9 Best AI Chatbots in 2026 (Compared & Reviewed)

AI chatbots are everywhere these days. But which ones are actually worth your time? Are you looking for the best AI chatbots that truly deliver?

After weeks of researching dozens of AI chatbots across a range of parameters, I’ve finally got the results for you. In this article, I’ll share the Best AI Chatbots and reveal which one truly stands out. I’ll also highlight the limitations and pricing details for each chatbot. 

So, are you ready to see which tool tops the charts? Let’s dive right in!

What are AI Chatbots?

AI chatbots are software applications that use artificial intelligence to simulate human conversations. They use techniques like natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) to understand users’ inputs and respond conversationally. 

Because AI chatbots ensure 24/7 availability, reduced waiting times, and enhanced user experiences, they are widely used in customer support, sales, personal assistance, lead generation, etc. Popular examples of AI chatbots are ChatGPT, Gemini, Meta, Perplexity, etc. 

9 Best AI Chatbots for 2026

1) ChatGPT – Best For Everyday Use

ChatGPT is one of the most popular AI chatbots with over 800 million weekly active users! After our testing, it’s clear why ChatGPT is so widely loved across the globe. It is an all-round tool for everyday queries, professional work, and creative projects. 

It performed exceptionally well in terms of intelligence and problem-solving skills. It gave clear and step-by-step instructions for my question, and aced the math problems. Similarly, it was also able to accurately fact-check information and news articles. 

Next, coming to language skills, it was pretty good with English to Hindi translation, summarizing and paraphrasing text, generating ideas, and writing creative content like stories and captions. It is also ideal for product research and analyzing data, charts, and images. 

You could also generate high-quality images with ChatGPT. It is especially popular for generating Ghibli art! If you want to chat with it, ChatGPT also features a highly realistic voice mode in a young male’s voice. 

But the most impressive feature of ChatGPT is its live data fetching. It can access real-time web data and give you accurate insights from different platforms. For instance, you can inquire the number of views on any YouTube video or access the latest Instagram posts from a celebrity! 

Overall, ChatGPT is a versatile chatbot apt for all kinds of queries, from logical reasoning to content creation, AI art generation, and more. 

Cons

• Average with travel planning
• Image recognition can be improved
• Doesn’t offer code preview
• Cannot generate videos

Pricing

Its free plan offers limited access to the GPT-5 model (10 messages/hour and 1 reasoning query/day). It also provides limited access to file uploads, data analysis, image generation, etc. For extended access, you can upgrade to its Plus plan for $20/month.

Recently, they have also launched the ChatGPT Go plan for Indian audiences. It’s priced at ₹399/month and gives you 10 times more limits. So you get 100 messages every 5 hours and about 10 reasoning messages per day.

2) Gemini – Best For Multimodal Queries

Gemini is an AI chatbot designed by Google DeepMind. It is a multimodal AI, meaning it accepts different data formats like text, files, images, audio, etc. It performs fairly well for math, reasoning, and problem-solving queries. It is also reliable for fact-checking any information.

Coming to language skills, Gemini accurately translates content from English to other languages and vice versa. You can also generate creative ideas and get comprehensive content summaries by uploading your PDF files. 

Its massive context window of 2 million tokens makes it easy to process larger documents as well. However, it may not be accurate at parsing URL data at times.  

Apart from this, Gemini excels at code generation and image creation. You can generate highly realistic images, posters with text rendering, and even videos with Veo 3 (on its Pro plan). Its voice mode features a lifelike male voice. 

Talking about data and research skills, you can trust it for analyzing complex graphs and charts. It also accurately identifies objects in your image, and can conduct in-depth research and product comparisons. However, it doesn’t include buy links by default. 

The best part is that Gemini integrates well with Gmail, Google Drive, and YouTube. Overall, if you are heavily into the Google ecosystem, Gemini is an ideal chatbot for your everyday use.

Cons

• Doesn’t include product links when researching products
• Inaccurate in parsing data from links
• Weak travel planning
• Memory can be improved

Pricing

The free plan imposes rate limits on its AI model usage. Its 2.5 Flash (Experimental) mode is limited to 10 free requests per minute. In contrast, 2.5 Pro (Experimental) mode is limited to 5 free requests per minute. 

Gemini Advanced can be availed through a Google One AI Premium subscription for ₹1,950/month.

3) Manus AI – Best For Research & Analysis

Manus AI is an advanced chatbot recently designed by Monica AI (a Chinese startup). It has a range of use cases, from research, productivity, education, data analysis, and more. 

