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Side-by-side comparison · AI Assistants & LLMs

Claude vs Microsoft Copilot vs GPT-6 Astra

Everything that matters when choosing between them, in one place: our rating, what each can do, what they cost, and the trade-offs.

Best overall

Claude

4.6

From $20/mo

Microsoft Copilot

3.6

From $9.99/mo

GPT-6 Astra

3.8

From $20/mo

Comparing 3 tools, the maximum.

At a glance

Claude

4.6
Best overallBest valueEasiest to use

Pick it if: Anyone who writes, researches or makes decisions for a living, plus anyone curious about Claude Code.

Microsoft Copilot

3.6

Pick it if: Businesses and people who spend their day in Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams.

GPT-6 Astra

3.8

Pick it if: Power users and editors who want an AI that can operate their software for them.

Overview

AttributeClaudeMicrosoft CopilotGPT-6 Astra
In one lineAnthropic's chat assistant, at its best on careful writing and long documents.Microsoft's assistant, free on Windows and built into Word, Excel and Outlook.OpenAI's top model, built to work your computer for you across long, multi-step jobs.
Pricing modelFreemiumFreemiumPaid
Starting price$20/mo$9.99/mo$20/mo
Free plan Yes Yes No
Works with Claude Code Yes No No

Rating breakdown

Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.

AttributeClaudeMicrosoft CopilotGPT-6 Astra
Overall rating4.6Winner3.63.8
Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it.
4.5
3.5
3.0
FeaturesHow much it can do, and how well the pieces fit together.
4.5
4.0
4.5
Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them.
5.0
3.5
5.0
Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan.
4.5
3.5
3.0
Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over.
4.5
3.5
3.5

Feature comparison

A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.

AttributeClaudeMicrosoft CopilotGPT-6 Astra
Access & platform
Free plan Yes Yes No
Mobile app Yes Yes Yes
Desktop app Yes Yes Yes
Browser extension Yes Yes Yes
API access Yes Yes Yes
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 Yes Yes
Makes video No No No
Writes code Yes Yes Yes
Runs agents or automations Yes Yes Yes
Learns your brand or style Yes No Yes
Works in many languages Yes Yes Yes
Capabilities score14/ 1714/ 1714/ 17

Pricing

Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.

AttributeClaudeMicrosoft CopilotGPT-6 Astra
Plans

Free

Free

Trying it out and light daily use.

Free

Free

Trying Copilot chat on Windows or your phone.

ChatGPT Plus

$20/mo

Trying Astra in Codex and ChatGPT Work.

ProOur pick

$20/mo, or $17/mo billed yearly

Anyone who uses it most days.

Microsoft 365 Personal

$9.99/mo, or $99.99/yr

One person who wants Office plus some Copilot.

ChatGPT ProOur pick

From $100/mo

People who want Astra and Astra Pro everywhere.

Max

From $100/mo

Heavy users and people living in Claude Code.

Microsoft 365 PremiumOur pick

$19.99/mo, or $199.99/yr

Sole traders and households who want the full Copilot in Office.

ChatGPT Business

See website

Teams that want Astra Pro with admin controls.

Team

From $20/seat/mo billed yearly

Businesses with 2 to 150 people.

Microsoft 365 Copilot (business add-on)

$30/user/mo billed yearly

Businesses already on a Microsoft 365 business plan.

API

$10 per million input tokens, $50 per million output

Developers building Astra into their own software.

Which plan to pickStart on Free to see if the writing suits you. Most people who stick with it move to Pro within a month; only go to Max if you hit the Pro limits every day or you're running Claude Code for hours at a time.If you're a sole trader or a household already paying for Microsoft 365, Premium is the easy upgrade. For a business, the $30 add-on only makes sense for the people who live in Excel, Outlook and Teams meetings; give everyone else the free Copilot Chat and a Claude or ChatGPT seat.Don't buy a plan for Astra alone. If you're on Plus, try it in Codex first. Move to Pro only if you've got real computer-use or long agent jobs for it, and start on the $100 tier. For most writing and research, GPT-6.1 Sol or the standard models are faster and good enough.

Key features

AttributeClaudeMicrosoft CopilotGPT-6 Astra
Standout features
  • Projects
  • Artifacts
  • Long documents
  • Web search and connectors
  • Claude Code
  • Memory
  • Copilot in Word and Outlook
  • Copilot in Excel
  • Copilot in PowerPoint
  • Researcher and Analyst agents
  • Work-grounded chat
  • Free Copilot chat
  • Computer use
  • Long multi-step jobs
  • Astra Pro
  • Codex
  • API access

Pros and cons

AttributeClaudeMicrosoft CopilotGPT-6 Astra
Pros
  • Writing sounds like a person and needs the least editing of any assistant
  • Handles long documents and messy briefs without losing track
  • Projects and memory mean you stop repeating the same context
  • Artifacts turn answers into real documents, slides and small apps
  • One subscription covers Claude Code as well
  • Works inside the Office apps most workplaces already pay for
  • Business add-on answers from your own emails, files and meetings
  • Keeps your existing security, permissions and compliance
  • Premium bundles Office, storage and Copilot for one price
  • Excel and Outlook help saves real time for non-technical staff
  • The strongest computer-use and agent model available
  • Works through long jobs without hand-holding
  • Included in paid ChatGPT plans rather than sold separately
  • Best coding results of any OpenAI model to date
Cons
  • Free and Pro usage limits can bite on a busy day
  • No video generation, and image generation is basic next to ChatGPT
  • Fewer third-party connectors and plugins than ChatGPT
  • Answer and writing quality trails ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini
  • Business add-on is $30 per user on top of your licence, the priciest option here
  • Results in Excel and PowerPoint still need a lot of fixing
  • Which Copilot you have depends on your licence, which is confusing
  • No reason to pick it if you don't use Microsoft 365
  • Only on paid plans, and full access needs Pro from $100 a month
  • Slower and far more expensive per token than the standard models
  • Already overtaken for most tasks by the cheaper GPT-6.1 Sol
  • Computer use is still fiddly and results depend heavily on your setup
  • Rollout and plan access keep changing, so what you get varies week to week

Who each one is for

AttributeClaudeMicrosoft CopilotGPT-6 Astra
Best for
  • Long-form writing and editing
  • Reading and summarising long documents
  • Thinking through a plan or decision
  • Pairing with Claude Code
  • Summarising long Outlook threads
  • First drafts in Word
  • Explaining and tidying spreadsheets
  • Quick PowerPoint decks
  • Driving editing software from instructions
  • Long research and build tasks
  • Computer-use automation
  • Coding through Codex
You'll find it used by
  • Writers and marketers
  • Founders
  • Consultants
  • Developers
  • Office workers
  • Finance teams
  • Small business owners
  • Corporate teams
  • Power users
  • Video editors
  • Developers
  • Analysts

How we compare

Ratings are our own, from using each tool, across ease of use, features, output quality, value for money, speed & reliability. The "Visit" buttons may use affiliate links, which never affect a score.

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