Last Updated on December 30, 2024 by Alex Birkett
ChatGPT is pretty chill.
We can all admit that, right?
Growing fast, too:
This AI text generator is being used to summarize long form content, create content briefs, answer search queries, generate ideas and much more.
But it’s not without its constraints and downsides.
For one, the service is often down. If you’re relying on it for your workflows, this is a huge problem.
It’s also not everyone’s ideal way to interact with generative AI. Other tools have different built-in prompt templates, guardrails, and dimensions that help hone the outputs (for example, for SEO or narrative fiction).
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is a large language model created by OpenAI, designed to generate human-like text in response to prompts.
It is a type of artificial intelligence software that uses deep learning algorithms to understand natural language and produce text that is relevant and coherent. ChatGPT is trained on massive amounts of text data and can generate text on a wide range of topics, including but not limited to news, science, history, and entertainment.
It is often used in various applications, such as customer service, personal assistants, and chatbots, to provide more natural and human-like interactions with users.
By the way, I generated that response using….ChatGPT.
Basically, it’s a natural language processing AI writing tool that you can talk to in a conversational form. It ingested a bunch of data that allows it to predict the next logical subsequent word, giving you sometimes excellent and mostly generic answers (…well, it’s all dependent on user input and prompts).
Editor’s note: I’m going to use some affiliate links when possible to try to earn some revenue from my content. These don’t change the opinions espoused in the content nor the style in which they are written. If I think a product sucks, I’m not going to say otherwise. This is just a bonus and a way to fund the whole operation. Anyway, enjoy the article!
The 10 Best ChatGPT Alternatives
- Claude
- Jasper Chat
- ChatSonic
- Writer
- Character AI
- LaMDA (Language Model for Dialog Applications)
- Gemini by Google
- CoPilot
- YouChat
- Elsa Speak
Here’s a comparison table of the top ChatGPT alternatives mentioned here:
Tool | Ideal For | Key Features | Pros | Cons | Price | G2 Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Claude | General use, creative tasks | Conversational, ethical AI, versatile for writing and brainstorming | Friendly tone, nuanced responses, strong ethical focus | Verbose responses, lacks depth in technical topics | Free (limited), Enterprise | 4.7/5 |
Jasper Chat | Marketers, businesses, creatives | SEO templates, AI paraphrasing, Google search integration, Jasper Art (image AI) | Customizable outputs, powerful integrations, tailored business tools | Requires prompt tweaking, higher cost for full features | Starts at $49/mo | 4.8/5 |
ChatSonic | Copywriters, general-purpose use | Google integration, personality customization, memory storage | Real-time data, image generation, conversational interface | Variable pricing based on quality/word count | Free (100 outputs), Paid tiers | 4.8/5 |
Writer | Brand and editorial teams | Style guides, brand terms, reporting, Ask Writer for summarization | Free chatbot use, templates for writing, integrates with teams | No image generation | Free chatbot, starts at $18/mo | 4.6/5 |
Character AI | Entertainment, learning AI dynamics | Pre-defined “characters” like Elon Musk, Socrates | Fun, creative, engaging | Limited business use cases, lacks practical functionality | Free | N/A |
LaMDA | Conversational AI | Advanced dialog models, supervised learning | Potentially high-quality responses, advanced training | Limited availability, speculative performance | Free via AI Test Kitchen | N/A |
Gemini by Google | Professionals, researchers | Integration with Google Workspace, real-time updates, multi-modal capabilities | Deep Google integration, structured responses, advanced conversational AI | Google-centric, beta availability, pricing details unclear | Free (beta), premium expected | 4.4/5 |
CoPilot | Developers | Real-time coding assistance, OpenAI Codex | Speeds up coding process, integrates with editors | Mixed reviews, performance may vary | $10/month/user | 4.6/5 |
YouChat | Quick research, search queries | AI-powered search engine, conversational AI | Free to use, combines search and chatbot features | Limited depth, beta phase | Free | N/A |
Elsa Speak | English language learners | Pronunciation coaching, conversational feedback | Focus on speaking and listening, real-world applicability | Limited to English, niche use case | $11.99/month | 4.5/5 |
1. Claude
Claude is Anthropic’s AI chatbot designed for natural language conversations and creative outputs. Think of it as ChatGPT’s laid-back cousin—intelligent, conversational, and focused on safety.
Claude is versatile, excelling in tasks like brainstorming, summarizing content, writing copy, and answering questions. It is often praised for its user-friendly design and ability to produce responses that feel grounded, coherent, and empathetic.
What sets Claude apart is its emphasis on “constitutional AI,” which aims to keep outputs safe and aligned with ethical guidelines without excessive content restrictions. The chatbot also has a knack for handling ambiguous queries gracefully, making it a favorite among users who value clarity and nuanced responses.