To begin with, it handles math and reasoning-related queries really well. You get logical and insightful answers with it. You can also rely on it to factually verify your data and news articles. However, it goes into full-on deep research mode even for minor queries! 

Talking about language skills, you can translate content into various languages. It can accurately summarize content from PDFs and parse content from web pages as well. It also offers creative ideas, but is average with planning-oriented tasks. 

Manus AI lags in terms of data analysis. It may draw illogical conclusions from your data. However, it is good for research and comparisons. I liked the in-depth research and relevant recommendations, along with the functional URLs it offered. 

But its real power lies in autonomous operations. Manus AI is designed to perform tasks by itself. These include filling forms, visiting websites, logging into dashboards, and performing admin operations, etc. 

Finally, its image generation capabilities are decent. But it doesn’t offer previews with your generated code. Overall, if you want an AI chatbot for research and autonomously performing tasks, Manus AI would be the perfect fit! 

Cons

• Average data analysis
• No video generation
• No code preview

Pricing

Its free plan offers 1000 one-time bonus credits along with 300 AI credits that refresh daily. Its paid plans start from $16/month, where you get 1900 credits per month.

4) Perplexity – Best For Live Web Access

Perplexity is an AI-powered answer engine with over 15 million active users. It blends real-time web search and conversational AI to give you accurate answers in natural language along with sources.

Like other chatbots, Perplexity also performs well with math and reasoning tasks. It stands out by also providing videos, steps, source links, etc, in separate tabs with your answer. 

You can also use it to check the authenticity of any information or web page. Talking about language skills, Perplexity can easily translate content, summarize PDFs, and is also good with idea generation.

What makes Perplexity stand out is its real-time web data integration. From Trump’s latest tweets to the view count on Tech Burner’s latest YouTube video, it can give you accurate results from the web.  

In terms of data and research, it performs pretty average. It may draw incorrect observations from graphs. I also didn’t like the product research recommendations. It didn’t include proper links or model names to help purchase the product. 

Finally, it is decent with coding and image generation. But planning-related tasks remain a weak point for Perplexity. 

Cons

• Average data analysis and product research
• No preview with code generation
• Weak at planning tasks

Pricing

The free plan of Perplexity offers unlimited queries with 3 daily Pro searches. Its Pro plan is priced at $20/month.

5) Claude – Best For Coding

Claude is an AI-powered chatbot developed by Anthropic. Claude stands out with its professional tone as compared to the more ornate language of other chatbots. It is also pretty good at content summarization, idea generation, and planning related tasks.

It is great at tackling math problems and logical reasoning questions. In our testing, we also observed how Claude was able to fact-check news articles by citing relevant facts and sources. It also outperforms other chatbots in idea generation and planning-related tasks. 

But Claude is most impressive with its coding performance. You can get any type of coding snippets or design complete apps with it. Besides the code, it also lets you preview your app in a side window. 

However, it performs poorly with data analysis and product research. It cannot make correct conclusions from data, and also struggles with image recognition. Overall, if your work revolves around coding and you prefer a professional tone, Claude is your go-to AI chatbot! 

Cons

• Average for data analysis
• Poor product research
• No image and video generation

Pricing

The free plan of Claude gives you limited access to generate content, analyze images, generate code, etc. Its paid plans start from $17/month, where you get extended usage, access to more Claude models, Claude Code, and Google Workspace integrations. 

6) Grok – Best For Latest Updates & Fact-Checking

Grok is an AI-powered chatbot designed by Elon Musk’s xAI in 2023. You can access it as a standalone app or from within the X app. 

To start, it is good at math and logical reasoning-related tasks, just like other AI chatbots. But it outperforms them in terms of fact-checking data. Because it has access to the entire X network, it is highly accurate at verifying news, facts, and information. 

Coming to language skills, it translates languages well and also summarizes content from PDFs and from URLs. You can use it to generate creative ideas as well. But it’s pretty average at planning stuff, like travel itineraries or monthly budgets. 

It has decent image generation capabilities. If you’re a developer, you’ll get a code preview as well while generating your code. But I won’t recommend it for product research, comparisons, or data analysis. Even though it offers decent product suggestions, the included links are inaccurate.  

Overall, if your primary use case is general queries, event updates, or fact-checking content, Grok is the right choice for you!

Cons

• Poor data analysis
• Average at planning tasks
• Poor product research

Pricing

On the free plan, you get 5 Deep Searches per 2 hours, 3 daily image analyses, 10 regular Think searches per 2 hours, and unlimited general queries. Its paid plan (SuperGrok) starts at $30/month.

