The cheapest way to get a good AI
Start with a free tier. If you hit its limits, the paid plans below (US$15 a month or less on monthly billing, with official CAD prices alongside) cover most people. Mistral also lists a student price of US$5.99 a month (no official CAD price) on its pricing page.
Paid plans up to US$15/month (USD and CAD)
| Provider | Plan | Monthly billing USD · CAD | Annual billing, per month USD · CAD | Models | Limits | Best for | Sources & checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google AI Plus Cheapest paid | US$4.99CA$6.99 | No annual option listed | Flash; more Pro-model access | 2x Free limits (5h refresh, weekly cap); 200 Flow credits/mo; 3,000 Flow Music credits | Budget + storage | USD: one.google.com CAD: one.google.com | |
| OpenAI | ChatGPT Go Cheapest paid | US$8.00CA$12.99 | No annual option listed | GPT-6 Luna (no GPT-6.1 Sol/Astra) | More messages/uploads/images/voice; 54K Instant / 256K reasoning context; limited deep research & Codex; may include ads | Budget users | USD: learn.chatgpt.com CAD: apps.apple.com |
| xAI | X Subscription Plus Cheapest paid | US$8.00No official CAD price | No annual option listed | Grok models | Base pooled usage (Grok+Cursor), weekly refresh | Social creators | USD: x.ai CAD: – |
| Microsoft | Microsoft 365 Personal Cheapest paid | US$9.99CA$11.50 | No annual option listed | Microsoft-selected models | AI credits + feature limits; 1 user, 1 TB; App Store CA lists CA$11.49 vs CA$11.50 on microsoft.com/en-ca (web price used) | Office users | USD: microsoft.com CAD: microsoft.com |
| Microsoft | Microsoft 365 Family | US$12.99CA$14.50 | No annual option listed | Microsoft-selected models | AI credits (owner only); 1-6 people, 2 TB shared | Families | USD: microsoft.com CAD: microsoft.com |
| Mistral | Mistral Pro Cheapest paid | US$14.99CA$19.99 | No official USD priceCA$16.67 | Mistral Medium etc. | More messages/searches; up to 40x Free image gens; Flash answers 150/day | Budget coders | USD: mistral.ai CAD: apps.apple.com |
Free tiers
| Provider | Plan | Monthly billing USD · CAD | Annual billing, per month USD · CAD | Models | Limits | Best for | Sources & checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAI | ChatGPT Free | FreeFree | No annual option listed | GPT-6 Luna; limited GPT-5.6 Terra in Work/Codex desktop | Unlimited text chats (abuse guardrails); limited uploads, images, voice, deep research, Codex; 27K Instant context | Casual users | USD: chatgpt.com CAD: chatgpt.com |
| Anthropic | Claude Free | FreeFree | No annual option listed | Sonnet, Haiku (no Opus/Fable) | Rolling 5-hour session limits; Projects up to 5 | Trying Claude | USD: claude.com CAD: claude.com |
| Gemini Free | FreeFree | No annual option listed | Flash-Lite | Limited; Flow 100/mo + 50/day credits; 15 GB storage | Casual Google users | USD: gemini.google CAD: one.google.com | |
| xAI | X Subscription Free | FreeNo official CAD price | No annual option listed | Grok (unspecified) | Limited Grok chat & agent requests; Cursor starter allowance | Casual | USD: x.ai CAD: – |
| Microsoft | Copilot Free | FreeFree | No annual option listed | Microsoft-selected models | Limited, subject to capacity | Casual Windows users | USD: microsoft.com CAD: microsoft.com |
| Meta | Meta AI (free) | FreeFree | No annual option listed | Meta models | Free basic use | Social users | USD: meta.ai CAD: meta.ai |
| Mistral | Mistral Free (Le Chat/Vibe) | FreeFree | No annual option listed | Latest Mistral models | Limited messages, searches, coding sessions | EU/privacy users | USD: mistral.ai CAD: mistral.ai |
| Perplexity | Perplexity Free | FreeFree | No annual option listed | Top models (limited) | Limited weekly usage | Search | USD: perplexity.ai CAD: perplexity.ai |
| DeepSeek | DeepSeek Chat | FreeFree | No annual option listed | DeepSeek-V4 family | Free; no paid consumer plan found | Cost-conscious | USD: deepseek.com CAD: deepseek.com |