Pick Claude for coding and for writing you'll put your name on, ChatGPT for everyday use, and Gemini for research and for anyone who lives in Gmail and Google Docs. For teams, Claude's Team plan bundles Claude Code and Cowork from $20 a seat; a company already on Google Workspace should start with Gemini. All three charge about $20 a month for the main paid plan.
Every price, model and limit below comes from the maker's own page. Opinions are labelled and come from daily use, not benchmarks. Docs checked 2026-11-06.
Claude vs ChatGPT vs Gemini at a glance
| Claude | ChatGPT | Gemini | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | $0, limited usage every 5 hours and every week | $0, unlimited text chats with GPT-6 (abuse guardrails apply) | $0, Flash-Lite model, 15 GB storage |
| Budget plan | None | Go, $8/month in the US, may include ads | Google AI Plus, $4.99/month |
| Main paid plan | Pro, $20/month ($17 billed annually) | Plus, $20/month | Google AI Pro, $19.99/month |
| Top consumer plans | Max $100, Ultra $200 | Pro 100, Pro 200, Pro 500 ($100 to $500) | AI Ultra $99.99 or $199.99 |
| Flagship models | Fable 5.1, Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5.5, Haiku 5.5 | GPT-6 (Sol), GPT-6 Pro (Astra), GPT-6.1 Sol | Gemini 4 Argon, 3.1 Pro, Flash |
| Memory | On every plan; imports memory from other AI providers | Limited on Free, expanded on Plus | Memory of past chats; imports memories and chat history |
| Custom MCP connectors | Every plan, including Free (one connector) | Full MCP on Business and Enterprise; Developer mode (beta) on Plus and Pro | Custom MCP apps for US personal accounts, English only |
| Coding agent | Claude Code, on all paid plans | Codex, limited on Free and Go | Google Antigravity (no charge to start), Gemini CLI |
| Context and files | Up to 1M tokens, varies by model | Plus: 256K reasoning context (~320 pages in); Pro: 400K | AI Pro: 1M tokens, up to 1,500 pages or 30K lines of code |
| Google Workspace | Claude for Google Workspace (beta): Docs, Sheets, Slides | Google Sheets extension | Gemini in Gmail, Docs, Vids and more (AI Pro) |
Sources: Claude pricing, Claude connectors, Claude memory import, ChatGPT pricing, ChatGPT Go, ChatGPT Plus, ChatGPT Pro tiers, GPT-6 in ChatGPT, ChatGPT custom MCP, Gemini plans, Gemini memory, Gemini memory import, Gemini custom apps, Gemini long context, Antigravity, Gemini CLI.
Claude vs ChatGPT for coding: which agent should you use?
Claude Code, in our experience. All of our coding runs on Claude Code with Opus 5.5, and we dropped Codex and the OpenAI coding models: GPT-6 Astra and GPT-6.1 Sol were slow and weak on our work, and worst at front end.
On paper the products are close. Anthropic says Claude Code is included in all paid plans, and you can steer it from a terminal, an IDE, Slack or the web. OpenAI says Codex is included in your ChatGPT plan and runs in ChatGPT, your editor and the terminal. Google's answer is Antigravity, an agentic development platform with an app, a CLI and an IDE, free to start. More detail in Claude Code vs Codex and Cursor vs Claude Code.
Claude vs ChatGPT for writing
Our pick is Claude, mostly because that's where our non-code work already happens: we use Claude Cowork daily for proposals, decks and emails. Claude Docs and Slides are on every Claude plan, including Free, and Claude for Google Docs shows its changes as suggestions you apply or dismiss. ChatGPT's answer is its Word, Excel and PowerPoint extensions, full on Plus and limited on Free. Gemini writes inside Docs and Gmail on AI Pro. If the draft lives in Google Docs anyway, Gemini saves you a copy-paste.
Which is best for research?
Gemini, in our opinion, because the most research tooling comes free. Google lists Deep Research on the free plan and says it "can analyze hundreds of sources in real-time." On AI Pro, Gemini has a 1M-token context window, which Google says holds up to 1,500 pages of text. ChatGPT limits deep research on Free and Go and expands it on Plus. Claude's Research feature starts at Pro. Claude also reaches 1M tokens on some models, so the free Deep Research is the real edge.
Which is best for everyday use?
