Many of us use ChatGPT as shorthand for generative AI.
But there are alternatives that offer better outputs and experiences for different use cases.
Think content creation, online research, coding, creative writing, and more.
That's why I've spent months testing dozens of free and paid ChatGPT alternatives.
In this guide, I've listed my top 11 picks for you to consider—with output examples, top features, and feedback for each.
The Best ChatGPT AlternativesThe Best ChatGPT Alternatives
- Claude for human-like writing
- ContentShake AI for creating SEO-friendly content
- Copilot for Microsoft users
- Gemini for Google integrations
- Meta AI for connecting with social platforms and experimentation
- Perplexity AI for online research
- GitHub’s Copilot for coding assistance
- NotebookLM for research and learning
- Jasper AI for enterprise content creation
- Pi.ai for emotional support
- Otter for project management
Let's look at each of them in detail.
Claude: The Best ChatGPT Alternative for Human-Like WritingClaude: The Best ChatGPT Alternative for Human-Like Writing
- What does it do?: Claude is an interactive AI that helps you analyze, summarize, and generate human-like texts
- Who is it for?: Businesses and users looking for sophisticated, context-aware AI conversations
Anthropic’s Claude can chat with you, answer questions, and lend a hand with various tasks.
It's not connected to the Internet, so it can't access search engines or provide real-time data and information.
But Claude is better than ChatGPT at matching tone of voice and style. I love using it for simple writing tasks and for creative content generation.
Let's look at an example.
I gave Claude and ChatGPT the same guidelines and prompts to write a blog post section entitled 'What is a brand voice?'.
The text generated by Claude was highly structured, informative, and easy to read. It maintained a neutral tone of voice that didn't sound robotic.
Claude’s Artifacts feature shows the content generated in a separate window (see the example above).
This allows you to add changes and edit the output more easily. You can also do this with ChatGPT’s canvas feature.
Now, let's look at what ChatGPT came up with.
It generated a wall of text that was difficult to read and follow. While the information was helpful, the tone was too formal and formulaic.
As you can see, Claude’s output was more informational and pleasant to read. But the ChatGPT sample was dry and generic and needed some editing.
Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Gives direct and concise answers and writes in a more human tone of voice Less prone to the strict content filters and limitations of other AI chatbots Excels at creative writing, producing novel and nuanced content | Lacks features like plugins, image generation, or a code interpreter Has usage limits even on the paid plan Not connected to the web and can’t show sources of information |
Pricing
- Claude offers a free version
- For $20/month, Claude Pro will give you five times more usage
ContentShake AI: The Best ChatGPT Alternative for Content Creation and SEO
- What does it do?: Long-form content creation
- Who is it for?: Small businesses, marketers, agencies, and content creators
You can add changes and enhancements using its integrated AI chat and the user-friendly blog editor.
ContentShake AI is the AI writing tool we’ve developed here at Semrush.
It combines powerful AI with Semrush’s SEO data to help you write long-form content.
I love that it automates the entire process—from finding content ideas to writing and optimizing content.
It’s especially useful for users without deep SEO expertise.
For example, it finds target keywords for each content piece and then optimizes your copy to rank high and reflect search intent.
You can add changes and enhancements using its integrated AI chat and the user-friendly blog editor.
It’s a much smoother experience than copying and pasting text from ChatGPT.
Finally, the tool helps optimize your draft and spot issues with SEO, readability, and tone of voice.
You can even define your unique brand voice directly in the tool. Just upload your writing samples, and all your future content will be automatically adjusted to sound like you.
Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Lets you find content ideas, write and optimize content, and publish it to your website—all from one tool Helps improve your search engine ranking with Semrush's real-time SEO data Creates content in your unique brand voice, so it doesn’t sound generic and robotic User-friendly interface tailored to long-form content creation | Limited to content marketing use cases Better suited to small teams than large enterprises with multiple users |
Pricing
- Explore ContentShake AI with a seven-day free trial
- After that, get the paid plan for $60/month
Looking for the best AI writing tool? Check out this step-by-step comparison of ChatGPT and ContentShake AI.
Copilot: The Best Conversational AI for Microsoft UsersCopilot: The Best Conversational AI for Microsoft Users
- What does it do?: AI-powered chat for conversational and creative text generation and image creation
- Who is it for?: Researchers, users of Microsoft 365 apps, and businesses needing text and image generation
Microsoft Copilot is a large language model (LLM) that allows you to generate text, create images, and interact with Microsoft products and services.
If you’re already using Microsoft 360 tools, this is one of the best alternatives to ChatGPT.
Copilot is powered by OpenAI’s language models. Copilot’s Pro users get access to GPT-4 Turbo and DALL-E 3 for AI image generation.
