Free AI assistants, November 2026: what each free plan includes

By FinderAtlas · Checked 4 Nov 2026 · 5 min read

As of 4 November 2026, every major AI assistant has a free plan, but none publishes a message count. ChatGPT is the most generous on paper, with unlimited text chats and no account needed in supported countries. Duck.ai is the most private: no account, and chats are not used for training.

Free plans at a glance

Limits are quoted as each vendor states them. "Not stated" means the vendor's own pages don't say.

Free AI assistant plans, checked 4 Nov 2026

Assistant	Use without an account	Free limit	Cheapest upgrade
ChatGPT	Yes, in supported countries	Unlimited text chats; uploads, images and voice limited	Go, $8
Claude	Not stated	Limits per five hours and per week	Pro, $20
Gemini	Some features	Limits reset every five hours, with a weekly cap	Google AI Plus, $4.99
Microsoft Copilot	Yes	"Subject to available capacity and limits"	Microsoft 365 Personal, $9.99
Perplexity	Some features	3 or 5 Pro Searches a day (its help pages differ)	Pro, $17 billed annually
Grok	Not stated	"Limited" chat, voice and images	Plus, $8
Le Chat	Not stated	Limited messages and web searches	Pro, $14.99
DeepSeek	No	None stated	No paid chat plan
Duck.ai	Yes	A daily limit	Plus, $9.99
Poe	No	Daily points; amount not stated	$4.99

Assistant: ChatGPT
Use without an account
Yes, in supported countries
Free limit
Unlimited text chats; uploads, images and voice limited
Cheapest upgrade
Go, $8
Assistant: Claude
Use without an account
Not stated
Free limit
Limits per five hours and per week
Cheapest upgrade
Pro, $20
Assistant: Gemini
Use without an account
Some features
Free limit
Limits reset every five hours, with a weekly cap
Cheapest upgrade
Google AI Plus, $4.99
Assistant: Microsoft Copilot
Use without an account
Yes
Free limit
"Subject to available capacity and limits"
Cheapest upgrade
Microsoft 365 Personal, $9.99
Assistant: Perplexity
Use without an account
Some features
Free limit
3 or 5 Pro Searches a day (its help pages differ)
Cheapest upgrade
Pro, $17 billed annually
Assistant: Grok
Use without an account
Not stated
Free limit
"Limited" chat, voice and images
Cheapest upgrade
Plus, $8
Assistant: Le Chat
Use without an account
Not stated
Free limit
Limited messages and web searches
Cheapest upgrade
Pro, $14.99
Assistant: DeepSeek
Use without an account
No
Free limit
None stated
Cheapest upgrade
No paid chat plan
Assistant: Duck.ai
Use without an account
Yes
Free limit
A daily limit
Cheapest upgrade
Plus, $9.99
Assistant: Poe
Use without an account
No
Free limit
Daily points; amount not stated
Cheapest upgrade
$4.99

What changed recently

ChatGPT shows ads on Free and Go. OpenAI began testing ads in the US on 9 February 2026 and is rolling them out in more regions; accounts under 18 see none.
Claude stays ad-free. Anthropic said on 4 February 2026 that "Claude will remain ad-free".
NotebookLM is now Gemini Notebook. Google's help pages use the new name; the free plan allows 100 notebooks with 50 sources each.
You.com no longer offers a consumer chat app. Its site now sells only search and inference APIs, so it is not in this list.

Which model does each free plan use?

ChatGPT: the pricing page lists GPT-6 Luna; OpenAI's help center says GPT-5.6 Luna and notes the default can change.
Claude: Sonnet and Haiku. Opus and Fable are paid only.
Gemini: the Flash-Lite model, with a 32K-token context window.
Copilot: not named; an automatic picker chooses the model.
Perplexity: "basic AI models", picked per query.
Duck.ai: a choice of Claude 4.5 Haiku, GPT-6 Luna, GPT-5.4 mini, Mistral Small 4, gpt-oss-120b and Gemma 4 31B.
Grok, Le Chat and DeepSeek: not stated for free chat.

What can you do for free?

Free-plan features, as each vendor states them

Assistant	Image generation	File uploads	Deep research
ChatGPT	Limited	Limited	Limited
Claude	Not stated	Not stated; can create files and run code	Not stated
Gemini	Yes	Not stated	Yes, may pause at busy times
Copilot	Yes, when signed in	Not stated	Not stated
Perplexity	No	Limited	1 Research query a month
Duck.ai	Yes, daily cap	Images and PDFs up to 15 pages	Not stated

Assistant: ChatGPT
Image generation
Limited
File uploads
Limited
Deep research
Limited
Assistant: Claude
Image generation
Not stated
File uploads
Not stated; can create files and run code
Deep research
Not stated
Assistant: Gemini
Image generation
Yes
File uploads
Not stated
Deep research
Yes, may pause at busy times
Assistant: Copilot
Image generation
Yes, when signed in
File uploads
Not stated
Deep research
Not stated
Assistant: Perplexity
Image generation
No
File uploads
Limited
Deep research
1 Research query a month
Assistant: Duck.ai
Image generation
Yes, daily cap
File uploads
Images and PDFs up to 15 pages
Deep research
Not stated

Gemini's free plan is the most complete on paper: image generation, Deep Research, Gemini Live, Canvas and 15 GB of storage. Video generation is paid only.

