Three AI chatbots now do most of the heavy lifting for most people: OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Gemini and Anthropic's Claude. All three have a useful free version, all three charge about £20 a month for their main paid plan, and all three have quietly added pricier tiers for heavy users. So which should you actually use? We went through each company's current plans, prices and privacy settings as of 1 November 2026, and pulled in the most useful independent test we could find.
The quick verdict
- Best all-rounder for most people: ChatGPT. The free version is generous, it does a bit of everything, and the £6.99 Go plan is a cheap step up. Be aware that Go may include adverts.
- Best if you live in Google: Gemini. It plugs into Gmail, Docs and Google storage, the cheapest paid plan costs £4.49, and it did best of the chatbots in Which?'s money-questions test.
- Best for writing and coding: Claude. It handles very long documents, and its Claude Code tool is built squarely for developers. The free version has tighter usage limits, though.
If you only want to pay for one, pick the one that matches what you do most. If you are not sure, start free with all three for a week: it costs nothing and you will soon have a favourite.
Free and paid plans compared
Prices change often and differ depending on where you pay. The UK prices below are the in-app prices shown on Apple's UK App Store on 1 November 2026, VAT included. Paying on the web can be slightly different. US prices are each company's own published prices, before sales tax.
| Plan level | ChatGPT | Gemini | Claude |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | £0 / $0 | £0 / $0 | £0 / $0 |
| Budget | Go: £6.99 / $8 (may include ads) | Google AI Plus: £4.49 / $4.99 | None |
| Main paid plan | Plus: £19.99 / $20 | Google AI Pro: £18.99 / $19.99 | Pro: £20 / $20 ($17 a month if paid yearly) |
| Power users | Pro: from £88.90 / $100, up to $500 | Google AI Ultra: £189.99 / from $99.99 | Max: £119.99 / $100; Ultra: £249.99 / $200 |
Two things stand out. Claude's higher tiers cost noticeably more through the App Store than on Anthropic's website, where Max is $100 and Ultra $200 before tax, so it is worth checking the web price before subscribing in an app. And Google's AI Pro plan bundles a lot beyond the chatbot: 5TB of storage, Gemini inside Gmail and Docs, and, in the US at least, YouTube Premium Lite. Google's paid AI plans are for over-18s only.
What you get for free
ChatGPT gives free users unlimited text chats with its GPT-6 model, subject to anti-abuse limits, plus limited file uploads, image making, voice, deep research and memory. Gemini's free tier uses Google's lighter Flash-Lite model but still includes image generation, Deep Research, the Gemini Live voice mode and 15GB of storage. Claude's free plan includes web search, file uploads, memory and its Artifacts workspace, using the Sonnet and Haiku models, but usage resets every five hours with a weekly cap, and you can hit it quickly on long tasks.
Which is best for what?
Writing. Claude is our pick, especially for long pieces: it can work with documents of up to a million tokens, enough for several books at once, and it is built around drafting and editing in a side-by-side workspace. ChatGPT is a close second and more flexible for mixed jobs such as writing plus images.
Coding. Claude again, largely thanks to Claude Code, which comes with the Pro plan. ChatGPT's Codex is a strong alternative and is available in limited form even to free users. Google's top model, Gemini 4 Argon, scores very well on benchmarks, though as we reported, headline benchmark wins come with caveats.
Research. All three now offer a "deep research" mode that reads dozens of web pages and writes a report. Gemini's is included free, which makes it the best value. ChatGPT's is fuller on Plus, and Claude's Research feature needs the Pro plan.
Everyday questions. ChatGPT or Gemini. Both are fast, both have good voice modes for asking things out loud, and Gemini has the edge if you want answers tied to your own Google calendar, email or maps.
Families. Gemini is the easiest fit if your household already shares Google storage, because AI Pro bundles 5TB of it. Remember that Google's paid AI plans are 18+, and whichever service you choose, check the privacy settings below before children use it.
Which? tested them on money questions
In July 2026, consumer group Which? put 15 personal finance questions to the free versions of popular AI tools and scored the answers out of 100. Gemini came top with 68%, ahead of Microsoft Copilot (66%) and Google's AI Overviews (63%). ChatGPT scored 60%, level with Perplexity. Claude was not included in the test.
The takeaway is less about the winner than the scores: even the best tool got roughly a third of the marks wrong or incomplete. Use any chatbot as a starting point for money questions, then check with an official source such as MoneyHelper or a regulated adviser before you act.
Privacy and data retention
All three companies may use your chats from personal accounts to improve their AI unless you say no. Business and enterprise plans generally do not use your data for training by default. Here is what each says about personal accounts, based on their own help pages. These policies change, so check the settings yourself.
ChatGPT. OpenAI's pricing page says chats on Free, Go, Plus and Pro may be used to train its models, with an opt-out. Turn off "Improve the model for everyone" in Data controls and new chats are not used for training. Temporary chats are not saved to your history or used for training, though OpenAI says it may keep them for up to 30 days for safety checks.
Gemini. Google's Gemini privacy hub says activity is saved by default for adult users and auto-deletes after 18 months unless you change it to 3 or 36 months. A sample of chats is read by human reviewers and, according to Google, those can be kept for up to three years even if you delete your activity. With activity saving turned off, Google says chats are still held for up to 72 hours. Of the three, Gemini's defaults keep the most, so it is worth a look in your settings.
Claude. Anthropic says chats on Free, Pro and Max are used for training only if you allow it, via Settings, Privacy, "Help improve Claude". If you do allow it, de-identified data can be kept for up to five years. Anthropic says deleted chats are removed from its systems within 30 days, and it offers an incognito mode for chats you do not want saved.
Bottom line by budget
- £0: Use the free versions. ChatGPT for everyday help, Gemini for free deep research, Claude when you want a well-written draft. Juggling all three is free and covers almost everything.
- Under £7 a month: Google AI Plus at £4.49 is the cheapest paid plan and adds 400GB of storage. ChatGPT Go at £6.99 gives more messages, uploads and memory, but may show adverts.
- About £20 a month: Claude Pro if you write or code a lot; ChatGPT Plus if you want the broadest toolkit; Google AI Pro if you would also use the 5TB of storage and Gemini in Gmail and Docs.
- £80 and up: Only for people who hit limits every day, such as developers and researchers. Compare web and app prices first, as they can differ by tens of pounds.
For most people, the honest answer is that the free tiers are good enough. Pay only when one assistant keeps running out at the moment you need it.