Gemini Advanced: $20/month (family promo for now). Thanks, Google, for helping me keep up my AI habit. But honestly, this one feels more like a toy than a tool compared to the rest. Think of it as a car with a broken speedometer—looks fancy, but you’re not sure if it’s doing the job.
ChatGPT Plus: $20/month. This one? Totally worth it. It’s my main helper and fixes the mess Gemini makes.
Claude Pro: Got a yearly discount, but it’s… complicated. It’s like hiring a genius who second-guesses everything and gets overwhelmed. Still, when it works, it’s a gem.
Perplexity Pro: Free trial thanks to LinkedIn Premium. Feels like a better search engine, but I haven’t fully figured out how to make it a daily thing.
And now xAI is teasing us with promises of being the ultimate AI. Let’s be real—I’ll probably sign up.
When does this madness stop? Am I supposed to start adding “AI expenses” to my monthly budget, right after groceries? Anyway, who’s joining me on the xAI waitlist?
You should check out Hoody AI. It’s way cheaper—$65 for a whole year—and gives you access to models like Claude and ChatGPT. The only downside is no image generation yet, but the interface is super clean.
If you’re tired of paying so much, why not set up your own system at home?
You can buy a used workstation for about $200 and a secondhand RTX A4000 for $600. Add some free AI models from Meta, and you’ll have everything you need for less than $1,000. Once it’s set up, you won’t need constant internet or have to deal with limits.
It’s a bottomless pit, honestly. I’m already paying for Perplexity Pro, Abacus ChatLLM, two work-related assistants, and some creative tools like MidJourney and DaVinci AI. Don’t even get me started on video AI. This is turning into an expensive hobby.