However, there are a few differences. For me, the biggest advantage is that Copilot is fine-tuned by Microsoft for different use cases:
- Microsoft has tailored different versions of Copilot for specific applications, such as Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Security, and Microsoft 365.
- Copilot uses data from Microsoft Graph and the user's Microsoft ecosystem, allowing for more personalized and contextually relevant responses
- It’s also deeply integrated into Microsoft's applications like Edge, Microsoft 365, Dynamics, Teams, and Power Platform
For example, you can use it within the Teams app to summarize conversations and find important information.
Source: Microsoft
Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Free image generation capabilities using DALL-E 3, letting you get visually creative Personalized assistance within the Microsoft 365 suite, using large language models (LLMs) and data from Microsoft Graph Offers plug-ins, such as OpenTable, Kayak, for enhanced functionality Lets you use GPT-4 Turbo for optimized searching | Chats expire after a day or two, so you can’t look back to older conversations for reference or continuity New developments on the platform can make the user experience somewhat unstable and inconsistent |
Pricing
- The basic plan (with access to Copilot on the web and in Windows, macOS, and iPadOS) comes with a free Microsoft account
- Copilot Pro costs $20 per user/month. This gives you higher usage limits, priority access to different AI models such as ChatGPT-4o and DALL-3, and access to Copilot in Microsoft 365 apps.
Gemini: The Best Chat GPT Alternative for Integrating with Google’s Ecosystem
- What does it do?: Conversational AI that analyzes and generates text and images and connects with Google apps
- Who is it for?: Google Workspace users and those looking for more human-like text generation
Google's Gemini is a multimodal large language model that analyzes and generates text, code, and images (with its new Imagen 3 model).
It’s powered by Google's own family of LLMs developed by Google DeepMind.
Gemini works great at structuring information and writing more humanly. I’ve always felt that it works better than ChatGPT when it comes to content writing.
Let’s look at an example.
I asked both AI chatbots to write a blog intro to test their writing quality.
Gemini’s copy had various AI cliches, but it was easier to read and had a less formal tone of voice:
ChatGPT, however, started with its all-time favorite, “In the rapidly evolving world of…” and produced a more formal copy that was harder to read.
Another important benefit of Gemini when compared with ChatGPT is its integration with Google’s ecosystem.
It’s connected to apps such as Gmail, Docs, Drive, Calendar, Keep, and Tasks.
Through these extensions, it can access and work with users' content across Google Workspace.
Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Generates more creative and engaging writing Can summarize YouTube videos with only the URL, while ChatGPT can’t Connects to Google apps, making it perfect for Google Workspace users | Lags behind other AI assistants in coding and programming tasks, making it less useful for technical users Occasionally struggles with understanding and following instructions Despite a larger context window than ChatGPT, Gemini tends to hallucinate more |
Pricing
- The free version of Google Gemini is available for all Google Workspace users
- The Advanced plan provides access to Gemini 1.5 Pro, which is more adept at complex tasks and costs $19.99/month (with a two-month free trial)
Llama 3.2 by Meta: The Best Open Source ChatGPT Alternative
- What does it do?: A free open-source AI assistant integrated into Meta's platforms for content creation, image generation, and social interactions
- Who is it for?: Meta platform users, developers seeking customizable AI solutions, and users wanting a free ChatGPT alternative
Meta AI is powered by Llama 3.2, Meta's latest large language model.
Available through meta.ai and Meta's ecosystem, it offers conversational AI focused on social media integrations and content creation.
It also integrates seamlessly across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger.
Meta AI stands out from ChatGPT in several ways:
- It's built on Llama 3.2, an open-source model that developers can customize and deploy locally
- It offers deep integration with Meta's social platforms for enhanced social interactions
- It works within end-to-end encrypted environments like WhatsApp
Here’s what it looks like for Instagram users (I personally haven’t been able to access this feature it, but it looks promising):
Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Llama 3.2 is free and accessible to everyone Open-source nature allows for customization and transparency Integrates with Meta's social media platforms | A lack of control over open-source LLMs might lead to inconsistent answers and unintended consequences Raises concerns about security and data privacy May have less extensive knowledge compared to ChatGPT |
Pricing:
- Llama 3.2 is an open source model, making it free to download and use for research and commercial purposes.
Perplexity AI: Best for Online Research
- What does it do?: AI-powered research assistant that helps users search and analyze information from the web
- Who is it for?: Researchers, marketing managers, and students conducting in-depth research
Perplexity AI is one of the best ChatGPT alternatives for online research.
It allows you to use multiple models in one platform, such as the latest versions of GPT 4, Claude, Mistral, and its own in-house models.
The key advantage of Perplexity is that it draws answers from different live sources and provides source citations.
Wondering if it’s any better than ChatGPT’s new SearchGPT feature?
I think so.
Based on my experience, Perplexity does a much better job in that space—at least for now.
