I've used a lot of AI tools. Most get opened for a week, then forgotten. Claude is the one that stuck. It's the tool I open first thing in the morning and the one I'm still talking to at the end of the day, and it's the reason this site exists at all.

Claude is an AI assistant made by Anthropic. Like ChatGPT, you chat with it to write, research, summarise and think things through. Where it pulls ahead is the work that actually matters in a business: long, careful, joined-up tasks where you need it to understand the whole picture, not just answer one question.

The short verdict

My score: 9.2/10 (Outstanding). If you run a business and write, plan or build anything, Claude is the AI I'd pay for first. The free plan is a great way to try it. Pro at $17 a month is the best money I spend on software.

What I like

• It built this website with me. I have zero coding experience. Claude helped me design, build and fine-tune DigiStacker in Framer, from the page layouts to the little details like the mobile menu and the price tables. It didn't just give me instructions; it did the work alongside me and checked it.

• It writes like a person. Proposals, client emails, reports and articles come out sounding natural, not robotic. It follows a brief properly, keeps to a tone of voice and doesn't stuff everything with buzzwords.

• It handles the big, messy jobs. I use it to review Google Ads accounts, pull together weekly marketing reports and make sense of long documents for clients. Hand it a lot of information and it keeps track of the detail instead of losing the thread.

• It's honest with you. Claude will tell you when it thinks an idea is weak, when it isn't sure, or when something it tried didn't work. For a business owner, that's worth more than a tool that just says yes.

What I'd watch out for

• Usage limits. The free plan has daily limits, and on long working days even Pro can ask you to pause. If you live in it all day, look at the Max plan.

• It's not an image generator. Claude can read and understand images, but if you want AI pictures for social posts, pair it with a design tool like Canva.

• Check its work. Like every AI tool, it can occasionally be confidently wrong. Always check facts, figures and anything you're about to publish.

Who it's for

Business owners, marketers and anyone who writes, plans or builds for a living. If you've ever wished you had a sharp, tireless right hand who could draft the proposal, fix the spreadsheet and help you build the website, this is it.

Who should skip it

If AI images are your main need, start with Canva. If you're a large team that needs shared brand templates and admin controls for marketing copy at volume, have a look at Jasper too.

Claude vs ChatGPT

Both are excellent, and the free versions of each are worth having. ChatGPT is a great all-rounder with built-in image generation. But when the work is serious, longer, more detailed and with more at stake, I reach for Claude every time. It feels less like a search box and more like a colleague.

Don't just ask it questions. Give it the whole job, with the background, the goal and the details, and let it work with you. That's where Claude really shines.

The numbers

• Free plan: Yes, with daily limits

• Pro: $17/mo billed yearly, or $20/mo monthly

• Max: From $100/mo for heavy users

• Team: From $20/seat/mo billed yearly

Next steps

Try Claude free or see all my AI tool picks.