How does ToolGPA rank AI assistants?

From what each tool's own pages show (price, free plan, platforms, features and limits) and from what people say about it in public reviews and discussions. Not from our own testing. First place goes to the tool that suits the most people, and second and third to the best choices for the readers it leaves out.

AI Assistants

Q: What are the best AI assistants?

ToolGPA ranks ChatGPT first (for: most people), Gemini second (for: people who already use Gmail, Docs and Google Drive), Microsoft Copilot third (for: people who work in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook). The first two are close. ChatGPT and Gemini both offer chat, image generation, voice and research on a free plan, on the same devices. ChatGPT comes first because it is general-purpose, where Gemini is tied into Google's apps, and its app has about 11 million ratings against 2.3 million. Gemini costs less to upgrade, from $4.99 a month. Microsoft Copilot is third for people who work in Word, Excel and Outlook. Claude narrowly missed: it is aimed at writing, analysis and coding and adds a Linux app, but its lowest paid plan costs more than any of the three.

General-purpose AI assistants for writing, research, analysis and everyday questions.

Our top three AI assistants

The first two are close. ChatGPT and Gemini both offer chat, image generation, voice and research on a free plan, on the same devices. ChatGPT comes first because it is general-purpose, where Gemini is tied into Google's apps, and its app has about 11 million ratings against 2.3 million. Gemini costs less to upgrade, from $4.99 a month. Microsoft Copilot is third for people who work in Word, Excel and Outlook. Claude narrowly missed: it is aimed at writing, analysis and coding and adds a Linux app, but its lowest paid plan costs more than any of the three.

First: ChatGPT
Free plan · from $8/mo
For: Most people
ChatGPT puts text chat, image generation, spoken conversations, web search and research reports in one assistant, on the web, Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android. The Free plan allows unlimited text chats, and paid plans start with Go at $8 a month. Plus, at $20 a month, adds advanced reasoning models, projects and the Codex coding agent. Its iPhone and iPad app averages 4.8 from about 11 million ratings. Know the limits: the Free plan limits uploads, image creation, voice chats, deep research and memory, OpenAI says the Go plan may include ads, and Pro costs $100, $200 or $500 a month.
iPhone and iPad app: 4.8 out of 5 on the App Store
ChatGPT pricing and details
Second: Gemini
Free plan · from $4.99/mo
For: People who already use Gmail, Docs and Google Drive
Gemini is free with a Google Account, and the free plan includes image generation, Deep Research and spoken conversations through Gemini Live. It works with Gmail, Drive, Docs and Calendar and runs on the web, Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android. Google AI Plus is $4.99 a month with 400 GB of storage, less than ChatGPT's lowest paid plan. Its iPhone and iPad app averages 4.7 from about 2.3 million ratings. It is second because it is tied into Google's apps and plans: paid tiers are Google AI plans that bundle storage and other Google services, with no Gemini-only plan listed, and features vary by region. The macOS app needs Apple Silicon and macOS Sequoia (15.0) or later.
iPhone and iPad app: 4.7 out of 5 on the App Store
Gemini pricing and details
Third: Microsoft Copilot
Free plan · from $9.99/mo
For: People who work in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Microsoft Copilot covers chat, answers grounded in web search, image creation and voice conversations, on the web, Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android. Paid Microsoft 365 plans put it inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook: Personal is $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year and includes 1 TB of cloud storage. Its iPhone and iPad app averages 4.7 from about 1.3 million ratings. It is third because its free version is limited and subject to available capacity, with usage limits the pricing page does not give, and its Researcher and Analyst agents need Premium at $19.99 a month, where Gemini includes Deep Research free. On the Family plan the AI features are for the subscription owner only.
Microsoft Copilot pricing and details

Ranked on Oct 5, 2026 from what each listing shows and what people say about the tool, not from our own testing. How we rank

