Best AI Chatbots and Assistants in 2026
Updated
In short: Perplexity is ranked #1 of 65 as of 30 September 2026, ahead of Claude and Poe. The best-ranked option with a free plan is Claude. The lowest first paid tier on this page is Dust at €2/mo.
For research, everyday questions or shared work, AI assistants differ in how they access information and fit into your tools. Compared on app integrations, file uploads, web search and image generation, the entries also show mobile apps, team workspaces, free plans and paid-from pricing. Consider which ways of working with an assistant matter to you, and whether you need individual access or a shared workspace. Perplexity, Poe and AnythingLLM are among the first entries, followed by Dust and ChatGPT. The ranking provides an order to browse; the listed capabilities and pricing details give you practical points for comparing options against your workflow.
65 AI chatbots and assistants ranked on what their makers publish — plans and prices, free tiers, platforms and the facts on their own pages.
| # | Platform | Score | Why | From | Free plan | Paid from | Web search | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Perplexity | 8.9 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | Free | Yes | View |
| 2 | Claude | 8.8 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | Yes | View |
| 3 | Poe | 8.5 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | Free | Yes | — | Yes | View |
| 4 | AnythingLLM | 8.2 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | $50/mo | Yes | View |
| 5 | Dust | 8.0 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | €2/mo | Yes | — | — | View |
| 6 | ChatGPT | 7.5 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | Free | Yes | $399/mo | Yes | View |
| 7 | Microsoft Copilot | 7.4 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | $8.33/mo | Yes | $9.99/mo | Yes | View |
| 8 | Gemini | 7.3 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | Free | Yes | — | Yes | View |
| 9 | Grok | 7.2 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | Free | Yes | — | Yes | View |
| 10 | Meta AI | 7.0 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | Yes | View |
| 11 | Doubao | 7.0 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | Yes | View |
| 12 | Kimi | 7.0 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | Yes | View |
| 13 | Amazon Q | 7.0 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | No | View |
| 14 | Qwen Chat | 6.9 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | Yes | View |
| 15 | Open WebUI | 6.9 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | Yes | View |
| 16 | DeepSeek | 6.8 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | Free | Yes | — | Yes | View |
| 17 | Lumo | 6.8 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | Free | Yes | — | Yes | View |
| 18 | Yuanbao | 6.7 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | Free | Yes | — | Yes | View |
| 19 |  Sider | 6.7 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | Yes | View |
| 20 |  Merlin | 6.7 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | Free | Yes | — | Yes | View |
| 21 |  Quad Chat | 6.7 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | $8/mo | Yes | $8/mo | Yes | View |
| 22 |  Khoj | 6.6 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | Yes | View |
| 23 | Gemini Notebook | 6.6 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | $9.99/mo | Yes | $9.99/mo | Yes | View |
| 24 | Vibe | 6.6 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | $14.99/mo | Yes | $14.99/mo | Yes | View |
| 25 | Big-AGI | 6.6 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | $9/mo | Yes | $9/mo | Yes | View |
Is your platform on this list?
Numbered spots on this list can be sponsored. They are labelled, and the editorial order and scores never change for payment.
Questions about this list
Which AI chatbots and assistant is ranked first on Inferse?
Perplexity is ranked #1 of 65 with a score of 8.9. Claude is second and Poe third.
How many of these have a free plan?
18 of the 25 on this page publish a free plan on their own pricing pages.
Which is the cheapest paid option?
On this page, Dust has the lowest first paid tier we found: €2/mo.
How is this list ranked?
Ranked on what each maker publishes, open and connectable first: a public API, open-source code, the depth of its documentation and a free tier to try it on. Model lists are sorted by the figure in their title, exactly as each provider publishes it. Paid placements never change a rank.