The 11 Best AI Chatbots in 2026 (9 of Them Free)

Since OpenAI introduced ChatGPT in late November 2022, there has been a real hype around AI chatbots.

The numbers speak for themselves: The market for AI chatbots is growing rapidly. More and more companies are relying on automated dialogue systems to scale support and sales.

As a result, new AI chatbots are popping up like mushrooms:

In addition to various startups, providers of AI text generators like Jasper and Neuroflash have also developed chatbots and integrated them into their products.

Large technology companies like Google and Microsoft have also been researching and developing AI chatbots for many years.

In this article, you'll find an overview of the currently most popular and well-known chatbots and their pros and cons.

The best part:

Most of the AI chatbots presented here are completely free, have a free basic version, or can at least be tested for free.

What Is an AI Chatbot Actually?

The AI tool landscape is currently developing at breakneck speed. Dozens or even hundreds of new AI tools come out every month.

Among them are many tools that are similar to AI chatbots and share some properties or features with them. These include code assistants like GitHub Copilot or Ghostwriter by Replit, or AI-powered search engines like Perplexity.ai or You.com.

Before I give you an overview of current AI chatbots, a definition is appropriate. An AI chatbot is a tool that...

1. Provides AI-generated answers to commands or questions (e.g., through language models like GPT-5, GPT-4o or Claude 4)
2. Has a chat user interface
3. Remembers the chat history

AI Chatbots Overview

AI Chatbots in Detail

1. ChatFlash (by Neuroflash)

Neuroflash is currently the best ChatGPT alternative, especially for German texts.

Neuroflash's German text quality is slightly better than ChatGPT, Jasper Chat, Chatsonic, and other AI chatbots and AI text generators.

It's also one of the few AI chatbots that offers a German user interface and German support. As a German company, Neuroflash is also committed to high European data protection standards:

According to its own statements, Neuroflash is GDPR-compliant. Data sent to OpenAI is also not used as training data for language models and remains confidential.

With ChatFlash, Neuroflash has also integrated its own AI chatbot as a feature.

ChatFlash is based on GPT-5 and GPT-4o and is easily and quickly accessible in the right sidebar of the normal text editor in Neuroflash.

You can transfer the generated responses to the editor with one click, which is great when you want to write blog articles, term papers, or other longer texts:

Like ChatGPT, ChatFlash can also write code, here for example a Tic-Tac-Toe game in Python:

ChatFlash unfortunately cannot yet include external sources or search results in its answers, which is a disadvantage compared to other AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Chatsonic, or Microsoft Copilot.

2. Chatsonic

Chatsonic is a feature of the AI text generator Writesonic and for me the currently best alternative to ChatGPT for English texts.

Although the number of supported languages has now been expanded to 24 (including German), Writesonic's AI chatbot shines particularly when you want to generate English texts.

An advantage of Chatsonic over Neuroflash and the free version of ChatGPT:

You can set up current Google data to be included in the chat responses. This way you get an answer from Chatsonic even when you ask about a more recent event, like the 2022 World Cup:

Similar to the ChatGPT Code Interpreter, you can also chat with files or websites using Chatsonic:

3. ChatGPT Plus

ChatGPT Plus is the paid version of the well-known AI chatbot ChatGPT. It was officially introduced by OpenAI on February 1st.

Compared to the free version, ChatGPT Plus has higher availability. When ChatGPT is down again due to high load, you can (usually) still use it as a Plus user. Additionally, the AI chatbot's response time is not throttled during high load.

The Plus version also offers additional features:

1. It's possible to use GPT-5, OpenAI's best language model, with ChatGPT Plus.
2. You have access to the Canvas feature for collaborative work on texts and code. This allows you to edit documents directly in ChatGPT, refactor code, and collaborate in real-time.
3. You can use Advanced Data Analysis. This allows the AI chatbot to not only write code but also execute it directly in ChatGPT, opening up great possibilities. For example, you can upload a CSV file, analyze the data, modify it according to your specifications, and then download it again.
4. You can create images directly in ChatGPT with the integrated image generation.

4. Microsoft Copilot

Microsoft Copilot (formerly Bing Chat) is currently the best free alternative to ChatGPT.

Copilot uses GPT-4o and also offers access to the internet and can generate images. Various integrations are possible, such as with shopping, travel, and other services.

The best part:

Microsoft's AI chatbot is not only completely free but also usable (with limitations) without registration. Not only via the browser but also recently as an app for Android or iOS.

Copilot also offers generous usage limits. Without registration, it allows 5 responses per chat and with a Microsoft account login, even 30 per conversation.

The Pro version for $22/month offers priority access, faster responses, and extended image generation.

5. Claude

Claude is an AI chatbot from Anthropic AI and was officially introduced on March 14, 2023.

The AI chatbot now uses Claude 4 Sonnet and Claude 3.5 Haiku. Claude 4 Sonnet is the flagship model with a 92% success rate on SWE-Bench verified, while Haiku is optimized for faster, simpler tasks.

In 2025, Anthropic introduced Claude 4 Sonnet, which sets new standards.

And it's impressive!

