Your daily morning AI POST

Old PCs run a POST (Power-On Self Test) every time they switch on: they check each part and print what works. This page does the same for the free AI tools anyone can use, so you can get the most out of them without paying.

Checked every morning, and whenever a provider announces a change.

ansiapps AI POSTData of 2026-09-29

Testing 14 free AI services...

ChatGPTOK

ChatGPT: files, deep research, images, voiceWARN

ChatGPT ProjectsOK

GeminiOK

Gemini Deep ResearchWARN

Gemini Notebook (was NotebookLM)OK

Google AI StudioOK

ClaudeOK

PerplexityOK

Perplexity Pro Search and ResearchWARN

Microsoft CopilotWARN

Le Chat (Mistral)OK

OllamaOK

GitHubOK

14 tested: 10 OK, 4 WARN, 0 FAIL, 0 STALE

Last full check: 2026-09-29

Next check due: 2026-09-30

Breaking news: 3 stories. Newest, 2026-09-28: Claude Sonnet 5.5 is out. Simon Willison reports it's now the model on Claude's free plan; Anthropic's own pages don't say which plans get it yet.

Latest update, 2026-09-24: ChatGPT ads reached Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Taiwan, and now run in more than 60 countries (Free and Go plans only).

Past POSTs archived: 1 (read them)

The self-test

What each tool gives you for free today, and whether that has changed.

OKfree, and works as described.
WARNstill free, but the limits are unclear, have shrunk, or are changing.
FAILno longer free, or the feature is gone.
STALEnot checked in the last 30 days, so don't trust the light.

Free AI tools and their status, checked 2026-09-29
Light	Tool	Good for	Free today	Watch out for	Checked
OK	ChatGPT	Everyday questions, writing, sorting and tidying lists	Unlimited everyday text chats, and a Think button for harder questions	Answers may show ads (Free and Go plans, rolling out country by country)	2026-09-29 [1] [3] [17]
WARN	ChatGPT: files, deep research, images, voice	Reading your files, long research reports	Included, with separate caps	OpenAI doesn't publish the caps, so you find out when you hit one	2026-09-29 [1]
OK	ChatGPT Projects	Keeping one topic's chats and files together	Unlimited projects	Fewer files per project than paid plans	2026-09-29 [2]
OK	Gemini	Quick questions, checking facts against Google Search	Gemini 3.6 Flash, some use of 3.1 Pro	Reads only a short amount at once, so it isn't for long documents	2026-09-29 [4] [5]
WARN	Gemini Deep Research	Long, sourced research reports	Included	May be unavailable when Google is busy	2026-09-29 [5]
OK	Gemini Notebook (was NotebookLM)	Asking questions about your own documents; it answers only from them	100 notebooks, 50 documents each, 50 chats and 3 audio summaries a day	New name since 16 July 2026, same address (notebooklm.google)	2026-09-29 [6] [7]
OK	Google AI Studio	Reading very long documents in one go	Free to use, several Gemini models	Google uses what you type on the free tier to improve its products. Keep private things out	2026-09-29 [8]
OK	Claude	A careful second opinion; finding mistakes and gaps	Sonnet and Haiku models, web search, running code, creating files, up to 5 projects	No published numbers; the allowance refills on a rolling 5-hour window	2026-09-29 [9] [10]
OK	Perplexity	Finding sources, with links	Basic searches	The free plan has usage limits, but Perplexity doesn't publish clear numbers	2026-09-29 [11]
WARN	Perplexity Pro Search and Research	Deeper searches and reports	A small number	The published numbers disagree and have changed more than once	2026-09-29 [11]
WARN	Microsoft Copilot	Everyday chat, images	Chat, images and file uploads, while there's capacity	Deep Research, Podcasts and Group Chat were removed from the free app on 18 August 2026	2026-09-29 [12]
OK	Le Chat (Mistral)	Everyday chat, a European alternative	A limited number of messages and web searches	Mistral doesn't publish the numbers	2026-09-29 [13]
OK	Ollama	Running AI on your own computer, fully private and offline	Local models are always free	Needs a reasonably powerful computer	2026-09-29 [14]
OK	GitHub	Keeping every version of your notes and files	Unlimited private projects (repositories)	—	2026-09-29 [15]

Breaking News!

2026-09-28Claude Sonnet 5.5 is out. Simon Willison reports it's now the model on Claude's free plan; Anthropic's own pages don't say which plans get it yet. [18] [19]
2026-09-22Claude Opus 5.5 is out, but not on the free plan: Free gets Sonnet and Haiku only. [9] [18]
2026-09-16Anthropic's release notes say Claude Design, Slides and Docs now work on every plan, including Free, but its pricing page still says Free doesn't get them. Try it and see; this page will update once they agree. [9] [18]

Updates

2026-09-24ChatGPT ads reached Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Taiwan, and now run in more than 60 countries (Free and Go plans only). [17] [20] [21]
2026-09-22OpenAI's GPT-6 Luna reached free ChatGPT users, but only in the desktop app's Work and Codex. Everyday chat on Free still uses GPT-5.6 Luna. [3] [16]
2026-08-18Microsoft removed Deep Research, Podcasts and Group Chat from the free Copilot app. [12]
2026-07-16Google renamed NotebookLM to Gemini Notebook, at the same address. [6]
2026ChatGPT began showing ads on its Free and Go plans, starting in the US and spreading by region. [17]

