Duck.ai vs Venice
We give Duck.ai a 3.0 GPA and Venice a 3.2, out of 4.0. Duck.ai grades higher on ease of use. Venice grades higher on features and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money and the free plan.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Duck.ai
Private, anonymized chat with third-party AI models
Venice
Privacy-focused AI app for chat, images and video across many models
How we grade them
| 3.0GPADuck.aiVery good | 3.2GPAVeniceVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BPlus is $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year, about typical, and adds GPT-5.6 Terra, Claude Sonnet 4.6 and higher limits. It comes with DuckDuckGo's VPN and identity services whether you want them or not. The top Claude and GPT models need Pro, at $19.99 a month. | BPro is $18 a month, or $180 for the year, which is about the going rate for a paid assistant. It buys unlimited text, 1,000 images a day and models from many labs. But video and music run on credits, and Pro has 100 a month where Pro Plus, at $68, has 7,500. |
| Free plan and trial | BFree with no account: six chat models, image creation and voice chat, and PDF uploads of up to 15 pages. There's a daily usage limit, though, and the listing can't say how big it is. So no A. | BFree gets you 10 text prompts and 15 image prompts a day on the base models, with web search. That's tight for daily use. Document uploads, image understanding and custom system prompts are all left out. |
| Features | BChat with models from OpenAI, Anthropic and Mistral AI, make images, talk by voice or dictate, and upload images and PDFs. Solid basics with privacy on top. The gaps: PDFs stop at 15 to 50 pages depending on your plan, and spreadsheets aren't supported. | AText, image, video and audio models from OpenAI, Google, Mistral, Meta and more behind one account, plus web search through Brave or anonymised Google. Each model shows one of four privacy modes, up to end-to-end encryption. There's an OpenAI-compatible API too. |
| Ease of use | BOpen duck.ai and type. No account, no sign-up, nothing to set up. There's no App Store rating on record for it, since it has no standalone app, so it stops at a B. | C4.2 from about 1,300 App Store ratings, which is on the low side for this category. There's a fair bit to get your head round as well: four privacy modes, credits, and a chat history that stays on one device unless you back it up. |
| Platforms and integrations | BAny web browser, plus the DuckDuckGo browser on iPhone, Android, Mac and Windows, where it's built in. There's no standalone app, and nothing on the listing says it connects to other tools or offers an API. | AWeb, iPhone and Android, plus an OpenAI-compatible API that works with the OpenAI SDK, LangChain, Vercel AI and Claude Code. No desktop app is listed, so on a computer it's a browser tab. |
| Best for | mainstream AI models with no account | many AI models with your chats kept on your device |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Duck.ai and Venice. How we grade
Where they differ
- Duck.ai starts at $9.99 per month, or $99.99 per year (DuckDuckGo Plus). Venice starts at $18 per month, or $180 per year (Pro).
- Only Duck.ai lists macOS and Windows apps.
- Venice is end-to-end encrypted, according to its own site.
- Duck.ai also covers dictation.
- Venice also covers AI search.
At a glance
| Duck.ai | Venice | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $9.99 per month, or $99.99 per year (DuckDuckGo Plus) | $18 per month, or $180 per year (Pro) |
| Free plan | Free with no account required and a daily usage limit. Free models include Claude 4.5 Haiku, Mistral Small 4, GPT-5.4 nano and mini, gpt-oss-120b and Gemma 4 31B; PDF uploads stop at 15 pages. | Base AI models, 10 text prompts and 15 image prompts per day, web search and local conversation history. No document uploads, image understanding or character creation. |
| Free trial | The DuckDuckGo subscription has a free trial at sign-up; the help page does not state its length. | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | DuckDuckGo | Venice AI |
| Price read from | duckduckgo.com | venice.ai |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Duck.ai
- People who want to use mainstream AI models without an account
- Privacy-minded users who do not want chats used for model training
- DuckDuckGo browser users who want an assistant built in
Venice
- People who want chat history kept on their own device
- Trying text, image and video models from many labs in one app
- Developers who want an OpenAI-compatible API for many model types
Worth knowing
Duck.ai
- Free use has a daily limit, and the most advanced Claude and GPT models are reserved for Plus and Pro subscribers.
- Advanced models cannot be bought on their own: the subscription bundles them with DuckDuckGo's VPN and identity services.