It summarizes information from lots of sources and works better for fact-checking.
It also takes research to another level with its Focus feature, which lets you select the type of information source.
I use Perplexity almost daily when creating content. For instance, when I need examples for my articles, as follows:
Or when I’m looking to find and validate factual information:
Get $5/month i
Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Incorporates web search and cites sources for credible work and proper attribution Searches various online forums like Reddit to draw up relevant information The Pro plan gives you priority access to the platform during busy times and to advanced features like the latest GPT-4 models, Claude 3.5, and other AI models | Not a general-purpose conversational AI, which makes it less suited to soft queries that require emotional support, casual conversation, or brainstorming ideas It’s not very well adapted to content writing—I usually use it to find information and then move to another AI chatbot It also hallucinates sometimes |
Pricing
- Perplexity offers a free plan with standard features
- Perplexity Pro costs $20/month
GitHub’s Copilot: The Best ChatGPT Alternative for Coding Assistance
- What does it do?: AI coding assistant that helps developers with code completion, pull request summaries, and a chat interface for coding-related queries
- Who is it for?: Developers, programmers, and software engineers
GitHub Copilot is an AI-powered coding assistant created by GitHub and OpenAI to help improve developers’ productivity.
Unlike GPT, it integrates directly into your integrated development environment (IDE).
It has been trained on many open-source projects using different programming languages from GitHub.
GitHub Copilot offers a range of features to enhance your development experience:
- Unit test and comment generation
- Code refactoring
- Codebase onboarding
- Language learning
- Terminal assistance
It also helps you improve your workflows and explore various coding-related topics.
Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Draws 159GB of Python code from 54 million public GitHub repositories Excellent customization options for project-specific needs, such as language and framework support, coding style, and conventions Connects with various IDEs and is available as a plugin on the JetBrains marketplace Great for automating repetitive tasks and low-hanging functions | Limited to the software development industry Can sometimes hallucinate and generate inaccurate output Might struggle with code suggestions for very complex code Has problems adapting from one language to another |
Pricing
- Github Copilot offers three plans: Individual at $10 user/month, Business at $19 user/month, and Enterprise at $39 user/month.
NotebookLM: The Best ChatGPT Alternative for Research and Learning
- What does it do?: AI-powered research assistant that analyzes your documents and answers questions based solely on those sources
- Who is it for?: Researchers, strategists, students and writers
NotebookLM is an AI research assistant created by Google. It’s built on Gemini 1.5 and leverages its multimodal and LLM capabilities.
Unlike traditional AI chatbots, it only uses documents you upload (PDFs, Google Docs, or pasted text) to provide answers.
NotebookLM differs from ChatGPT in its focused approach:
- Only references user-provided documents rather than a broad knowledge base
- Provides clear citations for every response
- Integrates seamlessly with Google Workspace
- Includes audio overview features for document summaries
This makes it a perfect tool if you, for example, need to write a research paper.
It will summarize the key points of each source and allow you to ask questions based on its content, create tables, quizzes, and more.
As a content marketer, I also use it when researching complex topics and reading industry reports.
Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Generates an audio summary for users who prefer listening to reading Produces fewer hallucinations because outputs are from uploaded and linked sources Works with audio, sheets, slides, and documents | Only works for analyzing the resources you provide it with Limited to a single use case |
Pricing
- NotebookLM is still in the early testing phase, so it’s currently available for free
Jasper AI: The Best ChatGPT Alternative for Enterprise Content Creation
- What does it do?: A platform that helps you generate AI content for marketing and business in various formats
- Who is it for?: Content teams, and marketers in large companies
Jasper AI is a good option for generating content for various marketing channels, from social media to email.
I especially like that it can produce large volumes of short-form text, such as multiple variations for an ad or an email campaign.
Jasper is also more adapted to mass content production than ChatGPT thanks to its marketing features.
For example, its Brand Voice and Knowledge Base features capture your brand’s style and information and refer to it when generating content.
While ChatGPT only has access to OpenAI’s model, Jasper draws from over a dozen other models, such as OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic.
Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Captures your brand voice to generate content that’s less robotic Lets you create a wide range of marketing content faster using pre-created templates | Doesn’t offer real-time SEO or competitor data to help you rank There’s no free tier, so it’s a more expensive alternative for individual users The written output may sometimes sound generic and less natural |
Pricing
- The Creator plan with one seat costs $49/month
- The Pro plan costs $69/month for each seat, and the Business plan offers custom pricing
Looking for the best AI writing tool? Check out this step-by-step comparison of Jasper and ContentShake AI.
Pi.ai: The Best ChatGPT Alternative for Emotional SupportPi.ai: The Best ChatGPT Alternative for Emotional Support
- What does it do?: Personal AI assistant focused on empathetic conversation and emotional support
- Who is it for?: Users seeking a supportive AI companion for conversations, advice, and general discussion
The Pi chatbot by Inflection AI is a great ChatGPT alternative for those needing emotional support and engaging AI conversations.
