Software category
AI Tools
Assistants and generators for writing, research, analysis and everyday work.
AI Tools software profiles
Software profile
ChatGPT
ChatGPT is OpenAI's AI assistant, offering chat, file uploads, image creation, voice, deep research, projects, custom GPTs and the Codex coding agent. Individual plans run from…
Software profile
Claude
Claude is Anthropic's AI assistant, with Projects, Research and Claude Code on paid plans. Pro costs $20 a month ($17 billed annually), Team starts at $20…
Software profile
Copy.ai
Copy.ai now positions itself as a GTM AI platform for building sales and marketing workflows. Its Chat plan offers 5 seats with access to OpenAI, Anthropic…
Software profile
Gemini
Gemini is Google's AI assistant, with a capable free app and paid Google AI plans that raise limits, add Gemini in Gmail and Docs, and bundle…
Software profile
Jasper
Jasper is an AI platform built for marketing teams, with a content canvas, marketing agents and stored Brand Voices, Knowledge and Audiences to keep output on…
Software profile
Perplexity
Perplexity is an AI research and answer tool that cites its sources, lets paid users choose models from several vendors, and adds Perplexity Computer for building…
What are AI tools for business?
This category covers generative AI products that businesses buy for everyday work: drafting and editing, research, analysis, coding help and content production. They fall into two groups:
- General AI assistants, such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity. You chat with a model, upload files, run deep research and, increasingly, delegate multi-step tasks. They sell individual plans and team or enterprise plans with admin controls.
- Marketing and go-to-market AI platforms, such as Jasper and Copy.ai. They wrap AI models in brand voice, knowledge, templates and workflows for marketing and sales teams.
Quick comparison: six AI tools we have researched
| Tool | Type | Free plan | Entry paid plan | Team plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | Assistant | Yes | Go and Plus (regional pricing; USD not verified) | Business, standard and premium seats; 2–200 users |
| Claude | Assistant | Yes | Pro $20/mo ($17/mo billed annually) | Team from $20/seat/mo annual, minimum 2 seats |
| Gemini | Assistant | Yes | Google AI Plus and AI Pro (regional pricing; USD not verified) | Gemini Enterprise Business from $21/seat/mo |
| Perplexity | AI search and research | Yes | Pro $17/mo billed annually | Enterprise plans available |
| Jasper | Marketing AI platform | No (7-day trial) | Pro $69/seat/mo ($59 yearly) | Business, custom pricing |
| Copy.ai | GTM AI platform | Not verified | Chat $29/mo ($24 annual), 5 seats | Growth from $1,000/mo annual, 75 seats |
How to choose an AI tool for your team
- Start with the jobs, not the model. Writing, research with citations, data analysis, coding and marketing production each favour different tools.
- Check data handling first. Find out whether your data is used to train models by default, what retention controls exist and where data is stored. Business plans usually differ from individual ones.
- Understand usage limits. “Unlimited” usually comes with fair-use limits, and heavy users may need higher tiers or premium seats.
- Check where it plugs in. Connections to email, documents, Slack, CRMs and code repositories decide how much time it actually saves.
- Pilot with real tasks. Give a small group the same set of real tasks in two or three tools for two weeks, and compare the output quality and time saved.
- Set a usage policy. Decide what data may be shared, and require human review of AI output before it reaches customers.
Features to evaluate
| Feature | Why it matters | Question to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Training on your data | Determines whether your inputs may improve the vendor’s models. | Is training off by default on the plan we will buy? |
| Admin and security | SSO, SCIM, audit logs and retention controls are needed at scale. | Which of these are in Team versus Enterprise? |
| Research and citations | Sourced answers are easier to check. | Does it cite sources, and can we see them? |
| Projects and knowledge | Shared context keeps answers consistent across a team. | Can we share projects, files or brand knowledge? |
| Integrations and agents | Agents that act in other tools need careful permissions. | Which apps can it read from or act in, and with what controls? |
| Usage limits | Limits decide whether power users stay productive. | What happens when someone hits a limit? |
Pricing and total cost
Assistants are mostly sold per user, with team plans that add admin controls and premium seats for heavy users. Some add usage-based charges: Claude Enterprise bills usage at API rates on top of seats, and Perplexity and Copy.ai include credits. Marketing platforms charge more per seat because they include brand and workflow features. Budget for training time and for a mix of seat types if only some people are heavy users.
Which tools to shortlist, by situation
- General writing, analysis and everyday work: ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini. Pilot two of them on your own tasks.
- Research with sources: Perplexity, which is built around cited answers and lets you choose between several vendors’ models.
- Teams already on Google Workspace: Gemini, which works inside Gmail and Docs on paid plans.
- Marketing content at scale with brand controls: Jasper.
- Automated go-to-market workflows across a large team: Copy.ai’s workflow plans.
Common mistakes
- Letting staff use personal accounts for work data. Business plans exist mainly for data and admin controls.
- Publishing AI output unreviewed. AI tools can produce confident errors. Check facts, especially numbers and citations.
- Choosing on model names. Models change every few months. Choose on data terms, workflow fit and how the vendor handles updates.
- Buying premium seats for everyone. Most vendors let you mix seat types; give heavy usage tiers only to those who need them.
AI tools FAQs
Do AI assistants train on my business data?
It depends on the plan. On 20 Oct 2026, ChatGPT Business and Claude Team and Enterprise stated no training on business data by default, while Claude’s individual plans were listed as opt-out. Always check the current terms for your plan.
Which AI tools have free plans?
ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity all had free tiers on 20 Oct 2026. Jasper offered a 7-day trial instead.
Why don’t some prices appear in US dollars here?
ChatGPT’s and Gemini’s consumer pricing pages show prices for the visitor’s country. We only publish figures we could read directly, so for those plans we describe the structure and point you to the vendor page for your local price.
How we researched this page
This guide is desk research by the SoftPilot Editorial Team. We have not run controlled tests of output quality, and we do not rank these tools on model benchmarks. Prices and plan terms were read from each vendor’s official pricing page on 20 October 2026. No vendor paid for inclusion, and SoftPilot earns nothing from the links on this page.
Disclosure: this page was drafted with help from AI writing tools, including Claude, made by Anthropic, which is one of the products compared here. Every fact was checked against the vendors’ own pages, and the same criteria were applied to every tool.