--- title: Which AI Should You Pay For? Here’s My Honest Answer. author: Tris date: 2026-03-13 url: https://www.trishussey.com/which-ai-should-you-pay-for-heres-my-honest-answer/ --- I don't think it will surprise you, but it's also not what you might expect either. In nearly every workshop I hold, the same question comes up: *Which AI should I use? It’s there a best or right one? Which one is the right one to pay for?* First off, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude are all amazing. You’re not going to go wrong with any of them. It’s like the old saying “No one got fired for buying IBM,” if you pick ChatGPT or Gemini or Claude; it’s fine. The lead for which of the models is “best” changes every time one is updated. They are all powerful, capable tools with the potential to do amazing things. The question is then: *If all of them are great, then how do I pick?* The answer is as simple as this: *You’re picking the one that fits inside the work you’re already doing, the tools you’re already using, and the budget you can justify*. Look at what you’re already using and start from there. The goal of AI is to *improve and enhance* your work, not make things harder because you’re shoehorning a new AI tool in because “it’s cool.” I’m going to walk through a few scenarios and give you my take on each of them. If your team runs on Google Workspace This one’s almost a no-brainer, and I say that as someone who did it. A year ago when I switched to using AI from a work (paid) account to my own personal ones (free), kept hitting usage walls pretty hard. I would be in the middle of something, just getting into the groove, and come to a screeching halt because I ran out of usage for a while—and sometimes “a while” was 12 hours, not good when you’re working on deadlines. I was bouncing between ChatGPT and Gemini (I hadn’t started trying Claude yet), so my choice was between the two of them—and knowing that I would only be able to pay for one of them. My wife pays for ChatGPT, so I knew how much was hitting our credit card each month. That $20USD for ChatGPT becomes about $30CAD (and it fluctuations with the currency markets). For Gemini, because I already was paying for Google Workspace, upgrading my existing Google Workspace account was $22CAD. Because I was already a Workspace customer, the upgrade didn’t just give me more Gemini access. It gave me more NotebookLM usage— the leading power research tool out there. More Google Drive storage. Gemini built right into Docs, Gmail, and Meet. *Everything I was already using, now with AI.* If you’re already using Google Workspace, bumping up your subscription with more or enhanced Gemini tools is a no brainer. The tools are *already how you get work done* so sticking with it makes a lot of sense. Still do the math, but I’m going to bet that the per user costs of upgrading your Google Workspace account versus a similar teams or enterprise account on any of the other platforms is going to be a lot less. If your team runs on Microsoft 365 Here’s my honest take: I’ve used Copilot a good bit and I’ve been underwhelmed. Granted, It’s been five months since I last touched a paid Copilot account—which is forever ago in AI terms—and Microsoft announced a deal with Anthropic to bring Cowork into Copilot, so the world changes *fast*. I’ll also say that in the circles I run in are *very* Claude and Gemini centric—with ChatGPT losing ground fast—nobody’s talking about using Copilit as their go-to tool. Except. If your company is a Microsoft shop, Copilot is going to be the tool you’ll get. It might not be awesome. It might be doing just okay work for you. However it’s integrated into all the tools your team uses—just like if you’re in the Google Workspace world. And with the recent Anthropic partnership baking Claude’s capabilities into the Microsoft stack, things may get better fast. That said, when I had access to insider pricing, I thought the per user costs of Copilot were pretty intense compared to Google, ChatGPT, or Claude. Since Microsoft has a massive install base and the cost of switching from M365 to Google Workspace (really the only other option) incredibly high, they don’t have price pressure other companies do. Sure, there is a risk of people opting for Claude or ChatGPT (with their integrations into M365 tools), but for a big company it’s a lot easier to just “turn on” Copilot than do a Claude or ChatGPT roll out. If you’re starting from scratch If you’re a small business or solo-preneur and have all the option available to you—try them all. The free tiers of all the tools are good to start with and kick the tires on. I find Gemini and Claude to have the most generous free tiers, since ChatGPT rolled out its low-cost “Go” subscription their free tier has gotten pretty limited. One plus for ChatGPT and Google is you can try the paid tiers on a 30 day trial, but Claude doesn’t offer that perk. See which of the tools work the best for you. In your professional circle (of people who use AI), which ones do they use? Having folks who will help you get going with the tools really helps you get the most out of AI quickly. Personally I think [the Trust Insights Slack community](https://www.trustinsights.ai/about/analytics-for-marketers-free-slack-community/) is awesome and highly recommend joining it. The group ranges from the super power user Chris Penn to us mere mortals who have to look up commands on a regular basis. My *personal* recommendation leans more toward Gemini and Claude, but ChatGPT is still a powerful, powerful tool. You have look at what you’re doing and which tool help you get your work done—not which one is “cool” right now. Okay, but what if I *can* have two? This is where I’ll tell you what I’d pay for: Claude and Gemini. Hands down, no question. I’m using Claude’s free tier right now and chomping at the bit to get a subscription to Claude Pro—if anyone wanted to [gift one to me](https://claude.ai/gift), they’ll get a free year of premium access here and an hour of consulting time in exchange (plus a lot of gratitude). [Claude-erific Gift?](https://claude.ai/gift) I do my heavy lifting in Gemini—research, NotebookLM, images, PRDs, plus anything that lives in my Google world. Claude is where I do the work that needs nuance. I’m doing a lot more in Claude and often forget to switch to Gemini so I can leverage bigger Pro models, but I think together Claude and Gemini are a solid operational pair. Gemini is integrated into Drive, Calendar, Gmail, Chat—so I can build Gems that have auto-updating knowledge blocks and Workspace Studio flows that read and write Drive files. Claude is where I’m doing a lot more pre-writing work. Thanks to things I learned from Jeremy Wright’s ECHO, I use GitHub as a back and forth tool so Claude can read and write updated voice prints. The more I’m writing with Claude and sending my updated drafts back to it, the closer it’s getting to my voice. Even this post—which started out as a draft from Claude—has needed less editing than ones a couple weeks ago. Each one has its strengths. Gemini rocks images and research, especially since I can pull NotebookLM notebooks right into conversations. Claude’s research is also amazing, I just don’t like the extra steps I need to create the research and save the output. Call me spoiled, but I *like* having a dedicated “Deep Research” tool. I love Claude Skills in the web client and app. Really wish Gemini had this outside of Antigravity and Gemini CLI. No magic answer The question isn’t which AI *is* best; it’s which AI *fits* best with the tools you use, the people you work with, and what you want to get done. The only way to learn *that* is to try all the tools and see which one works best *for you*. And don’t be worried that you’re not creating a mind blowing app with Claude Code, automating your work with Claude Cowork, using OpenClaw to run your start up, or making a Gem that reads your thoughts and writes posts for you. In truth, only a *teeny tiny fraction* of people do *any of that*. Most people have a few prompts they like and copy-paste them in as they need them. A few people have GPTs they use a lot. Keep in mind, my wife has been using (and paying for) ChatGPT for *almost three years*, uses it to help her be a better teacher. Does she have saved prompts? Nope. Does she let me help her create custom GPTs to do repeated tasks more easily. Nope. Doest she get a *tremendous amount of value using it*? Hell yes.