Updated 30 October 2026: Grok is now sold through The X Subscription (Plus $8 and Premium $30 a month before VAT), and SuperGrok is only kept by existing subscribers, so we have updated Grok’s plans and prices.
Corrected 1 October 2026: Claude Pro reaches Fable 5.1 only through paid usage credits; Max includes it at half its weekly limit, according to Anthropic’s pricing page.
Updated 30 September 2026: We added OpenAI’s 29 September changes to the ChatGPT baseline: GPT-6.1 Sol in ChatGPT Work and Codex, and a new Pro 500 plan at $500 a month. We also updated Claude for Sonnet 5.5, released on 28 September, which replaces Sonnet 5 as Anthropic’s newest Sonnet. Our picks are unchanged.
Most people start with ChatGPT. Fewer of them need to stay. We looked at nine rivals (Claude, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Perplexity, DeepSeek, Grok, Mistral Vibe, Meta AI and Kagi Assistant), and each one does at least one job better than ChatGPT, often for less money or for nothing at all. For each we note the model you actually get in the app, what the free tier includes, what the paid plan costs, and whether your chats are used for training unless you say otherwise. We checked docs and prices on the vendors’ own pages on 28 September 2026. If you’d rather choose by job, our guide to the best AI chatbot does that, ChatGPT included.
- Claude is the best all-round replacement. The free plan runs Claude Sonnet with web search, file creation and memory. Pro costs $20 a month and includes the new Sonnet 5.5, Opus 5.5 and Claude Code.
- Gemini gives away the most features, provided you live in Google’s apps. You get Deep Research, Gemini Live and Canvas for nothing, though the free model is now the lightweight Flash-Lite, and the $4.99 upgrade is the cheapest in the group.
- Perplexity is the research tool, with sources on every answer. The free plan stops at three Pro Searches a day, though, and it trains on your data until you turn that off.
- Privacy is where the nine really split. Gemini, Copilot, Perplexity, Grok, DeepSeek, Mistral and Meta all use your chats for training by default. Kagi never does. Claude asks you to pick at signup.
The nine side by side
Prices are US list prices for individual plans on monthly billing, as they appeared on 28 September 2026. “Current model” means the model the vendor names on its consumer plan page or in its release notes. That isn’t always the newest model it sells to developers, and the gap matters for Grok in particular.
| Assistant | Current model in the app | Free tier | Paid from | Does best |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 ClaudeAnthropic · claude.ai | Sonnet (free, version not stated); Sonnet 5.5 and Opus 5.5 on Pro; Fable 5.1 on Max, or on Pro with paid usage credits | Sonnet and Haiku, web search, files, code, memory | $20 / month ($17 annual) | Writing and coding |
 GeminiGoogle · gemini.google | Flash-Lite free; Flash on AI Plus; Gemini 4 Argon on AI Pro and Ultra | Flash-Lite, Deep Research, Live, Canvas, Gems | $4.99 (AI Plus) / $19.99 (AI Pro) | Google apps, free tier |
 Microsoft CopilotMicrosoft · copilot.microsoft.com | Smart mode “powered by GPT-5”; Think Deeper on OpenAI reasoning models | Chat, search, voice, Think Deeper (no stated limit) | $19.99 / month (Microsoft 365 Premium) | Windows and Office |
 PerplexityPerplexity AI · perplexity.ai | Sonar plus a choice of third-party models on Pro | Unlimited basic search; 3 Pro Searches a day; 1 Research query a month | $20 / month (Pro); $200 (Max) | Cited research |
 DeepSeekDeepSeek · deepseek.com | DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash (10 Sep 2026) | Web and app chat; no paid consumer plan listed | API only: from $0.15 per 1M input tokens | Free, open weights |
 GrokSpaceXAI · grok.com | Grok 4.6 on consumer plans; Grok 4.7 (21 Sep 2026) in the API and Grok Build | Limited chat and image generation, real-time web and X search | $8 / month (X Subscription Plus); $30 (Premium) | Live news and X |
 Mistral VibeMistral AI · formerly Le Chat | Mistral’s own models (Medium 3.5, Small 4) | Limited messages and web searches | $14.99 / month (Pro); $5.99 students | EU-hosted, cheap Pro |
 Meta AIMeta · meta.ai, WhatsApp, Instagram | Muse Spark 1.1 (9 Jul 2026), “Thinking” mode | Full app and in-app assistant | No paid plan listed | Already in your chats |
 Kagi AssistantKagi · kagi.com | Your pick of third-party models; flagships on Ultimate | Trial: 100 searches | $5 (Starter) / $10 (Professional) / $25 (Ultimate) | Never trains on you |
For comparison, ChatGPT’s own pricing page on the same day lists “unlimited text chats with GPT-5.6 Luna” on the free plan and GPT-6 reasoning models, including GPT-6 Astra, on Plus and Pro. Since 29 September, Plus and Pro users also get GPT-6.1 Sol in ChatGPT Work and Codex, though not yet in Chat, and Pro comes in three monthly tiers: Pro 100 at $100, Pro 200 at $200 and a new Pro 500 at $500. That’s what the nine below have to beat.
