An up to date comparison of the best AI models
Last updated April 1, 2026.
MODELS
The current top model is Claude Opus 4.6, closely followed by ChatGPT 5.4 Thinking and then Gemini 3.1 Pro. There are others, but you don't need them. These are all available for $20/month and worth it.
GENERAL TOOLS
ChatGPT might still the best choice for most people who will only pay for one AI tool, but I'm not sure anymore. Claude is so much better and includes Claude Code, Claude Cowork, and Claude in Powerpoint, Excel, and Chrome. Gemini Pro includes Gemini in all other Google products (including Chrome) and more and better NotebookLM. I realize not everyone can spend $60/month on AI subscriptions to have them all, but I really do think you'll find it a good investment if used right.
The tool with the most unique capabilities is Google's NotebookLM. If you haven't tried it yet, you really should! Just give it some big documents you know very well and have it make you audio and slides. I promise you will be impressed! Same for Claude Cowork!
SPECIALIZED TOOLS
Perplexity.ai is still best for search. I literally never use Google Search anymore. Even free users get 3 daily pro searches and deep research reports! My new obsession is Perplexity Computer. It seems to be able to do almost everything I want (including that it recently entirely rebuilt this website that used to be WordPress hosted on WP Engine but is now AI-maintained code on Cloudflare). It is much easier to use than Claude Code, and I don't yet have access to Claude Cowork as my PC is ARM instead of Intel.
The best image generator now is Google Flow with Imagen 4 and Nano Banana 2.
If you are looking for a resource for learning how AI works and how to work with it, I recommend my Tulane Applied AI Literacy course that is available for free on YouTube.
