vs
Google AI Mode vs ChatGPT search
Google AI Mode scores higher overall (8.6 vs 8.4), but the right pick depends on what you need.
Choose Google AI Mode if…
Anyone who wants AI answers without leaving Google or paying
8.6/10★★★★★Full review →Side by side
| Google AI Mode | ChatGPT search | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall score | 8.6/10 | 8.4/10 |
| Rank in category | #2 of 7 | #3 of 7 |
| Price | Freemium · from £4.49/month | Freemium · from $8/month |
| Free version | AI Mode is free in Google Search | Web search included free; ads in some countries |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android | Web, iOS, Android, WhatsApp |
| Made by | OpenAI | |
| Answer quality | 7.5 | 8 |
| Ease of use | 9.5 | 9 |
| Features | 8 | 8 |
| Value for money | 9.5 | 8 |
| Platforms | 9 | 9.5 |
Google AI Mode: what the AI does
- Conversational answers with links to sources
- Search with text, voice, photos, files or video
- Search Live spoken conversations
- Deep Search in selected countries
- Personal Intelligence using Gmail and Google Photos
- Interactive visuals and simulations
- Free, with no new app or sign-up
- Google's huge index and local, shopping and travel data
- Best multimodal search: photo, voice and live video
- More inline links to sources since October 2026
- Answer quality is uneven on hard or niche questions
- Personalisation means sharing more data with Google
- Google labels AI Mode experimental and warns it can make mistakes
ChatGPT search: what the AI does
- Cited answers with source highlighting
- Shopping search with product comparisons
- Search by texting ChatGPT on WhatsApp
- Search with uploaded photos
- Turns results into writing, code or analysis
- Search, writing and analysis in one conversation
- Shopping results that OpenAI says aren't paid ads
- Works for logged-out users
- Top-rated apps with huge user base
- Citations are clumsier than Perplexity's
- Sometimes answers from memory instead of searching
- Free tier now shows ads in some countries