Do free plans use your chats for training?

Training and ads on free plans

Assistant	Chats used for training by default	Ads	How to opt out of training
ChatGPT	Yes, depending on location and settings	Yes	Data controls, "Improve the model for everyone"
Claude	Only if you allow it	No	Settings, Privacy
Gemini	Yes, while Keep Activity is on	Chats are not used for ads	Turn off Keep Activity
Copilot	Yes, with exceptions by age and country	Yes, personalized unless you opt out	Copilot privacy controls
Perplexity	Yes, AI Data Retention is on	Not stated	Account preferences
Le Chat	Yes	Not stated	Data & Account Controls
DeepSeek	Yes, de-identified	Not stated	"Improve the model for everyone"
Duck.ai	No	Not stated	Not needed

Assistant: ChatGPT
Chats used for training by default
Yes, depending on location and settings
Ads
Yes
How to opt out of training
Data controls, "Improve the model for everyone"
Assistant: Claude
Chats used for training by default
Only if you allow it
Ads
No
How to opt out of training
Settings, Privacy
Assistant: Gemini
Chats used for training by default
Yes, while Keep Activity is on
Ads
Chats are not used for ads
How to opt out of training
Turn off Keep Activity
Assistant: Copilot
Chats used for training by default
Yes, with exceptions by age and country
Ads
Yes, personalized unless you opt out
How to opt out of training
Copilot privacy controls
Assistant: Perplexity
Chats used for training by default
Yes, AI Data Retention is on
Ads
Not stated
How to opt out of training
Account preferences
Assistant: Le Chat
Chats used for training by default
Yes
Ads
Not stated
How to opt out of training
Data & Account Controls
Assistant: DeepSeek
Chats used for training by default
Yes, de-identified
Ads
Not stated
How to opt out of training
"Improve the model for everyone"
Assistant: Duck.ai
Chats used for training by default
No
Ads
Not stated
How to opt out of training
Not needed

Copilot does not train on chats from users who are not signed in or are under 18. Gemini keeps chats for 72 hours even with Keep Activity off. Gemini Notebook does not train on your notebooks unless you send feedback.

Which free AI assistant should you use?

No account, most usage: ChatGPT, with ads and training on by default.
Privacy first: Duck.ai needs no account and does not train on chats. Claude trains only if you allow it.
Research with sources: Perplexity, but Pro Searches are capped at a few a day.
Images, research and storage in one: Gemini.
Studying your own documents: Gemini Notebook, free for 100 notebooks of 50 sources.
No paid plan to push you toward: DeepSeek, though it needs an account.

Qwen and Z.ai also show a chat box before you sign in, but neither publishes its free limits, and Kimi's pricing page shows no free tier at all. For paid plans, see AI subscription prices; for more options, browse all AI assistants.

How we checked

Every fact comes from the vendor's own pricing, help center or privacy pages, opened on 4 November 2026. We did not count messages ourselves, since limits change with demand. Where two official pages disagree, we show both.

Frequently asked questions

Which AI assistant has the best free plan?

On paper, ChatGPT: unlimited text chats, no account needed in supported countries, and limited uploads, images, voice and deep research. It shows ads and uses chats for training by default. Gemini's free plan adds image generation, Deep Research and 15 GB of storage.

Can I use an AI chatbot without signing up?

Yes. ChatGPT (in supported countries), Microsoft Copilot and Duck.ai work without an account, and Gemini and Perplexity offer some features logged out. DeepSeek and Poe require an account.

Is the free version of ChatGPT unlimited?

Text chats are unlimited, subject to OpenAI's abuse guardrails. File uploads, image generation, voice and data analysis have separate limits, and the reset time is shown in the app.

Which free AI chatbot does not use my data for training?

Duck.ai says conversations are not used to train chat models. Claude uses chats for training only if you allow it. ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Perplexity, Le Chat and DeepSeek train on free-plan chats by default, with an opt-out.

Does Claude have a free plan?

Yes. Claude Free includes the Sonnet and Haiku models, web search, file creation, code execution and memory, with usage limits that reset every five hours and weekly. Claude Code is not included.