Side-by-side comparison · AI Assistants & LLMs
Google Gemini 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: People whose work already runs on Gmail, Google Workspace or an Android phone.
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 | Google Gemini | Meta AI | Perplexity |
|---|---|---|---|
| In one line | Google's assistant, built into Gmail, Docs, Drive and Android phones. | 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 | US$4.99/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 | Google Gemini | Meta AI | Perplexity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall rating | 4.2 | 3.9 | 4.2 |
| 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 | 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. | 4.5 | 4.0 | 4.5 |
Feature comparison
A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.
| Attribute | Google Gemini | 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 | Yes | 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 | 16/ 17 | 10/ 17 | 15/ 17 |
Pricing
Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.
| Attribute | Google Gemini | Meta AI | Perplexity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | Free Free Light use and seeing how it feels. | FreeOur pick Free Almost everyone. Chat, search and voice cost nothing. | Free Free Everyday questions and quick fact-checks. |
Google AI Plus US$4.99/mo Casual users who want Gemini in Gmail and more storage. | 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. | |
Google AI ProOur pick US$19.99/mo Anyone who works in Google Workspace every day. | 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. | |
Google AI Ultra From US$99.99/mo Heavy creative and agent users. | Enterprise Pro $34/seat/mo billed yearly Teams that need admin controls and data protection. | ||
Enterprise Max $271/seat/mo billed yearly Research teams working with large datasets and files. | |||
| Which plan to pick | Skip the free plan for anything serious now that it's Flash-Lite only. AI Pro (US$19.99, or A$32.99 in Australia) 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. | 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 | Google Gemini | Meta AI | Perplexity |
|---|---|---|---|
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Pros and cons
| Attribute | Google Gemini | Meta AI | Perplexity |
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Who each one is for
| Attribute | Google Gemini | Meta AI | Perplexity |
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Questions people ask
Which is better, Google Gemini, Meta AI or Perplexity?
They tie on our overall rating (Google Gemini 4.2/5, Meta AI 3.9/5 and Perplexity 4.2/5). Google Gemini is best for searching and summarising your Gmail and drafting in Google Docs. 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, Google Gemini, Meta AI or Perplexity?
Google Gemini: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at US$4.99/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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