ChatGPT vs Claude vs Perplexity: which AI tool is best for your company?
The AI revolution has now given us three powerful main players, each with its own strengths: ChatGPT from OpenAI, Claude from Anthropic and Perplexity AI. With the launch of GPT-5 on Aug. 7, 2025, the bar has been raised yet again. Professionals can choose from models ranging from pure creativity to deep analysis and real-time research. But which ones do you use for what? And which models perform best in your situation?
- ChatGPT: Best for creativity, brainstorming, and iterative work (€20-200/month)
- Claude: Dominates coding, long documents, and enterprise workflows (€20-80/month)
- Perplexity: Unbeatable for real-time research and up-to-date market data (€20-200/month)
- Smartest strategy: Combine all three - each tool for its strengths
After months of testing and comparing, I'm putting the three tools side by side. From creativity to code writing, from research to content creation - you'll discover which AI assistant best suits your needs and how to use them for AI-driven marketing strategies.
The three AI tools at a glance
ChatGPT remains the best-known AI assistant, loved for its creativity and versatility. With the new GPT-5 and GPT-4o under the hood, OpenAI delivers consistent performance for brainstorming, writing, and programming. Perfect for AI-driven content creation and prompt engineering.
Claude from Anthropic stands out for its long memory capacity and safe output. Claude Sonnet 4 and Opus 4 combine speed with reliability, ideal for complex analyses and sensitive content. Excellent for AI automation and enterprise applications.
Perplexity positions itself as the search tool that provides answers instead of links. Through real-time internet access, it offers up-to-date information with source citations - perfect for research and fact-checking in SEO projects and GEO strategies.
Which models are the best in 2025?
ChatGPT models - complete overview
Important update: GPT-4.5 was launched on February 27, 2025, and is OpenAI's largest and best model for general chat. It hallucinates less, follows instructions better, and feels more natural in conversations.
Claude models - the 2025 update
Claude 4 breakthrough: In May 2025, Anthropic launched Claude Opus 4 and Sonnet 4 with hybrid reasoning - they can provide both instant answers and think extensively. Opus 4 scores 72.5% on SWE-bench and can perform autonomous coding tasks for several hours.
Perplexity models - complete 2025 overview
Pro Search Models:
Sonar - Perplexity's own model (based on Llama 3.1 70B)
GPT-4.1 - OpenAI's most recent stable model
Claude 4.0 Sonnet - Anthropic's balanced model
Gemini 2.5 Pro - Google's multimodal flagship
Reasoning Search Models:
R1 - Perplexity's fine-tuned, uncensored model (US-hosted)
o3 / o3-Pro - OpenAI's reasoning models (o3-Pro for Perplexity Max users)
Claude 4.0 Sonnet Thinking - Hybrid reasoning mode
Claude 4.0 Opus Thinking - Premium reasoning (Perplexity Max users only)
DeepSeek-R1 - Post-trained reasoning model
Grok 3 Beta - xAI's advanced reasoning model
New in 2025: Sonar is 10x faster than Gemini 2.0 Flash thanks to Cerebras infrastructure and performs at the level of GPT-4o and Claude 3.5 Sonnet at a fraction of the cost.
Feature comparison: what can each tool do?
When to use which tool? (2025 update)
Use ChatGPT for:
Creative and iterative projects: ChatGPT-5 excels in brainstorming, content variations, and iterative work. The Canvas feature makes it ideal for AI-content creation where you develop content step by step. Perfect for video marketing trends and social media strategies.
“According to our MIT research, ChatGPT reduced task time by 40% and increased output quality by 18%. This technology has important applications in office work.”
Source: MIT News - ChatGPT productivity study
Programming and rapid prototyping For rapid code development, debugging, and technical documentation, ChatGPT outperforms competitors. Excellent for Shopify app development and AI-Shopify integrations.
Conversational AI and customer service ChatGPT's cross-conversation memory makes it perfect for lead generation automation and customer support flows.
Choose Claude for:
Enterprise workflows and long documents Claude's 200k context window and hybrid reasoning make it unbeatable for complex business analyses. Ideal for performance marketing strategies where you need to analyze large datasets.
“Claude AI is like a Swiss Army knife for business productivity - incredibly versatile and handy. It can handle the heavy tasks, but you need to add your personal touch to the final product.”
Source: Claude AI business guide
Autonomous coding and refactoring Claude Opus 4 can independently execute complex coding projects for hours. Perfect for e-commerce optimization where you need to refactor complete webshop functions.
Compliance and sensitive content For legal documents, HR content, and medical texts, Claude offers the highest safety standards without hindering creativity.
Perplexity is perfect for:
Real-time market research and trends Perplexity Deep Research delivers up-to-date market data with source citations in 2-4 minutes. Essential for SEO-AI combinations and local SEO in Belgium.
