From ChatGPT to Gemini: What Each AI Tool Actually Does Well
A no-hype, plain-English guide to the major AI tools available today — what they're genuinely good at, where they fall short, and what to use instead. Written for busy managers, not tech teams.
There's no shortage of AI tools competing for your attention and your budget. And the marketing for each one would have you believe it does everything brilliantly.
The reality is more nuanced — and understanding the honest picture is genuinely useful. Here's a straight assessment of the main tools you're likely to encounter, what they're actually good at, and what to reach for instead when they're not the right fit.
ChatGPT (OpenAI)
Best at: Writing, brainstorming, coding assistance, research summaries, customer communication templates, and data analysis (via the Advanced Data Analysis feature).
Honest limitations: Confident but can be wrong. It doesn't always know when to acknowledge uncertainty. Output quality varies considerably depending on how you phrase your request — there's a bit of a learning curve to getting consistently good results.
Who it's for: Almost any business as a starting point. It's the most versatile general-purpose AI available today, and the most widely supported by third-party tools and integrations.
Free tier: Yes — GPT-3.5 is free; GPT-4o is available on the paid plan.
Claude (Anthropic)
Best at: Long documents, careful and nuanced reasoning, maintaining a consistent tone across lengthy pieces of writing, reading and summarising dense reports, and anything where getting the tone right genuinely matters.
Honest limitations: Daily usage limits on the free plan. Less widely supported by third-party integrations than ChatGPT. Fewer community tutorials and guides available.
Who it's for: Businesses with a lot of written communication — professional services, legal, finance, consulting, and content-heavy operations.
Free tier: Yes, with limits. Claude Pro removes them.
Gemini (Google DeepMind)
Best at: Tight integration with Google Workspace (Docs, Sheets, Gmail, Slides, Meet), understanding and working with visual content, and queries where being connected to current information matters.
Honest limitations: Still catching up to ChatGPT on pure writing and reasoning tasks. The real value is in the Google integration — without that, it's not clearly better than the alternatives.
Who it's for: Teams deeply embedded in Google Workspace who want AI assistance built directly into the tools they're already using.
Free tier: Yes. Gemini Advanced requires a Google One AI Premium subscription.
Microsoft Copilot
Best at: Working inside Microsoft 365 — Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams, and PowerPoint. Drafting emails from bullet points, summarising meeting notes in Teams, generating Excel formulas in plain English, and creating slide decks from a brief description.
Honest limitations: Requires a Microsoft 365 subscription to unlock the full Copilot integration. Works best when your content and data are already in Microsoft systems — less useful if you're not already in that ecosystem.
Who it's for: Any business already using Microsoft 365 regularly. If your team spends significant time in Word, Outlook, or Teams, Copilot is arguably already one of the best-value AI tools available.
Free tier: Basic Copilot is free. Microsoft 365 Copilot (full document and meeting integration) requires a business subscription.
DeepL
Best at: Translation. Consistently produces more natural, idiomatic results than any general-purpose AI — particularly across European languages. Trusted and used by professional translators and large multinational businesses alike.
Honest limitations: It's a translation tool, and only a translation tool. Don't expect to write your emails with it or analyse your sales data.
Who it's for: Any business communicating across language barriers — client documents, marketing materials, contracts, internal communications.
Free tier: Yes, with character limits. DeepL Pro removes them and adds API access for volume use.
GitHub Copilot
Best at: Assisting software developers — real-time code completion, writing functions from comments, debugging, and explaining what existing code does. It works directly inside the developer's editor.
Honest limitations: Has no practical value for teams that don't write code. Very much a specialist tool.
Who it's for: Any business with developers. Even a relatively small amount of in-house development work tends to justify the cost quickly.
Free tier: Free for individual developers. Small team plans are available at reasonable rates.
Quick-Reference Summary
| Tool | The Headline | Best Skipped If... |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | Versatile all-rounder | You need a true specialist |
| Claude | Long docs and careful writing | You need deep Google or Microsoft integration |
| Gemini | Google Workspace power-up | You don't use Google Workspace |
| Microsoft Copilot | Microsoft 365 built-in assistant | You don't use Microsoft 365 |
| DeepL | Best translation available | You don't need translation |
| GitHub Copilot | Code productivity boost | You have no developers |
The Bottom Line
There's no single best AI tool — there's the best AI for what your business needs right now. Most organisations end up with a small, intentional stack: one generalist for day-to-day work, and one or two specialists for high-volume or high-stakes tasks.
The conversations worth having in your business right now aren't "should we use AI?" — they're "which specific tasks would benefit most, and what's the right tool for each?"
Next: Your No-Fuss Guide to Starting With AI →