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 | GitHub Copilot B | Windsurf A | Elicit S | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tagline | AI search done right. Cited answers, not chat theater. | Microsoft/GitHub's autocomplete. Deep VS Code + JetBrains integration. | Codeium's agentic IDE. Cascade agent + strong free tier. | AI research assistant for academic literature. |
| Category | research | coding | coding | research |
| Pricing | Free + $20/mo Pro | Free (limited) + $10/mo Pro + $19/mo Business | Free + $15/mo Pro | Free + $12-$42/mo |
| Best for | Replacing Google for any question where you want a cited answer in seconds. | Teams with GitHub already. Devs who don't want to change IDEs. | Developers who want Cursor-like power for less money. | Grad students, researchers, anyone doing literature reviews. |
| Strengths |
|
|
|
|
| Weaknesses |
|
|
|
|
| Kai's verdict | S-tier for search. I use it before Google now. If you're still Googling everything, try this for a week. | B-tier. Solid for autocomplete but the category moved past it. Pick Cursor unless you can't. | A-tier. Close second to Cursor. If $5/mo matters, start here. | S-tier for academic research. Nothing else comes close for systematic reviews. |
| Link | Open → | Open → | Open → | Open → |