The best AI tools, honestly tested, plainly explained

There is no single best tool for every task. Claude and ChatGPT lead our overall ranking because they allow the most thorough and the broadest way of working respectively. For translation, DeepL beats any chatbot; for research with sources, Perplexity; for image work, Midjourney. What matters is the task, not the ranking.

That depends on why you want to switch. Claude for better texts and long documents, Gemini for working with Google services, Perplexity for research with sources, Mistral with its assistant Vibe, formerly Le Chat, for data protection from Europe. Our article on ChatGPT alternatives sorts them by purpose.

Yes, within a quota: Microsoft Copilot allows 15 fast images a day, and the Gemini app and Adobe Firefly offer free daily generations. Unlimited and private use is only possible with an open model such as Stable Diffusion on your own computer. Before business use, check the terms of use and whether the images are publicly visible.

No, at least not with an AI detector alone. Studies show that the tools miss rephrased AI text and wrongly suspect human writing, especially by non-native speakers. Watermarks such as those built in by Google and Anthropic only help with unedited text. Our article on AI detectors explains what German courts rely on instead.

No, only ignored; the chat with Meta AI can be deleted. Private chats stay encrypted, and Meta AI only sees messages sent to it or tagged with @Meta AI. "Advanced chat privacy" blocks that for individual chats, and you can object at any time to AI training on public posts.

We test every tool with accounts we pay for ourselves, against the same five criteria. Vendors have no influence on scores and receive no texts in advance. Some articles contain affiliate links, which we mark as advertising. They have no bearing on the scores.

For occasional private use, usually yes. As soon as you work with them for more than about an hour a day, or process company data, there is little way around a paid plan, mainly because of the data processing agreement, which free tiers generally do not include.

Yes, provided the data protection requirements are met: a data processing agreement, a clarified processing location, training on your inputs switched off, and an entry in the record of processing activities. On top of that come the transparency obligations of the AI Act. Our blog article on AI and the GDPR lists the checkpoints in detail.

We review the reports quarterly and again after major model changes. The date of the last update is in the footer and on every tool page.

We only score what we have used ourselves for weeks on a paid account. Alongside those tests we publish overviews of tools we have not yet examined in that depth, for instance video, music or meeting AI. These articles are recognisable by the note at the top and rely on vendor information and publicly available reporting.