Claude vs ChatGPT - which to use

There is no such thing as a straight line.

Zoom in close enough and everything warps, even laser beams curve slightly.

Straight lines exist only in logos, lies, and your high school maths teacher’s confidence.

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Read Time: 5 minutes

AI COMPARISON

ChatGPT Plus vs Claude Pro: Which One Deserves Your $20?

If I had to pick two of my favorite AI tools, hands down, it’s ChatGPT and Claude. Both are wildly impressive. Both are pretty decent on their free version, but if you want to upgrade, they also both cost $20/month for their pro versions. 

If you end up being a heavy user of one tool or a couple of AI tools, this can eat into your budget quickly.

So the big question is: If you’re only going to pay for one, which one should it be?

Best for coding → Claude Pro

Though ChatGPT Pro now has a ‘Canvas’ option where you can code, I felt it was very thin compared to Claude. Claude isn’t only better at it, but it can do it in larger chunks, and the output is these beautiful visuals, no matter what you’re trying to build. ChatGPT only gave a basic output, and it wasn’t ‘pretty’. It feels like Claude is meant for this job. 

Task execution / AI Agent stuff → ChatGPT Plus

ChatGPT’s new AI Agent is an exciting new feature of ChatGPT Plus (and, let’s be real - they have a lot of new features all the time, if this is something important to you). The built-in tools make it feel like a real assistant who can actually log into your sites and tools to do a job for you on its own, not just telling you HOW to do it. 

Brainstorming and quick content → ChatGPT Plus

If you need ideas fast, ChatGPT (Plus) seems to be faster and more agile. It doesn’t overthink, which helps when you're still in idea mode. It also seems to know YOU better if you use it more frequently, whereas Claude feels like each new chat is really standalone.

Tip: Brainstorm in Chat, and bring it over to Claude to perfect the visual. 

Finding accurate stats → Claude Pro

If you’re looking for recent, accurate stats, Claude tends to do a better job because it hallucinates less. For instance, every time I ask Chat to write something with a stat, I have to cross-check it (And, it’s usually wrong). ChatGPT can still be useful here if you have browsing enabled, but Claude handles it more cleanly. Of course, you can then use the data it provides you to continue on with creating a report or visual (or, do it all in one)

Writing (general and longform) → Tie

I’m used to using ChatGPT to write, and it’s my go-to at this point, but Claude writes in a way that just reads better. It uses fewer of those obvious indicators that ChatGPT uses, like not being obsessed with em dashes. Because of this, Claude generally needs less editing than ChatGPT. But, it may not be as good as learning about your writing style as ChatGPT. So, I’ll say this one is a tie. 

So...which should you pick?

Depends on what you like using what for. 

Even the free version of Claude can handle long documents and coding like a pro, but if you want to keep prompting, you’ll have to upgrade. This can be frustrating if you’re in the middle of trying to vibe-code something. It also seems to be really niche in this context; upgrading means you get to do more complex iterations of the thing you’re probably already using it for.

ChatGPT, on the other hand, has way more tools once you upgrade, compared to the free version, which can feel surface-level when you look at both the free and Pro side-by-side. For instance, with ChatGPT Pro, you get:

So if you’re just dabbling or really excited about coding, then Claude's free plan might get you further. But if you're building, researching, or using AI daily, ChatGPT Pro gives you way more firepower for both business and creative contexts. 

Pick your poison

If I had to give them personalities, Claude feels more like the math-and-science kid in class who is very analytical, whereas ChatGPT is more like the English-and-History guy who can pass tests without studying for them.

AI tools are becoming like streaming services. You can’t get them all, so choose what you use more. -HL

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