AI chatbots are arriving with a formidable presence, and Google, which has dominated the online search market for decades, has seen its market share rarely decline recently. Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s prediction that AI will replace traditional search engines seems to be coming true. What are the popular AI chatbots currently available? What features, pros and cons, and pricing structures do these AI chatbots have? Here is a compilation and analysis:
AIChatbots impact the traditional search engine ecosystem.
According to market research firm Statcounter, Google’s global web search market share fell to 89.71% in March 2025, the first time it has dipped below 90% since 2015. The competitors eroding Google’s search engine market share are AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Grok.The Bain & Company/Dynata Generative AI Consumer Survey further points out that currently in the U.S., 80% of consumers use chatbots for search, and over 40% of them will not continue clicking other links or seeking other answers, seriously impacting the traffic of knowledge-based websites.
Chen Hsien-li, co-founder of Taiwan Good Advertising Data, also pointed out that AI chatbots have severely impacted traffic to various websites. In the past, Google’s search engine could display a list of multiple websites, but after AI chatbots became prevalent, if a website is not incorporated into the knowledge base of AI search platforms, its visibility and traffic revenue will drop significantly. Taking its knowledge-based website (content farm) as an example, in just three years, advertising revenue plummeted from a peak of $3 million per year to only about $3,000 per month, a decline of 98.8%.However, advertisers’ digital advertising budgets haven’t shrunk. While AI technology has brought a devastating crisis to many websites that rely on traffic revenue, as long as you can grasp AI search trends, the crisis can also be a major turning point.
1. What are some popular AI chatbots currently?
According to website traffic tracking agenciesSimilarweb‘sLatest dataCurrently, the popular AI chatbots in order of traffic volume are ChatGPT (OpenAI), Gemini (Google), DeepSeek, Grok (xAI), Perplexity, Claude, Copilot (Microsoft), Hugging Face, Meta…
Among them, ChatGPT has surpassed 75% market share, far ahead of the rest. Gemini leverages Google’s search database advantage to surpass DeepSeek, whose data is becoming increasingly polluted, securing second and third place respectively. Grok ranks fourth with Elon Musk’s celebrity endorsement and the use of X social media data, while Perplexity, which emphasizes high accuracy in problem-solving, jumps to fifth place.
2. Comparison of Free and Paid Versions of Popular AI Chatbots:
Most popular AI chatbots currently offer free chat and AI search features, but the features are fairly basic and come with daily usage limits or ads.
- List of Free AI Chatbot Services
Popular AI chatbots also offer paid premium tiers, with monthly fees around $600–$650, providing more advanced features, more or unlimited usage quotas, and priority access. Gemini, Copilot, and Grok integrate with multiple paid services from Google, Microsoft, and X. Additionally, some providers offer even higher-tier versions and enterprise versions.
- Paid Version AI Search Platform (Chatbot) Price List
3. Pros and cons of popular chatbots:
Currently, aside from ChatGPT leveraging its first-mover advantage and powerful computing capabilities to lead the pack by a wide margin, Google, Microsoft, X, Meta, and various startups are each competing fiercely with their corporate resources or founders’ technical expertise. For instance, Gemini has access to Google’s search engine database and integrates Google services; Copilot has Microsoft’s Bing search engine database and integrates Microsoft 365 services; Grok has X’s social media database and integrates X services; DeepSeek adopts an open-source model with low costs and has an advantage in Chinese grammar and vocabulary; and Perplexity is backed by investments from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and NVIDIA, and is being promoted in Taiwan through bundles with Taiwan Mobile subscribers…
4. Which paid AI chatbot is better?
Although users still primarily rely on free AI chatbot services, paid versions are now offering increasingly powerful features and content, and industry observers predict that the number of users adopting paid plans will grow rapidly.
If you want to use the paid version of the service, which one should you choose?
The Wall Street Journal tested five paid chatbots — ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, and Copilot — and ranked the quality of their responses across various use cases, including medical, finance, cooking, workplace writing, creative writing, summarization, breaking news, coding, and response speed.Perplexity ProUpset victory to claim the championship, with the rest of the rankings being ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Copilot. Among these, Perplexity Pro’s strongest areas are “Summary,” “Latest News,” and “Coding,” while its weakness is that “response speed lags behind.”
Image source: The Wall Street Journal
Since the Wall Street Journal’s test uses reply accuracy as the main evaluation criterion, it’s not surprising that Perplexity Pro, known for precise responses, came out on top. But all AI chatbots are continuously training, and the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post have also filed lawsuits against Perplexity for大规模 copyright and trademark infringement. Plus, each provider has its own features and advantages, so it’s still hard to predict who will ultimately win.
In terms of the moderator’s view, the key to winning or losing for AI chatbots ultimately comes down to the accuracy of their replies, and the knowledge base source and user habits will be the main criteria for using the paid version. The moderator’s view is as follows:
a. Prioritize the free version:
The paid versions of Gemini, Gork, and Copilot mainly come bundled with Google, X Premium, and Microsoft paid services. If you already need these paid services, you may consider subscribing. However, the moderator recommends using the free versions, especially Copilot.
b. Could consider the paid version:
ChatGPT, with its first-mover advantage, remains the safest choice for users who are increasingly reliant on chatbots, as the paid version supports multiple functions. Perplexity Pro offers features such as precise responses with cited sources, so you can take advantage of Taiwan Mobile’s free one-year plan for monthly plan users of NT$599 and above, as well as the student referral free plan (see ”This article“) to test the waters as a reference for whether to use it long-term.
Additionally, since each paid chatbot has its own strengths, for business or commercial use, you can choose the service that excels in the features you need. Using ad copy as an example: ChatGPT Plus supports SEO articles and META descriptions, making it ideal for FB/IG/YouTube posts and articles; Super Gork is specifically designed for X (Twitter) and retrieves the latest data, but doesn’t have built-in SEO optimization, making it better suited for generating short-form content or querying information; Perplexity Pro delivers more precise responses with real-time analysis capabilities and includes source references, making it better for research or as a Google search alternative, though its content is more concise and less suitable for social media copy; Claude Pro is a writing expert but doesn’t support image generation, excelling at nuanced reasoning and tonal precision, making it highly suitable for complex tasks like legal analysis or compliance projects, such as writing company recruitment copy.
c. Is DeepSeek worth using?
The once-viral DeepSeek uses an open-source model and has an advantage in interpreting Chinese language nuances—but is it worth using? The strength of an open-source model is that it harnesses collective wisdom (especially from Chinese developers), but the most critical problem is that it will suffer the most severe contamination. The heavily contaminated database has also led to a large number of non-Chinese users abandoning it recently. It is recommended that when using it, you should carefully verify the accuracy of its responses to avoid being misled by contaminated answers.
The following is a simple comparison of features between the free and paid versions of popular AI chatbots:
AI chatbots gradually replacing search engines is an irreversible trend. Learning to properly use AI chatbots to solve various problems in daily life has become an essential skill in modern digital society. Although AI chatbots can quickly organize useful information, any AI database has limitations and carries the risk of being contaminated and making mistakes. Users of AI chatbots must develop the habit of “verifying” information with critical thinkingThe habit of replying, using the time saved from gathering and organizing information toQuestion whether the information you receive is correct, and learn to cross-check multiple sources to ensure the information is reliable. AI chatbots have brought most intellectual abilities closer together, but the decisive factor in winning ultimately remains who can consistently maintain critical thinking and obtain their own Win Know-how.
Source: KOCPC Chinese