Which AI, for what?
Honest comparisons and jargon-free guides. Pit Claude against other models, or find the right tool for a specific job.
The big comparison
The major AI models at a glance — context, price, inputs and openness.
| Model | Maker | Context | API price (in / out) | Inputs | Open weights | Known for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude | Anthropic🇺🇸 US | 1M tokens | Sonnet 5: $2 / $10 per M through 31 Aug 2026, then $3 / $15 — Opus 5: $5 / $25 | Text, image | No | Writing, reasoning, agentic coding |
| ChatGPT (GPT) | OpenAI🇺🇸 US | ≈1M (Codex 400K) | GPT-5.6: $1–5 / $6–30 per M | Text, image, voice | No | All-round, image generation |
| Gemini | Google🇺🇸 US | 1M (2M on some tiers) | 3.5 Flash ≈ $1.50 / $9 per M | Text, image, video | No | Google ecosystem, video, long context |
| Mistral | Mistral AI🇫🇷 UE | 128K – 256K | Competitive | Text, image | Open weights (several models) | EU sovereignty, open-weight, efficiency |
| Llama | Meta🇺🇸 US | up to 10M (Scout) | Free (self-hosted) | Text, image | Open weights | Open source, self-hosting, very long context |
| DeepSeek | DeepSeek🇨🇳 CN | 1M (V4-Flash) | V4-Flash ≈ $0.14 / $0.28 per M | Text | Open weights | Unbeatable cost, code |
| Grok | xAI🇺🇸 US | Large | Via X Premium / API | Text, image | No | Real-time (X), direct tone |
As of 2 August 2026 · public figures, subject to change with every model release. · Source: Anthropic official pricing
Read with care: prices are per million tokens, but tokenizers differ between vendors — the same text does not produce the same token count everywhere. Two identical rates therefore do not mean identical cost. To compare seriously, measure on your own text.
Claude head to head
The honest duels: Claude against ChatGPT, Gemini, Mistral, and the rest.
ClaudeChatGPTClaude (Anthropic) or ChatGPT (OpenAI)? An honest comparison: writing quality, coding, reasoning, long context, pricing, safety. Plus Google's Gemini. Which one to choose for your use case.ClaudeGeminiClaude (Anthropic) or Gemini (Google)? An honest comparison: writing, coding, long context, integration and pricing. Which to choose for your use case.ClaudeMistralClaude (Anthropic, USA) vs Mistral (Le Chat, France): quality, code, European sovereignty, pricing and open weights. Which to choose?ClaudeDeepSeekClaude (Anthropic) vs DeepSeek (China): reasoning, cost, open weights and data-governance questions. Which to choose?ClaudeQwenClaude (Anthropic) vs Qwen (Alibaba, China): open-source family, multilingual, cost and use cases. Which to choose for your needs?ClaudeLlamaClaude (Anthropic) vs Llama (Meta): quality, open source, self-hosting, code and cost. Premium proprietary vs open weights. Which to choose?ClaudeGrokClaude (Anthropic) vs Grok (xAI): style, real-time access to X, code, reasoning and pricing. Two AI philosophies. Which to choose?ClaudePerplexityClaude (Anthropic) vs Perplexity: a general assistant versus a sourced answer engine. Web search, writing, code. Which for what?ClaudeCopilotClaude Code (Anthropic) vs GitHub Copilot: autocompletion vs agent, IDE integration, end-to-end tasks. Which to choose for coding?ClaudeCursorClaude Code (terminal agent) vs Cursor (AI editor): approaches, autonomy, integration. Which to choose for coding with AI?
Choose your AI
Duels between other models and guides to decide by use case.
