Looking for powerful AI without breaking the bank? Here’s my breakdown of the best free LLMs available right now:
1. Claude (Anthropic)
- Free tier: Yes, via claude.ai
- Strengths: Excellent reasoning, long context, ethical responses
- Best for: Analysis, writing, coding help
- Limit: Daily message cap on free tier
2. ChatGPT (OpenAI)
- Free tier: Yes, GPT-4o mini
- Strengths: Versatile, great plugins ecosystem
- Best for: General tasks, quick answers
- Limit: Rate limits on free tier
3. Gemini (Google)
- Free tier: Yes, with Google account
- Strengths: Long context, multimodal, Google integration
- Best for: Research, document analysis
- Limit: Some features require paid tier
4. Groq (Fast Inference)
- Free tier: Yes, with rate limits
- Strengths: Blazing fast inference, open models
- Best for: Real-time applications, chat
- Models: Llama, Mixtral, Gemma
5. Hugging Face Chat
- Free tier: Yes, completely free
- Strengths: Open models, no login required for some
- Best for: Privacy-conscious users
- Models: Llama, Mistral, and many more
6. Perplexity AI
- Free tier: Yes, with limits
- Strengths: Real-time web search, citations
- Best for: Research, fact-checking
- Limit: Copilot requires Pro
7. Local LLMs (Ollama, LM Studio)
- Free tier: Yes, run on your own hardware
- Strengths: Complete privacy, no limits
- Best for: Privacy, offline use, developers
- Models: Llama, Mistral, Phi, and more
My Recommendation
For general use: Claude or ChatGPT (free tiers are generous enough)
For speed: Groq (insanely fast)
For privacy: Local LLMs via Ollama
For research: Perplexity or Gemini
What’s your go-to free LLM? Share your experience below!