However, like any AI, Claude has its constraints. It occasionally provides verbose answers, and its model isn’t as expansive as some alternatives when it comes to niche topics or technical depth. That said, it’s an excellent choice for those seeking a conversational and creative AI companion.
Key Features of Claude:
- Designed with safety and alignment in mind
- Natural, coherent, and conversational outputs
- Versatile for writing, summarizing, and brainstorming tasks
- Handles ambiguous queries effectively
Pros of Claude:
- Friendly, conversational tone
- Strong focus on ethical and safe outputs
- Ideal for creative and general-purpose tasks
- Often handles nuanced questions better than competitors
Cons of Claude:
- Occasionally verbose responses
- May lack depth on highly technical or niche topics
- Limited availability compared to larger platforms like ChatGPT
Price: Free for basic usage, limited by credits; enterprise plans available by request.
G2 Score: 4.7
Claude may not dethrone ChatGPT in terms of sheer popularity, but for users prioritizing safety, nuance, and conversational fluidity, it’s an excellent alternative.
2. Jasper Chat
Jasper is legit.
They’re my go-to favorite AI writing software for all purposes, especially for long form content and repurposing my blog posts into social media.
As far as the generative AI landscape goes, they’re the big player, and for good reason: the team is filled with superstars and they continue to build and innovate past the competition.
Their Boss Mode plan introduced recipes and a model where the AI assisted you as you write.
They then launched Jasper Art, an AI image generator.
Now, they have Jasper Chat, a chat interface that, in many cases, outperforms ChatGPT when it comes to accuracy.
Like ChatGPT, it’s a conversational interface subject to your prompts, so it’s endlessly customizable.
In my experience, it takes a few attempts at prompt engineering to get good responses (this is true of all AI chatbots):
You can also generate images (Jasper Art produces some of my favorite AI art) using the chat functionality as well as include up to date information from Google search data.
With Jasper Chat, you also have access to the broader platform, which includes ready made templates for SEO, sales, idea generation, AI paraphrasing, and more.
They also just launched Jasper for Business, which includes a brand voice artifact that you can use to make sure the outputs are written in your voice or your company’s voice. The business plan is going to be a game changer for large teams and agencies.
Price: Starts at $49/mo for up to 50,000 words generated.
G2 Score: 4.8/5
3. ChatSonic
ChatSonic is a conversational AI tool built by the team at Writesonic, another big player in the AI copywriting space.
Writesonic, as a platform, is similar to Jasper (albeit with more of a focus on templates than free writing). It has templates for many use cases, including Instagram captions, video scripts, long form blog posts, and Facebook ads.
The chat feature looks, on its surface, just like ChatGPT. It also uses natural language models and the interface is based on natural language input from the user. Here I’ll ask it to write me a song about bacon in the style of Eminem:
Unlike ChatGPT, you can do several cool things including change the personality of the AI, do basic image generation, store memory, and there’s a Google integration to include the latest data from web queries. This ability to include up to date information is a big advantage.
And of course, all outputs are designed to generate human like responses using natural language processing techniques.
Big fan of ChatSonic.
Price: ChatSonic starts free with up to 100 generations per month, and the pricing tiers for paid plans vary quite a bit depending on quality and word count.
G2 Score: 4.8/5
4. Writer
Writer, the AI software built for brand and editorial teams, just launched their own ChatGPT alternative.
The platform itself is feature-rich with various AI writing tools, an AI content generation business focused on teams. These include style guides, snippets, brand terms, reporting and analytics, and CoWrite, their AI writing tool.
All of these features make this AI tool one of the best for brand teams with varied writing tasks across social media platforms, blog post writing, and other formats.
Their AI chatbot, Ask Writer, is similar to the interface of ChatGPT and also uses neural language models.
What’s cool about this one is it can ingest custom links and repurpose or summarize the content for you. It’s my favorite AI chatbot for repurposing my blog posts to social media platforms like LinkedIn.
This one, however, does not include AI image generation.
And you can use this product for free.
Price: The AI chatbot is currently free, but the platform itself starts at $18 per user/month
G2 Score: 4.6/5
5. Character AI
Character AI is one of my favorite tools to use when I’m procrastinating.
I’ll be honest: it’s not as business appropriate or useful as the other ChatGPT alternatives on this list.
But it’s fun AF.
Basically, there are tons of “characters” you can converse with. The AI is trained to speak like figures such as Elon Musk, Giga Chad, and Socrates.
Here’s an example of a conversation with Giga Chad himself:
Super fun tool. Not totally sure what the business or practical use case is. But it’s a good playground to understand how conversational AI interfaces work.
Price: Free
G2 Score: N/A
6. LaMDA (Language Model for Dialog Applications)
Google’s LaMDA (Language Model for Dialog Applications) is an AI-driven language model that is used to create AI chatbots.
It became famous in large part due to a Google engineer freaking out because they thought it was sentient.
It is a supervised learning model, which means that human AI trainers have access to model suggestions in order to create responses and train the model.
