Best Free Large Language Models (LLMs)
That Love To Do The Work For You
Written by
Lili Marocsik
May 18th, 2024
Last updated
Language models are like super-smart text generators that use vast amounts of written text to understand and generate human-like language.
The four free LLMs below are all trained on massive data, so the more they learn, the better they become at understanding and generating text.
For our comparison we tested the best free LLMs with tasks like writing essays, answering questions and translating languages.
As a small business owner you can use ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini or LLama 2 from Meta for:
Retrieving information
Ideation
Content Creation
Getting instructions
Formulation
Translation
Summaries
Simplifications
Lili
who calls ChatGPT her “new best friend”.
Spoiler Alert
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. And in fact still the tool I use every day for research or to generate beautiful pictures via Dall E 3 (only on the paid version).
I can't help but forgive the many glitches and annoyances it has put me through ever since its launch:
answers not loading (and with that me having to reformulate questions)
just not reacting at all and therefore requiring a page refresh
annoying pop-ups urging me to sign up to extensions by Maxai.me
last but not least, declining response quality
Google’s Gemini
But it's not like Google's Gemini is any better. The responses are very generic and the response time is quite long. And let’s not even talk about their funny bias debacle: overly woke answers and image generations, made the Google team look ridiculous. So much so that they switched off the image generation entirely for now.
I also enjoy taking away my data from Google (Search) and instead of putting it into Big Brother, I am now naked in front of ChatGPT.
Since the launch of Microsoft’s Copilot, which is built on top of ChatGPT 4, I am even happier. The free version is limited to 30 prompts per month and if you didn’t sign up to ChatGPT4 this is your free ticket to at least a few queries per month. The responses are much more accurate than ChatGPT 3.5s.
And while I was mocking Meta for Llama 2’s complicated setup (for non coders), I’m pacified with the newest version (Llama 3). It’s not like you wouldn’t have to install it, but via www.groq.com I found a backdoor. You can easily test and use the tool there.
I hope Meta will soon publish Llama 3 with an interface. Sure, now it can run without an internet connection, but as a digital girl in a digital world, when does it ever happen that I don't have internet access?
So I continue just to open up my browser tab with the always-on ChatGPT, my first love and side-eye Copilot every now and then.
The free LLM comparison
1
Setup/Onboarding
5/5
User Experience
4/5
Tool Performance
4/5
Use Cases
Use ChatGPT4 for information retrival, coding, image generation, translation, summaries. Short for everything that you don’t want to spend much time on. Most AI copy writing tools language capabilities hardly have an advantage over ChatGPT.
Support
Multi-Language Support
Key Features
- Dall E 3: Editing Images
- In-app features: image recognition
- Additional to Version 3.5:
- Image generation
- Custom settings
- Improved Understanding
- Greater Knowledge Base
- Advanced Language Skills & Broader Language Coverage
- Enhanced Multitasking
- Reduced Biases
- Higher Efficiency
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- smoother and more accurate answers than version 3.5 indeed
- image generation superb (Dall E 3 integration)
- formulas and codes are much better with this version
Cons:
- even with Web access Chrome extension, system claims to not have real time data
- Very annoying pop-up (Maxai.me) that blocks almost any query
Price Point
ChatGPT 4
Images I’ve created with Dall E 3 (included in ChatGPT 4)
Check out how ChatGPT compares to all other image generators in our extensive image generator comparison where we gave all tools the same prompt.
Did you know that you can directly access Llama 3 via www.groq.com?
2
Llama 3
Setup/Onboarding
3
User Experience
5
Tool Performance
4
Use Cases
• Content creation • Research assistance • Language translation • Writing assistance • Chatbots • Customer service • Education • Marketing • Technical documentation • Brainstorming
Support
The bot itself
Key Features
- Language understanding
- Sentiment analysis
- Conversational flow
- Error tolerance
- Limited domain knowledge
- No personal opinions
- Continuous improvement
- Entity recognition
- Knowledge graph
- Contextual understanding
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- cut-off date for internet access about mid 2022 (according to the tool itself)
- free
- writing style is more approachable and sounds better than ChatGPT's
- in most cases extremely fast
Cons:
- doesn't have a direct interface, so either use groq.com or install the program
- not 100% accurate information (I asked about canvas background remover)
- understands only about 70% of my queries correctly
Price Point
If these are your first time trying an LLM or you are looking for a large language model with easy access, I recommend these and have added the links for you:
LLMs with easy access:
Copilot (Microsoft)
3
Setup/Onboarding
4/5
User Experience
4/5
Tool Performance
4/5
Use cases
Great for coding and therefore web developers love Copilot. The technology behind Copilot is powered by OpenAI's Codex model, which assists developers by suggesting complete lines or blocks of code as they type. On top you can download provided data immediately. It also provides follow up questions so you don't have to type them in.
