Anthropic has upgraded its Claude AI chatbot's free plan by adding previously paid features, positioning it as an ad-free alternative to OpenAI's ChatGPT. The enhancements include file creation, connectors to third-party services, and custom skills, amid OpenAI's plans to introduce ads in its free tier. This move follows Anthropic's Super Bowl advertisements criticizing the ad strategy.
Anthropic, the developer of the Claude AI chatbot, announced upgrades to its free tier on Wednesday, making several features available without a subscription. These changes come as OpenAI prepares to integrate advertisements into the free and low-cost versions of ChatGPT, a move that Anthropic has publicly opposed.
The new free features include the ability to create and edit files such as Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, Word documents, and PDFs directly from Claude conversations. This capability, powered by Sonnet 4.5, was previously exclusive to paid users and was introduced for them in September. Free users can now also access select Connectors, which link Claude to external services like Google Workspace apps, Canva, Slack, Notion, Zapier, and PayPal. Additionally, custom Skills—sets of instructions, scripts, and resources that allow Claude to perform specific tasks repeatedly without repeated prompts—are now available in the free plan.
Other improvements encompass longer conversations per session, interactive responses, and enhanced image and voice searching capabilities. Anthropic's announcement emphasized its commitment to an ad-free experience, ending with the tagline "No ads in sight." This follows the company's promise last week to keep Claude ad-free, reinforced by Super Bowl ads that criticized OpenAI's approach and referenced ChatGPT's GPT-4o model.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman responded to the criticism by stating that his company intended to avoid placing its best features behind a paywall. The upgrades may appeal to users reconsidering their AI chatbot options, especially those deterred by ads in ChatGPT's accessible plans.
