Side-by-side comparison · AI Browsers & Agents
Claude Cowork vs Claude in Chrome vs Google Chrome
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: Business owners and office teams who want repetitive file, report and admin work done for them without building automations.
Pick it if: Claude subscribers who spend their day in web apps and want the repetitive clicking done for them.
Pick it if: Anyone already using Chrome and Google's apps who wants AI help reading, comparing and researching without switching browsers.
Overview
| Attribute | Claude Cowork | Claude in Chrome | Google Chrome |
|---|---|---|---|
| In one line | Claude's agent mode: hand it a whole task across your files, apps and browser. | Anthropic's Chrome extension that lets Claude click, type and fill in forms for you. | The world's most used browser, now with Gemini built in to read pages and do tasks. |
| Pricing model | Paid | Paid | Freemium |
| Starting price | $20/mo | $20/mo | $19.99/mo |
| Free plan | No | No | Yes |
| Works with Claude Code | Yes | Yes | No |
Rating breakdown
Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.
| Attribute | Claude Cowork | Claude in Chrome | Google Chrome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall rating | 4.1 | 4.1 | 4.1 |
| Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it. | 4.0 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, and how well the pieces fit together. | 4.5 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them. | 4.5 | 4.5 | 3.5 |
| Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan. | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.5 |
| Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over. | 3.5 | 3.5 | 4.0 |
Feature comparison
A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.
| Attribute | Claude Cowork | Claude in Chrome | Google Chrome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access & platform | |||
| Free plan | No | No | Yes |
| Mobile app | Yes | No | Yes |
| Desktop app | Yes | No | Yes |
| Browser extension | No | Yes | Yes |
| API access | No | No | No |
| Teams & business | |||
| Team workspace | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Enterprise plan or SSO | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Connects to other apps | Yes | 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 | No | No | Yes |
| Makes video | No | No | No |
| Writes code | Yes | Yes | No |
| Runs agents or automations | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Learns your brand or style | Yes | Yes | No |
| Works in many languages | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Capabilities score | 11/ 17 | 10/ 17 | 12/ 17 |
Pricing
Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.
| Attribute | Claude Cowork | Claude in Chrome | Google Chrome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | Pro $20/mo, or $17/mo billed yearly Trying it on a few tasks a week. | ProOur pick $20/mo, or $17/mo billed yearly Anyone trying browser tasks for the first time. | FreeOur pick Free Most people: summaries, tab comparisons and AI search. |
MaxOur pick From $100/mo Anyone handing off tasks every day. | Max $100/mo People running browser tasks most days. | Google AI Pro $19.99/mo US users who want Gemini to do tasks on websites for them. | |
Team $25/seat/mo, or $20/seat/mo billed yearly Small teams sharing connectors and admin controls. | Ultra $200/mo All-day agent users. | Google AI Ultra From $99.99/mo Heavy users who hit Pro's limits. | |
Enterprise From $20/seat/mo yearly plus usage, 20-seat minimum Companies that need admin, spend and security controls. | Team From $20/seat/mo billed yearly, or $25 monthly Teams of 2 to 150 who want admin control. | ||
Enterprise From $20/seat/mo yearly plus usage, 20-seat minimum Larger companies with security rules. | |||
| Which plan to pick | Start on Pro to see which jobs it handles well for you. If you hand it real work most days you will hit the limits, and Max is the plan that makes it a daily tool. | Pro is enough to see what it can do for you. Browser tasks use your limits faster than chat, so if you hand it real work every day you'll likely need Max. Teams should use the Team plan so an admin can control which sites Claude can use. | Use it free. The side panel is what most business owners will actually use, and it's free in Australia. Only pay for AI Pro if you're in the US or India and want auto browse, or you want Gemini's better models anyway. Nobody needs Ultra for the browser. |
Key features
| Attribute | Claude Cowork | Claude in Chrome | Google Chrome |
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Pros and cons
| Attribute | Claude Cowork | Claude in Chrome | Google Chrome |
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Who each one is for
| Attribute | Claude Cowork | Claude in Chrome | Google Chrome |
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Questions people ask
Which is better, Claude Cowork, Claude in Chrome or Google Chrome?
They tie on our overall rating (Claude Cowork 4.1/5, Claude in Chrome 4.1/5 and Google Chrome 4.1/5). Claude Cowork is best for weekly reports built from several sources and organising and cleaning up folders of files. Claude in Chrome is best for pulling numbers out of dashboards and portals with no export and Tidying Google Drive, Gmail and other web apps. Google Chrome is best for summarising pages and YouTube videos and comparing products or suppliers across tabs.
Which is cheaper, Claude Cowork, Claude in Chrome or Google Chrome?
Claude Cowork: There's no free plan. Paid plans start at $20/mo. Claude in Chrome: There's no free plan. Paid plans start at $20/mo. Google Chrome: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $19.99/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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