This listicle helps you make use of the AI models and tools available today for your own needs. Let's break the mental lock whenever asked to name an AI chatbot.
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More chaptersIt is getting close to the point that almost every domain - whether professional, creative, or personal - now has AI tools to support it in some way. So, the question is: How many AI-powered tools are there currently in the world? As of 2024, it is estimated that there are over 10,000 distinct AI tools spanning everything from content creation and image generation to data analysis and code generation. The number is indeed staggering. And it continues to increase over time. But there is a fun fact: Most people only think of ChatGPT when asked to name an AI assistant.
In this post, we outline various AI models that we’ve tried and would like to recommend to more AI enthusiasts. Hopefully, we can offer you a valuable addition to your AI-powered toolkit. Without further ado, welcome to our list of the best ChatGPT alternatives. All of the AI tools outlined here have either a free version or at least a free trial, so you can explore them without spending a fortune to try them out.
Key Takeaways:
With over 10,000 AI tools available as of 2024, ChatGPT is no longer the only option.
If you are looking for an intelligent search engine with conversational functionality, like when you blend Google and ChatGPT together, it must be Perplexity AI. Tightly integrated with live web search, this platform positions itself as an “answer engine” built to generate fast, accurate, and well-cited answers. One of the key AI-powered features that differentiates Perplexity from other generic chatbots is its search system, which always provides citations for information it shares. This makes Perplexity AI the best ChatGPT alternative for those who value accuracy over guesswork.
Perplexity combines large language models with search indexing. It pulls up-to-date information from real-time web sources and cites them in its answers. Perplexity offers a unique feature called “Copilot” mode that guides users step by step through complex questions. Moreover, its Research mode allows you to dig deeper with follow-up queries.
Perplexity is best for fact-checking, summarizing academic papers, or breaking down complex topics. It offers a free plan with basic usage. You can pay $20 per month (Pro tier) or $200 per month (Max tier) unlock more advanced capabilities, such as video and image generation, or access to Perplexity Labs - a project-based creation engine that enables you to turn your ideas into complete, structured deliverables by running self-guided workflows that take around 10 minutes or more.
This AI tool was started in 2021 as Jarvis, originally designed for marketing copy, but rebranded after a trademark conflict with Marvel. And we now have Jasper AI.
Unlike other alternatives to ChatGPT, Jasper is tasked to go beyond content generation into brand-specific strategy, voice alignment, and workflow integration. It has matured into a full enterprise-grade AI marketing assistant. Jasper’s unique feature - Brand Voice - is created to help businesses integrate the platform with their writing style guides and set custom brand voices, thereby maintaining brand consistency across every piece of content and at scale.
Additionally, Jasper, as an AI writing tool, provides its users with a wide range of templates for various use cases (Advertisements, blogs, social media posts, landing pages, etc.) and platforms (Facebook, Instagram, X, etc.). This AI-generated content platform has collaborative features like shared workspaces and project folders to organize campaigns in one place, so everyone has access to the same drafts, assets, and guidelines. Last but not least, Jasper Art empowers marketers to create images and other visuals using text prompts, like DALL·E or MidJourney. Still, image generation is not Jasper’s strength.
Jasper AI is perfect for marketers, content creators, startups, small businesses, or agencies that want on-brand, ready-to-publish writing at speed. A key differentiator of Jasper is that it is not a free ChatGPT alternative. Jasper AI only offers a 7-day free trial. You need a paid plan ($49/month) to access expanded features and team collaboration.
Formerly known as Bard, Gemini is a flagship AI model developed by Google DeepMind. It is designed for seamless integration with the ecosystem of Google apps, including Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Gmail. When you submit a prompt to Gemini, instead of just generating a text response within the chat window, it can generate outputs across Google Workspace.
Gemini is ideal for quick research, creative brainstorming, and summarizing content. Unlike ChatGPT, Gemini doesn’t rely on pre-trained static data. Without plugins or browsing, ChatGPT may provide outdated information. Gemini is natively connected to the Google search engine and other Google live services, so it can pull real-time data.
