Free AI tools / Best free AI chatbots and assistants
Best free AI chatbots and assistants
15 tools for everyday questions, writing help and brainstorming that you can use without paying. Fully free tools are listed first, then free tiers, with the exact limits each vendor states. Free plans last verified 2026-10-24.
| Tool | Free plan | Free-plan limits | Paid entry plan | Checked | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DeepSeek Free reasoning and math chat | Free | Web chat and apps free, no paid chat plan; no published message cap (may throttle at peak). API is paid | See vendor pricing | source 2026-10-22 | Try DeepSeek → |
| Qwen Chat Free chat with Alibaba's open-weight Qwen models | Free | Qwen Chat is free, no paid consumer plan; fair-use throttling may apply. API is paid | Free (API is pay-per-use) ✓ checked | source 2026-10-22 | Try Qwen Chat → |
| LM Studio Easiest desktop app to download and chat with local models privately | Free | Free desktop app for home and work, no login; models run on your hardware | Free for home and work ✓ checked | source 2026-10-22 | Try LM Studio → |
| Jan Open-source, offline ChatGPT-style desktop app | Free | Open source (Apache 2.0), runs 100% offline on your computer | Free (open source) ✓ checked | source 2026-10-22 | Try Jan → |
| GPT4All Private local chatbot desktop app that runs models on your own device | Free | Open source (MIT); runs models on your own device. Its repository's last update was 2025-05-27 | Free (open source, MIT) ✓ checked | source 2026-10-24 | Try GPT4All → |
| Llama (Meta) Meta's open-weight chat models you run on your own computer or server | Free | Model weights are free to download and use under the Llama Community License (attribution required; Meta's permission needed above 700M monthly users); you supply the hardware | Free open weights (Llama Community License) ✓ checked | source 2026-10-24 | Try Llama (Meta) → |
| Gemma (Google) Google's open models for local chat and apps, Apache 2.0 from Gemma 4 | Free | Gemma 4 weights are free under Apache 2.0 (earlier Gemma versions use the Gemma Terms of Use); you supply the hardware | Free open weights (Apache 2.0 for Gemma 4) ✓ checked | source 2026-10-24 | Try Gemma (Google) → |
| gpt-oss (OpenAI) OpenAI's open-weight reasoning models (20B and 120B) you can run yourself | Free | Open weights under Apache 2.0 (gpt-oss-20b and gpt-oss-120b); you supply the hardware | Free open weights (Apache 2.0) ✓ checked | source 2026-10-24 | Try gpt-oss (OpenAI) → |
| ChatGPT General-purpose chat, quick answers, images, custom GPTs | Free tier | Unlimited everyday text chats (abuse limits apply); limited image creation, voice and deep research; 3 file uploads/day | Plus $20/mo ✓ checked | source 2026-10-22 | Try ChatGPT → |
| Claude Long-form writing, long documents, careful reasoning, coding | Free tier | Chat on web, desktop and mobile with web search, file creation and Artifacts; usage caps not published (Pro gets 'more usage') | Pro $20/mo ($17/mo billed yearly) ✓ verified | source 2026-10-22 | Try Claude → |
| Gemini Google Workspace users, research, generous free tier | Free tier | Flash-Lite model only, 32K-token context; compute-based limit that refreshes every 5 hours up to a weekly cap | Google AI Pro $19.99/mo ✓ checked | source 2026-10-22 | Try Gemini → |
| Grok Real-time answers from the web and X, plus chat, images, voice and coding in one app | Free tier | Limited Chat, Imagine image generation and Grok Build; video, Grok Bot and API need a paid plan; caps not published | X Subscription Plus $8/mo (Premium $30/mo) ✓ checked | source 2026-10-22 | Try Grok → |
| Microsoft Copilot Windows and Microsoft Office users | Free tier | Free Copilot app: chat, image creation, file uploads; Microsoft does not publish exact limits | See vendor pricing | source 2026-10-22 | Try Microsoft Copilot → |
| Mistral Vibe (Le Chat) European AI chat and coding agent from a maker of open-weight models | Free tier | Limited messages, web searches and coding sessions; basic image generation; caps not published | Pro $14.99/mo ✓ checked | source 2026-10-22 | Try Mistral Vibe (Le Chat) → |
| Ollama Running open models like Llama, Qwen, Gemma, DeepSeek and gpt-oss on your own computer | Free tier | Running models on your own hardware is unlimited; cloud models get a small monthly starter allowance | Free locally (cloud Pro $20/mo) ✓ checked | source 2026-10-22 | Try Ollama → |
Want it hosted or easier? Paid options
Self-hosting and free plans take setup time or have limits. If you would rather pay for a managed service, these fit the same jobs. Sponsored links are marked, and we show the free tier next to each price.
Disclosure: some links on this page are, or may become, affiliate links. If you buy through one we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It never changes which tools we list or how they rank. Details.
| Tool | Paid entry plan | Free tier | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT General-purpose chat, quick answers, images, custom GPTs | Plus $20/mo ✓ checked | Yes: Unlimited everyday text chats (abuse limits apply); limited image creation, voice and deep research; 3 file uploads/day | See ChatGPT plans → |
| Claude Long-form writing, long documents, careful reasoning, coding | Pro $20/mo ($17/mo billed yearly) ✓ verified | Yes: Chat on web, desktop and mobile with web search, file creation and Artifacts; usage caps not published (Pro gets 'more usage') | See Claude plans → |
| Perplexity Cited web answers and quick research | Pro $17/mo billed yearly ✓ checked | Yes: Practically unlimited basic searches; 3 Pro Searches/day; 1 Research query/month | See Perplexity plans → |
| Grok Real-time answers from the web and X, plus chat, images, voice and coding in one app | X Subscription Plus $8/mo (Premium $30/mo) ✓ checked | Yes: Limited Chat, Imagine image generation and Grok Build; video, Grok Bot and API need a paid plan; caps not published | See Grok plans → |
Tell us your project and we will pick the three best free tools for it.
Find free tools for my project“Free” means no paid plan exists for that product; “Free tier” means a free plan with the limits shown, as stated on the vendor page or help center on the check date. Free trials, one-time signup credits and plans that block downloads are not counted as free. Tools whose free plan we could not verify are left out. Limits change often; confirm on the vendor page. Some links are affiliate links (disclosure); they never change what we list.