For example, you can ask it a question about life and engage in an interesting conversation:
While ChatGPT can be quite formal and impersonal, Pi.ai is designed to have natural-sounding and empathetic responses.
This means that Pi.ai can provide a more personalized and friendly conversation experience.
It also adapts its communication style based on user preferences and emphasizes emotional support over task completion.
Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Uses a Personal Language Model (PLM) for more personalized conversations The AI Lounges feature lets you invite your friends and family to group chats Free to use with no subscription required No conversation length limits | Unlike ChatGPT, Pi.ai does not have internet access, so it’s not that good for finding up-to-date information May ask personal questions some users find invasive Can forget previous conversation details Limited content creation capabilities |
Pricing
- Pi is currently completely free
Otter: Best for Project Management
- What does it do?: AI-powered meeting and project assistant
- Who is it for?: Teams, project managers, and professionals engaging with multiple stakeholders
Otter, or Otter AI Chat, combines real-time transcription, collaboration, and content generation.
You can use it for your team meetings and virtual conferences.
It also allows you to ask questions about previous meetings during a live chat with your teammates.
For example, Otter integrates with popular video conferencing platforms and generates automated meeting summaries.
My favorite out-of-the-box use case? Asking Otter to summarize key takeaways from audio files such as podcasts.
Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Focused features for meeting documentation and collaboration Real-time transcription ensures you don’t miss important details during discussions Helps you streamline workflows with industry-specific features, such as OtterPilot™ for Sales | Offers only limited language support Limited use cases—only serves for meeting and project assistance |
Pricing
- Otter offers a free plan with standard features
- Otter Pro costs $16.99/month, the Business plan is $30/month, and there’s an Enterprise plan with custom pricing
Other ChatGPT Alternatives You Can Try
If none of these 15 alternatives to ChatGPT have ticked all your boxes, here are some other honorable mentions that you might find useful.
- Character.AI: Create and chat with a whole range of customizable AI characters. You can have engaging contextual conversations with tons of AI-powered personas, from fictional characters to historical figures and celebrities.
- Grok AI: Elon Musk's chatbot creates natural and engaging conversations. With Grok, you can summarize website content, translate languages, research and answer questions, and even use a "rebellious streak" to tackle "spicy" topics.
- Poe: Poe is a generative AI tool developed by Quora. It gives you access to multiple language models such as GPT-4o, Llama, Claude, Gemini, Hailuo. It’s fine-tuned to feel human-like and keep the conversation going.
FAQs
How Did I Create This List of ChatGPT Alternatives?
I’ve been using AI since day one, and I continue to test new tools and analyze their performance.
This review is based on my hands-on, extensive experience with each of these AI apps.
In addition to testing them, I read numerous reviews, technical documentation, and important updates about each tool.
I also update this list every time I learn about new features and other important updates.
Why Should You Look for a ChatGPT Alternative?
ChatGPT might be the household name in the AI space, but it’s definitely not the best for some specific use cases.
Each ChatGPT competitor brings unique features to the table, depending on your needs.
Whether you want high-quality images, expert coding assistance, improved copywriting, or up-to-date research, there are other tools that deliver better results than ChatGPT.
How Do You Choose a ChatGPT Alternative?
Now that you’ve seen what a spectrum of AI options there are, you don’t have to settle for ChatGPT or tools that ride on its coattails.
But how do you narrow down your choices?
Here are some key factors to consider when selecting the right AI tool for you:
- Innovation and features. Is this tool innovative, or does it offer similar functionalities to ChatGPT? Look for features or applications that make it distinct from the competition.
- AI models. Does it use established language models like GPT, or BERT, or something else? Each model has its pros and cons, so this can tell you what the tool is good at.
- Open source vs closed source. For example, you might want to use an open-source tool if you’re looking for advanced customization.
- Focus and use cases. Does the tool tackle all sorts of tasks? Or is it a pro in specific areas like writing code, creating content, or automating tasks?
- Cost and value. Are you getting good value for money?
The Bottom Line
AI is changing at the speed of light.
To keep up with tech advancements and ensure you’re not left behind, it’s crucial to choose an AI tool that meets your needs.
Whatever your workflow demands, there’s an AI tool that’s right for you. The top ChatGPT alternatives include:
- ContentShake AI for content marketing and SEO-rich content
- Claude for human-like short-form content writing
- Gemini for general tasks and Google Workspace products
- Microsoft Copilot for working with Microsoft 365
- Github Copilot for coding
- Perplexity AI for research
- Pi.ai for personal use
Explore and experiment, discover the perfect fit for your teams, and watch your productivity soar.