Which Is Best for Content Creators?

AI chatbots like ChatGPT have turn out to be ubiquitous and very important to what number of data employees, content material creators, and enterprise house owners function.

However as highly effective as ChatGPT is, it’s not the one participant within the recreation — and typically, exploring alternate options can reveal new methods to streamline your workflow.

That’s the place this information is available in.

As an alternative of simply score chatbots primarily based on generic standards like accuracy, pace, and creativity, I needed to see how they carry out in a real-world content material workflow.

So, I paid for the subscriptions (courtesy of Buffer’s AI Instruments stipend that can assist me recoup these prices) and fed them information from my very own social media, and gave a structured problem to every one designed to judge how effectively they take present inputs and switch them into significant insights.

Let’s dive into the small print and decide which chatbot delivers one of the best outcomes.

The experiment: How I examined the chatbots

There’s no scarcity of AI chatbot comparisons on-line, however many concentrate on remoted prompts moderately than real-world use circumstances — particularly these related to you, our viewers of creators, and small enterprise house owners.

To really take a look at how helpful these instruments are for creators, I wanted a problem that mirrored how we really use AI in a content material workflow.

So, as an alternative of throwing random questions at every chatbot, I arrange a structured experiment:

1. I uploaded a CSV file with 60 days of my LinkedIn posts and their efficiency information—actual engagement metrics from my newest posts.
2. I gave every chatbot a collection of interconnected prompts to see how effectively it may analyze, generate, and refine content material.
3. I saved every little thing inside one steady dialog, testing their capability to retain and apply context.

What I used to be testing for

This take a look at was designed to judge every chatbot throughout 5 key areas:

• Knowledge evaluation: Can it break down LinkedIn efficiency metrics and extract helpful insights?
• Creativity & content material era: Can it generate recent, non-generic (tremendous essential) content material concepts primarily based on actual engagement information?
• Format adaptation: Can it rework a high-performing concept into a number of content material codecs (LinkedIn submit, Twitter thread, short-form video script)?
• Strategic insights: Does it supply clear, actionable recommendation to enhance content material efficiency?
• Workflow optimization: Can it assist streamline content material planning, repurposing, and monitoring?

The chatbots

I chosen 5 main AI chatbots for this experiment, every with completely different strengths, pricing, and options:

• ChatGPT
• Claude
• Google Gemini (previously Bard)
• Perplexity AI
• DeepSeek

Now, let’s get into the problem and see how they carried out.

The problem

Every chatbot was given the identical structured take a look at — a steady dialog the place they needed to analyze LinkedIn efficiency information, generate new content material concepts, adapt content material throughout codecs, supply strategic insights, and create a workflow for ongoing content material success.

After importing the CSV file containing my posts and information, I requested every bot these questions:

• Right here’s my LinkedIn efficiency information. What kinds of posts carried out greatest and why?
• Based mostly on what labored, recommend 5 new LinkedIn content material concepts.
• Take the best-performing concept and switch it right into a LinkedIn submit, a Twitter thread, and a short-form video script.
• How can I enhance my LinkedIn engagement fee primarily based on this dataset?
• Create a content material workflow that helps me repurpose high-performing content material and observe engagement.

Listed below are the outcomes.

ChatGPT

Greatest at retaining context

Score: 3.5/5

Pricing: Free with restricted entry; $20 per thirty days for GPT-4

ChatGPT is OpenAI’s flagship chatbot and arguably probably the most well-known AI instrument on this checklist. With its capability to generate structured responses, adapt content material throughout codecs, and supply strategic suggestions, it’s a robust contender for creators seeking to streamline their workflow.

ChatGPT began sturdy analyzing the typical efficiency of every submit kind, displaying that evaluation, after which giving a robust, nuanced checklist of takeaways and proposals. It didn’t state something too distinctive (movies carried out greatest, carousel posts had probably the most impressions), however the insights had been good to have.

Nonetheless, the request for engagement fee enchancment concepts confirmed off ChatGPT’s information evaluation capabilities even higher. It broke down the engagement fee information by submit kind, day, and even hour.

Then, extra impressively, it gave an inventory of actionable suggestions, together with one of the best time to submit on LinkedIn in keeping with my information — one thing not one of the different instruments did. Different strategies it made had been to prioritize video and textual content posts and enhance my early engagement technique by responding to the feedback within the first half-hour of posting.

ChatGPT additionally actually shined in delivering hyper-relevant concepts. When requested for distinctive content material concepts, the bot gave me an inventory that performed off my present high-performing matters and codecs. For instance, it beneficial I share a behind-the-scenes of my LinkedIn video course of, an concept I’ll undoubtedly be utilizing.

When requested to show one of many concepts into completely different codecs, it pulled from its reminiscence of our earlier chats, plus the context it had about my most popular voice and tone, to ship well-structured and related outcomes.

The ultimate request for a workflow initially appeared promising, with a clear, structured visible chart mapping out how you can repurpose content material.