“We've made it mandatory for our engineers to use AI coding tools. The experimentation time for new tasks decreased from three, four days to literally one hour. That degree of change is incredible.”
Source: Entrepreneur - AI productivity interview
Financial data and e-commerce intelligence The new Finance features offer real-time stock prices, company data, and market analyses. Perfect for e-commerce trends analysis and B2B research.
SEO content research and fact-checking Perplexity's real-time web access makes it indispensable for structured data implementation and up-to-date voice search optimization.
Pros and cons per platform
ChatGPT
Advantages:
GPT-5 offers the best overall performance for creative and technical tasks
Extensive Canvas function for iterative work
Cross-conversation memory for personal assistance
Large community and many online resources
Disadvantages:
Knowledge cutoff March 2025 limits topicality
GPT-5 only available for Plus users (€23/month)
Can sometimes give overconfident answers without source citation
Premium features require expensive subscriptions
Claude
Advantages:
Longest context window (200k tokens) for complex documents
Hybrid reasoning with instant and extensive thinking modes
Highest safety standards and ethical output
Claude Opus 4 is the world's best coding model (72.5% SWE-bench)
Disadvantages:
Sometimes too cautious, refuses legitimate questions
Limited internet access reduces topicality
Opus 4 context window smaller than Sonnet 4 (32k vs 64k output)
Higher costs for API usage
Perplexity
Advantages:
Real-time access to current information with automatic source citation
Deep Research can complete complex analyses in minutes
Sonar models specifically optimized for search
Perplexity Assistant for multi-app integration
Disadvantages:
Less suitable for purely creative tasks
Limited conversational memory between sessions
Legal issues regarding content scraping and copyright
Dependent on the quality of search results
Prices and subscription comparison 2025
New in 2025: ChatGPT Pro for €200/month offers unlimited access to GPT-4.5, o3-Pro, and all premium features. Claude Max (€80/month) provides access to Opus 4 thinking mode.
Use case matrix: which tool for which task?
For marketing teams:
Campaign ideation: ChatGPT 5 for creative concepts and advertising strategies
Market research: Perplexity Deep Research for current e-commerce trends
Content compliance: Claude Sonnet 4 for sensitive copy and online advertisements
AI marketing automation: Combination of all three for complete workflows
Performance marketing: Claude for data analysis, ChatGPT for creative, Perplexity for trends
For developers and technicians:
Complex coding: Claude Opus 4 for autonomous Shopify development
Quick fixes: ChatGPT Canvas for iterative debugging and Shopify SEO
Tech research: Perplexity for new frameworks and top AI tools
Code review: Claude Sonnet 4 for quality control and security audits
AI copywriting integration: All three tools for different content types
For consultants and agencies:
Document analysis: Claude Opus 4 for long reports and CRO analyses
Presentations: ChatGPT 5 for storylines and creative concepts
Market data: Perplexity for current figures and LinkedIn B2B strategies
Client research: Combination for complete due diligence
Digital expertise: Multi-tool approach for competitive advantage
Practical integration tips
The 3-tool strategy for professionals:
ChatGPT as primary creative partner and coding assistant
Claude for analytical tasks and long documents
Perplexity as a research engine for current information
Workflow example:
Start research with Perplexity Deep Research for current data
Analyze findings with Claude Opus 4 for in-depth insights
Generate creative output with ChatGPT 5 for presentations
For e-commerce optimization, use this combination to analyze market trends, process competitor data, and develop optimization strategies. Claude analyzes your complete Shopify platform, ChatGPT generates creative assets, and Perplexity gathers current market data for mobile optimization and sustainable e-commerce strategies.
The future: 2025 developments
Anthropic innovations:
Claude 5 is expected with expanded context windows
Better tool integration and autonomous agents
Enterprise features for large-scale deployment
Perplexity growth:
Expansion to 1 billion queries per month
Improved AI models and faster search
Enterprise solutions for business research
Expert insights: how top companies use AI
“Perplexity positions itself as a real-time answer engine with reliable source referencing. This emphasis on reliability appeals to users seeking verifiable information, such as researchers and executives.”
Source: PYMNTS - AI business analysis
For AI audits at SMEs, you often see companies starting with one tool and gradually expanding to a multi-platform approach. AI agents for marketing are becoming increasingly popular for automating routine tasks, while advanced prompt engineering and the RACE model help to achieve better results from all three platforms.
