Bored with ChatGPT? Of course you aren't. It's helping millions of people write content, solve coding problems, and create games, among other ridiculous and impressive things. But it's perfectly valid to take a break to see what other AI chatbots are available. Because ChatGPT isn't the only hat in the ring.
Allow me to save you a dozen Google searches (or ChatGPT prompts). I spent time talking to some of the best AI chatbots to see how they measure up. You'll find a bit of everything here, including ChatGPT alternatives that'll help you create content, AI chatbots that can search the web, and a few just-for-fun options. You'll even see how you can build your own AI chatbot if you don't find what you're looking for here.
It's likely that between the time I write this and the time you read it, there will be even more AI chatbots on the market, but for now, here are the most interesting ones to watch.
The best AI chatbots
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The leader:
ChatGPT -
The runner-up: Google Bard
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Open source: HuggingChat
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For searching the web: Microsoft Bing AI, Perplexity, YouChat, KoalaChat
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For content writing: Jasper Chat, Chat by Copy.ai, ChatSonic, ZenoChat
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For sales and marketing: ChatSpot
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For messaging: Personal AI
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For personal coaching: Pi
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For tinkering: OpenAI playground, Poe, DeepAI Chat
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For fun: Character.AI
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On social media: Snapchat My AI
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For coding auto-complete: GitHub Copilot, Amazon CodeWhisperer
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Build your own AI chatbot with no-code: Zapier Interfaces
What to look for in an AI chatbot
Before we dive in, let's talk a bit about how ChatGPT works. This will help you understand what's interesting about each AI chatbot and use it to your advantage.
ChatGPT is an app created by OpenAI that lets users interact with its AI models: GPT-3 (on the free version) and GPT-4 (in early access for paid users). The app takes the prompts you write and passes them to the AI model. This model runs the prompt through its systems and returns the results back to the app, so you can read them in a conversational chatbot style.
While the app takes care of the features—for example, saving your conversation history—the AI model takes care of the actual interpretation of your input and the calculations to provide an answer. For more context, take a look at our breakdown of ChatGPT vs. GPT.
Most of the apps on this list are also powered by OpenAI's GPT models. But even when that's the case, the app developers can pass additional commands to configure how the model replies, so you may see different results when you try each chatbot, even though they're running on the same engine. (Some apps on this list use non-GPT models, which are proprietary to the company that built the app.)
With that in mind, here's what I was keeping an eye out for as I tested each AI chatbot online:
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Accuracy and responsiveness. Given that most AI chatbots are using GPT right now, they'll generally give you similar-ish content. But there were some duds. I didn't include any platforms that couldn't generate coherent language, that delivered wildly inaccurate information on a consistent basis, or that couldn't move a conversation forward naturally.
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Easy access. There shouldn't be any advanced setup or technical requirements to talk to a chatbot, when you can do it quickly (and for free) with ChatGPT.
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Chat experience. There are lots of ways to interact with AI, but the staple of ChatGPT is interacting with the model through a chat window. With a few exceptions, each app on this list is a conversational AI chatbot (I'll explain any exceptions as I get to them).
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Extra features. Anything on top of entering your prompt and receiving the output is welcome, from multi-language support to connecting directly to the internet.
Based on my research and experiences interacting with them, here are the best AI chatbots for you to try. Have fun—I know you will.
ChatGPT
Model: OpenAI GPT-3 and GPT-4
ChatGPT went viral in late 2022/early 2023, attracting the attention of the entire world in a matter of days. The app is very simple to use: start a conversation by inputting your prompt at the bottom of the screen. As the output comes back, a new entry is created on the left-side menu, so you can keep all your threads separate and come back to them later. If any of these is particularly interesting, you can share a link to it and show it to others (and they can start where you left off).
Even though it sometimes puts out factual errors while displaying total confidence—what experts call hallucinations—ChatGPT is still the industry leader for now. It remembers what you've said within each conversation, using it as context to provide more accurate output as it moves forward. It can accept text commands, helping you format and customize the output. And it's extremely flexible, tackling tasks in any discipline with an acceptable level of accuracy—just be sure you fact-check.