Highlights

Everyday chat costs nothing: ChatGPT's text chat is unlimited, and Gemini, Claude, Copilot and Le Chat are free with limits. [1] [4] [9] [12] [13]
For long documents, use Gemini Notebook or Google AI Studio. The chat apps read far less at once. [5] [7] [8]
Free isn't private: ChatGPT shows ads on its free plan and may learn from your chats unless you opt out, and Google uses what you type into AI Studio's free tier. [1] [8] [17]
Deep research, "Pro" searches and file uploads run out long before everyday chat does. Save them for the hard questions. [1] [5] [11]
For work that must stay private, run a free model on your own computer with Ollama. [14]

The free stack in one minute

No single free AI does everything, and every free limit changes without warning. So use each one for what it's best at, and keep your own copy of everything.

Find with Perplexity. It shows where each answer came from.
Save what you find to your own computer, as plain files.
Read long documents with Gemini Notebook or Google AI Studio.
Sort and summarize with ChatGPT.
Double-check with Claude. Ask it what's wrong or missing.
Keep every version with Git and GitHub, or just dated copies.

AI finds, reads, sorts and checks. Your own files remember.

The checklist

Keep the real copy yourself. Save results as files on your own computer. If a free plan changes tomorrow, you lose nothing.
Send short notes, not whole histories. Free plans read less at once than paid ones. Boil long pages down to short summaries first, then give the AI only what it needs.
Use the right tool for long documents. Gemini Notebook and Google AI Studio take far more than the chat apps do.
Save the scarce stuff. Deep research, "Pro" searches, file uploads and images have their own, smaller limits. Use everyday chat for everyday things.
Split big jobs into projects. One project per topic (ChatGPT Projects, Claude projects, a notebook) beats one giant chat.
Treat free chats as not private. Some providers train on free chats unless you opt out. In ChatGPT, switch off Settings → Data controls → "Improve the model". Never paste passwords, ID numbers, or other people's private details.
Check the answer, not just the tone. AI can sound sure and be wrong. Ask for sources, open them, and ask a second AI to check the first.
For private work, run it yourself. Ollama runs AI on your own computer, free, and nothing leaves it.

Sources and credits

Sources. Every claim above comes from one of these. The provider's own page wins over news.

OpenAI: ChatGPT Free tier FAQ https://help.openai.com/en/articles/9275245-chatgpt-free-tier-faq
OpenAI: Projects in ChatGPT https://help.openai.com/en/articles/10169521-projects-in-chatgpt
OpenAI: GPT-5.6 in ChatGPT https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001354-gpt-56-in-chatgpt
Google: Gemini plans https://gemini.google/subscriptions/
Google: Gemini Apps limits https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/16275805
Google: NotebookLM is now Gemini Notebook https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/products/gemini-notebook/notebooklm-gemini-notebook/
Google: Gemini Notebook limits https://support.google.com/notebooklm/answer/16213268
Google: Gemini API and AI Studio pricing https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing
Anthropic: Claude plans https://claude.com/pricing
Anthropic: How usage limits work https://support.claude.com/en/articles/11647753-how-do-usage-and-length-limits-work
Perplexity: Which plan is right for you https://www.perplexity.ai/help-center/en/articles/11187416-which-perplexity-subscription-plan-is-right-for-you
Microsoft: Updates to the Copilot app https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-copilot/learning/changes-microsoft-copilot-app
Mistral: Le Chat pricing https://mistral.ai/pricing
Ollama https://ollama.com/
GitHub: Pricing https://github.com/pricing
9to5Mac: OpenAI's GPT-6 models in ChatGPT https://9to5mac.com/2026/09/22/openai-upgrading-chatgpt-and-codex-with-two-more-gpt-6-models/
OpenAI: Ads in ChatGPT https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001047-ads-in-chatgpt
Anthropic: Claude release notes https://support.claude.com/en/articles/12138966-release-notes
Simon Willison: Claude Sonnet 5.5 https://simonwillison.net/2026/Sep/28/claude-sonnet-5-5/
OpenAI: ChatGPT Ads expands to Southeast Asia and Taiwan https://openai.com/index/chatgpt-ads-expands-southeast-asia-taiwan/
Technode Global: ChatGPT Ads expands into Southeast Asia and Taiwan https://technode.global/2026/09/24/openai-chatgpt-ads-southeast-asia-taiwan/

Credits.

The original free-stack idea was drafted with ChatGPT, then checked, corrected and rewritten with Claude.
ANSIapps theme font: IBM VGA 8x16 by VileR, from https://int10h.org/oldschool-pc-fonts/ (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Modern theme font: IBM Plex, from https://github.com/IBM/plex (SIL OFL 1.1).

Worth a look.

Simon Willison's blog, the clearest running log of new AI models and prices: https://simonwillison.net/
ChatGPT's release notes, where OpenAI's changes land first: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/6825453-chatgpt-release-notes
Claude's release notes, the same for Anthropic: https://support.claude.com/en/articles/12138966-release-notes