Chat & assistants — what's actually free

5 hand-checked tools. Each one says what you get without paying and when we last verified it.

All categories

Ollama

Self-hosted / local · Code & dev · Chat & assistants
Open source✓ VerifiedSelf-hostable

Free: Free and open source (MIT); models download once and run offline forever

One command to run a serious model on your own computer

Checked 2026-07-30

Claude

Chat & assistants · Writing & text · Code & dev
Free tier✓ Verified

Free: Free plan with access to Opus, Sonnet and Haiku at a 200k context window, web search, file creation and code execution

A thinking partner rather than a quick answer

Checked 2026-07-30

Perplexity

Research & search · Chat & assistants
Free tierUnverified

Free: Unlimited basic searches free; a limited number of Pro searches per day without paying

AI search that footnotes every claim

Checked 2026-07-30

Gemini in Chrome

Chat & assistants · Productivity
Free tierUnverified

Free: Free with a Google account inside Chrome; no separate subscription for the basic assistant

An assistant that lives in the browser you already use

Checked 2026-07-30

Portraits

Chat & assistants · Research & search
Free tierUnverified

Free: Free in supported regions with a Google account

Talk to an AI trained on one real expert's work

Checked 2026-07-30
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