Best AI for shopping
You want product research done for you - real options, current prices, and a pick you can trust. We gave nine assistants one shopping brief with a budget, a country and a cat, then opened every link they returned within the hour and checked the price, the stock and the shipping.
People also look for this as product research, finding deals, what should i buy or compare products.
Our picks, side by side
Rated for this task · 0–3
Measured
Quality
Effort
Cost
Free tier
From
Why
★ Best overall
ChatGPT
$8/mo · free tier: usableMeasured3/3 prices exact · 2/3 links
Quality
Effort
Cost
Free tierUnlimited text chat on the default model, with limits on uploads, images, voice and deep research
From$8/mo
Why
Three real products from Portuguese shops, three prices that matched the shop to the cent, all three in stock, and a pick that is the cheapest of them with a genuine anti-tangle roller for long hair. It also did the part most tools fudge - naming the famous models that were over budget, with their prices. Its one slip is a missing link for the third option.
Best for stock that is really there
Grok
$30/mo · free tier: usableMeasured3/3 links right · prices as ranges
Quality
Effort
Cost
Free tierChat with web and X search within generous limits, no card required
From$30/mo
Why
The only tool whose three links all opened on a live listing with the item in stock and delivery to Portugal, two on Amazon.es and one at Worten. It hedges every price as a range and tells you to check the page, which is honest and also not what you asked for; treat it as the shortlist you can actually click through.
Best for links straight to the shop
DeepSeek
Free · free tier: usableMeasured2/3 links right · 1 unverifiable
Quality
Effort
Cost
Free tierThe full chat app with web search and file uploads; there is no paid consumer tier
FromFree
Why
Every link is a Portuguese retailer's own product page and both prices we could check were exact to the cent; the third was at a shop that was down for maintenance during our check. It found the cheapest sensible set of the nine, though its pick was €18 dearer than the same vacuum elsewhere.
Evidence
3 of 3 stated prices exact (Dreame R20 SE €159.99 at Worten; Xiaomi G20 €161.59 and Samsung Jet 65 Pet €173.89 at Castro Electrónica, confirmed via KuantoKusta); 3 of 3 buyable; 2 of 3 rows carry a link to the product page.
Not on our roster
KuantoKusta — The Portuguese price comparator we used to check every answer. It shows each shop's live price for one product, which is the one thing no assistant did reliably.
Some links here earn us a commission and carry rel="sponsored". It never affects the ranking or the ratings — how we make money.
All 9 tools we tested
Rated for this task only · 0–3| Tool | Quality | Effort | Cost | Free tier | Measured | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPTFree: Unlimited text chat on the default model, with limits on uploads, images, voice and deep research | 3/3 prices exact · 2/3 links | $8/mo | ||||
| ClaudeFree: Chat with web search and file uploads, with a usage cap per five-hour session | 0/3 links · 2/3 prices | $20/mo | ||||
| GeminiFree: The default model with usage limits, plus Gemini inside Maps, Gmail and Docs on a free Google account | 0/3 links · A/B answers | $19.99/mo | ||||
| PerplexityFree: Unlimited basic searches with a weekly cap on Pro-model searches | 1/3 links right | $20/mo | ||||
| Microsoft CopilotFree: The Copilot app on web, Windows and mobile with usage limits | 2/3 links right | $19.99/mo | ||||
| DeepSeekFree: The full chat app with web search and file uploads; there is no paid consumer tier | 2/3 links right · 1 unverifiable | Free | ||||
| GrokFree: Chat with web and X search within generous limits, no card required | 3/3 links right · prices as ranges | $30/mo | ||||
| QwenFree: The full chat app; there is no paid consumer tier | 1/3 buyable · pick out of stock | Free | ||||
| KimiFree: Unlimited basic chat, file upload and web access on the free plan | refused 4× · free-tier queue | $19/mo |
How we tested
One brief, sent once to each of ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot, DeepSeek, Grok, Qwen and Kimi on their free tiers, with no follow-up questions. It asked for the best cordless stick vacuum under €300, buyable online today from a shop that ships to Portugal, for a 70 m² flat with hard floors and a long-haired cat - three options with the current price and a link to each product page, one line on why, then a pick, and an honest note if a well-known model was over budget.
Every link was opened within the hour. An option counted as right if the link was a page for that one product, the product could be bought today, the stated price was within ten percent of the page, and the shop ships to Portugal. Two Portuguese shops block automated visits, so their prices were confirmed through a comparator's live per-shop offers; Amazon.es was checked with the delivery country set to Portugal; one retailer was down for maintenance during the window, so links there are recorded as unverifiable rather than wrong. The count of links that were right is the measured figure in the table.
The surprise was how often the price was right and the link was wrong. Three tools quoted prices to the cent from pages you could not buy from - out of stock, unavailable online, or a page that had since gone. Two returned no links at all. One linked a UK store priced in pounds and called it European. One refused to answer four times because its free tier was full.
The test was run by, or under the direction of, the one person who runs this site, with AI assistance, and every output and fact-check was reviewed by them. The surrounding text was drafted with AI assistance from our own ratings and evidence, then checked and edited by the same person. If something here is wrong, tell us and we will fix it and say so.
Questions people ask
Can an AI actually find me the cheapest price?
Not reliably, and none claimed to. The best answers here found a fair price at a real shop and got it exactly right; two of them still missed a cheaper listing for the same model at another Portuguese shop. Use the assistant for the shortlist and the reasons, then put each model into a price comparator before you pay.
Why does the link matter so much?
Because a price without a page is a rumour. Three tools gave exact prices for products that were out of stock or unavailable online, and two gave no links at all, which means you do the search anyway. A shortlist you can click through and buy from is the whole job.
Which one should I use if I just want to buy something today?
ChatGPT, then Grok. ChatGPT got every price exact and every item in stock and forgot one link; Grok's three links all opened on in-stock listings that deliver to Portugal, but it gives prices as ranges. Between them you have the shortlist and the pages.
Do these results apply outside Portugal?
The pattern should - the same tools searched the same way - but the shops, prices and stock will not. Put your country in the brief the way we did; the tools that did well here all used it to pick local retailers.