Jio’s Gemini vs Airtel’s Perplexity vs ChatGPT Go: Which free AI plan is best for you

After giving away free data, Indian telecom operators have found one more thing to give away for free: Generative AI Assistants. First, Airtel announced free Perplexity Pro for 12 months, and Jio countered with the Google Gemini offer for 18 months. While the telcos were fighting their own AI battle, OpenAI decided to offer ChatGPT Go, a more affordable version of its AI chatbot, to Indian users for free for one year.

One thing is clear: each of these AI tools promises to deliver instant responses, boost productivity, and embrace AI-powered convenience without spending a rupee. If you are wondering which free AI plan is best for you, here’s a breakdown of Jio’s Gemini vs Airtel’s Perplexity vs ChatGPT Go.

Airtel Perplexity

In July, Airtel announced a partnership with Perplexity to offer free access to Perplexity Pro for a year, worth Rs 17,000. The offer is available to all Airtel customers, including mobile, Wi-Fi, and DTH customers, through the Airtel Thanks app. Unlike Gemini and ChatGPT Go, Airtel’s Perplexity partnership is a fascinating step toward driving users to AI-powered search rather than conversational AI.

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Perplexity shines in research-oriented queries, making it ideal for students, professionals, and anyone who values fact-based answers. Compared to hallucination-prone responses of traditional chatbots, Perplexity offers cited answers with sources and delivers well-explained insights.

Perplexity’s strength includes search-centric experience, focused and real-time internet answers with citations, and that is also its weakness. It lacks the polish of conversational AI assistants like ChatGPT and cannot aid in creative tasks or coding assistance.

Jio Gemini

Jio’s Gemini offer brings the full suite of Google’s AI services to India’s largest telecom subscriber base. You get access to Google Gemini, 2TB Google One storage, Veo 3.1, NotebookLM, Google Workspace, and Nano Banana. In other words, Jio customers can use Gemini for text, image and video generation. Google Gemini can be used for everything from homework assistance, drafting an email, to recipe suggestions and image creation.

Gemini’s deeper integration with Google’s services like Gmail, Photos, Drive, and Meet means powerful synergy across the entire Google services that standalone AI apps can’t match. However, it is not that capable in complex reasoning or technical work. For first-time AI adopters and casual Jio users, the free Gemini offer delivers access to a do-it-all AI assistant.

ChatGPT Go

ChatGPT Go is where you go if you are seeking help with creative writing or conversational depth. Optimised for speed and everyday use, the Go version is more conversational than Perplexity and more capable than Google’s Gemini at technical tasks such as coding.

It is the best tool for ideation, writing, and creativity and also has strong reasoning. While it doesn’t fetch real-time data like Perplexity, it remains the smartest for general use.

Jio's Gemini vs Airtel's Perplexity vs ChatGPT Go

For Indian consumers juggling multiple AI apps, these plans from telecom operators offer accessibility and flexibility not possible with basic plans. However, the best free AI plan for you depends on your primary needs.

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For creative writing and conversational depth, ChatGPT Go remains unmatched, while Jio’s Gemini delivers an all-around package for conversational AI and multimodal experience. Airtel’s Perplexity, on the other hand, stands out for research and fact-based answers. The best one, however, is the one that comes with your phone plan.