Generative AI is fascinating. It continues to amaze us and hold us captive in this fascination. Back in the day, the thought of getting information from an AI, simply by inputting a prompt, seemed so futuristic and unattainable. But with groundbreaking and innovative findings like ChatGPT, the future has arrived quicker than anticipated.
Along with ChatGPT, there came an influx of similar GPT-based AI chatting tools claiming they’re the best alternative. Chatsonic is one such GPT-based AI tool that claims they’re the best ChatGPT alternative.
In this blog, we investigate the truth behind this claim. You will learn everything you need to know in this Chatsonic review and how it compares against ChatGPT.
As part of this Chatsonic review, let’s first review what it is and its unique features.
Chatsonic is an AI-powered chatting tool that uses a model-agnostic LLM framework. It was founded by the creator of Writesonic, Samanyou Greg who calls Chatsonic the, “crème de la crème of the AI chatbot universe”. Writesonic is an SEO writing platform that already incorporates GPT functions.
Chatsonic’s core features are centered around content generation capabilities. From generating blog outlines to emails to poetic content to image generation, the ways you can use Chatsonic for creative endeavors are endless.
There are also some stand-out features in Chatsonic that differentiate it from ChatGPT.
Let’s take a look at those:
What Agent Mode does is, it asks follow-up questions beyond the content you just generated. This helps you go deeper into your research and enables you to analyze areas that you didn’t think of before. Not only so, but the content comes with relevant citations so that you can fact-check before actually using the content Chatsonic generates for you.
One other bonus of using Chatsonic is that it operates seamlessly with many AI models including but not limited to, GPT-4, Claude 3, Gemini, Dall-E 3, and Stable Diffusion.
Because Chatsonic is a part of Writesonic, a tool specializing in writing, users have the advantage of a built-in plagiarism and fact checker which ChatGPT does not offer.
Chatsonic offers an exclusive feature that lets you configure your content to sound like your brand’s tone.
You can upload your brand content documents, add links to your websites, or even copy-paste text snippets to configure a brand voice.
While you can train ChatGPT to produce content in your brand voice, it’s not an explicitly available feature like it is with Chatsonic.
You can type in the simplest prompt and the prompt improver will help you edit it into a better and more well-rounded prompt, a feature lacking in ChatGPT.
While there are nuances between some of the other features in these 2 tools, those listed above would be the main feature differences between ChatGPT and Chatsonic.
It should also be noted that this comparison above does not segregate features on whether they’re offered in the free or paid plans. We will reserve that for a separate discussion along this Chatsonic review in the plans and pricing section.
Let’s check out next how you can get started with Chatsonic.
Signing up for Chatsonic is free and does not require a credit card. You can either sign in with a business email, or Apple ID or simply use your Google account.
It also should be noted that when you sign up, you’re actually signing up for Writesonic and thereby are granted access to Chatsonic.
At first glance you can tell that, Chatsonic is much like ChatGPT in terms of the interface but there are also obvious differences because it’s a part of Writesonic. The sidebar can be toggled allowing a seamless experience with just the Chatsonic part of Writesonic. You can also change between dark and light modes.
Once signed up, you can straight away jump in and start using Chatsonic.
We’ll talk about the plans and pricing and the limitations set for free users in the next segment.
Chatsonic’s pricing and plans are quite different from ChatGPT, making this one of the most interesting parts of this Chatsonic review. You will understand why as we go through these proceeding sections.
So first, here’s a look at the pricing for all of Writesonic’s plans. Out of these, the free plan and the Chatsonic-only plans are what you should opt for if you need an AI chat like ChatGPT.
For better comparison let’s look at the free plans of both Chatsonic and ChatGPT as well as the starter plan for both tools.
Straight off the bat, Chatsonic offers a free plan like ChatGPT.
One initial difference though is that you need to log in to use the free plan when it comes to Chatsonic whereas you can use ChatGPT’s free plan without an account.
In terms of the AI models that you get to work within the free plan, Chatsonic only provides access to GPT-3.5. While it’s the same scenario with ChatGPT, it’s noteworthy that they give limited access to GPT-4o. And once you finish the limit it resets every 3 hours.
On the other hand, Chatsonic provides access to both Chatsonic and Writesonic features in the free plans including image generation and prompt optimization.
The most interesting and biggest difference between these 2 plans is that the ChatGPT free plan comes with unlimited uses contrary to Chatsonic’s limit of 25 generations per month and 25-credit limit for advanced templates. On top of that these credits are a one-time perk. They don’t top up after a certain time.
So, if you are looking for a free plan, then ChatGPT might be the better alternative.
But let’s not jump to an overall conclusion because the case is not entirely over in this Chatsonic review. Chatsonic may turn the tables when it comes to paid plans.
Moving over to the paid plans, the scenario is different. ChatGPT provides access to the GPT-4 model in its starter paid plan with limited uses at $20/month.
Chatsonic on the other hand offers a variety of features including access to the GPT-4o and Claude 3 Opus models and a prompt optimizer with unlimited generations at rates as low as $12/month, billed annually or $15/month if you prefer to be billed monthly.
