Side-by-side comparison · AI Assistants & LLMs
ChatGPT vs DeepSeek vs Google Gemini
Everything that matters when choosing between them, in one place: our rating, what each can do, what they cost, and the trade-offs.
Comparing 3 tools, the maximum.
At a glance
Pick it if: Anyone who wants one general-purpose assistant that handles most everyday jobs.
Pick it if: Anyone who wants a strong reasoning assistant for free, and developers watching their API costs.
Pick it if: People whose work already runs on Gmail, Google Workspace or an Android phone.
ChatGPT scores highest overall, but DeepSeek gives you more for your money. Which one is right comes down to what you value most.
Overview
| Attribute | ChatGPT | DeepSeek | Google Gemini |
|---|---|---|---|
| In one line | OpenAI's all-rounder: chat, images, voice, web search and agents in one app. | A free Chinese assistant that's strong at maths, logic and code. | Google's assistant, built into Gmail, Docs, Drive and Android phones. |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Free | Freemium |
| Starting price | $8/mo | Pay per use | $4.99/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Works with Claude Code | No | No | No |
Rating breakdown
Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.
| Attribute | ChatGPT | DeepSeek | Google Gemini |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall rating | 4.3Winner | 3.8 | 4.2 |
| Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it. | 4.5 | 3.5 | 4.0 |
| FeaturesHow completely it covers the job it's built for, and how well the pieces fit together. | 5.0 | 3.0 | 4.5 |
| Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them. | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan. | 4.0 | 5.0 | 4.0 |
| Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over. | 4.0 | 3.5 | 4.5 |
Feature comparison
A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.
| Attribute | ChatGPT | DeepSeek | Google Gemini |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access & platform | |||
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile app | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Desktop app | Yes | No | No |
| Browser extension | Yes | No | Yes |
| API access | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Teams & business | |||
| Team workspace | Yes | No | Yes |
| Enterprise plan or SSO | Yes | No | Yes |
| Connects to other apps | Yes | No | Yes |
| Open source or self-hosted | No | Yes | No |
| AI abilities | |||
| Works with your files | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Understands images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Makes images | Yes | No | Yes |
| Makes video | Yes | No | Yes |
| Writes code | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Runs agents or automations | Yes | No | Yes |
| Learns your brand or style | Yes | No | Yes |
| Works in many languages | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Capabilities score | 16/ 17 | 8/ 17 | 15/ 17 |
Pricing
Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.
| Attribute | ChatGPT | DeepSeek | Google Gemini |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | Free Free Trying it out and everyday questions. | Chat appOur pick Free Anyone who wants a capable reasoning assistant at no cost. | Free Free Light use and seeing how it feels. |
Go $8/mo Casual users who hit the free limits. | API (deepseek-flash) Pay per use, from $0.15 per million input tokens Developers building cheap features into their own apps. | Google AI Plus $4.99/mo Casual users who want Gemini in Gmail and more storage. | |
PlusOur pick $20/mo Anyone using it most days for work. | API (deepseek-v4-pro) Pay per use, from $0.66 per million input tokens Developers who want the stronger model. | Google AI ProOur pick $19.99/mo Anyone who works in Google Workspace every day. | |
Pro From $100/mo Heavy users and people living in Codex. | Google AI Ultra From $99.99/mo Heavy creative and agent users. | ||
Business See website Teams from 2 people up. | |||
| Which plan to pick | The free plan is now good enough to use properly, so stay on it until the image, voice or research limits annoy you. Plus is the sensible upgrade. Only look at Pro if you run Codex or deep research all day, and read the current tier details first because they keep changing. | The app is free, so the only decision is whether the privacy trade-off is acceptable for what you're asking. If you need the model inside your own software, have a developer use the API or run the open model through a provider that keeps your data in Australia. | Skip the free plan for anything serious now that it's Flash-Lite only. AI Pro is the one to buy: it's the cheapest way to get Gemini 4 Argon plus Gemini in Docs and Gmail, and the 5 TB of storage offsets a Google One bill. Ultra is for people generating video all day. |
Key features
| Attribute | ChatGPT | DeepSeek | Google Gemini |
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Pros and cons
| Attribute | ChatGPT | DeepSeek | Google Gemini |
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Who each one is for
| Attribute | ChatGPT | DeepSeek | Google Gemini |
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Questions people ask
Which is better, ChatGPT, DeepSeek or Google Gemini?
ChatGPT scores highest overall in our ratings (ChatGPT 4.3/5, DeepSeek 3.8/5 and Google Gemini 4.2/5). ChatGPT is best for everyday questions and brainstorming and making and editing images in the chat. DeepSeek is best for Maths, logic and step-by-step problems and coding help. Google Gemini is best for searching and summarising your Gmail and drafting in Google Docs.
Which is cheaper, ChatGPT, DeepSeek or Google Gemini?
ChatGPT: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $8/mo. DeepSeek: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at Pay per use. Google Gemini: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $4.99/mo.
Which is easier to use, ChatGPT, DeepSeek or Google Gemini?
ChatGPT rates highest for ease of use in our scores. Anyone who wants one general-purpose assistant that handles most everyday jobs.
How we compare
Ratings are our own, from using each tool, across ease of use, features, output quality, value for money, speed & reliability.
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