ChatGPT has held the throne for king of the large language models since it launched in November 2022.
It was only a matter of time before another natural language processing tool came along to compete for the title… Google tried with Bard (now Gemini), Microsoft tried with Bing Chat (now Copilot), and Anthropic are trying with Claude.
In 2023, it was Inflection's turn to try and stand tall against the GPT-4 giant with their very own chatbot, Pi. And with a 1.3 billion dollar capital raise that June, investors were betting on Pi to win.
It didn't quite play out that way. In March 2024, Microsoft hired Inflection's co-founders Mustafa Suleyman and Karén Simonyan and most of its staff, and paid $650 million to license its tech (TechCrunch). Pi survived, but Inflection has put most of its effort into enterprise AI since.
In this article, we'll compare ChatGPT and Pi and see which is the better chatbot and why.
ChatGPT vs Pi
Is Pi better than ChatGPT? No. Here's the TLDR: ChatGPT still wears the chatbot crown, and it has pulled further ahead since I first tested them in 2023. Pi is still a lovely chatbot to talk to, and it's free, but it's built for chatting, not for getting work done.
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is an AI chatbot developed by OpenAI, powered by its GPT family of large language models (LLMs). Everyday chats run on GPT-5.6, and the newest model, GPT-6 Astra, is for paid plans. ChatGPT is highly capable and can generate realistic responses that are coherent and realistic. Alongside general conversation, ChatGPT is highly capable of generating code, formatting information into tables, problem-solving, and much more. It can also search the web, create images, read your files, and hold voice conversations.
What is Pi AI?
Pi (short for "personal intelligence") is a chatbot developed by Inflection. Pi, your personal AI, is a conversational chatbot that aims to be a coach, confidante, creative partner, sounding board, and assistant. Pi is a great AI to sit down and have a chat with.
In July 2026, Inflection refreshed Pi with better voice, conversation, and memory, plus tools for reminders, to-do lists, and shopping. It also launched Pi Journeys, an experiment that shapes Pi around life stages like becoming a parent or changing careers.
A Direct Comparison of ChatGPT and Pi
| ChatGPT | Pi |
|---|---|
| Output Quality | |
| Delivers high-quality long-form answers that often resemble intelligent human responses, with built-in web search for recent events. | Good at engaging and conversational outputs, but keeps replies short and light on depth. |
| User Interface | |
| Web, desktop, and mobile apps with voice chats, image creation, file uploads, projects, code snippets, and tables. | Offers a basic but aesthetic interface for text and voice chats, now with reminders and to-do lists. |
| Speed | |
| Fast | Also fast |
| Creativity | |
| Provides controllable creative outputs, tailoring the tone of the text based on user prompts. Can create images too. | Demonstrates creativity but tends to maintain a conversational tone, regardless of instruction. |
| Coding | |
| Proves superior with multi-language code generation, troubleshooting, and programming concept explanation, plus OpenAI's Codex coding agent. | Built for conversation, not code. In my test it could only code in Python and didn't provide code snippets. |
| Ethics | |
| Has faced lawsuits over the data used to train it. You can opt out of training, and ads now appear on the Free and Go plans in some countries. | Trained on public web data and Inflection's own data. You can opt out of training and export your chats, and it's 18+ only. |
| Pricing | |
| Free plan, Go for $8/month (US), Plus for $20/month, and Pro from $100/month. | Free, with no paid plan. Free users can hit message caps. |
1. Output Quality
ChatGPT: ChatGPT outputs high-quality information that is accurate in most cases. The default output is professional and most often indistinguishable from an intelligent human.
When I first tested it, ChatGPT's answers topped out at around 300 words. Now it happily writes long, detailed answers, and even the free plan takes in about 12 pages of text in one go. Plus handles around 40 pages, or roughly 320 with its reasoning models (ChatGPT pricing).
PI: Pi is a much more conversational and curious chatbot and will often ask questions and lead the conversation. The output of Pi is more 'memeish', often using emojis and trying to tell jokes. That's not to say you can't have a serious conversation with Pi.
In my tests, Pi's output was never longer than two short paragraphs and user input was limited to 1000 characters – much shorter than ChatGPT. Back then Pi was also stronger than ChatGPT on recent events, but ChatGPT now has web search built in for everyone, free users included, so that edge is gone.
Experiences with Pi was a cool feature that let you talk through things with the AI like getting help to feel calm, planning something, or preparing for an important conversation. Inflection's new Pi Journeys pushes the same idea further.
That screenshot is from 2023, and Pi's app looks different now.
One thing I noticed about Pi is that when you ask it to do something it can't do, it will just start asking you questions on an infinite loop. Pi never said "I can't do that"… it kinda just led me along like it could.
2. User Interface
ChatGPT: The famous ChatGPT GUI (Graphical User Interface) is straightforward to use. You can start a brand new 'fresh' conversation and delete old chats. The ChatGPT interface allows for separate code snippets and tables to be generated in the output. These days it also does voice chats, image creation, file uploads, and projects across web, desktop, and mobile apps.
PI: Pi has an aesthetic user interface with basic functionality. When I tested it, Pi couldn't generate tables or separate code boxes. You can chat with Pi by voice as well as text, and the July 2026 update added reminders, to-do lists, and shopping tools.