While GPT-3 is already impressive, GPT-4 is even better. It's trained on a much larger dataset, making it even more flexible, more accurate with its writing output, and it can even predict what happens next when given a still image. When you subscribe to the Plus plan for $20 per month, you'll get access to this improved model and also to internet browsing via the Bing plugin—a great way to get ChatGPT to explore the world after September 2021.
ChatGPT added plugins to the bot, which means you can also use it to fetch data, run programs, and access third-party services. Natural language is the new no-code, and with Zapier's ChatGPT plugin, you can search for data inside any of your connected apps and trigger workflows, all by chatting.
You can also do the opposite, building ChatGPT into your existing workflows with Zapier's direct ChatGPT integration. No matter where you are, you can use ChatGPT to summarize, generate replies, or anything else you can dream up. Here are a couple of examples.
Zapier is the leader in no-code automation—integrating with 5,000+ apps from partners like Google, Salesforce, and Microsoft. Build secure, automated systems for your business-critical workflows across your organization's technology stack. Learn more.
Google Bard
Model: Google LaMDA
Google has been in the AI race for a long time, with a set of AI features already implemented across its product lineup. After an epic hiccup during the initial product demo, Bard left behind the LaMDA model and now uses PaLM 2 to carry out your instructions.
Bard can connect to the internet to find sources (even offering a handy button that lets you "Google it" yourself), which is a huge selling point. The search results can even show images directly on the chat window. It also lets you edit your prompt after you've sent it and offers up to three drafts of each output, so you can pick the best one. It can keep track of your conversation history, but this feature is disabled by default. (Click the Bard Activity button on the left-side menu to turn the setting on.)
But here's what I love: you can now export your prompts to a Google Doc or a Gmail draft. Once you find an output that's looking good to work on, click on the Export button, and select one of those destinations. The output lands fully-formatted and ready to go. Let's hope these are the first of many Google Workspace features coming to Bard.
And if you were steering clear of Bard because it was hurting your eyes, you can now switch it to dark mode and keep prompting into the early hours of the morning.
When compared with ChatGPT, Bard feels more conversational and less oriented toward text commands. To read more about their differences, here's a direct comparison: ChatGPT vs. Bard.
HuggingChat
Model: OpenAssistant LLaMa
Presenting HuggingChat, an open source chatbot assembled by Hugging Face. It's similar to ChatGPT in terms of user experience, it accepts instructions equally well, and it seems to be happier right from the get-go—at least judging from the number of "Sure thing!", "Of course!", and "Let me know if any of these spark interest and we can brainstorm further!" I got.
I appreciate the enthusiasm, but the road is still rocky:
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It delivers a decent number of factual errors (David Benger is not a Microsoft co-founder), but we should all work up our fact-checking skills anyway.
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Parts of the output seem out of place. In one of our conversations, the model told me that some parts of its earlier output may have spelling errors.
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It sometimes stops generating output in the middle of a response, so keep your prompts short. Asking it to "continue" won’t work all the time: sometimes the model will stay on topic; other times it'll go on a wild goose chase.
Despite these limitations, it feels great to use HuggingChat. It's something to compare ChatGPT to, revealing a bit about how these models take your inputs and calculate the outputs. You can definitely add it to your brainstorming toolkit, but I'd keep it away from more serious parts of your workflow—at least for the time being.
You can connect Hugging Face to Zapier, so it can talk to all the other apps you use. Here are some examples of how to automate Hugging Face.
Microsoft Bing AI
Model: OpenAI GPT-3
Early in 2023, Microsoft upped its investment in OpenAI and started developing and rolling out AI features into its products. One of those was Bing, which now has an AI chatting experience that will help you search the web. Once you enter your prompt, it will search the internet for you, process the results, and present you with a reply containing the links it used as a base.
It can now show image results in the chat window, but it doesn't pick up too well on the intent of image search: it usually prints out a list of image links instead of an image gallery. And if you want to re-read past conversations, you can do so by clicking on each one on the right side of the screen.
Bing AI is still behaving strangely, sometimes ending conversations abruptly—still, it's nothing like when it revealed its gaslighting skills. Don't take it personally if it says it doesn't want to continue the conversation. Hit New Thread, and keep going.
Here's a full rundown of ChatGPT vs. Bing Chat.
