By the tiswa editorial team, from the official sources listed at the end of this guide. How we write our guides
USD 20 a month buys ChatGPT Plus, and the same buys Claude Pro if you pay month to month.13 Gemini reaches a Saudi university student as Google AI Plus, free for a year, through an initiative between the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and Google.8 For many students that settles it before they try anything. Price is not the only difference, though: each tool helps you study in a different way.
ChatGPT vs Claude vs Gemini at a glance
| ChatGPT | Claude | Gemini | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | OpenAI | Anthropic | |
| Paid price | Plus at USD 20 a month, no annual billing1 | Pro at USD 20 a month, or USD 17 a month billed yearly at USD 2003 | Google AI Plus free for 12 months for Saudi university students78 |
| Free plan | Yes, with study mode | Web search, file creation, memory and up to 5 projects3 | Yes, on any Google account |
| Study feature | Study mode on every plan2 | Projects, plus learning mode on the university plan5 | NotebookLM, included in Google AI Plus8 |
| Student offer conditions | No student offer for Saudi universities | Your university subscribes to Claude for Education5 | Aged 18 or over, payment method at sign-up78 |
How we compared them
On four criteria that matter to a student rather than a developer: the price a student in the Kingdom pays, what the free plan includes, the dedicated study feature, and Arabic. Every price in the table comes from the company's own pricing or help page. We left out the benchmark leaderboards on tech sites, because they test coding and competition maths far more than explaining a physiology chapter.
Is ChatGPT the best for interactive study?
Yes, because of study mode. The help page says it is available on all ChatGPT plans on the web, iOS and Android, and that it does not run inside Projects or Temporary Chats.2 It asks questions, guides you and quizzes you instead of handing over the answer, and you can upload notes and photos of problems.2
Plus costs USD 20 a month, billed monthly only. OpenAI does not offer annual billing or prepaying several months.1 OpenAI's student offer was for U.S. universities, and the details are in ChatGPT student discount. Prompts that work with study mode are in ChatGPT prompts for studying.
Is Claude AI free, and why do long-paper writers pick it?
Yes. Claude has a USD 0 plan with usage limits that reset every 5 hours and every week.3 It includes web search, file creation, code execution, memory, Artifacts and up to five projects.3 A project is its own space with your files and instructions, so every chat inside it knows the course without re-uploading anything.4
That makes it a good home for a graduation project: the proposal, the references and your supervisor's notes in one place, opened every week. On Arabic, Anthropic publishes results showing Claude Sonnet 4.5 at 97.2% of its English performance.6 Claude for Education is bought by a university for its students, and it adds a learning mode inside projects that asks guiding questions instead of answering outright.5 The full guide is Claude AI for students.
Why is Gemini the best value for a student in Saudi Arabia?
Because it is a paid plan, free for a full year. The ministry says the initiative is for university students in the Kingdom aged 18 and over, with registration open until the end of 2026.8 Google's student page requires a valid payment method at sign-up, and the subscription renews at the monthly price after the year unless you cancel.7 The plan includes NotebookLM and 400 GB of storage.78
- Google AI: Google AI offers Google AI Plus free for a year to university students in Saudi Arabia.
Sign-up conditions and the common verification failures are in Gemini free for students, and studying from your own files is in NotebookLM for students.
Which one should I pick for what I do?
| If you want to | Start with | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Understand a hard topic step by step | ChatGPT | Study mode asks and quizzes you, and it is free |
| Keep each course in one place | Claude | Projects hold the course files and instructions |
| Study only from your own files | Gemini | NotebookLM comes with Google AI Plus |
| Get the most without paying | Gemini | A free year of Google AI Plus at Saudi universities |
| Write a long graduation paper | Claude | One project for references and drafts |
What happens when the free Google AI Plus year ends?
It renews at the monthly price on the card you added, unless you cancel before the renewal date.7 A week before, ask two questions: did you use NotebookLM and the plan's tools every week, and where will your files go if you drop back to free storage? Anyone who filled a large share of 400 GB with lecture recordings needs to move them first.
How do I test them with one prompt?
Paste the same prompt into all three, each in a new chat, then compare.
I am a [year] student in [major]. Explain [a concept from your course] in plain English with the Arabic term in brackets, then quiz me with three questions, one at a time, and mark my answers.
Score each tool out of 5 on each line:
| Criterion | What to ask yourself |
|---|---|
| Accuracy | Is it right according to your course book? |
| Clarity | Did you get it on first reading? |
| Arabic | Is the Arabic term correct and natural, or a literal translation? |
| Following the brief | Did it respect the length and level? |
| Teaching | Did it wait for your answer, or list the questions with solutions? |
The tool that wins on your courses is the right one for you, even if a classmate in another major gets a different result. An accounting student at King Saud University and a nursing student at Princess Nourah University need different things.
What mistakes do students make when comparing?
- Testing with a general question, like a poem or a joke, instead of course material.
- Judging on one try, when answers change with the wording.
- Uploading files with personal data while testing.
- Forgetting to cancel before the Google AI Plus year ends, so the monthly price hits your card.
- Buying a shared Plus login from an online shop, where other people can read your chats and files.
Whatever you pick, read AI detection at university before using it on graded work. Tools for slides and coding are in best AI tools for students, and a different matchup is in DeepSeek vs ChatGPT.