Claude and Gemini
Claude is the closest thing to a straight swap. Anthropic’s free plan runs Claude Sonnet, with web search, file creation, code execution and memory across conversations; the plan page doesn’t say which Sonnet version. Anthropic’s newest is Claude Sonnet 5.5, released on 28 September 2026 to replace Sonnet 5, and the paid apps offer it. Pro costs $20 a month, or $17 on an annual plan, and adds Claude Opus 5.5 (released 22 September), access to Claude Fable 5.1 only through paid usage credits (Max includes Fable at half its weekly limit), and the Claude Code, Design, Slides and Docs tools. Max starts at $100 and gives you five or twenty times Pro’s usage. Claude pulls ahead on long documents, careful editing and code, but not on pictures. Anthropic’s plan page lists web search, files and code but no image generation, so if ChatGPT is mainly your image tool, look elsewhere. We compare the two in more detail in Claude vs ChatGPT.
Gemini makes sense for anyone whose life already runs through Gmail, Drive and Android. The free app runs the Flash-Lite model and includes image generation and editing, Deep Research, Gemini Live and Canvas. Google AI Plus at $4.99 moves you up to the Flash model and doubles the free usage limits. AI Pro at $19.99 quadruples them and adds Gemini 4 Argon alongside the Pro and Flash models. AI Ultra runs from $99.99 to $199.99 and includes Deep Think. A Windows desktop app arrived on 10 September; you call it up with Alt and Space. The weak spot is the mirror image of Claude’s. The model you get free is Flash-Lite, and the stronger models sit behind a paid plan. We set its paid plan against Claude’s and ChatGPT’s in Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini.
Copilot and Meta AI
Microsoft Copilot is free at copilot.microsoft.com, in Windows and in the mobile apps, and it’s the only assistant here that sits inside Word, Excel and Outlook. Microsoft’s support pages describe Smart mode as “powered by GPT-5” and Think Deeper as running on “the latest reasoning models from OpenAI”, so under the bonnet this is closer to a repackaged ChatGPT than a rival to it. Think Deeper has no stated usage cap, though paying customers get priority when capacity runs short. For individuals the paid route is Microsoft 365 Premium at $19.99 a month or $199.99 a year, which bundles the Office apps themselves with Copilot built into them. If you already pay for Microsoft 365, this is the cheapest upgrade in the article.
Meta AI is the one you may already be using without having chosen it. It lives inside WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger, and in the standalone Meta AI app that launched in April 2025. Since 8 April 2026 it has run on Muse Spark, Meta’s replacement for the Llama models, and Muse Spark 1.1, released on 9 July, is available in the app’s Thinking mode with a one-million-token context. Meta publishes no paid consumer plan for it. It’s fine for a quick question in a group chat, but we wouldn’t use it for anything we wouldn’t post on Facebook, for reasons covered in the privacy section.
Perplexity and Kagi
Perplexity is a search engine that talks back, and for research it beats ChatGPT, because every answer comes with citations you can check. The free plan is the problem. Perplexity’s own plan comparison lists “practically unlimited basic searches” but only three Pro Searches a day, one Research query a month and no access to advanced models. Pro, listed at $20 a month in the App Store, moves those to weekly limits, adds a choice of third-party models alongside Perplexity’s in-house Sonar, and adds image and video generation. Max is $200 a month. Students verified through SheerID get Pro for $10. For research specifically, we set it against the deep-research tools in the best AI for research.
