The best free AI chat apps in 2026

Most AI chat apps now have a free plan, and the plans are not all alike. This guide sets out what a $0 plan should give you, why we put Raven Free first, and the other free apps worth knowing, each described from its own pages. We make Raven, so read our pick as our view, with our reasons beside it.

What should you look for in a free AI chat app?

• The models you get. Check which models the free plan includes, and whether the strongest one is among them.
• Limits that come back. An allowance that refills by itself keeps the app useful week after week.
• Memory you control. If an app remembers you, you should be able to read what it keeps, change it and clear it.
• Work you can use. Real files you can open and send, and chats you can share with the people you work with.
• Answers you can check. Numbered sources you can open, so checking a claim takes one click.
• Who you are trusting. The company behind the app, and the privacy law your information is handled under.

Why is Raven Free our pick?

Because it gives you both of our models. Raven Free costs $0 and includes Raven Max, our flagship reasoning model, and Raven Flash, built for low latency and high volume, with limits that replenish automatically. It is a plan, not a trial: when you want more room, Raven Pro is $20 a month, and every plan is on the pricing page.

The flagship on the free plan is the same one we test against the frontier. In our published results, which are company-reported and evaluated with maximum reasoning effort, Raven Max placed first among the models compared on GDPVal-AA, which measures real economic task completion, at 1,771. All eight results are in our report on Raven Max, including the tests where another model leads.

What else does the Raven app do?

• Memory you can see and edit. Raven remembers lasting facts across conversations, such as your work and how you like answers. Read the list in Settings, change a line, remove one, or clear it all. How Raven remembers has the details.
• Real files. Ask for a report, a deck, a fixed page or a sheet, and Raven makes a real .docx, .pptx, .pdf or .xlsx in the chat, as our story on files shows.
• Shared chats. Bring people into a chat as View only, to read along, or Collaborate, to take part.
• Research with sources. For a question that needs the live web, Raven offers deeper research and comes back with numbered sources you can open.
• Links you paste. Paste a web address and Raven reads the page before it answers.

We are a Canadian company, and your personal information is handled under Canadian privacy law. Your content is kept, encrypted at rest, and used to develop, improve and train our own models; it is never sold, never used for advertising and never used to train models for anyone else. How we protect your data explains what that means for you.

Which other free AI chat apps are worth knowing?

Each of these lists a free plan on its own pages. We describe them only as their makers do, and their pages have the details.

• ChatGPT is made by OpenAI. Its pricing page lists a Free plan, for everyday tasks, with access on the web, iOS and Android.
• Claude is Anthropic's AI assistant. Its pricing page lists a Free plan, with chat on the web, desktop and mobile.
• Gemini is Google's AI assistant, on the web and on mobile. Its plans page lists a tier that is free of charge.
• Microsoft Copilot is Microsoft's AI assistant for chatting, creating content and completing tasks, on the web, desktop and mobile. A free tier is available with a Microsoft account.
• Perplexity describes itself as an AI-powered search engine whose answers include citations and links to the original sources. Its plans include a free Standard plan.

How do I switch?

1. Create a free account from the Raven page.
2. Tell Raven what it should know about you, or add it yourself to your memories in Settings.
3. Bring a question you know well and read the answer with its sources.
4. When you want more room, compare the plans on the pricing page.

How allowances replenish is in the Plans and Usage guide.

Product names are trademarks of their owners and are used here only to identify the products.