7) Copilot – Best For Microsoft Ecosystem

Copilot is an AI-powered digital assistant developed by Microsoft. It can assist you with various tasks like content creation, research, coding, image generation, and more. It solves math problems and tackles logical questions fairly well. Additionally, it can fact-check articles well.  

Coming to language skills, it is pretty good at content summarization, reading URLs, and translating content into different languages. With Data & Research, Copilot looks like a mixed bag. It may draw wrong conclusions from uploaded data and images. 

But its research is pretty relevant in product recommendations, despite improper buy links. You can also create pretty good images with Copilot. It stands out with its seamless integration with Microsoft apps like Word, Outlook, and Excel.

So, if your work revolves around the Microsoft ecosystem, Copilot is the right chatbot for you. 

Cons

• Poor data analysis and image recognition
• Average in planning-related tasks
• No app previews with code generation

Pricing

The free plan of Copilot offers limited AI usage with multi-device access. Its paid plan is priced at ₹2,000/user/month.

8) DeepSeek – Best For Advanced Reasoning & Coding

DeepSeek is a powerful AI model developed by a Chinese research lab of the same name. It excels at solving math problems and logical reasoning questions. It also gives you access to real-time data, allowing you to precisely fact-check any information.  

Next, coming to language skills, DeepSeek seamlessly translates your text from one language to another. It also performs fairly well for summarizing PDF content, parsing links, and planning. For developers, it also generates code and allows you to preview your app alongside it. 

However, DeepSeek performs poorly in research. You won’t get product links, and sometimes your research may remain incomplete due to server crashes. It is also not ideal for recognizing images or analyzing complex data. Finally, it also doesn’t support image and video generation. 

Overall, if your primary use case is advanced reasoning and coding, you can look at DeepSeek. 

Cons

• Average data analysis and idea generation
• Only accepts images and files with text content
• Invalid product links offered during research
• Crashes at times due to server busy error
• No image or video generation supported

Pricing

On its free plan, you get unlimited access to DeepSeek V3 and R1 models. However, it imposes a rate limit on requests made per minute to ensure fair usage. Its paid plans start from $0.07 for every 1 million input tokens.  

9) Meta AI – Best For Meta Ecosystem Users

Meta AI is a virtual assistant developed by Meta Platforms (the parent company of Instagram and Facebook). To begin with, it can solve your basic queries, fact-check articles, and also perform decently at math and reasoning.

The unique thing about Meta AI is that it also includes videos, reels, and stories from different Meta platforms in its responses. 

If you’re more into creative content, Meta also allows image and video generation even for free! I liked the crisp images it generated. It shines with its powerful integrations across Meta platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, and even Ray-Ban Meta glasses. 

However, it is not a reliable tool for data analysis and product research. You won’t get buy links, which makes the entire research unusable. Another major drawback of Meta is that it doesn’t support PDF uploads. So, if you need an AI chatbot with multi-platform access, Meta AI is a must-try! 

Cons

• Average data analysis
• Unreliable product research
• No support for PDF uploads
• Poor idea generation

Pricing

Currently, Meta AI is completely free to use with unlimited chats and searches. 

How Did We Test the Best AI Chatbots?

First, we searched the web and listed all the popular AI chatbots people are using. Then we thoroughly tested them on 20+ factors to test their AI capabilities. Factors include problem solving, math, translation, data analysis, image generation, product research, fact checking, etc. 

We ranked the outputs produced by each chatbot:

• 1 point for a correct answer
• 0.5 points for a partially correct answer
• 0 points for wrong answers

Finally, we calculated the ratings of each AI chatbot and ranked them accordingly on our list. 

Why Should You Trust Me?

I have been working full-time in the digital industry since 2015. In all these years, I have tested and reviewed hundreds of digital tools, including web hosting, cloud storage, VPN, password managers, etc. 

Since the AI boom, I have also consistently used and tested all categories of AI tools, including AI image generators, AI video generators, AI website builders, AI voice generators, etc. I regularly use AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini, Manus AI, and Perplexity for my projects. 

Working with all these AI tools has given me the experience and expertise to recommend the best tools for your needs. 

Conclusion

I hope this article helped you discover the best AI chatbot for your requirements. Do you use AI chatbots on a daily basis? Which one is your go-to app? I personally use ChatGPT and Gemini for everyday queries due to their ease of use and accuracy. 

Recently, Gemini has also made its Pro plan free for Indian students for 1 year. If you’re an Indian college student, here’s the complete process of availing Gemini Pro for free!

Anyway, let me know your experience with different AI chatbots in the comments below. Also, if we missed any important AI assistants, do let us know. We would test it and try to include it on our list. This is Kripesh signing off. Cheers, and keep learning. 

FAQs