Kagi Assistant is the quiet one, and it comes bundled with Kagi’s paid search. Starter at $5 a month includes 300 searches and the Assistant in Quick mode, Professional at $10 makes searches unlimited, and Ultimate at $25 adds Research mode and flagship models from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, DeepSeek and Mistral. Kagi doesn’t build its own model; it sends your question to whichever one you pick. What you’re really paying for is the policy. Kagi’s documentation states that “your data is never used to train AI models (not by us or by the LLM providers)” and that threads are deleted after 24 hours of inactivity by default.
DeepSeek, Grok and Mistral Vibe
DeepSeek gives away the most model for nothing. Its web and app chat are free, with no paid consumer plan on offer, and since 10 September 2026 they have run DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash, a 552-billion-parameter mixture-of-experts model with native image understanding that DeepSeek says beats its own V4-Pro. V4-Pro is being phased out and routed to V4.1-Flash from 14 September. Developers pay from $0.15 per million input tokens off-peak and $0.60 per million output, a small fraction of the $2 per million input tokens that Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Grok 4.7 charge. What you give up is any say over where your data goes; more on that below.
Grok‘s edge is the live feed. It searches the web and X in real time, which makes it the best of the nine for what happened an hour ago. The free plan on grok.com and in the apps covers limited chat and image generation with web and X search. Since 12 October new subscribers buy The X Subscription, one plan for Grok, Grok Bot, Cursor and X: Plus at $8 a month adds Voice, Imagine and Build, Premium at $30 adds video generation, Grok Bot agents and four times Plus usage, and Super at $100 and Ultra at $200 raise the limits further. Prices exclude VAT, and SuperGrok is no longer sold to new customers. One thing to watch is which model you’re actually getting. SpaceXAI released Grok 4.7 on 21 September for the API, Grok Build and Cursor, but its consumer pricing page lists Grok 4.6 on every plan.
Mistral Vibe is Le Chat under a new name. Mistral’s help centre confirms the rename and says accounts, plans and conversations carried over. It’s the European option, built on Mistral’s own models (currently the Medium 3.5 and Small 4 line), and at $14.99 a month it has the cheapest full-featured Pro plan in this group; verified students pay $5.99 for up to 12 months. The free tier gets “limited messages and web searches”. Mistral describes Vibe as “your AI agent for long-horizon tasks, fluent in your knowledge and tools”, but the agent features are reserved for paid plans, so on the free tier you get a chat box and none of the agent parts.
Who trains on your chats by default
Most comparisons skip this part, though it should probably settle the question for anyone who pastes contracts, code or medical questions into a chat box. Each entry below comes from the vendor’s own privacy page or help centre, with the name of the setting where there is one.
Reasons to switch, reasons to stay
Only switch if one of the nine does the thing you actually use ChatGPT for, and does it better or cheaper. ChatGPT is still the broadest product, with text, voice, images, deep research and Codex tasks in one app, GPT-5.6 Luna free and GPT-6 on paid plans. Each rival wins on a narrower front, so it pays to compare on the task you do most.
+Reasons to switch
- Long writing and code: Claude Sonnet is free and Opus 5.5 is $20
- Research with sources: Perplexity, or Kagi if privacy matters more
- A near-frontier model at $0: DeepSeek
- Live news: Grok’s real-time web and X search
- Kagi never trains on your chats, and Claude asks first
+Reasons to stay
- You use images, voice and text in one place every day
- Custom GPTs, projects or memory you have built up over months
- Your team or tools already plug into ChatGPT
- You want one app that is good at everything rather than best at one thing
Verdict
For most people the best ChatGPT alternative in 2026 is Claude. The free plan, on Claude Sonnet, handles everyday work, Pro at $20 matches ChatGPT’s price and brings Opus 5.5 and Claude Code, and Anthropic makes you decide about training rather than deciding for you. If you’d rather spend less, Gemini’s free tier has the most features and AI Plus at $4.99 is the cheapest upgrade anywhere. If your work is research, use Perplexity and turn off AI data retention on day one, or pay Kagi $10 and stop thinking about it.
Treat DeepSeek as a remarkable free model with a Chinese data policy, Grok as a news tool, Copilot as a free extra for Windows users, Meta AI as a convenience inside WhatsApp, and Mistral Vibe as the value pick if you want your assistant hosted in Europe. We’d happily use any of them for the job it’s good at. Just pick for the job you have, and switch the training setting off before you start.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best free ChatGPT alternative?
For features, Gemini. The free app includes Deep Research, Gemini Live, Canvas and image generation, though it now runs only the lightweight Flash-Lite model. If writing and code quality matter more, Claude’s free plan runs Claude Sonnet with web search and file creation. DeepSeek offers the most raw model for nothing, but it stores your data in China.