Price

Runs on

Must be

47 tools

Alexa+
AI Assistants
Amazon's AI assistant for Echo devices, the web and the Alexa app
Free plan · from $14.99/moWeb · iOS · Android
Alter
AI Assistants
Voice-driven Mac AI assistant that reads on-screen context
Free plan · from $29/yrmacOS
AnythingLLM
AI Assistants
Open-source AI app for documents, agents and local models
Free plan · from $50/momacOS · Windows · Linux +2
Big-AGI
AI Assistants
Multi-model AI workspace that compares and merges answers
Free plan · from $9/moWeb
BoltAI
AI Assistants
Native Mac AI client that runs on your own API keys
Free trial · from $79 one-timemacOS · iOS
Chatbox
AI Assistants
AI chat client for your own API keys or a hosted model plan
Free plan · from $3.50/moWeb · macOS · Windows +3
ChatGPT
AI Assistants
OpenAI's general-purpose AI assistant for chat, images and voice
Free plan · from $8/moWeb · macOS · Windows +2
ChatHub
AI Assistants
Ask several AI models one question and compare answers side by side
Free plan · from $14.99/moWeb · macOS · Windows +2
ChatLLM
AI Assistants
Multi-model AI assistant and agent platform from Abacus.AI
From $10/moWeb · iOS · Android
Cherry Studio
AI Assistants
Open-source desktop AI client for 50+ model providers
Free planmacOS · Windows · Linux +2
Claude
AI Assistants
Anthropic's AI assistant for writing, analysis and coding
Free plan · from $17/moWeb · macOS · Windows +3
Confer
AI Assistants
End-to-end encrypted AI assistant from the creator of Signal
Free plan · from $34.99Web · iOS
DeepSeek
AI Assistants
Free AI chat assistant built on DeepSeek's openly released models
FreeWeb · iOS · Android +2
Dola
AI Assistants
ByteDance's international AI assistant, formerly called Cici
Free plan · from £7.49/moWeb · iOS · Android
Duck.ai
AI Assistants
Private, anonymized chat with third-party AI models
Free plan · from $9.99/moWeb · macOS · Windows +2
Elephas
AI Assistants
Private AI knowledge assistant for Mac with local indexing
Free plan · from $15.83/momacOS · iOS
Fello AI
AI Assistants
Native Apple app with 20+ AI models under one subscription
Free plan · from $11.99/momacOS · iOS
Gemini
AI Assistants
Google's AI assistant, tied into Gmail, Docs and other Google apps
Free plan · from $4.99/moWeb · macOS · Windows +2
Gemini Notebook
AI Assistants
Google's AI research assistant that answers from your own sources
Free plan · from $4.99/moWeb · iOS · Android
Grok
AI Assistants
AI assistant with live X and web search, images, video and voice
Free plan · from $10.00Web · iOS · Android
HuggingChat
AI Assistants
Hugging Face's open-source chat app for open AI models
Free plan · from $9/moWeb
Jan
AI Assistants
Open-source desktop app for running local and cloud AI models
FreemacOS · Windows · Linux
Kagi Assistant
AI Assistants
Multi-model AI assistant included with a Kagi Search plan
Free trial · from $5/moWeb
Kimi
AI Assistants
AI assistant and agent for research, slides, documents and code
Free plan · from $15/moWeb · macOS · Windows +2
Langdock
AI Assistants
Model-agnostic AI chat, agents and workflows for companies
Free trial · from €23.20/moWeb · macOS · Windows +2
LibreChat
AI Assistants
Open-source, self-hosted chat interface for many AI providers
FreeWeb
LM Studio
AI Assistants
Desktop app for running open AI models on your own computer
Free plan · from $20/momacOS · Windows · Linux
Lumo
AI Assistants
Proton's private AI assistant with zero-access encrypted chats
Free plan · from $9.99/moWeb · iOS · Android
Magai
AI Assistants
Multi-model AI workspace with shared memory and agents
From $20/moWeb
Mammouth
AI Assistants
One subscription for GPT, Claude, Gemini and other AI models
From $10/moWeb · Android
Merlin
AI Assistants
AI sidebar extension with models from several labs in one account
Free planWeb · macOS · Windows +2
Meta AI
AI Assistants
Meta's free AI assistant across its apps, the web and AI glasses
Free plan · from $7.99/moWeb · iOS · Android
Microsoft Copilot
AI Assistants
Microsoft's AI assistant for chat, images and Microsoft 365 apps
Free plan · from $9.99/moWeb · Windows · macOS +2
Mistral Vibe
AI Assistants
Mistral's AI chat assistant and coding agent, formerly Le Chat
Free plan · from $14.99/moWeb · iOS · Android
Monica
AI Assistants
AI assistant with many models, built around a browser sidebar
Free plan · from $8.3/moWeb · macOS · Windows +2
Msty
AI Assistants
Private AI workspace for local and online models
Free plan · from $149/yrmacOS · Windows · Linux +1
NextChat
AI Assistants
Lightweight open-source AI chat client you can self-deploy
Free planWeb · macOS · Windows +2
Open WebUI
AI Assistants
Self-hosted chat interface for local and cloud AI models
Free planWeb · macOS · Windows +1
Perplexity
AI Assistants
AI search assistant that answers questions with cited sources
Free plan · from $17/moWeb · iOS · Android
Pi
AI Assistants
Emotionally intelligent personal AI for talking things through
FreeWeb · iOS · Android
Poe
AI Assistants
One app for chatting with AI models from many different labs
Free plan · from $4.99/moWeb · macOS · Windows +2
Qwen Studio
AI Assistants
Alibaba Cloud's chat app for the Qwen family of AI models
Free planWeb · iOS · Android
Sider
AI Assistants
AI sidebar for the browser with many models and mobile apps
Free plan · from $9.99/momacOS · Windows · iOS +1
T3 Chat
AI Assistants
Web chat app with models from several AI labs in one account
Free planWeb
TypingMind
AI Assistants
Chat interface for AI models that runs on your own API keys
Free plan · from $39 one-timeWeb
Venice
AI Assistants
Privacy-focused AI app for chat, images and video across many models
Free plan · from $18/moWeb · iOS · Android
Z.ai
AI Assistants
Chat assistant and agent built on Z.ai's GLM models
Free plan · from $12.60/moWeb

Guides

Shortlists and alternatives for AI assistants.

Alternatives
The best ChatGPT alternatives in 2026
Four alternatives to ChatGPT, from general assistants that can take over from it to tools that answer from the web or from your own sources. Each pick says how it differs, what it costs and where it stops.
4 tools · Updated October 2026
+1
Best of
The best AI assistants in 2026
Five AI assistants compared on what each is built for, where it runs and what the paid plans cost, from a $4.99 Google plan to tiers at $100 a month and up. Each pick says who it suits and where it stops.
5 tools · Updated October 2026

Our top three AI assistants

First: ChatGPT

Second: Gemini

Third: Microsoft Copilot

Tools

Guides