Support
The tool itself ;)
Key Features
- Answers complex questions
- Suggests and autocompletes lines or blocks of code
- Generates creative content
- Multilingual
- Can access third party services via plugins
- Summarises information
- Re-write content
- Research
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- Answers complex questions
- Suggests and autocompletes lines or blocks of code
- Generates creative content
- Multilingual
- Can access third party services via plugins
- Summarises information
- Re-write content
- Research
Cons:
- Microsoft login required
- limited to 30 queries per month (free plan)
- no easy option to change display language
- formulations still sound clunky
- weak for social media content generation
Price Point
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Update May 18th, 2024:
What is it ChatGPT 4o?
GPT-4o is OpenAI's new flagship model that can access audio, vision, and text in real-time.
What’s the difference between ChatGPT 4 and ChatGPT 4o?
Speed: GPT-4o is significantly faster than GPT-4.
Knowledge and Quality: GPT-4o has broader knowledge but gives more simplified answers, whereas GPT-4 provides more detailed responses.
Interactive Experience: GPT-4o is optimized for a more fluid interactive experience.
Features: GPT-4o introduces new capabilities, including speech and video input.
Specialization: GPT-4o is specialized for enhanced interaction, while GPT-4 is a more general model.
Why should I keep paying for my ChatGPT plus subscription?
Free-tier users will default to GPT-4o, but their message limit will vary depending on real-time usage and demand. If GPT-4o is unavailable, users will be switched back to GPT-3.5.
Tool review of ChatGPT 4o:
In our test today it wasn’t able to use the video and audio transcription features, which are necessary to answer questions about video and audio files.
But our uploaded picture was interpreted and described correctly.
A full review of ChatGPT 4o will follow soon, once we feel like the first road bumps after the launch have been taken by OpenAI.
4
Setup/Onboarding
5/5
User Experience
3/5
Tool Performance
3/5
Use Cases
Use ChatGPT as a chatbot on your website (developer required), to plan your next vacation or simply to ask it anything. But be aware of hallucinations.
Support
Multi-Language Support
Key Features
- Natural Language Understanding
- Conversational Context
- Multilingual Support
- Customization
- Versatility
- API Integration
- Scalability
- 24/7 Availability
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- understands queries well
- feels most human
Cons:
- many bugs recently (e.g., responses not generating)
- answers not always accurate, hallucinations
- struggles with providing correct formulas and code
Price Point
ChatGPT 3.5
PRO tip:
Install a Chrome extension like WebChatGPT to enable ChatGPT to retrieve real-time information from the web.
It’s very easy:
Go to the WebChatGPT extension page on the Chrome Web Store (click link below).
Click the 'Add to Chrome' button.
Confirm by clicking 'Add extension' in the popup window.
Once installed, the WebChatGPT interface will be visible at the base of the ChatGPT window.
Ensure the "Web access" option is activated to enable internet searches.
From our interview series:
Do you have any tips, tricks or hacks regarding the use of AI?
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.
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.
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.
Gemini (former Bard)
5
Setup/Onboarding
5/5
User Experience
3/5
Tool Performance
3/5
Use cases
Can generate text, translate languages, write different kinds of creative content, and answer your questions in an informative way.
Support
Help Center
Key Features
- AI chatbot
- Advanced AI
- Interpreting user prompts
- Generating accurate answers
- Conversational capabilities
- Responding to queries
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- no login required
Cons:
- Responses take longer to generate
- Responses often generic
- Unable to answer many requests
Price Point
6
Claude (by Anthropic)
Setup/Onboarding
3
User Experience
3
Tool Performance
2
Use Cases
According to the tool itself: Providing informative and substantive responses to questions across diverse topics - Ability to understand and analyze complex queries or prompts - Offering clear and well-structured answers formatted as needed - Adapting communication style to the user's needs and preferences (not in our eyes though) - Maintaining an objective, impartial and helpful stance - Constantly expanding knowledge base through training on high-quality data
Support
Official Troubleshooting Guide, Community Forums
Key Features
- Markdown formatting
- Content creation
- Prompt engineering
- Model variants
- Self-awareness
- Capabilities overview
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- rather fast
- Formulations sound a bit better than ChatGPT (no adjective stuffing)
Cons:
- Requires phone number and age verification despite Google login
- Quite long answers for simple questions
- Has memory, but doesn't build up on it
- Displays system prompt and clutters the interface with it
Price Point
LLama 2 (from Meta)
7
Setup/Onboarding
1/5
User Experience
3/5
Tool Performance
4/5
Use case
Llama 2 is designed for research and commercial purposes. It is able to run without internet and can access your local computer data.Interesting to know: Microsoft is providing resources and supports Llama.
Support
Tutorials, knowledge base
Key Features
- AI chatbot
- Advanced AI
- Interpreting user prompts
- Generating accurate answers
- Conversational capabilities
- Responding to queries
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- works also offline
Cons:
- requires signup
- issues with download
Price Point
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