Which ChatGPT alternative is best for privacy?
Kagi Assistant. Kagi states that your data is never used to train models, by Kagi or by the model providers, and it deletes threads after 24 hours by default. Plans start at $5 a month. Among the big free assistants, Claude is the only one that asks you to choose about training at signup instead of defaulting to on.
Is Claude better than ChatGPT?
For long documents, editing and coding, a lot of people prefer it, and Claude’s free plan runs Sonnet where ChatGPT’s free tier runs GPT-5.6 Luna. ChatGPT covers more ground, though. Its plans include image generation and voice, which Anthropic’s plan page doesn’t list. Claude Pro is $20 a month.
Which alternative is cheapest to upgrade?
Google AI Plus is the cheapest, at $4.99 a month, and it doubles Gemini’s free usage limits. Kagi Starter is $5 with 300 searches and the Assistant in Quick mode. Mistral Vibe Pro at $14.99 is the cheapest plan that gives full access to a vendor’s own frontier models, and students pay $5.99.
Does Perplexity use my searches to train its AI?
Yes, by default, on the Free, Pro and Max plans. Perplexity’s help centre says “AI Data Retention is enabled by default” and that you can turn it off under Account, Preferences. The opt-out only covers activity after you switch it off. Enterprise plans are never used for training.
Sources and method
Model names, plan prices, free-tier limits and privacy defaults come from each vendor’s own pricing, release-note, help-centre and privacy pages, checked on 28 September 2026; OpenAI’s pages were rechecked on 30 September 2026 after its 29 September announcements, and Anthropic’s model pages were rechecked on 30 September 2026 after the Claude Sonnet 5.5 release. The Gemini and Claude model details were rechecked on 28 October 2026. Where a vendor’s live page blocked automated access (Perplexity, Meta, parts of Google and Microsoft), we used the Internet Archive’s copy of the same official page from September 2026, and Perplexity’s Apple App Store listing for its Pro price. We haven’t run a hands-on benchmark of the nine for this guide. Capability claims are the vendors’ own descriptions, and “does best” is our reading of what each vendor documents.
- Claude, consumer plans and pricing (Free, Pro, Max, Team prices and included models)
- Anthropic, Updates to Consumer Terms and Privacy Policy and Is my data used for model training? (training choice, five-year and 30-day retention, Incognito)
- Google, Gemini subscriptions (Free, AI Plus, AI Pro, AI Ultra prices, free-tier model, models per plan) and Gemini Apps release notes (Windows app date)
- Google, Gemini Apps Privacy Hub (Keep Activity default, 18-month auto-delete, three-year human review retention)
- Microsoft, Privacy FAQ for Microsoft Copilot, Copilot privacy controls and Conversation modes in Microsoft Copilot (training default and exclusions, setting name, GPT-5 Smart mode, Think Deeper)
- Microsoft, Microsoft 365 Premium ($19.99 a month, $199.99 a year)
- Perplexity, Which subscription plan is right for you?, Perplexity Max, Data Collection at Perplexity and the Perplexity App Store listing (free limits, Pro and Max prices, AI Data Retention default)
- DeepSeek, home page, DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash release note, API pricing and Privacy Policy (model, dates, token prices, PRC storage, email opt-out)
- SpaceXAI, Introducing Grok 4.7, Grok pricing and SpaceXAI Privacy Policy (release date, plan prices and models, training clause)
- Mistral AI, pricing, Le Chat is now Vibe, Do you use my user data to train your models? and Can I opt out of training?
- Meta, Introducing Muse Spark, Introducing Muse Spark 1.1, Introducing the Meta AI app and How Meta uses information for generative AI models
- Kagi, pricing and Kagi Assistant documentation (plan prices, no-training statement, 24-hour thread deletion)
- OpenAI, ChatGPT pricing (GPT-5.6 Luna on Free, GPT-6 models on Plus and Pro)
- OpenAI, Introducing GPT-6.1 Sol (29 Sep 2026) (plans, ChatGPT Work and Codex, not yet in Chat)
- OpenAI Help Center, About ChatGPT Pro tiers (Pro 100, Pro 200 and Pro 500 prices)
- Anthropic, Introducing Claude Sonnet 5.5 (28 Sep 2026 release, API price)
- Anthropic, Models overview (current Claude models; Sonnet 5 no longer listed as current)
