Free AI tools for Charleston shops

ChatGPT

OpenAI’s pricing page at chatgpt.com/pricing, read October 16, 2026, says the free version of ChatGPT is available to everyone. The Free card lists unlimited text chats with GPT-6, limited messages with uploads, limited image creation, limited voice chats, limited deep research, and limited memory and context. A comparison row marks everyday text chats on Free as “Unlimited,” with a footnote that usage must be reasonable and comply with OpenAI’s policies, and that usage refers to chat limits. The page is chatgpt.com/pricing.

Claude

Anthropic’s pricing page, read the same day, lists Free at $0, “free for everyone.” The card includes chat on web, desktop, and mobile; search the web; create files and run code; memory across conversations; connectors; Artifacts; and Claude Design, Slides, and Docs. The comparison table lists Projects as “Up to 5” on Free, Sonnet and Haiku as Yes, and Opus as No. The FAQ says there is no fixed message count, limits reset on a rolling five-hour window, and “Free covers everyday questions.” It also says Pro gives at least 5x more usage per five-hour session than Free. Pro is listed at $20 if billed monthly, or $17 per month with the annual discount ($200 billed up front). The page says price and plans are subject to change. anthropic.com/pricing.

Gemini

Google’s Gemini page, read October 16, 2026, describes a free Gemini app with access to a Flash-Lite model, image generation and editing, Deep Research, Gemini Live, Canvas, and Gems, plus 15 GB of cloud storage across Gmail, Drive, and Photos. Paid plans on that page are introduced as “Everything in free and” higher limits. A footnote says usage limits factor in prompt complexity, the features you use, and chat length, and that the limit refreshes every five hours until a weekly limit. The page had a country selector. Dollar prices for paid plans are not copied here, because the copy shown can change with that selector. gemini.google/about.

Microsoft Copilot

Microsoft’s individual pricing page, read October 16, 2026, answers “Is Copilot free?” with: “Yes. Microsoft offers a limited free version of Copilot subject to available capacity and limits. When you hit a limit, you can choose to upgrade to a paid option or come back later.” The same answer says features, availability, and usage limits vary by plan and region. That page listed Microsoft 365 Personal at $9.99 and Microsoft 365 Family at $12.99, and said Personal includes advanced Copilot chat with higher usage than free. microsoft.com/en-us/copilot/pricing/individuals.

Microsoft’s support article says the free Copilot is available at no cost at copilot.cloud.microsoft, that sign-in is not required, and that signing in with a personal account adds chat history, image creation, longer conversations, voice, and other features. It also says Copilot in the desktop apps is for the subscription owner on an eligible Microsoft 365 plan, and that usage limits apply. The pricing FAQ says Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook is available only to the Family subscription owner and is not shared with the rest of the family. Microsoft Support, free Copilot versus Microsoft 365.

The College of Charleston library lists a free Copilot chat for students, faculty, and staff, and says those official tools have enterprise data protection. That is a campus account, not the public free chat. College of Charleston.

What a shop can do with the free chat

Draft a product description, a review reply, or the twenty questions the counter hears. Then edit them. The prompt library says the free chat is enough for one draft, and that any time saved on those pages is an estimate. Start at prompts and templates. Tools named inside local examples, which are a different list, are on AI tools in Charleston.

A free chat is not a free listing on Google. Google’s help page says you can add or claim a Business Profile at no charge so customers can find the business on Search and Maps. Google Business Profile Help.