ChatGPTGeminiChatGPT (OpenAI) or Gemini (Google)? Comparison: writing, code, ecosystem, multimodal, pricing. And where Claude fits. Which to choose for your use.MistralChatGPTMistral (Le Chat, France) or ChatGPT (OpenAI, USA)? Comparison: quality, open weights, sovereignty, pricing. And where Claude fits. Which to choose?What is the best AI for coding in 2026?Which AI coding assistant or AI coding agent is best in 2026? Claude Code, ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot and Cursor compared by use case (completion, agent, debug).What is the best AI for writing?Which AI writes best? Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini compared on style, tone, language and long-form text. How to choose the right one for writing.What is the best free AI?Which free AI to choose? Free tiers of Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Mistral and DeepSeek compared: limits, strengths and how to pick the right one.Which AI should you choose in 2026?Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Mistral... Which AI to choose by use case: writing, code, search, enterprise. An honest, practical decision guide.DeepSeekChatGPTDeepSeek (China, open weights) vs ChatGPT (OpenAI): cost, reasoning, data governance. Which to choose based on your priorities?GrokChatGPTGrok (xAI, built into X) vs ChatGPT (OpenAI): style, integration, versatility. Which to choose for your use case, and where does Claude fit?PerplexityChatGPTPerplexity (sourced AI search) vs ChatGPT (conversational assistant): two different uses. Which to choose, and where does Claude fit?GeminiMistralGemini (Google) vs Mistral (Le Chat, France): ecosystem, European sovereignty, open weights and pricing. Which to choose, and where does Claude fit?LlamaMistralLlama (Meta) vs Mistral (France): two open-weight benchmarks. Sizes, ecosystem, efficiency, sovereignty and pricing. Which to choose?DeepSeekQwenDeepSeek vs Qwen (Alibaba): two Chinese open-weight families. Reasoning, multilingual, cost, data governance. Which to choose?CopilotCursorGitHub Copilot vs Cursor: two ways to code with AI in the editor. Completion, chat, agents, models. Which to choose, and where does Claude Code fit?PerplexityGooglePerplexity (sourced AI answer engine) vs Google (search engine): two ways to search. Cited answers, links, verification. Which to choose?GrokGeminiGrok (xAI, built into X) vs Gemini (Google): integration, real-time news, ecosystem and style. Which to choose, and where does Claude fit?QwenLlamaQwen (Alibaba) vs Llama (Meta): two major open-weight families. Multilingual, ecosystem, data governance and pricing. Which to choose?What is the best AI for translation?Which AI translates best? Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepL and Google Translate compared by use case: nuance, long context, languages. How to choose.What is the best AI to summarize?Which AI summarizes best? Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini compared for summarizing long documents, PDFs, articles and meetings. Long context and fidelity.What is the best AI to generate images?Which AI to create images? A guide to image generators, why Claude generates text and code rather than images, and how to choose for your need.What is the best AI for research and information?Which AI to search and verify information? Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity compared: sources, real-time web and reliability. How to choose.What is the best AI for studying?Which AI to study and revise? Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini compared: understand a course, summarize, practice, without cheating. How to choose well.What is the best AI for legal work?Which AI for legal tasks? Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini compared for analyzing a contract, explaining a statute, drafting. Limits and caution explained.What is the best AI to fix spelling and grammar?Which AI to fix spelling and grammar? Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini vs dedicated checkers: style, explanations, languages. How to choose the right one.
Using Claude day to day
Concrete cases: code, writing, studies, marketing, documents, prompts.
How to use Claude: a practical guide to getting startedHow to make the most of Claude (Anthropic): where to start, write good prompts, analyse documents, code with Claude Code. A practical, concrete guide.Claude for developers: coding, the API, MCP and code reviewClaude for coding: Claude Code in the terminal, the Anthropic API, the MCP protocol, code review. A practical guide to fitting Claude into your dev workflow.Claude for students: revise, understand and actually learnClaude for studying: summarise a course, revise, grasp a concept, practise. Useful uses and the limits to know, while respecting academic integrity.Claude for writing: write better and fasterClaude for writing: emails, articles, rewording, tone adjustment. A method to get clear, natural text that genuinely sounds like you.Claude for marketing: produce faster, without making things upClaude for marketing: generate content, find ideas, write hooks and copy. An effective method plus guardrails to verify every claim you publish.Claude for document analysis: get the essentials from PDFs, contracts and reportsClaude for analysing long documents: PDFs, contracts, reports. Summarise, extract, compare with long context. The method and the checks to keep.Prompts for Claude: concrete examples and tips that workExample prompts for Claude and concrete tips: give context, format, examples, iterate. Ready-to-copy templates for better answers from Claude.Claude for translation: natural translations true to contextClaude for translation: texts, emails, documents, across many languages. A method for natural translations that stay true to tone and context.Claude for lawyers: drafting, contract review and legal researchClaude for legal professionals: draft and review contracts, summarise case files, prepare legal research. With the confidentiality and verification guardrails you must know.Claude for accountants: extraction, checks, reporting and writingClaude for accountants and finance teams: extract invoice data, explain variances, write notes, structure reporting. With the checks you must keep in place.Claude for HR: recruitment, writing and internal communicationClaude for human resources: write job ads and role descriptions, assist candidate screening, draft internal policies and communication. With GDPR and anti-bias precautions.Claude for teachers: preparing, differentiating and assessingClaude for teachers: prepare lessons and exercises, differentiate by level, generate quizzes, give feedback. With precautions on accuracy and student privacy.Claude for doctors: admin, literature review and patient communicationClaude for healthcare professionals: ease administrative writing, summarise literature, explain to patients. Not a medical device: no diagnosis, protected health data.Claude for startups: doing more with a small teamClaude for founders and small teams: accelerate product, automate ops, prepare a fundraise, equip support. Do more with a lean team, without losing control.Claude for finance: analysis, reporting and researchClaude for finance professionals: summarise reports, prepare analyses and reporting, speed up research. No financial advice, with strict verification of figures.How to analyse a contract with Claude, step by stepHow to have Claude review a contract: upload the PDF, spot key clauses, translate jargon, and the checks to keep. A practical step-by-step guide.How to write an effective prompt for ClaudeHow to write a good prompt for Claude: context, role, format, examples and iteration. A simple method for sharper answers, with examples.How to build an application with Claude CodeHow to build an app with Claude Code: install, describe the project, iterate file by file, run the tests. A step-by-step method and good practices.How to extract structured data with ClaudeHow to extract structured data with Claude: invoices, emails, PDFs into a table or JSON. Define the fields, make it reliable, export. Step-by-step method.How to proofread a text with ClaudeHow to proofread and correct a text with Claude: spelling, grammar, style and clarity, without losing your voice. Method, useful instructions and limits.How to build an AI agent with Claude and MCPHow to build an agent with Claude and the MCP protocol: wire up tools and data, define actions, and stay in control. The main steps, explained simply.How to summarise a YouTube video with ClaudeHow to summarise a YouTube video with Claude via its transcript: get the text, ask for a summary or key points, and verify. A step-by-step method.