However whereas that was good to take a look at, it wasn’t till I requested for a extra sensible model — one thing i may flip right into a Notion web page or Google Doc, that it grew to become really helpful. That is one thing I repeatedly battle with when utilizing ChatGPT to kickstart a visible reference for what my templates or dashboards would possibly appear like — getting something instantly actionable may be tough. And that’s the place the subsequent instrument on our checklist excels.

I’ll conclude with a caveat right here: I’ve had a ChatGPT account for some time now — at the least a full yr — so the bot had a number of context to drag from as it may well retain context from earlier chats. So, that undoubtedly influenced its efficiency and responses. Nonetheless, I’d name {that a} level in its favor because it signifies that it offers you higher responses with frequent use.

Claude AI

Greatest for producing workflow mockups

Score: 3.5/5

Pricing: Free with restricted use; $20 per thirty days

Developed by Anthropic, Claude AI is designed to be a conversational, long-form assistant with a concentrate on considerate and structured responses. Not like a number of the different chatbots on this experiment, Claude approaches duties with a extra methodical and arranged fashion, making it a compelling possibility for many who prioritize readability of their workflows. However how effectively does that translate to sensible situations?

Nicely, as an alternative of going by way of the prompts chronologically, I need to concentrate on Claude’s visualization capabilities and state, for the report, that they’re one of the best of the bunch.

From the primary immediate, Claude translated the info into one thing tremendous simple to take a look at, together with the suggestions that had been par for the course for each chatbot instrument. Having the info introduced in a bar chart instantly gave me a transparent understanding of my subsequent steps.

It continued this development all through the dialog with out being prompted.

My favourite factor about Claude, by far, is its capability to code and create a visible mockup of a workflow or database inside the chat in a little bit preview window on the appropriate. This has made it ten occasions simpler to create Notion pages that do precisely what I would like, with minimal time spent determining the place to put which aspect.

Claude had some fascinating concepts on the content material entrance, together with a “creator instruments revealed” video and a suggestion to ask a group query every week. Nonetheless, fascinating didn’t at all times translate to related, because it didn’t take into account the precise content material of the posts inside the CSV file it had in its reminiscence. General, the concepts shared weren’t as related to me and my content material as they may have been.

Nonetheless, I used to be happy by the formatting of the concepts that it did gave me — when requested for a LinkedIn submit and short-form video script primarily based on the primary concept it shared, it delivered one thing that might have been pasted as-is (if not for the completely made-up data).

When it comes to offering a easy evaluation of the info, it returned some fascinating outcomes, together with a suggestion to maintain posts to 600 characters or much less, which I’ll be utilizing going ahead.

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Closing verdict: Claude AI stands out as one of the best chatbot for visualization and structured formatting. In case you want clear, data-driven charts and workflow previews, it’s arduous to beat. Nonetheless, its content material era lacks precision and relevance, requiring further enter and validation to make sure accuracy. It additionally doesn’t have search capabilities, which is essential to contemplate earlier than you subscribe.

Perplexity AI

Greatest for analysis and discovery

Score: 2.5/5

Pricing: Free with restricted options; $20 per thirty days

Perplexity AI takes a novel method in comparison with different chatbots, permitting customers to pick completely different fashions, together with some already featured on this experiment. This flexibility makes it a robust analysis instrument, significantly for content material creators who want AI help in uncovering tendencies, following up on key insights, and gathering data.

Though the consensus round Perplexity is that it’s an amazing instrument for analysis, not essentially for technique, and I’d be inclined to agree after this experiment. To start out with what was nice about it, Perplexity’s capability to ship you down a rabbit gap was a serious plus in my guide.

Everytime you ask a query, it hyperlinks parts of the message that you would be able to “observe up” on. Then, it makes use of the context of the message thread to create an honest follow-up. I can see this instrument being helpful within the analysis part of working in your content material technique, particularly when in search of inspiration.

Nonetheless, as a collaborative accomplice that may ideate alongside you, it didn’t carry out nice. The evaluation it did in each analytical questions was very floor degree, with good however generic suggestions on how you can take motion.

Perplexity additionally returned a fairly customary “AI made this” workflow that was good, however didn’t encourage any deeper thought for me. It did generate a useful every day workflow that may match properly into my present method to content material, so I gave it factors for that.

Its content material concepts additionally fell quick, with copy that didn’t take into account my common tone and magnificence and felt fairly customary for many AI instruments general. Despite the fact that it is a frequent trait throughout most instruments, I anticipated higher for it having my information and content material in its reminiscence.

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Closing verdict: Perplexity AI excels in analysis and content material discovery, nevertheless it falls quick in strategic execution. In case you want a chatbot that helps you discover sources, observe analysis threads, and discover concepts, Perplexity is likely one of the greatest choices out there. Nonetheless, for content material planning, engagement methods, or workflow optimization, it doesn’t supply the depth or creativity wanted to be a robust collaborative accomplice.

