Answer engine with cited sources you can open. / Why: every answer carries its sources; Pro is $17/mo billed yearly.
Free· paid from$17/mo yearly
Citations are not a guaranteeChecked 2026-10-19·perplexity.ai/pro
vs ChatGPTResearch & chat
122 tools. Most people should start with one of the three below: cited search, a general hosted assistant, or a long-context writer — each has a free way in.
OUR TAKE
Start with Perplexity when you need sources you can click, ChatGPT for one general assistant, or Claude for long-context writing and analysis.
Good fit
Researchers and writers who want a sourced or long-context first pass
Poor fit
Developers who need a repo-aware IDE — see Cursor
Sort
Start here · Editor picks
Hosted assistant for chat, files, images, and voice. / Why: Plus is $20/mo; Go has no public price on Help.
Free· paid from$20/mo
chatgpt.com/pricing HTML still hides $Checked 2026-10-19·help.openai.com
vs Claude
Long-context writing and analysis, with Claude Code on paid seats. / Why: Pro is $17/mo billed yearly.
Free· paid from$17/mo yearly
Claude Code is paid-onlyChecked 2026-10-19·anthropic.com/pricing
vs ChatGPTAll 119, in editor's order
Showing 11 of 119 · page 11
AnythingLLM is a self-host or cloud document workspace: the official product recording (see the cover) is the chat UI — workspace sidebar,…
Free· paid from$50/mo
Self-host is not “free AI.”Checked 2026-10-19·anythingllm.com/pricing
vs Ollama
Connected Papers is a literature-graph composer: the signed-out home (see the cover) is “Explore connected papers in a visual graph,” a…
Free· paid from$6/mo yearly
Free is five graphsChecked 2026-10-19·connectedpapers.com/pricing
vs Semantic Scholar
Consensus is a hosted academic research composer: the signed-out app (see the cover) is “Research starts here” with Ask the research,…
Free· paid from$12/mo
Free Pro messages and Deep reviews are cappedChecked 2026-10-19·consensus.app/pricing
vs Elicit
DeepSeek is a hosted chat + API lab: the public site leads with “Ask anything” plus DeepThink and Search; chat.deepseek.com is the…
Paid only$0.003
Chat is login-gatedChecked 2026-10-19·api-docs.deepseek.com/quick_start/pricing
vs ChatGPT
Elicit is a hosted research-agent composer for scientific papers: the signed-out home (see the cover) is “Research agent” plus a prompt…
Paid only$11/user/mo yearly
Audience and yearly/monthly toggles change the dollarsChecked 2026-10-19·elicit.com/pricing
vs Consensus
Grok is xAI’s hosted assistant on grok.com (and inside X): the signed-out canvas asks “What should we explore?” with a composer, Fast…
Free· paid from$8/mo
No grok.com/pricing pageChecked 2026-10-19·docs.x.ai
vs ChatGPT
Khoj is a self-hostable “second brain” web app: the official product GIF (see the cover) is the signed-in composer — greeting, agent…
Free· open source,AGPL
AGPL is not MITChecked 2026-10-19·khoj.dev
vs AnythingLLM
Open WebUI is a self-hosted ChatGPT-style shell: New Chat, Search, Notes, Workspaces, a model picker, and “How can I help you today?”
Paid onlyNot published by the vendor
You operate itChecked 2026-10-19·docs.openwebui.com/getting-started
vs Ollama
SciSpace is a hosted research-agent composer: the signed-out app (see the cover) is “How can I help with your research?” with a task box,…
Free· paid from$12/mo yearly
Yearly vs monthly roughly doubles the Premium rateChecked 2026-10-19·scispace.com/pricing
vs Elicit
Semantic Scholar is Allen AI’s free paper library: the live paper page (see the cover) is title, TLDR, Semantic Reader, citations, figures…
Free
Free is not a systematic-review workflowChecked 2026-10-19·semanticscholar.org
vs ElicitStill deciding? Put them side by side
Facets: Run it yourself · Free only