ChatGPT. Its Free plan gives unlimited text chats with GPT-6, subject to abuse guardrails, plus limited voice, image creation and memory. Go at $8 a month adds more messages with tools, more uploads and longer memory. Claude Free caps usage every 5 hours and every week, and leaves Opus out. Gemini Free runs the Flash-Lite model. For quick single-shot questions, we actually use Grok chat daily, so for this job the cheapest tool you like is fine.
Which works best in Google Workspace?
Gemini. Google AI Pro includes Gemini in Gmail, Docs, Vids and more plus 5 TB of storage. Claude reaches Google two ways: Claude for Google Workspace (beta) adds a sidebar to Docs, Sheets and Slides, and the connectors directory has Google Drive, Gmail and Google Calendar. ChatGPT offers a Google Sheets extension.
Which should a team buy?
Claude Team if your team writes code or builds documents, Gemini if your company runs on Google Workspace. Claude Team costs $20 per seat a month billed annually, or $25 monthly, for 2 to 150 people, and includes Claude Code and Cowork. Gemini Enterprise Business starts at $21 per seat a month for up to 300 seats. ChatGPT Business starts at 2 users and is where OpenAI puts full custom MCP support. More in Claude Team plan and ChatGPT Projects vs Claude Projects.
What is Claude best for compared to ChatGPT?
In our view, Claude is best for long, careful work: coding with Claude Code, documents, and connecting your own tools. Anthropic lets every plan add custom connectors over remote MCP, including one on Free. ChatGPT is better when you want a cheap or free plan that does a bit of everything: the $8 Go tier, unlimited text chats on Free, more image creation and voice with video from Go up.
Is Claude still better than Gemini? What can Claude do that Gemini can't?
Claude is better for coding agents and for wiring in your own tools; Gemini is better inside Google's apps and for media. Claude's custom connectors work on every plan. Gemini's custom MCP apps need a US location and a personal Google Account, and work in English only for now. Claude Code comes with Pro. Google AI Pro, in turn, bundles video generation, 5 TB of storage and Gemini inside Gmail.
Is Gemini behind Claude and ChatGPT?
Not on price or context, in our opinion. Google AI Plus at $4.99 is the cheapest paid plan of the three, and AI Pro's 1M-token window matches Claude's best. Where Gemini trails is openness: custom MCP connectors are narrower than Claude's, and its coding agent is a separate product, Antigravity, rather than part of the chat app.
Why is Claude so expensive?
Claude isn't more expensive at the main tier: Pro is $20 a month, or $17 billed annually, the same as ChatGPT Plus. What feels expensive is the limits. Claude meters usage in rolling 5-hour windows and paid plans add weekly limits on top, Free has no Opus, and heavy users move up to Max ($100) or Ultra ($200). Fable, Anthropic's top model, is paid with usage credits on Pro and included up to half your weekly limit on Max and Ultra. On the API, Opus 5.5 costs $4 per million input tokens and $20 per million output tokens.
Do you have to pick one?
No. We use Claude Code for code, Cowork for everything else, Grok chat for quick questions, and ChatGPT works with our Tokenrip connector on web and desktop. The catch is that each assistant keeps its own memory and its own files. Claude and Gemini can import memories from other assistants, but that's a one-time copy, and Anthropic calls its import experimental. Using two or three on the same work needs one shared place for context; Tokenrip is that for Claude, ChatGPT and other MCP apps. See Claude and ChatGPT together and Claude and ChatGPT shared memory.
Keep one memory that Claude and ChatGPT both read
Whichever assistant wins a job, the one you switch to starts cold. Tokenrip is a shared workspace your agents connect to, so Claude and ChatGPT read the same profile, rules and projects before they answer.
- A "Me" workspace built from your exported memories: Profile, Rules and Active projects, each pinned.
- Every connected agent loads it first, so switching assistants doesn't mean re-explaining yourself.
- What you say goes in straight away; anything an agent inferred is proposed for your approval first.
- A weekly tidy proposes moving stale projects to Done and fixing contradictions.
Connect me to Tokenrip. Fetch https://tokenrip.com/setup?ref=claude-vs-chatgpt-vs-gemini and follow it. Then read the skill at https://tokenrip.com/skills/88ca6e75-6767-4c3e-ac5c-3fdd8cc4118d and set up one memory that Claude and ChatGPT both read.
Paste that into Claude, ChatGPT or any agent you use. The Free plan is $0 with no credit card: unlimited workspaces and agents and 2,500 agent actions a month.
Nothing leaves the workspace until you approve it: anything an agent wants to send, post or publish waits as a proposal you approve, edit or skip.