- The subscription is sold only to residents of the US, UK, EU and Canada, and its VPN and identity features work only in the DuckDuckGo browser.
- There is no standalone app: outside a web browser, Duck.ai is built into the DuckDuckGo browser for iOS, Android, Mac and Windows.
Venice
- The Free plan stops at 10 text and 15 image prompts a day and leaves out document uploads, image understanding and custom system prompts.
- Third-party models run in Anonymized mode: Venice hides your identity, but the provider may still process prompts under its own policies.
- TEE and end-to-end encrypted models need a paid plan, and E2EE mode turns off web search and memory.
- Chat history stays in one browser or device unless you use an encrypted backup or a shared link, and no desktop app is listed.
Key features
Duck.ai
- Anonymized chats
- Metadata such as your IP address is removed before a prompt reaches the model provider, so requests appear to come from DuckDuckGo rather than from you.
- Choice of models
- Free models come from Anthropic, Mistral AI and OpenAI, plus two open models hosted by Tinfoil. Subscribers add more advanced Claude and GPT models.
- Chat history kept on your device
- Recent chats are saved locally by default, up to 5 can be pinned, and the Fire Button deletes the rest. Optional Sync & Backup stores chats end-to-end encrypted.
- Image creation
- Select New Image, describe what you want, then refine the result with follow-up prompts. A daily limit applies, with higher limits for subscribers.
- Voice chat and dictation
- Speak with an OpenAI voice model over an encrypted relay, or dictate a prompt for up to 5 minutes per session. Audio is not kept after the session ends.
- Image and PDF uploads
- Some models accept image and PDF uploads, with PDF limits of 15 pages on Free, 35 on Plus and 50 on Pro. Spreadsheets are not supported.
Venice
- Many models in one app
- Text, image, video and audio models from providers such as OpenAI, Google, DeepSeek, Mistral, Meta and Black Forest Labs, plus Claude and Grok models, sit behind one account.
- Four privacy modes
- Each model shows its mode: Anonymized (identity hidden from the provider), Private (prompts not retained), TEE (run in a secure hardware enclave) or E2EE (encrypted on your device).
- Local conversation history
- Chats are stored in your browser or on your device, not on Venice's servers. Paid plans add encrypted chat backup and restore.
- Image, video and audio generation
- Generates, edits and upscales images, and creates video, music and speech with models such as Kling, Runway and Veo. Video and music are paid for with credits.
- Web search
- Brings current results into answers through Brave with zero data retention or anonymized Google search. Web search is included on the Free plan and is disabled in E2EE mode.
- OpenAI-compatible API
- One key covers text, image, video, music and speech models, with function calling and web search. API calls are metered in credits, separately from the app's plan limits.
Plans
Duck.ai
Free$0
Six free chat models, image creation and voice chat within a daily limit, with PDF uploads of up to 15 pages.
Plus$9.99
per month, or $99.99 per year, plus tax if applicable
Adds GPT-5.6 Terra and Claude Sonnet 4.6, higher daily and weekly limits and 35-page PDF uploads, plus DuckDuckGo's VPN and identity services.
Pro$19.99
per month, or $199.99 per year, plus tax if applicable
Everything in Plus, with Claude Opus 4.8 and GPT-5.6 Sol, higher reasoning effort, 2x the Plus usage limits and 50-page PDF uploads.
Venice
Free$0
Base AI models with 10 text prompts and 15 image prompts per day, web search and local conversation history.
Pro$18
per month, or $180 per year
Pro and Advanced models, unlimited text prompts, 1,000 images per day, document uploads, TEE and E2EE models, API access and 100 credits a month.
Pro Plus$68
per month, or $735 per year
Everything in Pro with higher image limits, 7,500 credits a month (worth $75 of API spend) and 2-month credit banking.
Max$200
per month, or $2,160 per year
Everything in Pro Plus with the highest image and API limits, 22,500 credits a month (worth $225), 3-month credit banking and early access to new models.
Ways to pay less
Duck.ai
- Annual discount
About 17% off with yearly billing
Plus is $99.99 a year against $9.99 a month, and Pro is $199.99 a year against $19.99 a month, a saving of about 17% over twelve monthly payments.
Venice
- Annual discount
Save up to 16.7% with yearly billing
The pricing page lists Pro at $180 a year against $18 a month (16.7% less), and Pro Plus at $735 and Max at $2,160 a year against $68 and $200 a month (about 10% less).