If you need more features than ChatGPT or Chatsonic’s starter plans it makes sense to upgrade to Writesonic’s Individual plan which is priced at $16/month, billed annually, or $20/month, billed monthly. This plan right here would be equally priced with ChatGPT (if you pay monthly) but would offer so much more in terms of features.
These differences within the paid plans could be a few of the deciding factors for some to choose Chatsonic over ChatGPT if they hope to pay for either of these services.
Now that we’ve covered most of the technical things in this Chatsonic review, let’s move to the more practical side of things.
It won’t be a proper Chatsonic review if we don’t put the tool to the test and see the quality of its capabilities and content generation.
We asked Chatsonic to provide us with content for a YouTube video on logo design. Here’s the initial prompt we gave:
“Create content for a YouTube video on logo design as well as a script for the voiceover.”
But we had to use the prompt improving feature on Chatsonic to see how it works.
Here’s the improved prompt that it turned around for us:
“Create content for a 5-7 minute YouTube video on the topic of logo design. The video should provide a comprehensive overview of the key principles and best practices for effective logo design, including:
– Definition and purpose of a logo
– Elements of a strong logo (e.g., simplicity, memorability, versatility)
– The design process (e.g., research, sketching, refinement)
– Techniques for creating an impactful logo (e.g., use of color, typography, symbolism)
– Examples of well-designed logos and an analysis of their features
In addition to the video content, please provide a detailed script for the voiceover narration that aligns with the visuals and flows naturally. The script should be written in a clear, informative, and engaging tone suitable for a general audience interested in logo design.
The final deliverables should include:
1. A text document showcasing the logo design content
2. A separate text document containing the voiceover script
Please ensure the video and script work cohesively to provide a comprehensive and valuable learning experience for the audience.”
Needless to say, we were quite impressed by how Chatsonic’s AI improved our basic prompt.
Once we hit that generate button here’s what we got. We pulled the content to a Word document to better view it.
Overall, the content seems quite helpful when you think about how long it would take to create something like this that’s usable at the very first shot.
For a fair comparison, we want to show you what ChatGPT was able to generate with the same prompt.
And since ChatGPT does not have a separate prompt enhancer we just used the initial prompt we created to generate the required content. Here’s what we got:
This generation was also ok. But when we copy-pasted the content to a Word document we noticed that it required a lot of formatting whereas, with the Chatsonic content, it came already formatted with numbered and bulleted points. Other than that, both content by Chatsonic and ChatGPT were usable.
To give a full Chatsonic review we tested the image generation feature too. Chatsonic’s text-to-image generations are powered by Stable Diffusion. So to test their image generation capabilities we asked Chatsonic to provide an image according to the prompt below:
“Create an image of a futuristic world governed by apes.”
And here’s what we got:
Now remember, we used the free version so we’re not too sure if we had access to the most advanced model they offer for image generation.
Speaking in terms of quality, the image itself looks very detailed and we love the realistic nature of the various components. But we can’t say the same for the overall image composition vis-à-vis our prompt.
While it can pass up like a futuristic world, it clearly does not look governed by apes. We had something along the lines of the Planet of the Apes in mind. So the image generation did not impress us that much. Quite frankly, there are other AI image-generation tools that could render better results.
As we mentioned previously, ChatGPT does not offer image generation in the free plan. Therefore, we cannot draw comparisons between the image generation capabilities of Chatsonic and ChatGPT in the free plans.
Let’s move ahead to see what users think about Chatsonic.
To get a wholesome picture of what users think we pulled ratings and reviews from the major review platforms so that you can have a birds-eye view of it all.
Rating – 4.0/5 stars (16 reviews)
Here are some of the reviews that happy users have left:
Rating – 4.8/5 (5,537 reviews)
Note: Chatsonic falls under Writesonic so the above ratings and reviews are from Writesonic users.
Here are some of the Chatsonic review excerpts left by happy users.
Rating – 4.8/5 stars (359 reviews)
Note: Chatsonic falls under Writesonic so the above ratings and reviews are from Writesonic users.
Here are some of the Chatsonic review excerpts that happy users have left:
Below is a Chatsonic review particularly about its Google extension feature:
The total of the reviews clearly shows that Chatsonic paired with other Writesonic features is a tool that has aided many writers and content creators.
Let’s summarize our findings to draw a reasonable conclusion on whether Chatsonic is the best ChatGPT alternative.
These are the highlights of our Chatsonic review and our consideration of whether it’s the best alternative to ChatGPT. And the conclusion may vary from person to person depending on your requirements and whether you want to be a paying user or a free user.
But it’s safe to say that Chatsonic is one of the best ChatGPT alternatives out there in the market. Maybe you can read more about ChatGPT too before you make a decision.
So whichever tool you use, you should be able to make use of the amazing benefits that AI technology yields in the 21st century. Just be sure to be a user who upholds responsible AI practices and you should be good to go.
