Reviews of the AI tools and new models people actually use: what each is good at, where it falls short, and who should pay for it. Every review says how we reviewed it.
The most complete all-round AI assistant, and the free plan is now genuinely useful with unlimited GPT-6 text chats. Plus at $20 a month is the plan most people should pay for. Pro only makes sense for very heavy reasoning work.
Best for: Anyone who wants one assistant for writing, questions, files, images and voice, plus people who rely on custom GPTs and scheduled tasks.
The best pick for long documents and careful writing, with a 1 million token context window across the new 5.5 models and a clear choice over training. Pro at $20 suits most people. Max is for heavy users and anyone who wants Fable 5.1 included.
Best for: Writers, analysts, lawyers, researchers and developers who work with long documents, reports, contracts or code.
The best value if you live in Gmail, Docs and Android, with Gemini 4 Argon, Deep Research and Nano Banana image editing in one plan. Change the privacy defaults first, because human reviewers can read your chats.
Best for: People who already use Google apps, students on a budget, and anyone who wants research, images and email help in one subscription.