perplexity, Notion, Gemini (Google AI plans). Priced in pounds (no exchange-rate surprises): Microsoft 365 Copilot. Cheapest dollar-priced entry plan: Gemini (Google AI plans) at $4.99 (Google AI Plus, per month). Choose by the job you need doing: each entry says who it suits best.

Claude

An AI assistant that is good with long documents, careful writing and summaries.

Price: Free plan: $0. Pro: $20 a month or $200 a year. Max: $100 or $200 a month.
Free plan: Yes. Chat on web, desktop and mobile, web search, file creation, code, memory and Artifacts. Usage limits reset on a rolling five-hour window, with no fixed message count.
Best for: Reading contracts, tenders and policies and turning them into plain-English summaries; longer written drafts.

Compare ChatGPT and Claude side by side

Perplexity

An AI search tool that answers questions with links to the sources it used.

Price: Free to sign up. Pro: US$17 a month billed annually. Max: US$167 a month billed annually.
Free plan: Yes. A free account is available; paid plans add more advanced answers and top AI models.
Best for: Quick research with sources, such as supplier comparisons, regulations to look up, or local market questions.

Compare ChatGPT and Perplexity side by side

Notion

Notes, documents, task lists and simple databases in one place, with Notion AI.

Price: Free: $0. Plus: $10 per seat a month. Business: $20 per seat a month. Custom AI agents: $10 per 1,000 monthly credits after a free try.
Free plan: Yes. A free plan with the essentials for staying organised.
Best for: Keeping procedures, client notes and to-do lists in one shared place.

Gemini (Google AI plans)

Google's AI assistant, in its own app and built into Gmail, Docs and other Google apps on paid plans.

Price: Free: $0 with a Google Account. Google AI Plus: $4.99 a month. Google AI Pro: $19.99 a month. Ultra from $99.99 a month.
Free plan: Yes. Everyday help in the Gemini app with a Google Account, with lower usage limits than the paid plans.
Best for: Businesses already on Google Workspace or Gmail who want AI inside the tools they use.

Compare ChatGPT and Gemini (Google AI plans) side by side

Microsoft 365 Copilot

AI built into Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams for businesses on Microsoft 365.

Price: Microsoft 365 Copilot Business: from £13.80 per user a month (offer; normally from £16.10), paid yearly. Business Standard with Copilot: £18.10. Business Premium with Copilot: £24.60. Prices exclude VAT.
Free plan: No. No free business plan; a free trial is offered.
Best for: Businesses that already live in Outlook, Word, Excel and Teams.

Compare ChatGPT and Microsoft 365 Copilot side by side

Sources

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