Claude 4 Sonnet has become the best ChatGPT alternative for programming and text processing. It offers the following advantages:

• Claude 4 Sonnet is completely free to use
• Artifacts for interactive code output and document editing
• A context window of 200K tokens (meaning you can input about 150,000 words of text as a prompt)
• Projects for persistent contexts and knowledge bases

You can also upload files to Claude and have them analyzed or ask questions about them, which works excellently.

Here it explained to me what "E-E-A-T" is based on the 176-page Google Quality Rater Guidelines:

Claude 4 Sonnet also generates responses very quickly and has never gone down due to overloaded servers. With the Pro version ($20/month), you get 5x more messages and priority access. All in all, it's not only a good alternative to the free ChatGPT version but even surpasses ChatGPT Plus in many areas.

6. Google Gemini

Google's chatbot Gemini, which was introduced in February 2023 and was then still called "Bard," was initially not a particularly good ChatGPT alternative.

It had to endure a lot of criticism for a long time, mainly because it "hallucinated" a lot, meaning it produced many incorrect pieces of information.

But Google has been working hard on its chatbot recently. With the new models Gemini 2.5 Flash and Gemini 2.5 Pro, Google has significantly increased performance and can keep up with GPT-5. The Advanced version also offers the Deep Research function for comprehensive research.

It can also access Google search results, which offers great possibilities:

For example, Gemini can retrieve and process current information:

A big advantage of Gemini:

Unlike ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot, it responds lightning-fast. While ChatGPT and Copilot sometimes take 10 seconds or more for a response, Gemini usually responds in under 5 seconds.

Gemini also has access to many Google services like YouTube, Google Flights, Google Maps, and Google Workspace.

7. ChatGPT

ChatGPT from OpenAI is a great AI chatbot that has been getting a lot of media attention since November and now has millions of users worldwide.

The tool has an answer to almost every question, sometimes even to very complex or long questions.

It can write texts of various types and lengths on command and even format them.

OpenAI's AI chatbot not only knows English but can also speak German and translate between both languages.

However, ChatGPT's language understanding is not limited to natural language; it can also write and explain many different programming languages. It knows Python, JavaScript, Go, Perl, PHP, Ruby, and Swift, among others.

This makes the AI chatbot not only a great companion for programmers but also a great sparring partner for learning to program.

ChatGPT is free to use, but with limitations. In the free version, you have to expect the AI chatbot to be down more often and get slower responses.

Additionally, premium features like GPT-5 and Advanced Data Analysis are missing, which are only available in the paid plans ChatGPT Plus, Team, or Enterprise.

8. Perplexity AI

Perplexity is an AI search engine and AI chatbot that represents a great and free alternative to ChatGPT or Bing Chat.

It's particularly good for conducting intensive internet research on a topic.

Similar to Bing Chat or ChatGPT in Browsing Mode, the sources of generated answers are cited as footnote numbers:

Below the answer, similar questions or topics are displayed and you have the option to ask follow-up questions. By clicking on the underlined links in the answer, you can also explore topics further.

I also find the new "Copilot" feature brilliant. Similar to AutoGPT or BabyAGI, it not only provides AI-generated answers but executes more complex workflows to answer a question or perform an action for you.

You can activate it in the search field and use it 5 times every 4 hours:

For example, if you're planning a trip, it asks you intermediate questions to find the best travel route for you:

9. YouChat (by You.com)

You.com was the first search engine to integrate an AI chatbot into search results.

The chatbot is no longer displayed above the search results but now opens by default when you search on You.com. Relevant search results are displayed on the right in the sidebar.

I use You.com more often as a ChatGPT alternative when I want to research on the internet.

Because I find it pleasant that search results are displayed to the right of the chat and not relegated to footnotes or, as with Bing Chat, only visible when you scroll down.

With YouCode, YouWrite, and YouImagine, You.com has also been offering its own AI code assistant, AI text generator, and AI image generator for some weeks, making it increasingly a complete solution for "generative AI."

10. Pi

Pi is a free AI chatbot that went online on May 2, 2023. It was developed by Inflection AI, a startup founded by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and Google DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman.

Pi stands for "Personal AI" and is designed to be a friendly, harmless, and empathetic companion characterized by high emotional intelligence.

And Inflection has succeeded. Pi is better than ChatGPT and other ChatGPT alternatives at imitating a human conversation partner. I find it very pleasant to chat with Pi:

The chatbot is still in beta phase. But I see great potential in Pi and am curious how it will develop in 2024:

For example, Pi will soon run with Inflection's new AI model Inflection-2.

11. OpenAI Playground

With the OpenAI Playground, you can try all of ChatGPT's AI models for free.

This includes the chat models "GPT-3.5" and "GPT-4," which you can also use in ChatGPT or the paid version ChatGPT Plus.

It's a good alternative to ChatGPT when the AI chatbot is down again, not working properly, or giving slow responses. The OpenAI Playground usually works even when ChatGPT doesn't.

It also offers some advanced settings you can play with, like the "Temperature" setting, which lets you determine how creative the responses from GPT-3.5, GPT-4 & Co. should be.

Other Well-Known AI Chatbots

• Andi
• ChatGenie (by WriteCream)
• Elicit
• HypoChat (by Hypotenuse AI)
• Kuki AI
• My AI (by Snapchat)
• Pi
• Poe (by Quora)

Chatbot as a Service (CaaS)

• ChaiGPT
• Chatbase
• Fin (by Intercom)
• Mercury.ai