Perplexity
Model: OpenAI GPT-3 and GPT-4
Perplexity is another take on AI internet-connected chatbots for handling more information and longer, less organized searches. Here's why: when getting the output, you'll see a list of all the sources below it. Then, you can add a new prompt to continue that search, or pick one of the suggested related search terms. All the results will stack on the bottom, so you can scroll up or down to read everything.
You can tick Copilot in the search bar to get some help in product recommendations, best healthy recipes, or travel tips, for example. Once you enter your prompt, Perplexity will ask you a set of qualifying questions to home in on your intent. The resulting output summarizes all the key information, acting as a good starting point for a deep dive.
When you share your chats with others, they can continue the conversation you started without limitations. On your end, you can see the views for shared conversations, likes, and follow-up questions, making the experience more interactive.
Now better prepared for advanced tasks like solving equations and processing real-time data by leveraging Wolfram Alpha, Perplexity is positioning itself more and more as a powerful and straightforward search tool.
YouChat
Model: OpenAI GPT-3
YouChat's user interface is reminiscent of a Google Search results page. The difference is there's a tab for AI chat in addition to the traditional video, news, and image search tabs.
Once you enter your prompt and receive the output, you can browse a list of web search results on the right side of the screen. At the bottom, you can also find contextual buttons that open up a collection of Reddit posts about the topic or maps with pins of any places discussed, for example. If you like the simplicity of ChatGPT, this might feel a bit crowded, but it's great to browse lots of information faster.
You can adjust the priority that the engine should give to different sources by up- or down-voting them. This feature is called Apps—you can browse a huge list containing names such as Reddit or TechCrunch, and you can set the priorities based on your interests.
Like ChatGPT, YouChat has a chat history, and you can also share your searches with others. If you wish Google had a Bing-like AI chat already, YouChat is worth a look.
KoalaChat
Model: OpenAI GPT-3.5 Turbo
KoalaChat is a simple AI chat app powered by GPT-3.5 Turbo. While that sounds like the latest model from a sports car manufacturer, the output is pretty good. When I asked it to prepare a trip to the Grand Canyon, it created a three-day tour with an outline of what to see and what to do. I then asked it to give me a link to a map—and I got exactly what I asked for.
In addition to the chat experience, you can use KoalaWriter to generate blog posts with either GPT-3.5 or GPT-4. There aren't many controls when compared with tools specialized for content writing (you'll read about those next below), but they're a step up from ChatGPT's more freeform experience. KoalaChat isn't entirely free: there's a 250-message limit, and a series of limitations for KoalaWriter too. To raise the ceiling, the prices start at $9 per month, also unlocking the shiny GPT-4.
Jasper Chat
Model: OpenAI GPT-3 and GPT-4
Jasper is an all-in-one AI content creation powerhouse. It has AI templates for all kinds of content types—YouTube video scripts, blog posts, LinkedIn profile, about page copy, you name it—and recently rolled out its own Jasper Chat, joining in on the hype.
The great part about it is that you can quickly turn a conversation into a document (or more), making ideation and pushing first drafts easy work. When you input a prompt to create an article, Jasper Chat will return the result and suggest follow-up articles on similar topics.
The output quality is more or less the same when compared with ChatGPT—after all, they both use OpenAI's GPT models—but when reading the output, it feels like Jasper's developers are tuning it to adapt better for content production. Jasper Chat also connects to the internet, so you'll be able to fact-check faster with lists of fact sources.
Once you have dozens of fresh pieces to post, you may need images to go along with the text. Jasper also offers an AI image generation add-on, so you don't have to leave the platform to take care of aesthetics. All these features come with a price, but if you're on the high-volume content game, it shouldn't feel too expensive for the power you'll have at your disposal.
You can connect Jasper to Zapier to automate a lot of your content creation workflows. Here are a couple examples.
Chat by Copy.ai
Model: OpenAI GPT-3
Copy.ai is a text generation platform that focuses on writing copy. Like Jasper, it has AI templates to write content and copy faster. (If you want to dive deep into the similarities and differences, here's a look at Jasper vs. Copy.ai.)
