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The four things that actually differ between them for household jobs, the job-by-job call (the long thing nobody wants to read, the photo of the form, the drive-home brain dump, anything touching your Google calendar), the four-minute test that beats every comparison article, and the one setup step worth more than picking correctly.
Download the PDFTwo pages. Save it to your phone before you go comparing.
The honest answer first
The best one is the one you will actually open at 9pm with a form in your hand.
That is not a dodge. Every comparison you have read was written by someone who uses AI four hours a day. You need it for eleven minutes, twice, on a Tuesday. If you already have one open, use that one. Switching costs you more than the difference between them.
What actually differs
Four things matter for household jobs. Everything else is noise at this altitude.
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1. Does it read a photo without paying?
The biggest one, because the camera is the fast way into most household jobs. The form, the fridge, the beeping appliance, the sign in the parking lot. All three read photos.
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2. Does it remember your house between conversations?
The difference between typing “family of four, one kid will not eat sauce” every single time and never typing it again. Find the memory setting in whichever one you pick and put your household in it tonight. It is worth more than choosing correctly.
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3. Will it hold a long document without losing the middle?
Matters for the twelve-page school handbook, the insurance letter, the camp packet. If you paste something long and the answer only reflects the first third, that is what went wrong.
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4. Is it already connected to the rest of your life?
Gemini sits closest to a Google account, which matters if your calendar, your email, and the school’s shared documents already live there. That is a genuine convenience and it is the main reason to pick it.
By the job
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A photo of a form, a menu, a sign, a worksheet
Any of the three.
Least difference between them, biggest payoff. Use whichever is already on your phone and do not spend a minute choosing.
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The long thing nobody wants to read
Claude.
Handbook, lease, insurance explanation, twelve-page camp packet. Steadiest on long documents and least likely to lose the middle. Ask for what it wants from you, what it costs, when it is due, and anything easy to miss on the back.
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Writing that has to sound like you
Claude or ChatGPT.
The thank-you notes, the email to the teacher, the family update. Give it three real sentences in your own words first. The sample matters much more than the brand.
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Anything touching your Google calendar or Gmail
Gemini.
For the plumbing reason and no other. If your life is not in Google, this advantage does not exist for you.
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Talking it through out loud while driving
ChatGPT.
The most natural voice mode of the three for real back-and-forth. Genuinely useful for a brain dump on the way home, when your hands are busy and the list is loudest.
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A repeating job you want to hand over permanently
Whichever you will set up properly.
Handing over a job is about writing the standing instructions down once, and any of the three will hold them.
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Homework help that does not do the homework
Any of the three.
All three will do the kid’s homework if you ask badly. All three will tutor if you ask well. The instruction is the variable.
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Medical, legal, or money questions
Translation only.
“Say this in plain English and tell me the two questions to ask.” Never for the decision. Same answer for all three, and this one is a hard line.
A note on dates
As of August 2026. These three change what sits on the free tier every few months, so this sheet prints no prices, no message caps, and no version numbers. Check it yourself in thirty seconds instead: open the one you are curious about and ask it, “What can I do on the free tier today, and what needs a paid plan? Be specific about photos, file uploads, and memory.” It will tell you. It is the only spec sheet that is never out of date.
How to pick in four minutes
Do not read reviews. Take the same real thing from your house, a form or a letter actually on your counter right now, and give it to two of them with the identical question. Read both answers. One will feel more like it understood what you were actually asking. That is your answer, and it is more reliable than any comparison written by someone whose house is not yours.
Then do the two things that matter more than the choice: put your household into its memory (family size, ages, the food rules, the schedule shape, first names only), and put it on your home screen already signed in, so the eleven-minute window is not spent logging in.
What nobody tells you
You will get better answers from a worse tool that knows your house than from a better tool that does not.
That is the entire reason the comparison articles feel useless. They benchmark the engine. The thing that changes your Tuesday is context, and context is something you install once, in whichever one you picked, in about four minutes.
The privacy line
Whichever you choose: first names only, no school names, no employer, no addresses, no account numbers. Crop before you upload. “My ten year old” and “the Tuesday activity” do every job that a real name would do.
Pick one. Feed it your house. Stop reading comparisons.