Compare AI tools
Side-by-side: what they do, what they cost, what Kai actually thinks. Pass up to 4 tools via
?tools=claude,chatgpt,gemini.Pick tools (4 selected)
coding
image
productivity
writing
marketing
Perplexity S | Gemini A | Ideogram S | Aider A | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tagline | AI search done right. Cited answers, not chat theater. | Google's answer. Best integrated with Workspace + free for a lot. | The one that actually gets text in images right. | Terminal-based AI pair programmer. Git-aware, model-flexible. |
| Category | research | chat | image | coding |
| Pricing | Free + $20/mo Pro | Free + $20/mo Advanced (bundled with 2TB Drive) | Free + $8/mo + $20/mo + $60/mo | Free (open source) + whatever API you use |
| Best for | Replacing Google for any question where you want a cited answer in seconds. | Anyone already on Google, research tasks, summarizing long documents. | Anything with text — posters, ads, album covers, slide decks. | Developers who want open-source tooling with full control. |
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| Kai's verdict | S-tier for search. I use it before Google now. If you're still Googling everything, try this for a week. | A-tier. The Deep Research feature is genuinely useful. Don't sleep on it if you're already paying Google. | S-tier for text-in-image. Use this for posters, Midjourney for art. | A-tier. The right answer if you want open-source + terminal-native + model-agnostic. |
| Link | Open → | Open → | Open → | Open → |