Side-by-side comparison · AI Assistants & LLMs
ChatGPT vs Meta AI vs Perplexity
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: Heavy WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook users, and Ray-Ban Meta glasses owners, who want a free assistant without installing anything new.
Pick it if: Anyone who researches as part of their job and is sick of having ten tabs open.
Overview
| Attribute | ChatGPT | Meta AI | Perplexity |
|---|---|---|---|
| In one line | OpenAI's all-rounder: chat, images, voice, web search and agents in one app. | Meta's free assistant, built into WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and Ray-Ban Meta glasses. | Ask a question and get a short answer from the web, with links to every source. |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium | Freemium |
| Starting price | $8/mo | $7.99/mo | $17/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Works with Claude Code | No | No | Yes |
Rating breakdown
Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.
| Attribute | ChatGPT | Meta AI | Perplexity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall rating | 4.3Winner | 3.9 | 4.2 |
| Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it. | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, and how well the pieces fit together. | 5.0 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them. | 4.0 | 3.5 | 4.5 |
| Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan. | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over. | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.5 |
Feature comparison
A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.
| Attribute | ChatGPT | Meta AI | Perplexity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access & platform | |||
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile app | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Desktop app | Yes | No | Yes |
| 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 | – | Yes |
| Open source or self-hosted | No | No | No |
| AI abilities | |||
| Works with your files | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Understands images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Makes images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Makes video | No | Yes | Yes |
| Writes code | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Runs agents or automations | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Learns your brand or style | Yes | No | No |
| Works in many languages | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Capabilities score | 15/ 17 | 10/ 17 | 15/ 17 |
Pricing
Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.
| Attribute | ChatGPT | Meta AI | Perplexity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | Free Free Trying it out and everyday questions. | FreeOur pick Free Almost everyone. Chat, search and voice cost nothing. | Free Free Everyday questions and quick fact-checks. |
Go $8/mo Casual users who hit the free limits. | Meta One Core $7.99/mo People who make lots of AI images and clips for social. | ProOur pick $17/mo billed yearly Anyone who researches as part of their job. | |
PlusOur pick $20/mo Anyone using it most days for work. | Meta One Premium $19.99/mo Heavy creators who keep hitting the Core limits. | Max $167/mo billed yearly Power users running the Computer agent all day. | |
Pro From $100/mo Heavy users and people living in Codex. | Enterprise Pro $34/seat/mo billed yearly Teams that need admin controls and data protection. | ||
Business See website Teams from 2 people up. | Enterprise Max $271/seat/mo billed yearly Research teams working with large datasets and files. | ||
| 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: Pro 200 now comes with a smaller allowance than it did before 29 September. | Stay on the free plan. The paid Meta One bundles only raise image and video limits, and Meta doesn't publish the actual numbers, so only pay if you're making a lot of AI visuals for social. | Start free and see how often you hit the Pro search limit. If you research most days, Pro pays for itself in saved tabs. Its 4,000 bonus Computer credits are a one-off and run out after about 30 days, so don't count them as a monthly allowance. Max only makes sense if you're using the Computer agent heavily enough to burn through the credits. |
Key features
| Attribute | ChatGPT | Meta AI | Perplexity |
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Pros and cons
| Attribute | ChatGPT | Meta AI | Perplexity |
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Who each one is for
| Attribute | ChatGPT | Meta AI | Perplexity |
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Questions people ask
Which is better, ChatGPT, Meta AI or Perplexity?
ChatGPT scores highest overall in our ratings (ChatGPT 4.3/5, Meta AI 3.9/5 and Perplexity 4.2/5). ChatGPT is best for everyday questions and brainstorming and making and editing images in the chat. Meta AI is best for quick answers inside WhatsApp or Instagram and free image and short video generation. Perplexity is best for fact-checking and quick research and competitor and market research.
Which is cheaper, ChatGPT, Meta AI or Perplexity?
ChatGPT: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $8/mo. Meta AI: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $7.99/mo. Perplexity: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $17/mo.
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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