Need a ChatGPT Alternative? 9 AI Chatbots to Try for Free – Make Tech Easier
ChatGPT is great for general purpose content, but sometimes you need a ChatGPT alternative for more complex queries, research, and content that follows strict guidelines. It may be the most well-known AI chatbot at the moment, but you have plenty of other choices to help with research, coding, translation, and more.
Price: Free with premium options
Gemini is Google’s ChatGPT alternative, using its own in-house AI model. It’s designed for general research queries, creating content, learning new things, and even translating content. While it used to be called Bard, Google upgraded the features and capabilities, leading to a new name.
It works almost identically to ChatGPT but requires a Google account. By default, all chats are saved to your account, but you can delete this. If you used Google Assistant, you can switch to Gemini and use it the same way. Gemini Advanced gives you deeper research and access to the latest models, including experimental, but it will cost you $20/month.
Price: Free with premium options
Copilot by Microsoft, previously Bing Chat, is now built into Windows and Edge, though you can remove it. Create content, get summarized search results with reference links, and even create AI images. With Copilot, you also get free access to GPT-4 and DALL·E 3. However, Microsoft is currently developing its own AI model, so this could change in the future.
I personally like the ease of switching between conversation styles, along with offering follow-up questions you might want to ask. Tackle everything from vacation planning to crafting documents in Word. However, the latter option does require a Microsoft 365 subscription. Yes, it does work for coding, but Tabnine could be better for game development.
Price: Free with premium options
Amazon developed its own ChatGPT alternative just for coding: Amazon Q Developer. You only need an AWS Builder ID to sign up. The free tier is fairly limited, offering line completion, along with 50 chat interactions and 1,000 lines of code analyzed each month. It works with a variety of programming languages.
Amazon uses its own model, Titan, along with other AI models to generate code. The best part, though, is that you can download plugins and extensions to use Amazon Q on your desktop. While the premium version does give you more features, the free version is more than enough to get you started.
Price: Free with premium options
Poe, Platform for Open Exploration, is a Quora creation. Unlike most of the ChatGPT alternatives on this list, Poe isn’t just one tool. It’s a variety of chatbots and AI models, such as GPT-4, Perplexity, DeepSeek, o3-mini, DALL-E-3, and more. Some features are free, but access to higher daily limits and premium chatbots start at $50/year.
Poe’s a great option for testing different chatbots in one place, with no need to create dozens of accounts on multiple platforms. One of my favorite features is creating your own bots. If you need inspiration, just browse bots created by other Poe users.
Price: Free with premium options
Otter is the meeting assistant you didn’t realize you needed. It records, transcribes, and summarizes notes from meetings. It automatically picks out the most important parts, highlights what you need to know, and even creates a to-do list based on the meeting. The free version gives you 300 minutes (30 minutes at a time) per month, while premium starts at just over $8/month.
No, you don’t have to use Otter as your meeting platform. Instead, it integrates with popular platforms like Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams. It also works with Dropbox, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Outlook, and more productivity tools. Additionally, Otter helps you write emails and answers questions for you.
Price: Free with premium options
If you just want to have AI conversations, Character.AI is the perfect ChatGPT alternative. Every character has their own “personality” or niche. Chat about games, books, movies, your life, etc. Play games, learn a language, or even write a poem. It’s all for fun, so don’t take responses too seriously here.
I like that there are always new characters to chat with. Or, if you can’t find the perfect character, create your own and share it with others. While it’s free to use the platform, premium gives you faster messaging, customized chat rooms, and other perks for $10/month.
Price: Free with premium options
ChatSonic, by Writesonic, combines multiple AI models into one platform, including ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude. It’s designed mainly for content creation and marketing and also integrates with various content and marketing platforms, like WordPress, Google Search Console, and Ahrefs.
Chat and ask questions just like you would with ChatGPT, but pick the best model to fit your needs. Whether it’s analyzing data, writing a report, or generating images, ChatSonic can handle it all. The free version includes GPT-4o mini and Claude Haiku. Premium is just $16/month.
Price: Free with premium options
You is one of the better ChatGPT alternatives for research. It’s designed to be more accurate, though with AI, you should always double-check generated information. The free version lets you perform Web searches, complete with references. You’re also able to access various AI agents for different purposes or even create your own.
Get access to multiple AI models, including GPT-4o, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, and OpenAI o1, though these are all premium-only, starting at $15/month. If You isn’t working well, try Perplexity, which works similarly.
Price: Free with premium options
Looking for a ChatGPT alternative that works as an empathetic friend? Try Replika. It’s designed specifically to be a customizable friend to chat about most anything. From helping achieve goals to using it as an AI diary, your custom Replika is always there when you need it.
The free version offers basic features for daily chatting. The Pro version adds more advanced customization options, AR interactions, video chats, and much more for $50/year.
More and more ChatGPT alternatives are popping up every day. Remember, when using any AI tool to write content, consider the ethics involved. In fact, AI writing can do more harm than good. If you’re worried about privacy when using AI models, consider switching to an offline alternative.
Image credit: Unsplash. All images by Crystal Crowder.
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