All four platforms have free tiers. All four free tiers have meaningful limitations.
The limitations vary by platform but the pattern is consistent: free tiers give you access to less capable models, shorter context windows, usage caps that kick in at inconvenient moments, and no access to the advanced features, projects, memory, custom tools, that make the difference between AI as an occasional experiment and AI as a genuine part of your practice.
For professional use, I would encourage you to think about the paid tier the way you think about any other professional tool subscription. It is currently in the range of twenty to twenty-five dollars per month across the major platforms. That is the cost of a working lunch.
If you complete this course and build a consistent AI practice, you will recoup that cost in time saved within the first week of every month. The question is not whether it is worth it. The question is which platform to invest in.
My recommendation: commit to one paid subscription. Give it ninety days. Do not split your budget and attention across multiple paid tools at this stage. Go deep on one, build genuine fluency, and reassess from a position of experience rather than speculation.
