Side-by-side comparison · AI Assistants & LLMs
Google Gemini vs Perplexity vs Qwen Chat
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: Anyone who researches as part of their job and is sick of having ten tabs open.
Pick it if: Anyone after a capable free assistant with image, video, slides and website tools, and developers who want open models.
Overview
| Attribute | Google Gemini | Perplexity | Qwen Chat |
|---|---|---|---|
| In one line | Google's assistant, built into Gmail, Docs, Drive and Android phones. | Ask a question and get a short answer from the web, with links to every source. | Alibaba's generous free assistant for research, slides, websites, images and video. |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium | Freemium |
| Starting price | US$4.99/mo | $17/mo | $4/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Works with Claude Code | No | Yes | No |
Rating breakdown
Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.
| Attribute | Google Gemini | Perplexity | Qwen Chat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall rating | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.0 |
| Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it. | 4.0 | 4.5 | 4.0 |
| FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, and how well the pieces fit together. | 4.5 | 3.5 | 4.0 |
| Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them. | 4.0 | 4.5 | 4.0 |
| 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. | 4.5 | 4.5 | 3.5 |
Feature comparison
A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.
| Attribute | Google Gemini | Perplexity | Qwen Chat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access & platform | |||
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile app | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Desktop app | Yes | Yes | No |
| Browser extension | Yes | Yes | No |
| API access | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Teams & business | |||
| Team workspace | Yes | Yes | No |
| Enterprise plan or SSO | Yes | Yes | No |
| Connects to other apps | Yes | Yes | No |
| Open source or self-hosted | No | No | Yes |
| 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 | 15/ 17 | 11/ 17 |
Pricing
Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.
| Attribute | Google Gemini | Perplexity | Qwen Chat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | Free Free Light use and seeing how it feels. | Free Free Everyday questions and quick fact-checks. | FreeOur pick Free Most people. The free limits are generous for chat and research. |
Google AI Plus US$4.99/mo Casual users who want Gemini in Gmail and more storage. | ProOur pick $17/mo billed yearly Anyone who researches as part of their job. | Go $4/mo Regular users who want higher chat limits. | |
Google AI ProOur pick US$19.99/mo Anyone who works in Google Workspace every day. | Max $167/mo billed yearly Power users running the Computer agent all day. | Plus $19/mo Creators making images and video most days. | |
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. | Pro $99/mo Heavy video and image users who need priority. | |
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. | 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. | Start free; most people never need to pay. Go at $4 is cheap if you hit the chat limits. Prices are App Store prices, so check the in-app screen before you subscribe. |
Key features
| Attribute | Google Gemini | Perplexity | Qwen Chat |
|---|---|---|---|
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Pros and cons
| Attribute | Google Gemini | Perplexity | Qwen Chat |
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Who each one is for
| Attribute | Google Gemini | Perplexity | Qwen Chat |
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Questions people ask
Which is better, Google Gemini, Perplexity or Qwen Chat?
They tie on our overall rating (Google Gemini 4.2/5, Perplexity 4.2/5 and Qwen Chat 4.0/5). Google Gemini is best for searching and summarising your Gmail and drafting in Google Docs. Perplexity is best for fact-checking and quick research and competitor and market research. Qwen Chat is best for A free assistant that does a bit of everything and quick webpages and slide decks from a prompt.
Which is cheaper, Google Gemini, Perplexity or Qwen Chat?
Google Gemini: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at US$4.99/mo. Perplexity: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $17/mo. Qwen Chat: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $4/mo.
Which is easier to use, Google Gemini, Perplexity or Qwen Chat?
Perplexity rates highest for ease of use in our scores. Anyone who researches as part of their job and is sick of having ten tabs open.
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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