DeepSeek

Greatest for the budget-conscious consumer

Score: 2.5/5

Pricing: Free

DeepSeek is a lesser-known AI mannequin that positions itself as a free various to extra extensively used chatbots. Whereas that makes it an interesting possibility for budget-conscious customers, I used to be curious to see whether or not it may maintain its personal by way of content material ideation and strategic, data-driven suggestions.

Nonetheless, my expertise with DeepSeek wasn’t one of the best from the beginning, because it saved returning a “The server is busy” message. I spent extra time hopping again in to test if my prompts would undergo, so maintain that in thoughts.

At first, I toggled on DeepSeek R1, the platform’s advanced-level considering characteristic. Nonetheless, the instrument spent a lot time “considering” that I made a decision to run two chats: one with and one with out.

The outcomes from the chat with out R1 had been fairly generic however not fairly as generic as, say, Gemini. I’d put the expertise with DeepSeek under Perplexity and above Gemini.

Whereas it caught sure matters and gave fascinating concepts, it didn’t go as deep or large as I might have preferred. With R1, nevertheless (pictured on the appropriate), its efficiency elevated considerably because it went past generic observations and proposals. The one drawback is, in fact, its pace.

DeepSeek had some fascinating concepts, however nothing I hadn’t seen earlier than. It beneficial the identical concepts as a few different chatbots, which is extra of an indication that you simply actually can’t outsource your considering to those instruments.

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Closing verdict: In case you’re on a funds and simply want an AI for primary brainstorming and content material structuring, DeepSeek in R1 mode is value attempting, nevertheless it’s not a instrument to depend on for strategic content material planning totally. It’s additionally nonetheless so new that it doesn’t fairly really feel truthful to check it to the opposite instruments. For its age and pace, nevertheless, I’d say it is a strong, free possibility.

Google Gemini

Greatest for straightforward integration into your present Google equipment

Score: 2/5

Pricing: Free with restricted options; $20 per thirty days

Previously generally known as Bard, Google’s Gemini is positioned as a real-time AI assistant with deep integration into Google Search and different instruments. Given its entry to reside data and Google’s huge dataset, I used to be curious to see whether or not it may present a extra data-informed and strategic method to content material planning. I additionally took benefit of the Buffer group’s entry to Gemini Superior, the lately launched improve to the instrument.

Since I hadn’t used Gemini a lot earlier than this experiment, it was the primary instrument I attempted — however I rapidly discovered that its suggestions had been fairly generic and likewise did not transcend surface-level analyses.

For instance, within the first response, it failed to acknowledge that although my carousel posts (the Paperwork) obtained extra impressions, they didn’t get as excessive engagement.

Gemini repeated the identical weak evaluation when requested for strategies primarily based on engagement fee information. Moreover, the instructed methods are broad greatest practices that don’t tie again to the precise information I shared.

Its content material creation and repurposing skills weren’t significantly better, because it solely produced generic concepts that had nothing to do with my content material. Nonetheless, I’ll give it one level for getting the construction of a LinkedIn submit down pat.

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Closing verdict: Gemini is a fast and structured AI assistant that works in a pinch however falls quick for duties past surface-level requests. Whereas it may well assist with primary formatting and brainstorming, it doesn’t but have the depth and personalization wanted for content material optimization.

Different chatbots to attempt

Microsoft Copilot

Together with a devoted web site, Microsoft’s Copilot comes free with Microsoft merchandise and has extra AI capabilities with enterprise plans. Nonetheless, I didn’t embrace it in the principle checklist as a result of it runs on ChatGPT anyway, in order that evaluation provides a way of what to anticipate from Copilot.

Meta AI

Meta AI is a free, conversational chatbot built-in throughout all Meta merchandise. Nonetheless, it didn’t make the checklist as you may’t add information to it, putting it out in my guide. It’s additionally usually much less superior in long-form content material era and is extra of a real chatbot.

Bizi.cx

Bizi is the aspect undertaking of Joe Delgado, a software program engineer right here at Buffer. It is a self-described work in progress with some tough edges, however he shared that it has changed his use of ChatGPT solely. It’s presently free to make use of.

Do your personal considering

If there’s one takeaway from this experiment, it’s that no AI chatbot can do your considering for you—however the appropriate one can undoubtedly make the method simpler.

Every instrument on this checklist had its personal strengths. ChatGPT and Claude dealt with structured insights and content material adaptation effectively, whereas Perplexity excelled in analysis and discovery. DeepSeek confirmed promise, particularly in R1 mode, however wasn’t probably the most dependable. And Gemini? Quick and simple to make use of, an amazing possibility in case you use Google’s ecosystem closely.

However right here’s the factor: your wants will at all times decide one of the best instrument for you. Are you in search of a chatbot to refine your content material concepts? To research previous efficiency? To brainstorm in a manner that conjures up you? AI may also help — however provided that you know the way to immediate it, refine its responses, and information it towards helpful outcomes.

On the finish of the day, AI chatbots are simply assistants, not replacements. The magic nonetheless comes out of your technique, creativity, and talent to execute. So, in case you convey AI into your workflow, be sure it’s working for you — not the opposite manner round.