AI browsers: the next big development
Perplexity browser ambitions:
Perplexity Browser in development - a search experience that directly integrates AI answers
Native search integration without detour via traditional search engines
Real-time fact-checking while browsing
OpenAI browser plans:
ChatGPT Browser rumors for late 2025
Integrated AI assistance on every web page
Smart summarization of articles and content while reading
Claude web integration:
Browser extensions with document analysis capabilities
Privacy-first browsing with local AI processing where possible
Enterprise browser tools for secure business use
Arc browser collaboration:
Several AI tools are already integrating with Arc Browser
AI-powered tab management and automatic organization
Smart bookmarking with AI-generated tags
Impact for professionals: These AI browsers can revolutionize the online workflow. Instead of switching between different AI tools, you get direct integrated help while browsing. For SEO professionals, this also means new optimization possibilities for AI-native browsing experiences.
Expectation: By Q4 2025, we will likely see the first fully-fledged AI browsers that fundamentally change traditional browsing.
Conclusion: the right tool for the right job
There is no absolute winner in the AI battle of 2025. The best strategy is a hybrid approach where you use each tool for its strengths.
My recommendation for professionals:
ChatGPT 5 as your primary AI assistant for creative work and general productivity
Claude Opus 4 for complex analyses, coding, and sensitive content
Perplexity Deep Research as your research tool for up-to-date information
The winning formula for 2025: Combine all three tools and learn when to use which. Start with free accounts, test them in your workflow for a week, and only upgrade those tools that add real value. The investment of €60-500 per month for premium subscriptions can pay for itself within weeks through time savings and quality improvement.
The AI revolution is not about the perfect tool, but about smartly deploying the right technology at the right time. For companies that want to implement AI, it is essential to first identify the use cases before investing in tools. Zero-click SEO and SEO-SEA integration, for example, require different AI approaches.
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Frequently asked questions about ChatGPT, Perplexity & Claude
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ChatGPT still offers the best balance between ease of use and functionality for new AI users. The interface is intuitive, many tutorials are available, and GPT-4o is freely accessible with daily limits.
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Yes, each platform offers free access with limitations. ChatGPT provides access to GPT-4o mini, Claude to Sonnet 3.7 (limited), and Perplexity to basic search functions plus some Deep Research queries per day.
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Claude has the strictest security protocols, followed by ChatGPT Enterprise and Perplexity Pro. For sensitive business data, always avoid free versions and opt for enterprise subscriptions.
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For general tasks and creativity, GPT-5 wins. For coding and long-term autonomous tasks, Claude Opus 4 is superior. For research with up-to-date data, Perplexity wins. The "best" tool depends on your specific use case.
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OpenAI updates ChatGPT most frequently (monthly), followed by Perplexity (weekly for search features) and Anthropic (quarterly for major model updates).
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No, each tool has unique strengths. ChatGPT for creativity, Claude for autonomous analysis, Perplexity for real-time research. Professional users are increasingly combining all three tools.
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GPT-5 for iterative development and debugging with Canvas. Claude Opus 4 for autonomous coding projects and complex refactoring. For Shopify development, it depends on the project complexity.
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Perplexity scores 93.9% on factuality benchmarks, but always verify important business data with multiple sources. It is excellent for initial research, but not for final decision-making without verification.
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OpenAI's API is the most mature with extensive documentation. Claude's API is growing rapidly with better reasoning features. Perplexity's Sonar API is unique for search integration. For marketing automation, all three offer different advantages.
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No, all three platforms require an internet connection. For offline AI, there are local models such as Llama, but with more limited capabilities than these cloud-based tools.
Sources and references
AI Model Performance & Updates:
OpenAI: "GPT-4.5 introduction: the largest conversational model to date" - https://openai.com/index/introducing-gpt-4-5/
Anthropic: "Claude 4 launch: new standard for coding and AI agents" - https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-4
MIT Technology Review: "OpenAI launches GPT-4.5 as largest model ever" - https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/02/27/1112619/
Perplexity AI: "Deep Research introduction: research in minutes instead of hours" - https://www.perplexity.ai/hub/blog/introducing-perplexity-deep-research
Enterprise Integration & Benchmarks:
Amazon Web Services: "Claude Opus 4 available in Amazon Bedrock for enterprise" - https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/claude-opus-4-anthropics-most-powerful-model-for-coding/
GitHub: "Claude Sonnet 4 and Opus 4 integrated into GitHub Copilot" - https://github.blog/changelog/2025-06-25-anthropic-claude-sonnet-4-and-claude-opus-4/
CNBC: "Amazon-backed Anthropic unveils Claude 4 AI models" - https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/22/claude-4-opus-sonnet-anthropic.html
Professional Use Cases & Performance:
Axios: "Anthropic claims AI-coding crown with latest Claude models" - https://www.axios.com/2025/05/22/anthropic-claude-version-4-ai-model
Team-GPT: "Perplexity Review 2025: comprehensive analysis for professionals" - https://team-gpt.com/blog/perplexity-review/
Voiceflow: "What is Perplexity AI and will it replace Google Search?" - https://www.voiceflow.com/blog/perplexity-ai