Moreover, as a multimodal AI, Gemini is capable of understanding not only text or images but also code, making it versatile for both casual and professional use. However, Google Gemini is still on its way to catch up with other generative AI tools in terms of creative writing depth and long-form reasoning.
Currently, Gemini is available for via Google AI Studio - API that includes a free tier with limited rate. Google Workspace users can upgrade to Google AI Pro or AI Ultra ($19.99–$249.99/month) to access its full package of features and functionalities. Notably, eligible students may get free access for one year.
Anthropic designed and named this AI-powered assistant after the “father of information theory,” Claude Shannon. Officially released in 2023, Claude was created with an ambition to compete directly with ChatGPT. Claude seizes its spotlight in remembering and processing huge volumes of text, retaining context over extended chats.
With a focus on conversational depth, Claude is a good choice for long-form content generation. Writers, researchers, legal professionals, and analysts need AI that can “think in paragraphs” and maintain context across lengthy documents. In addition, Claude wins its users not only for being contextually aware but also for being safe and polite. Many of them agree that Claude feels more human-like and empathetic, which is a huge compliment for AI tools alike.
Anthropic has been updating this AI model with a series of iterative versions, including Claude 1, Claude 2, Claude 3 (2024), and, most recently, Claude 4 (2025) with two variants:
If we have to indicate one limitation of Claude, it must be its lack of real-time web access or up-to-the-moment data retrieval. Despite its exceptional reasoning capabilities, Claude cannot natively fetch fresh information from the internet compared to ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity AI.
Claude has both free and paid plans, like other AI models on this list. You can choose between Pro ($20/month), Team ($25/month), and Enterprise (Custom pricing) tiers.
This AI belongs to Meta’s family of generative AI models and assistant products embedded into the ecosystem of different platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. It means you can summon Meta AI directly via a chat or on social feed to handle your requests.
Meta AI’s natural language processing (NLP) is powered by its LLaMA (Large Language Model Meta AI) 3 models, enabling it to understand, generate, and respond to human language in a conversational and context-aware way. While not as specialized in deep research or analysis, Meta AI is lightweight, fast, and available in app, so it is great for quick answers, casual conversations, and social integration on a daily basis. For the same reason, Meta AI is not suited for technical documentation and enterprise-grade tasks. Still, Meta AI is one of the best AI tools for casual user experiences, and its user-friendly interface is also a plus.
Interestingly, Meta has rolled out the ability for users and creators to tailor their own AI characters with customizable personalities, including name, profile picture, description, and conversational style. These AIs can then interact with followers in chat, answer questions, or roleplay based on the traits you set, almost like a branded virtual persona.
At the time of writing, Meta AI is completely free. The Meta AI pricing is being trialed and planned.
Branded by the name of its developer, a China-based AI company, DeepSeek AI refers to a large language model family. DeepSeek AI, or simply DeepSeek, was created to compete with the world’s most dominant AI players, typically ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.
DeepSeek is part of the open-source (or more precisely, open-weight/source-available) AI movement that aims to give developers more control over how a model is trained, deployed, and customized. It is praised for its transparency and adaptability, as developers can fine-tune the model for specific use cases, from AI-driven content creation and advanced data analysis to code assistance or specialized chatbots. Instead of relying solely on a centralized provider, DeepSeek can be hosted and adapted on your own infrastructure.
It is the open-source nature of DeepSeek that makes it a unique AI chat system for developers and enterprises. Developers can leverage DeepSeek to support code suggestions or utilize it to debug errors, generate documentation, and even translate code between programming languages. Meanwhile, DeepSeek can serve as a capable AI research assistant for labs and enterprises. But, unlike ChatGPT, DeepSeek is not designed to be a plug-and-play solution for average users. It is still more developer-oriented in its current stage, and it often requires technical expertise in areas like cloud infrastructure, APIs, and fine-tuning.
You can gain free access to DeepSeek V3 and the basic API. For heavier or enterprise-level workloads, pay-as-you-go and Pro tiers are available to extend usage limits.