3. Speed
Both ChatGPT and Pi generate responses at a similar rate which is fast enough to not be a problem and allows the conversation to flow at a nice pace.
Sometimes PI can take a few seconds while it's 'thinking' about what to say. And sometimes ChatGPT bugs out completely and requires you to regenerate the response. Both are very minor issues overall.
Side note: If you're having serious trouble with ChatGPT generating any output, try disconnecting your VPN. I was using NordVPN and noticed the threat protection feature was stopping me from using GPT – I simply disabled this feature and GPT worked fine again.
4. Creativity
Both chatbots are on point here and are both able to generate stories or scripts or have a hypothetical conversation. If you were using one of these tools for a creative endeavor the only limiting factor would be the output length of Pi.
ChatGPT's output is able to be controlled a lot better. For example, if you ask ChatGPT to speak in a concise and serious manner it will, whereas I have found Pi likes to revert to a conversational tone. ChatGPT can create images for your creative projects too.
5. Coding
ChatGPT: ChatGPT is renowned for its coding capabilities and is able to write and understand a variety of programming languages such as Python, JavaScript, and Java. ChatGPT can provide code snippets, troubleshoot, and explain programming concepts. OpenAI also bundles Codex, its coding agent, with ChatGPT (with limited use on the free plan).
That's a GPT-4 code snippet from my original test, and ChatGPT's interface has changed since.
PI: When I tested it, Pi could only code in Python, and didn't provide code snippets. I asked Pi to write some C code and after saying it could, got stuck in a weird loop of telling jokes and emojis. Pi has had model upgrades since, but Inflection pitches it as a personal AI for everyday life, not a coding tool.
ChatGPT is a clear winner when it comes to writing computer code.
6. Ethics
ChatGPT: OpenAI has come under fire for 'stealing' data to train its large language models. In 2023 a class action lawsuit was filed against OpenAI on the matter, and that December The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement.
On the plus side, you can opt out of having your chats used for training. The Free and Go plans now show ads in some countries, though OpenAI says ads don't influence ChatGPT's answers and it never sells your data to advertisers (OpenAI).
PI: When I first wrote this, the Inflection website said Pi is taught using publicly available web data, as well as their own proprietary sources of data. Learning from OpenAI's mistakes, it looked like Inflection was trying to avoid any possible lawsuits in this area.
Pi also lets you opt out of having your chats used to train Inflection's models, you can export your entire chat history, and it's only for people aged 18 and over.
7. Pricing
ChatGPT: ChatGPT is free to use, with unlimited everyday text chats on OpenAI's lighter GPT-5.6 Luna model and limits on uploads, images, voice, and deep research. Go is $8 a month in the US for higher limits. Plus is $20 a month and adds the stronger GPT-5.6 Sol model in chat, some GPT-6 Astra use in Work and Codex, more deep research, and more Codex use. Pro is $100, $200, or $500 a month for power users.
Pi: Pi is still free, with no paid plan. In 2024, Inflection said it was still committed to keeping Pi free, but that it would cap how many messages free users can send so it could focus on its enterprise business.
Which Is Better, ChatGPT or Pi?
ChatGPT is better for almost everything. ChatGPT and Pi are two AI chatbots with their own strengths and weaknesses, but ChatGPT is the far more robust and versatile model, excelling in areas such as output quality, coding capabilities, features, and user interface. Pi holds its own as a warm, chatty companion, and it's free.
And no, Pi isn't dead. It's free, Inflection refreshed it in July 2026, and its app still gets updates. But with most of its original team now at Microsoft, Pi is a niche companion app rather than a real ChatGPT rival.
ChatGPT Score: 4.5/5
ChatGPT Pros:
- High-quality, professional, and accurate outputs
- Excellent coding capabilities across multiple programming languages
- Longer output length and accepts longer prompts
- Separate code snippets and tables in the output
- Straightforward and feature-rich user interface
- Web search, image creation, voice, and file uploads, even on the free plan
ChatGPT Cons:
- Potential ethical concerns around data usage
- The best models (like GPT-6 Astra) need a paid plan, from $20 a month
- Ads on the Free and Go plans in some countries
Pi Score: 3.5/5
Pi Pros:
- More conversational and engaging tone, often using emojis and jokes
- Voice chats, memory, reminders, and to-do lists
- Guided features like Pi Journeys for big life changes
- Free to use, with no paid plan
Pi Cons:
- Limited output length and prompt length
- No separate code snippets or tables when I tested it
- Weak at coding (only Python in my test)
- Tendency to go in loops when asked to perform tasks it cannot do
- User interface is more basic than ChatGPT's
- Most of the team behind it left for Microsoft in 2024
- Free users can hit message caps
ChatGPT is the more well-rounded and capable chatbot by a mile. Pi's conversational style still makes it a nice free sidekick for venting, brainstorming, or talking through your day, but for research, writing, coding, or anything long-form, ChatGPT remains the superior choice. And if you want a chatbot that talks to your customers rather than you, that's a different job: here are the best AI chatbots for small business in Australia.
Want to get more out of ChatGPT? Check out these AI productivity hacks, or see how I built a ChatGPT workout plan.