You can chat with Chat by Copy.ai on one side of the screen and add the best ideas to the text editor on the right. When you're satisfied with the results, you can start editing the piece and organizing it into the appropriate project folder. It's a thoughtful approach.
The free plan is generous if you only need to generate content occasionally, so it's definitely worth trying to see if it fits your tech stack.
ChatSonic
Model: OpenAI GPT-4
ChatSonic is Writesonic's AI chatting experience. It's meant for content production at scale, straight from a chat window to your blog or social media. It connects to the internet to find sources and keeps track of the information in each conversation. But unlike the competition, it also offers:
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Voice-to-text (you can prompt by talking out loud) and text-to-voice (it can read its output out loud back to you)
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Sharing your conversations with family, friends, or co-workers
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Setting the personality of the AI, letting you talk to a fitness trainer, stand-up comedian, or philosopher
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Image generation using either Stable Diffusion or OpenAI's DALL-E
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A prompt library with recipes to generate SEO keywords, for example; you can also save your best prompts here to reuse them later
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A way to interact with ChatSonic from Twitter and Slack
That's a pretty feature-rich chat experience. And you can take it one step further by connecting ChatSonic to Zapier, so you can invoke ChatSonic from whatever app you're already in.
ZenoChat
Model: 4 proprietary models; OpenAI's GPT-3.5 and GPT-4
TextCortex is a content generation app that has a collection of templates to turn your prompt into a first draft quickly. Within this app, you'll find ZenoChat, the chat experience that leverages a collection of AI models: four of its own (named Sophos, Alta, Velox, and Aecus) as well as OpenAI's GPT-3.5 and GPT-4.
The proprietary models offer acceptable output but sometimes miss the context of the prompt. It's also quite literal when interpreting intent, which I actually like: it makes the model feel more steerable, more responsive to what you want to explore. Other areas that could use improvement are output text formatting (especially in long outputs) and keeping filler words under control.
Still, I liked trying these new models, and the feel is definitely different from the GPT-based apps if you're looking for a change of pace.
ChatSpot
Model: OpenAI's GPT models
Who'd guess that HubSpot was in on the AI race too? Yes, the CRM giant is building ChatSpot, still in alpha stage, and it has a lot of potential. The app can be connected to your HubSpot data, so you can:
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Create, update, and add new tasks to any contacts
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Run reports
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Research companies and leads
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See analytics data for your HubSpot sites
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Do keyword research
All this with natural language prompts instead of a festival of clicks on the HubSpot CRM app. But these features are just the beginning. You can also use ChatSpot to write blog posts and post them straight to your HubSpot website.
To further improve productivity, it connects with Google Drive to speed up document creation: you can send any prompt straight to a Google Doc, a table of companies to a Google Sheet, or a generated image to Google Slides, all with just prompts. And if you like dad jokes, ChatSpot serves you up a few as you wait for your output. That's the cherry on top right there.
Personal AI
Model: Proprietary GGT-P; OpenAI's GPT-3
It's difficult to get GPT-3 to communicate exactly like you do. Personal AI helps fix that. It's based on a proprietary AI model called GGT-P, and it trains on your data: messages, documents, favorite links, and anything else you send it. Your personal AI will learn what makes you you and will adapt to your communication style.
It doesn't require a massive amount of data to start giving personalized output. To make each response more flexible, it uses OpenAI's GPT-3 to plug in the gaps, creating a mixture between a general and a personal response. You can see how much of each it is by taking a look at the Personal Score percentage.
Personal AI is great for messaging others, writing emails, or creating content in your own voice and starting from your own knowledge. It will suggest replies in your conversations that will start sounding more and more like you over time. Once you're confident it represents who you are and what you know, you can set it to Autopilot on a conversation-by-conversation basis to let it take over.
You can also connect Personal AI to Zapier, so you can automatically create memories for your chatbot as you're going about the rest of your day. Here are some examples.
Pi
Model: Proprietary
Pi: with a short name that stands for personal intelligence, Influence AI's new chatbot sets out to be engaging and supportive. It may not be as flexible as ChatGPT—it can't write articles or search the internet—but it offers a fresh user experience that's worthy of mention.
