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Short answer

Pick Claude for careful writing and real work on your documents and folders. Pick Gemini if your life is in Google apps and you also want pictures and short videos.

Pick Claude if

  • You write a lot and want it to sound natural, in your own tone.
  • You want real Word, Excel and PowerPoint files, or Claude working right inside them (paid plans).
  • You want it to work in your own folders and run tasks on a schedule (paid plans).
  • You want careful research reports with sources.
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Pick Gemini if

  • You already use Gmail, Google Docs, Sheets and Drive.
  • You want to make or edit pictures (Nano Banana).
  • You want short videos (paid plans).
  • You want a lot for free: Deep Research, Canvas, pictures and voice are on the free plan.
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Side by side

ClaudeGemini
Made byAnthropicGoogle
Free planChat, files, web search, memory and making documents, with a limit that refills every few hoursChat, files, Deep Research, Canvas, pictures and voice, with a limit that refills about every five hours
Paid plansPro, Max, Ultra, Team, EnterpriseGoogle AI Plus, Pro and Ultra (with Drive storage)
PicturesDesigns, slides and one-pagers (Claude Design)Yes: Nano Banana, also great at editing photos
Works insideChrome, Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Slack (paid plans)Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides and Chrome
Best forWriting, documents, files and thinking things throughGoogle apps, pictures and short videos

Plans, prices and features change often. Check the official pricing page before you pay.

Our take

Claude is the stronger desk partner for writing and documents; Gemini is the better fit if everything you own is already in Google. Both free plans are enough to learn on, so try the same task in both before you pay.

Read next

What is Claude?
Claude · Chapter 0.1 · 3 min readClaudeWhat is Gemini?
Gemini · Chapter 1.1 · 3 min readGeminiPlans: free and paid, in plain words
Claude · Chapter 0.3 · 3 min readClaudePlans: free and paid, in plain words
Gemini · Chapter 1.3 · 4 min readGemini

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