How to choose a free AI assistant: five questions and a 20-minute test

Last checked: 27 October 2026

There are many free AI assistants, and the list changes often. You do not need to find the “best” one. You need one that fits your work, and a way to check it. Here are five questions to ask before you pick, and what to do next.

Five questions to ask

1. Does it work well on my phone? If you do most of your work on a phone, try the app and the mobile website. Check that you can paste text and send a photo.
2. Can I use it with little data? Short text chats use little data. Photos, long files and voice use more. Try your usual task once on Wi-Fi and notice how it feels.
3. What happens to what I type? Read the privacy settings. Look for whether your chats may be used to train the tool and whether you can turn that off. For example, Google explains how to switch off saved activity on its Gemini Apps Privacy Hub, and Anthropic explains its training choices in “Is my data used for model training?”. Never paste customers’ private details, bank information or passwords, whichever tool you pick.
4. What are the free limits? Free plans usually limit how much you can send, which model you can use, and features like file uploads. These limits change without notice, so check the company’s own help page, not a blog’s table. Google’s Gemini usage limits page is one example, and we explain a recent change in Free AI tools keep changing.
5. Is it good at my kind of task? Take one real task from your work, with private details removed, and try it in two assistants. Compare which one needed fewer corrections.

A simple first test (20 minutes)

1. Choose one small, repeated task, such as replying to a common customer question.
2. Write the facts the answer must use: your prices, hours and rules.
3. Paste the facts and the question into two free assistants.
4. Check every price, date and promise in both answers against your facts.
5. Keep the one that needed the fewest corrections, and save the prompt that worked.

Not sure what a “wrapper app” or “agent” is? Read Assistant, wrapper app or agent: which do you need? or look up any word in our glossary. Your first hour with a free tool is covered in Your first hour with AI.

What not to do

• Do not pay for a plan before you have used the free one for a few weeks.
• Do not trust a ranking that does not say how it tested the tools. Many “best AI tool” lists are written to earn commissions.
• Do not move all your work into one tool. Keep your facts and prompts in your own file.

Our free guides work in any of the common free assistants. Start with the one closest to your problem, or use the Clarity Finder.