The app is minimalistic and filled with loads of cute details and animations. You'll find that Pi isn't tuned for long answers. Instead, it prefers shorter bursts of conversation and loves asking questions. It wants you to share your day, mention difficulties you're having, or talk through problems in your life. It's friendly, and while vague at times, it always has nice things to say.
It's free to use at the moment, so you can jump right in. To keep track of your conversation history, you'll have to provide your name and phone number. This way, Pi will be able to text you from time to time to ask how things are going, a nice reminder to check in and catch up.
OpenAI playground
Model: OpenAI GPT-3 and GPT-4
Want to take a look under the hood? With OpenAI's playground, you can test the GPT models by entering more than just a prompt. It lets you control lots of behind-the-scenes settings:
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Temperature controls the randomness of the output
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Maximum length controls the length of the output
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Stop sequences tell the model when to stop generating text
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Modes: Complete, Chat, Insert, or Edit
This is great a great spot to test the capabilities of GPT. You can use it for getting better at prompting, understanding how AI language models work, or even test the viability of an AI app business idea powered by OpenAI. It's slightly less of a chatbot feel (there's ChatGPT for that), but it still has an easy access vibe.
If you're using it for more than tinkering, you can connect OpenAI to Zapier to do things like create automatic replies in Gmail or Slack.
Poe
Model: Sage, Dragonfly, Claude, OpenAI GPT-3 and GPT4
ChatGPT connects to either GPT-3 or GPT-4. Poe is an AI chatbot app that connects to both those models along with a few more:
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Sage, which is good for general-purpose questions and tasks
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Dragonfly, which is more literal and steerable
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Claude, which is better for creative tasks
One feature I enjoyed a lot was the bot creator. You can create your own bots by choosing which AI model you want to base it on, entering the rules as a prompt, and then sharing them with other people. I created a bot that always reminds the user to drink water before providing the output. Because why not?
DeepAI AI Chat
Model: Proprietary, based on OpenAI's GPT-2
AI Chat's user interface isn't as polished as ChatGPT's, but the output feels similar most of the time. It includes a range of AI presets that change the way the AI works, which feels a lot like you're tinkering with the settings under the hood. To use these presets, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on any of them to begin:
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AI Debate lets you enter a topic and start a debate on it. The AI will open with its own thesis, and you can reply criticizing those points. As your conversation moves forward, the AI will keep adapting and defending its ideas.
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AI Disagreement is great if you have trouble making choices, either individually or with friends and family. Enter all the possibilities of a decision you're making, and the AI will decide for you.
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AI Motivational Coach 1) assures you you're not alone, 2) provides a set of strategies to help you complete a difficult task, and 3) enthusiastically reminds you that "you've got this."
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AI Terminal acts as a code tester so you can check if you're on the right track.
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And there are a few more for talking about philosophy, discussing relationships, or giving a piratey flavor to each interaction.
There's a paid plan at $4.99 that unlocks Genius mode for chat and adds a collection of image generation credits to your pocket. AI Chat is a surprisingly solid playground—be sure to try it out.
Character.AI
Model: Proprietary
Ever wondered why Elon Musk bought Twitter? While you can't pick up the phone and ask the real one, you can hop on Character.AI and do the next best thing: ask an AI model set to talk like Musk and brainstorm together about what's next for the social media platform.
There are plenty of characters to talk to. Click on their profile to see more information about them, and if you'd like to start a conversation, you can do so with a few clicks.
It's also possible to create characters of your own, with an impressive set of controls. You can then proceed to train them by chatting and rating the responses it gives you. If you're looking for an AI chatbot for fun, this might be your pick.
Snapchat My AI
Model: OpenAI's GPT models
Snapchat made a name for itself by introducing disappearing messages into the social media scene. Now it also offers My AI, an AI chatbot that can answer almost anything directly within the app.
It's powered by OpenAI's models, so the output isn't wildly different from the original ChatGPT experience. To access it, open the app, and tap the chat icon, where you'll find the My AI conversation. You can tap its profile image to change settings and manage your data.
As you might expect, the uses for productivity are limited, but My AI can answer quick questions on things to do around town, offer gift advice, and even comment on snaps you send over to it: "Wow, those eyes are really unique!"
