Comparison

ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini
— and where Smalt AI fits.

The big three are superb general-purpose assistants. Smalt AI isn't trying to out-chat them — it's built to ship the deliverable. Here's an honest read on which one fits which job, with the caveats none of their marketing pages mention.

The short answer

Use ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini for general writing, code, brainstorming, and quick research — they're all excellent, and most finance professionals already use one daily. Reach for Smalt AI when the output has to be a real deliverable: an Excel model with live formulas, a native deck, or research where every claim traces to a source. The difference isn't intelligence — it's whether you get a description of the work or the work itself.

Capability	ChatGPT	Claude	Gemini	Smalt AI
General Q&A, writing, brainstorming	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Good — not the focus
DCF / LBO / 3-statement models	Markdown tables; cells hold values, not formulas	Markdown tables; not a workbook	Markdown tables; not a workbook	Working .xlsx — =NPV, =XIRR, live recalculation
PowerPoint decks	Markdown outline only	Markdown outline only	Exports to Google Slides; generic templates	Native editable .pptx, consulting-grade, right-rail commentary
Research with citations	Browse mode; citations can hallucinate	Strong; web access varies by surface	Grounded in Google Search	Paragraph-level citations to filings, news, expert calls
Long-document context	~200K tokens (GPT-4o)	1M tokens	1M–2M tokens	Reads full 10-Ks in one pass — no chunking
Excel round-trip (your workbook)	Code interpreter; returns hardcoded outputs	No native xlsx round-trip	In Sheets via Workspace	Native xlsx — preserves formulas, returns a working file
Model approach	Single vendor (OpenAI)	Single vendor (Anthropic)	Single vendor (Google)	Leverages many models — open-source and frontier — continuously tuned to the best fit per task
Data residency / self-hosting	Enterprise only; OpenAI infra	Enterprise via providers	Google Cloud / Workspace	Enterprise self-hosting; PDPA-aligned, SEA data residency
Pricing (individual)	$20 / $200 mo	$20 / $100+ mo	$20 / $250 mo	Free tier, then ~$18–45/mo

Model capabilities move fast — context windows and pricing especially. Last reviewed June 2026.

The defining gap: output fidelity

Ask any of the big three to "build a DCF for Apple" and you get a markdown table where the numbers are typed by the model — not formulas. Change a driver and nothing recalculates, because there's nothing to recalculate. The output is a description of a model, not a model.

Smalt AI returns a real .xlsx: cells hold =NPV(WACC, FCF_range), =XIRR, =INDEX/MATCH, across 14 linked sheets. Change a driver and the whole thing recalculates because it's an actual model. The same gap holds for PowerPoint — they outline in markdown; Smalt ships a native, editable, watermark-free .pptx.

Where each general assistant wins

ChatGPT — the best all-rounder. Strongest ecosystem, custom GPTs, code. Hard to beat at $20/mo for individual productivity.

Claude — excellent reasoning and writing, huge context, strong for long-document work in direct chat. (We have a dedicated Claude comparison on when to use the chat vs a workflow built on top.)

Gemini — deepest Google Workspace integration, search-grounded answers, and the largest context windows. If your work lives in Docs and Sheets, it's the most native fit.

Where Smalt AI is the right tool

For real finance deliverables — anything that gets opened in Excel or PowerPoint and put in front of an investment committee, a board, or a regulator. The artifact has to work, not just describe itself.

For sourced research — when every claim must trace back to a filing, transcript, or reputable source, with paragraph-level citations.

For compliance and data residency — Enterprise self-hosting, PDPA alignment, and Southeast Asia data residency. The general assistants keep everything in their own cloud; Smalt can run on yours.

Honest caveats

Smalt AI is narrower by design. For one assistant that does everything, the big three cover more ground.
Smalt AI is newer, with a smaller ecosystem than ChatGPT or Gemini.
All of these can hallucinate. Smalt mitigates with sourced citations and checks (the balance sheet must balance, WACC must be in range) — but no AI is perfectly reliable on novel reasoning.
Smalt doesn't replace your daily chat assistant. Most finance teams use one of the big three for general work and Smalt when the output has to be a deliverable.

The summary

ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini are the best general-purpose assistants available. Smalt AI's job starts where the chat window ends: turning a one-line brief into a working model, a real deck, or sourced research. They're complements, not rivals.

500 free credits, no credit card. Try Smalt AI on a real workflow and see the difference yourself.

ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini— and where Smalt AI fits.