LaMDA is trained on billions of words from the public internet, similar to ChatGPT’s model.
Some people suggest that LaMDA could be ‘even better’ than ChatGPT, but it’s not open to the public yet, so it’s all speculation.
However, Google did recently announce its own AI chatbot, called Bard, which uses its LaMDA technology as an experimental conversational AI app.
But this fell flat in demonstrations. So we’ll see.
Price: You can try Lamda by signing up for Google’s AI Test Kitchen, but you’ll have to join the waiting list to download the Android app.
G2 Score: N/A
7. Gemini by Google
Gemini is Google DeepMind’s answer to the generative AI revolution, blending conversational AI capabilities with cutting-edge deep learning technologies. As Google’s flagship large language model, Gemini is designed to compete directly with ChatGPT, Claude, and others, with a particular focus on integrating AI seamlessly into productivity workflows.
Gemini shines in its ability to handle complex queries, provide real-time updates (thanks to integration with Google’s ecosystem), and deliver well-structured responses across various domains. It’s also a powerhouse for research, summarizing, and creative tasks, benefiting from Google’s vast data resources and advanced algorithms.
Unlike many alternatives, Gemini offers deep integration with Google’s suite of tools, such as Docs, Sheets, and Gmail. This makes it particularly useful for professionals who rely on these tools for their day-to-day operations.
However, Gemini’s close ties to the Google ecosystem can be a double-edged sword. While it’s ideal for Google-centric users, those outside this ecosystem may find it less appealing compared to standalone tools like ChatGPT or Claude.
Key Features of Gemini AI:
- Seamless integration with Google Workspace tools
- Up-to-date knowledge, thanks to real-time web access
- Multi-modal capabilities (handles text, images, and potentially other data types)
- Advanced conversational and creative outputs
Pros of Gemini AI:
- Built-in access to Google’s ecosystem (Docs, Sheets, Gmail, etc.)
- High-quality, detailed, and structured responses
- Real-time updates from the web
- Leverages Google’s deep learning expertise
Cons of Gemini AI:
- Primarily optimized for users in Google’s ecosystem
- Limited availability during initial rollout
- Pricing structure not yet fully transparent
Price: Currently in beta; expected to roll out with free and premium options for individuals and businesses.
G2 Score: 4.4/5
Gemini positions itself as the ultimate tool for professionals and researchers, especially those already using Google’s tools. While still in its early stages, its potential to disrupt the generative AI landscape is immense, especially for productivity-focused users.
8. CoPilot
CoPilot by GitHub is much different than the rest of the ChatGPT alternatives on this list. While ChatGPT itself can write code, this product is built specifically to write code alongside you.
It’s also built on OpenAI software (in this case, OpenAI Codex), and it suggests code and builds entire functions for you in real-time from your editor.
This one also uses language models to take user input (conversational) and turn it into usable code.
I used to write a lot of code, but that was before the CoPilot days. You used to have to Google really specific stuff to get answers on StackOverflow, and this product just speeds up that experience.
I’ve heard mixed reviews from engineers, however. Some love it, some aren’t impressed. Your mileage may vary.
Price: $10 per month per user
G2 Score: 4.6/5
9. YouChat
YouChat, built by you.com, is an AI powered search engine primarily.
They’ve recently launched a conversational AI chatbot just like ChatGPT or Bing AI. It allows you to talk with the AI and get quick answers to search queries.
It’s in beta, but it’s completely free and worth a try. Again, I express my skepticism as I did above with quick answers generated by AI (at least at this point in time).
But if you’re doing quick research, say for a long form blog post, it can point you in the right direction much faster than if you were only relying on Google search results.
You.com also includes other tools like YouWrite to improve your writing skills.
Price: Free
G2 Score: N/A
10. Elsa Speak
Finally, we have Elsa Speak.
Elsa (English Language Speech Assistant) Speak is a really cool app that helps coach you in English speaking.
I imagine a world where AI chatbots are incredibly useful in language learning and translation. Imagine Duolingo with this capability for all their languages!
For now, Elsa is specially designed to help you improve your English pronunciation.
This is powerful, as it goes beyond basic grammar and syntax. Anyone who has learned a language knows that speaking, pronunciation, and listening are often the most difficult skills to learn.
ELSA’s artificial intelligence technology was developed using voice data of people speaking English with various accents. With voice commands and conversational responses, it helps you fine tune your English skills.
Price: $11.99/month
G2 Score: 4.5/5
Conclusion
ChatGPT is the tip of the iceberg.
Soon we’ll have fine tuned AI tools to help us analyze data, automate processes, build competitive sales strategies, and pretty much everything else that takes up manual time and tedious labor.
At their current stage, they’re not replacing any core functionality, including search. But who knows what the future brings?
Hopefully this list of ChatGPT alternatives sends you down the illustrious rabbit hole of neural language models and AI software.