AI Model Comparison Matrix
ChatGPT, Claude, DeepSeek and Gemini side by side — context windows, free tiers, paid plans and what each one is genuinely better at. Filter by the job you actually have, then click a model for the honest trade-offs.
| Model | Maker | Context window | Free tier | Typical paid tier | Standout strength |
|---|
⚠️ Context windows, model names and prices change every few months at all four providers. This table is maintained by hand — confirm anything you are budgeting around on the provider's own pricing page.
What this tool does
This is a hand-maintained comparison of the four assistants most people end up choosing between. It deliberately does not rank them 1 to 4, because the honest answer to "which is best" is "best at what" — a model that writes beautifully can be the wrong choice for parsing a 300-page contract, and the cheapest model per token can be the most expensive one if it takes three attempts to get the answer right.
Everything is rendered in your browser from a data table in the page's own JavaScript — there is no API call and nothing is tracked. The important limitation is freshness: provider pricing and context windows move fast, and this table is updated by hand rather than scraped, so it can lag. Use it to narrow the field to two options, then check the provider's own pricing page before you commit.
How to use it
- Pick the filter that matches your actual job — writing, coding, long documents, budget, or ecosystem and multimodality.
- Scan the Standout strength column. That single cell usually decides it faster than comparing context windows.
- Click any row to open the detail panel, which lists what the model is good at and what to watch out for.
- Shortlist two. Run the same real prompt through both free tiers before you pay for anything — a benchmark never reflects your work.
- Check the provider's pricing page before committing, because the figures here are a starting point, not a quote.
Common use cases
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Choosing a tool for a team
Narrow four options to two before you spend a week trialling, and base the shortlist on the work rather than on reviews.
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Budgeting API costs
See where the low-cost option sits against the mainstream ones before you build a feature that depends on price per token.
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Picking a model for long documents
Context window is the hard constraint for contract review, transcript analysis and codebase work — filter for it first.
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Deciding whether to pay
See what each free tier actually includes so you know whether the paid plan buys limits or genuinely new capability.
Frequently asked questions
Which AI model is best overall?
There is no overall winner, and any table claiming one is selling something. ChatGPT has the widest ecosystem of tools and integrations, Claude tends to be strongest on long documents and code, Gemini has the largest context window and the tightest Google Workspace integration, and DeepSeek offers the lowest cost per token. The right pick depends on the shape of your work — which is why this page filters by task rather than ranking models 1 to 4.
Is the free tier good enough, or do I need a paid plan?
For occasional use the free tiers are genuinely capable and none of them are crippled demos. Paid plans buy three things: higher usage limits before you get throttled, access to the newest and largest models, and features like longer context or file uploads. If you hit a rate limit more than once a week, that is your signal to pay — otherwise the free tier is usually the better use of money.
How current is the information in this comparison?
Treat every figure here as a starting point rather than a live quote. Context windows, model names and prices change every few months across all four providers, and this page is updated by hand rather than scraped automatically. Always confirm the current numbers on the provider's own pricing page before you commit to a plan or build a budget around one.