Best Free Large Language Models
A User-Friendly LLM Comparison
Written by
Lili Marocsik
October 25nd, 2024
Last updated
Large language models are like super-smart text generators, using vast amounts of written text to understand and generate human-like language.
They are trained on massive data, so the more they learn, the better they understand and generate text.
We made sure to make this review non-technical and user friendly, as we assume that you are using the models rather than building them.
All large language models had to master the same tasks, so we could directly compare the results:
For understanding context we asked: Which model am I using right now?
For measuring accuracy we asked for an impossible task: How do I connect the app splitwise to my Revolut account? (The correct answer would have been that it is not possible to connect these two accounts)
To test its language capabilities, we asked for an introduction about aitoolssme.com (the prompt was: You are a copywriter, and you explain the benefits of the site in two simple sentences to the audience. This audience is non-technical, and the tone of voice is friendly, informal, and warm.)
And last and also least, we've checked if LLMs have developed humour in the meantime, which sadly deserves a definite 'NO'.
The biggest surprises were:
Gemini is still extremely careful to not say anything wrong and 'isn't able to access such information' when asked about the model.
ChatGPT's language capabilities have gotten much better with me prompting it better as well. Where as Claude (aka copywriters darling) sounded not like a copywriter at all.
The biggest difference between ChatGPT 3.5 and ChatGPT 4 is that model 3.5 hallucinates much more.
LLMs have gotten much better since I've first reviewed them in March 2024, but I'm also a bit relieved that my first love ChatGPT, is still leading the LLM comparison.
And even though these tools are amazing at text generation, I promise this was written 100% by me.
For our big LLM comparison, we grouped the tools into the following categories:
Top 5 free LLMs (with ChatGPT-4 taking the lead, although it is generally a paid tool, OpenAI provides limited free daily access to it)
Paid tools (such as Gemini Advanced or Copilot are further below)
Older models (like Llama 2 and Claude 3 Opus in the very end)
Top 5 free LLMs:
Tool Name | Great For | Access via | Price Per Month |
---|---|---|---|
ChatGPT 4 | Context Awareness | chatgpt.com | $20 |
Claude 3.5 Sonnet | High Accuracy | Claude.ai | Free |
ChatGPT 3.5 | Context Awareness | chatgpt.com | Free |
Gemini 1.5 Pro | Accuracy (less hallucinations) | gemini.google.com | Free |
Llama 3 | Fluency | groq.com | Free |
The Free LLM Comparison:
ChatGPT 4
ChatGPT 3.5
Gemini 1.5 Pro (former Bard)
Did you know that you can directly access Llama 3 via www.groq.com?
Large Language Model Use Cases and Anything Beyond ChatGPT
Lili
who calls ChatGPT her “new best friend”.
I admit I might be a bit biased as ChatGPT was the first LLM I used and with that a huge revelation for me.
It's like my first digital teddy bear, obviously hard to criticize or favor another. In fact still the tool I use every day for research or to generate beautiful pictures via Dall E 3 (only with the paid version).
But it’s not the best LLM for every use case, so let’s take a look what Llama 3, Gemini, and Claude can do better.
LLM Alternatives to ChatGPT
Google's Gemini has started a bit bumpy: The responses were very generic, and the response time was long. And let’s not even talk about their funny bias debacle: overly woke answers and image generations made the internet community joke about the Google team. So much so that they switched off the image generation entirely for now.
Today, Gemini response times has improved a lot. It’s still the first LLM to admit if it isn’t sure about the answer and rather opt-out of answering. This can be annoying, as some of the questions are very simple, but if you want to be absolutely sure and have been burned by ChatGPT’s hallucinations, Gemini might be a good alternative.
I’ve tried Gemini Advance in Google Workspace apps like Gmail, Docs, etc. It’s supposed to organize your sheets and contacts and automatically open the appropriate Google apps. Didn’t work for me at all, e.g. I asked it to open maps and show me the way to a location, but it didn’t understand the intent. Re-organising a sheet caused an absolute chaos, I can not recommend it yet. I’m sure it will improve soon.
Beyond Google And OpenAI
I was mocking Meta for Llama 2’s complicated setup (you have to run the model locally on your computer, which is not easy for noncoders). I’m pacified with the newest version Llama 3, because www.groq.com let’s you access the tool easily via an interface. So test and use the tool there if you like. It’s super fast and mostly accurate and, therefore a true alternative to ChatGPT. I also hear of more and more people using it.
LLama 3 Access: via www.groq.com for free
Anthropic’s Claude is the marketer’s and copywriter’s favorite LLM and rightfully so: it sounds much more natural than ChatGPT.
Claude 3.5 Sonnet Access: via www.poe.com for free
Since the launch of Microsoft’s Copilot, which is built on top of ChatGPT 4 and the free version is limited to 30 prompts per month.
Perplexity.ai is as if Google Search and ChatGPT had a baby: it provides you with the most accurate answer to your question, including videos, pictures, and generated text. The more specific the question, the better Perplexity.ai can provide a relevant answer, so just like with ChatGPT, give the tool some background information if you want it to excel.
Perplexity.ai Access: via www.perplexity.ai
Microsoft’s Copilot is based on ChatGPT 4 but offers ChatGPT Turbo access to paying premium users.
It’s perfectly bridging Microsoft with ChatGPT through these features and integrations:
• AI assistance in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook
• Unified AI experience across Windows 11, Edge, Bing
• Image Generation: DALL-E 3 for AI image creation and editing
• AI-powered multimodal results from text, voice, and images
Paid Large Language Models
Copilot (Microsoft)
Do you have any tips, tricks or hacks for using AI?
Fedor Pak, CEO Chatfuel: Recognize the potential of AI and consider it like a young, inexperienced, yet brilliant employee who can significantly enhance or even replace your entire team. Don't set high expectations immediately, and start utilizing it as soon as possible in areas where it can already be beneficial.
Krish Ramineni, CEO Fireflies.AI: Be as objective as possible when interacting with AI. AI picks up on your biases and can sometimes BS answers. It's very good at making things seem accurate. Over time this will get better, but we have to be mindful in the way we provide instructions.
Thomas Bornheim, CEO 42 Heilbronn: Be super friendly, and your results will turn out better. It's surely a psychological effect - but it is also proven that these tools work better when you bribe them.