Claude essentials
Product, models, API, MCP, access and pricing — to start right.
Claude Code: Anthropic's developer agent, explainedClaude Code, Anthropic's developer agent: what it is, what it does in the terminal and IDEs, how to get started, and how to follow its updates.Anthropic's Claude API: a practical guideEverything about Anthropic's API: getting started, available models, Python/TypeScript SDKs, function calling, MCP and per-token pricing.Is Claude free?Does Claude have a free version? What the free tier covers, its limits, and what Anthropic's Pro and Max plans add.The MCP (Model Context Protocol), explainedThe Model Context Protocol (MCP) explained simply: what it's for, how it connects tools and data to Claude, and how to use it.Opus, Sonnet, Haiku: which Claude model should you choose?Opus, Sonnet, Haiku: Claude's 3 tiers explained. Which to choose by task, speed and cost — the practical guide to Anthropic's models.Claude for business: plans, security and deploymentClaude for business: Team and Enterprise plans, API, security and compliance, use cases and deployment. The guide for organizations.How to download and use ClaudeHow to access Claude: the claude.ai web app, Mac/Windows desktop apps, iOS/Android mobile apps, and Claude Code for developers.Claude Opus: Anthropic's most capable modelClaude Opus is Anthropic's most capable tier: complex reasoning, hard coding and high-stakes tasks. When to use it, and when to reach for a faster model.Claude Haiku: Claude's fast, affordable tierClaude Haiku is Anthropic's fastest, most affordable tier. For volume, real-time and simple tasks at scale: what it's good at and its limits.Claude's Artifacts, explainedClaude's Artifacts show code, documents and interactive apps in a dedicated panel next to the chat. What they are and how to use them.Claude Projects, explainedClaude Projects group conversations and reference documents in a persistent workspace. What they're for and how to use them effectively.Computer use: Claude operating a computerComputer use lets Claude operate a computer like a human: see the screen, click, type. What it is, its use cases and its limits.Claude's vision: analyzing imagesClaude analyzes images: screenshots, photos, diagrams, scanned documents, charts. What Claude's vision can do and where it falls short.How much does Claude cost? The plans explainedHow much does Claude cost? Free, Pro, Max, team use and the per-token API, explained. Check current amounts on anthropic.com.Claude's context window, in practiceClaude's context window sets how much text it reads at once. What that means in practice for analyzing long documents and conversations.Is Claude secure?Is Claude safe and secure? Anthropic's safety approach, Constitutional AI, data privacy and best practices for sensitive use. An honest overview.Is Claude reliable?Can you trust Claude? Reliability, hallucinations, sources and best practices for checking its answers. An honest take.Can Claude code?Can Claude program? What it does in code, the languages, Claude Code, its limits and how to use it as a development assistant.Does Claude speak French?Does Claude work in French? How good Anthropic's AI is in French for writing, translation and chat, plus best practices. A complete overview.Is Claude GDPR compliant?Is Claude GDPR compliant? How Anthropic handles data, non-EU transfers, the DPA and best practices for compliant enterprise use.Can Claude access the internet?Does Claude have internet access? Web search, up-to-date data, knowledge cutoff and how it works via tools and the MCP protocol. A clear overview.Can Claude analyze images?Does Claude understand images? What its vision can do (photos, screenshots, PDFs, charts), what it can't, and how to use it. A clear overview.
Claude News is an independent publication, not affiliated with Anthropic.