Access | gemini.google.com; Mobile App; via Workspace | chat.openai.com; Mobile App; API | claude.ai; Mobile App; API | copilot.microsoft.com; M365 Apps (Teams, etc.) |
Free Tier Available? | Yes (Std models, limits) | Yes (GPT-4o mini, limits) | Yes (Claude 3.5 Sonnet, limits) | Yes (for M365 users w/ Entra ID; GPT-4o, limits) |
Paid Tiers | Advanced ($20/mo via Google One); Edu/Enterprise (Workspace Add-on) | Plus ($20/mo); Team ($25/user/mo+); Enterprise; Edu | Pro ($20/mo); Max ($100/mo+); Enterprise; Edu | Pro ($20/mo, personal); M365 Copilot ($30/user/mo via license); PAYG Agents |
Core Function | General Chatbot, Creative Tasks, Workspace Aid | General Chatbot, Creative Tasks, Coding | General Chatbot, Long Text Analysis, Safety Focus | Workspace Aid, General Chatbot, Org Data Access |
Underlying Models (Examples) | Gemini family (2.0 Flash, 2.5 Pro) | GPT family (4o mini, 4o, 4.1, o3-mini) | Claude family (3.5 Haiku, 3.7 Sonnet) | GPT-4o |
Real-time Internet Access? | Yes (via Google Search) | Yes (Web Browse) | Yes (Web Search - Rolling out) | Yes (via Bing Search) |
Cites Sources in Output? | Sometimes (via extensions/Search) | Sometimes (if Browse) | Sometimes (if Browse - rolling out) | Sometimes (if Browse) |
File Upload? | Yes (Advanced: Sheets, PDF, code etc.) | Yes (Images, Docs, Data files) | Yes (PDF, text, images) | Yes (via M365 context or direct upload) |
Context Window (Approx.) | Up to 1-2M tokens (Advanced/Pro) | ~128K tokens (GPT-4o) | 200K tokens (Claude 3 series) | Varies (GPT-4o: ~128K) |
API Available? | Yes (Google AI Studio/Vertex AI) | Yes (OpenAI Platform) | Yes (Anthropic API) | Limited (via Power Platform/Graph) |
Academic Reliability | Moderate; Hallucinates; Verify outputs | Moderate; Hallucinates/fakes citations; Verify | Moderate; Hallucinates; Safety focus; Verify | Moderate; Grounded in M365 data helps but verify |
Data Use for Training (Consumer/Free) | Yes (unless opted-out/Edu account) | Yes (unless opted-out) | No (Anthropic policy) | N/A (Requires Entra ID - uses Edu/Ent policy) |
Data Use for Training (Edu/Enterprise) | No (Workspace for Edu) | No (ChatGPT Edu/Ent) | No (Enterprise/Edu likely) | No (M365) |
FERPA Compliant (Edu/Enterprise Tier?) | Yes (via Workspace for Edu) | Yes (ChatGPT Edu) | Unconfirmed | Yes (with caveats re: web search) |
IP Ownership (Output) | User owns (subject to law, Google ToS) | User owns (subject to law, OpenAI ToS) | User owns (subject to law, Anthropic ToS) | User owns (MS Copyright Commitment) |
Accessibility (Summary) | Aims for WCAG; Reported screen reader issues | Aims for WCAG; Reported navigation/label issues | Aims for WCAG; Generally usable; Web accessibility issues noted | Leverages M365; Good but specific issues reported |
Key HE Integrations | Google Workspace; LMS (LTI) | API allows many; Zotero plugins; LMS (via API) | API allows many; Zotero plugins (emerging) | M365 Suite (Teams); LMS (LTI) |