How to Choose an AI Tool: Four Tests Before You Pay
Four tests that eliminate most tools honestly: frequency, verifiability, data class and exit cost.
Short answer
Choose on four tests, not on which tool looks strongest. Frequency: if the task happens weekly, a $20/mo subscription is trivial, and if it happens twice a year, free tiers are enough. Verifiability: if a wrong answer is expensive, you need a tool that shows its sources, which is why Perplexity (free, Pro $20/mo in our catalog) earns its place over a faster assistant. Data class: if the input is a customer, patient or employee record, a consumer tier is the wrong container regardless of how good the model is. Exit cost: prefer the tool you can leave, so free tiers first and annual commitments only after a month of real use. ChatGPT and Claude are both free to evaluate, with paid tiers at $20/mo; Gemini's consumer tiers in our catalog run from Google AI Plus at $4.99/mo to AI Pro at $19.99/mo; DeepSeek (free, metered API) is the cost option.
Most "how to choose" advice is a feature checklist, which is why it produces the same recommendation for everyone. Four tests do more work, and they are about your situation rather than the tool: how often the task happens, how bad a wrong answer is, what data you are feeding in, and how hard it is to leave.
Frequency sets the budget, and it is unglamorous: a task you do weekly justifies a $20/mo subscription immediately, and a task you do twice a year justifies only free tiers, however good the paid plan is. Verifiability decides which assistant: when a wrong figure is expensive, the tool that hands you its sources is worth more than the faster one — this is where Perplexity earns its place, and why a general assistant and a sourced one are complements rather than competitors. Data class is the test people skip: if the input contains a customer's, patient's or employee's information, the question is not which model is best but which tier is permitted to see it, and a consumer tier is the wrong answer no matter how good the output is.
| Test | Question to ask | What it rules out |
|---|---|---|
| Frequency | Weekly, or twice a year? | Paid tiers for occasional tasks |
| Verifiability | How bad is a wrong answer? | Unsourced answers for high-stakes claims |
| Data class | Whose data is this? | Consumer tiers for regulated records |
| Exit cost | What if I leave in a month? | Annual commitments before proven use |
Exit cost is the test that saves the most money and is almost never mentioned. Free tiers first, monthly before annual, and no commitment until a month of real use has proved the tool changes something — our catalog has both ChatGPT and Claude free to evaluate with paid tiers at $20/mo, which is a low enough entry that the risk is not the price but the annual renewal you forget. Gemini's consumer tiers in our catalog start at Google AI Plus $4.99/mo and reach AI Pro at $19.99/mo, so there is a lower rung if $20 is not justified, and DeepSeek at free with a metered API covers the cost-sensitive case. Two limits worth noting: ChatGPT needs extra network conditions for access in some regions, and Claude's free tier caps usage on a recurring basis.
Run the four tests in this order:
- How often does the task happen? Sets whether you pay at all
- How costly is a wrong answer? Decides whether sources are mandatory
- Whose data is in the input? Decides which tier is legal, not which is best
- How easily can I leave? Keep the commitment shorter than your evidence
Frequently asked questions
- How do I choose an AI tool?
- Four tests, in order: how often the task happens, how costly a wrong answer is, whose data is going in, and how easily you can leave. Most tools are eliminated by the first and third.
- Should I start with a free tier?
- Yes, and stay there until the task happens often enough to measure. Our catalog has ChatGPT and Claude free to evaluate, with paid tiers at $20/mo once the need is proven.
- When is a sourced tool worth more than a faster one?
- When a wrong answer is expensive. A sourced answer costs you the time to open the source but lets you verify; for a number going into a document, that trade is worth making.
- What is the most common mistake?
- Signing an annual commitment before a month of real use, and putting regulated data into a consumer tier because the output was impressive.
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