Where should you spend your $20?
For writing work (and occasional vibe coding), Claude is still the best for me. I particularly love the 3.7 with extended thinking for deeper analysis. Given how many other things ChatGPT is getting really good at, I have now taken a subscription there too.
While Perplexity is a wrapper, Grok excels at web search-based output. Grok has exclusive access to Twitter/X's firehose, which gives it an edge for real-time information.
The new Gemini 2.5 Pro Exp (via Google AI Studio) is insanely good at understanding and crunching semi-structured data without hallucinating. Watching its chain of thought is my form of entertainment as I wait a few minutes for the output.
This chart comparing the capabilities of popular AI tools by Peter Yang is a handy reference.
Though these are largely like-for-like substitutes, their core competencies are diverging. It's clear where each has chosen to focus.
I'm also realizing that the hidden switching costs increase the longer you stay with one tool (Claude's Projects or ChatGPT's Memory feature creates stickiness). Additionally, each carries distinct personalities that many, including me, have observed and are starting to influence purchase decisions.
Lastly, say what you will, ChatGPT's pull and mindshare are insane, and no one comes even remotely close. It just crossed 500M MAUs now. But the GPU shortage is acute across the board.