Kimi suits people who want an AI agent to build things for them: slides from a topic, file conversions, Excel formulas, websites and 3D models. ChatGPT suits business owners who want a clear, everyday assistant with web search, uploads and image creation, and a switch to keep chats out of training. Both apps are free to download.
Kimi and ChatGPT both chat, write and reason, and both apps are listed as free with in-app purchases. The difference is in how each company describes the product. Moonshot AI sells Kimi as a personal agent that turns ideas into finished files. OpenAI's Help Center describes ChatGPT's free tier as a plain list of tools and limits. I've kept to what each company's own pages say.
How Kimi and ChatGPT line up
| Kimi | ChatGPT | |
|---|---|---|
| Made by | Moonshot AI | OpenAI |
| How the app describes itself | Your Personal AI Agent | Your everyday AI assistant |
| On the App Store | Free with in-app purchases, English plus 15 more languages | Free with in-app purchases, English plus 59 more languages |
| Headline jobs | 3D models and games, AI Slides, vibe coding, Agent Swarm | Web search, data analysis, file and image uploads, image creation |
| Office files | PDF to Word, Word to PDF, PDF to Excel, Excel formulas and charts | Upload files and analyse your data, each with its own usage limit |
| Outside data | Plugins to data sources such as Wind and S&P | Searches the web for up-to-date information |
| Keeping your work | Syncs across devices, with Remote Control of Kimi Work from a phone | A Library with 500 MB of storage on the Free tier |
| Custom assistants | Not part of the listing | Existing GPTs work; new GPT creation isn't available on personal accounts |
| For developers | Kimi API Platform with K3.1 Pro and a 1M-token context | Limited Codex access on the Free plan, per the pricing page |
Kimi sells itself as an agent
Kimi's App Store listing reads like a list of finished jobs. It says the agent turns ideas into high-fidelity 3D models, websites and multiplayer 3D games, and handles work such as slides and data analysis. The features it names are specific:
- AI Slides: a PowerPoint presentation from a topic or a visual reference.
- Office Agent: PDF to Word, Word to PDF and PDF to Excel, plus Excel formulas and charts from your data.
- Agent Swarm: Kimi's listing says it coordinates up to 300 AI agents across 4,000 parallel steps.
- Vibe Coding for websites, plus 3D modelling and 3D game creation.
- Plugins that pull from financial data sources such as Wind and S&P, and Remote Control of Kimi Work from your phone.
That's a lot of output for a free download, and it's aimed squarely at people who'd rather describe a deck than build one. Those figures on agents and steps are Kimi's own claim, so treat them as the vendor's description rather than a promise about your workload. If you'd like the background on the model family behind it, my guide to Kimi K2 and Moonshot AI covers it.
The rules of ChatGPT's free tier
The OpenAI Help Center's ChatGPT Free Tier FAQ opens with "ChatGPT is free to use." It then lists what free users can do: search the web, analyse data, upload images or files, discover and use GPTs, create images and use a Library with 500 MB of storage.
It's equally clear about the limits. Free users have "unlimited everyday text chats, subject to abuse-prevention safeguards", while file uploads, image generation, voice, data analysis and other tools have separate usage limits. When you hit one, ChatGPT tells you, and access pauses until it resets. Two more lines matter for a business: ads may appear in the Free tier in certain countries, and new GPT creation isn't available on personal accounts, including Free, Go, Plus and Pro, though you can keep using existing GPTs.
Training switches and temporary chats
OpenAI's Data controls page says that on personal workspaces with ChatGPT Free, Plus or Pro, data sharing is on by default, and you can turn off Improve the model for everyone and keep your chat history. It's under Settings, then Data controls, on the web and in the apps. Temporary chats don't appear in your history, aren't used to improve OpenAI models and may be kept for up to 30 days for safety. You can also export your data or delete your account from settings.
Kimi's App Store listing and API platform page don't describe a data-use setting, so I won't guess at one. If you're putting client material into any assistant, find its privacy page and its settings first.
For developers: the Kimi API
Kimi's API platform, the Kimi LLM Open Platform, describes K3.1 Pro as Kimi's most capable flagship, with a 1M-token context window. The page lists K3.1 Pro at $2.00 per million input tokens and $10.00 per million output tokens, shown in $ on the platform page, as of Nov 2026. It also describes K3 as "the world's first open-source 3T-class model", which is Moonshot AI's own claim. ChatGPT's pricing page lists limited Codex access on Free, but its text shows no price figures.
Where each one earns its place in a small business
Kimi fits the person with a pile of output to produce: a pitch deck from a brief, a stack of PDFs to turn into Word files, a spreadsheet that needs formulas and charts, a quick website or a 3D mock-up. ChatGPT fits the owner who wants one reliable everyday assistant for research, writing, file questions and images, with published limits and a training switch they can find in a minute.
If you're comparing more than these two, see how other AI tools like ChatGPT are used in business, or start with my list of free AI tools for small businesses.
Honest advice on Kimi or ChatGPT
Pick Kimi if your week is full of slides, file conversions and spreadsheet work you'd happily hand to an agent, and the material isn't confidential. Pick ChatGPT if you want an everyday assistant with clearly published free tier rules and a setting that keeps your chats out of training. I'd run the same small, low-risk job through both and keep the one whose output needed less fixing.
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Related guides live in the ChatGPT Prompts and Limits: 30 Guides to Fun Prompts, Photo Edits and Daily Caps.
Frequently asked questions
Is Kimi free?
The Kimi app is listed on the App Store as free with in-app purchases. Developers who use the Kimi API pay per million tokens on the API platform.
Is ChatGPT free?
Yes. The OpenAI Help Center says ChatGPT is free to use, with unlimited everyday text chats subject to abuse-prevention safeguards and separate limits on uploads, images, voice and data analysis.
Can Kimi make PowerPoint slides?
Kimi's App Store listing says AI Slides can make a PowerPoint presentation from just a topic or a visual reference.
Does ChatGPT show ads on the free tier?
OpenAI's Free Tier FAQ says ads may appear in the Free tier in certain countries.
Can I stop ChatGPT training on my chats?
Yes. Turn off Improve the model for everyone under Settings, then Data controls. OpenAI says you keep your chat history when you do.