The next ChatGPT-like tool is familiar to most Microsoft users. We are referring to “Microsoft Copilot.” Formerly known as Bing Chat, this AI is built on large language models like OpenAI’s GPT-4 and combined with Microsoft’s proprietary technologies. Copilot is designed to work across the Microsoft ecosystem, consisting of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, as well as Outlook, Teams, GitHub, and Windows itself.
As a digital assistant that knows your documents, presentations, and spreadsheets, Microsoft Copilot is embedded into the workflow to streamline it and improve productivity. For instance, professionals can use Copilot to make data analysis faster and more accessible to people who aren’t Excel power users. This transforms Excel from a manual, formula-heavy tool into a conversational analytics partner. Or Copilot can convert a Word doc into a polished presentation.
A unique advantage of Microsoft Copilot is its deep integration with enterprise data, backed by Microsoft’s security standards. Therefore, it is especially strong for business workflows. However, Microsoft Copilot excels at routine tasks; still, it is not versatile for casual creative tasks.
Users can access the basic AI features for free in places like Windows, Edge, and Bing, but the most advanced, integrated inside Microsoft 365 apps (Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams, etc.), do require a paid subscription tier (Copilot Pro or Enterprise plan).
X, or formerly Twitter, has presented its own AI chat system called Grok AI. Its first version debuted in late 2023. Developed by Elon Musk’s company xAI, Grok AI is a built-in assistant embedded into the social platform X itself and later extended to apps on iOS, Android, and even Tesla vehicles.
Grok is connected with X’s real-time data stream; it provides trending insights, news summaries, and conversational banter with a bit of personality. Unlike most AIs that aim for neutrality, Grok is intentionally more witty, cheeky, and opinionated. Due to its casual and entertainment-focused nature, Grok AI will be less suitable for professional or serious business use.
Grok AI is one of the best free tools available for social media enthusiasts, journalists, and users who want real-time cultural commentary with a personality twist. There is a free version available for the latest model “Grok 4” (released in July 2025), though with some limits. For example, free users may be capped with 5 queries per 12 hours.
Notion is a popular all-in-one workspace platform renowned for its highly customizable features and ability to combine notetaking, project management, and collaboration tools - all without leaving your workspace. If you also rely on it for your notes, projects, and documents, Notion AI is a must-try.
Notion AI is built to assist the platform’s users in a broad range of tasks such as writing, summarizing content, editing tone, translating text, and more. Like a living virtual assistant inside Notion alongside your notes and databases, it helps you organize large amounts of information and keep your knowledge base tidy. Instead of being an external tool, it operates directly within your Notion workflow.
In addition to this contextual assistance, Notion AI works seamlessly across your workspace, enhancing the content you create and manage inside Notion. It can turn messy notes into structured summaries, extract key action items, and even reformat text to suit different purposes, helping you work faster and more efficiently.
As its name suggests, this AI is tailored specifically for the Notion ecosystem and its users only. So, its features are not available for non-Notion users. As for pricing, Notion AI is bundled with Business and Enterprise tiers. Free and Plus plan users may get limited trial access, but ongoing AI features require upgrading.
ChatGPT remains one of the most versatile and widely recognized AI assistants in use today, especially after the launch of GPT-5. Still, the AI landscape is evolving at a staggering speed, and ChatGPT does not stand alone. We have a plethora of AI-powered tools and platforms across research, productivity, creativity, automation, and communication; each excels in its own niche. And our list has introduced the best alternatives to ChatGPT for your consideration. Try them, compare their strengths, and build your own AI toolkit that fits your needs.
If you are searching for a trustworthy technical partner who can accompany you on the journey of artificial intelligence, Orient Software is here to help. Our team of experts specializes in AI consulting and custom solution development, with the skills to effectively implement AI technologies into your operations, optimize your existing AI-driven systems, or even build a full-fledged tool tailored to your needs. Whatever stage you’re at, tell us your goals, and we’ll help you bring them to life.
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