If you're interested in new chatbots in development for social media, be sure to take a look at TikTok's Tako too.
GitHub Copilot
Model: OpenAI Codex
Technically, GitHub Copilot doesn't have the chat-like experience you're used to when using ChatGPT. But since it integrates with your integrated development environment (IDE) and acts as an autocomplete, it sort of feels like you're having a dialogue with an AI model as you code.
When you start typing a comment or writing a function, Copilot will suggest the code that best accomplishes what you're setting out to do. You can tap to cycle through all the suggestions and, if you find a fitting one, press tab to paste it.
Since there can be security risks when using generated code, Copilot includes security vulnerability filtering to ensure it doesn't create more problems than it solves. You'll still have to audit the code, especially since some suggestions aren't as efficient as they could be. If you want to take a look at the productivity and happiness impact of using Copilot, be sure to take a look at this study.
Amazon CodeWhisperer
Model: Proprietary
Amazon is in the AI game, too, with CodeWhisperer, a machine learning solution to help developer productivity. It's very similar to GitHub Copilot with a few key differences:
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Amazon is running a proprietary AI model trained on open source code and Amazon Web Services (AWS) usage data. It then trains on your own project data to learn about your coding practices to generate more personalized suggestions.
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Since it's built with AWS in mind, it will help you stay within the code best practices for Amazon services such as EC2, Lambda, and S3.
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It doesn't support as many languages as Copilot, being limited to C#, Java, JavaScript, Python, and TypeScript. As for IDEs, it supports all Amazon-based ones along with JetBrains and Visual Studio Code.
Claude
Model: Proprietary
Claude is training to be an AI model that's helpful, honest, and harmless. According to the presentation page, Claude can help with the same use cases as ChatGPT. It can search, it can write, it can code. And supposedly, it's less likely to produce harmful responses—while also being easier to talk to and more steerable.
Early feedback on the website claims that Claude feels more conversational than ChatGPT, offering more depth in its answers while keeping things simple. In the future, you may find it integrated with the likes of Notion or the search engine DuckDuckGo.
Interested? Hop on the waitlist, and get notified when Claude's ready to talk. Once you do, Claude integrates with Zapier, so you can get your chats wherever you already spend your time.
Khanmigo
Model: Proprietary
Khan Academy has been building a reputation for offering high-quality learning resources for free. As AI opens up new avenues in learning, Khan Labs is working on Khanmigo, an AI-powered tutor to help you master complex topics.
Still in testing phase—you have to make a donation to get on the waitlist—it will offer one-on-one tutoring on topics ranging from history to mathematics, helping you get your mind around the core issues. What I like about it is how it doesn't tell you the answer to an exercise—instead, it asks you a set of questions to get you to think your way to it.
When Khanmigo is implemented, you'll be able to interact with it via a chat window in the Khan Academy platform as you explore the courses.
Zapier Interfaces
Model: OpenAI GPT-3.5
Zapier's Interfaces tool lets you create custom AI-powered chatbots with the power of GPT. Creating a chatbot is easy: you just give it a name, an optional greeting and prompt placeholder letting chatters know what to do, and then the directive. In the directive, you'll tell the chatbot who it is, what it knows, and how it should answer. The Zapier team has created everything from a corporate jargon translator, to a press release generator, to a risk assessment bot. Whatever you want the bot to be, it will be.
You can turn the creativity up or down (like you might in the OpenAI playground) and even customize the look and feel of your bot. Then you can create a nice little landing page for it and give it a unique URL that you can share with anyone. Read more about how to build your own AI chatbot with Zapier.
Which ChatGPT alternative should you use?
As ChatGPT itself would tell you, "The answer to this question really depends on what you want to use the chatbot for. There are many different AI chatbots available, and each one has its own strengths and weaknesses." Nailed it.
The biggest thing to remember is that most of these AI chatbots use the same language model as ChatGPT, and the ones that don't sound pretty similar anyway...at least if you squint. Most of the differences are in how the apps are to interact with, what extra features they offer, and how they connect to the other tools you use. Almost all of these AI chatbots are free to test, so take a day and give them all a spin. At the very least, it'll be an experience.
Related reading:
This article was originally published in April 2023. The most recent update was in June 2023.