--- title: "What are the best AI assistants of 2026?\nOur multi-criteria ranking" description: "Claude leads the Celsius 2026 ranking of AI assistants with 74/100, ahead of Gemini (68) and ChatGPT (60). Performance, ethics and environment count equally." canonical: https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/best-ai-2026/ author: "Guillaume Pakula" datePublished: 2026-11-04 dateModified: 2026-11-06 language: en translationOf: https://projetcelsius.com/blog/meilleures-ia-2026/ --- # What are the best AI assistants of 2026? Our multi-criteria ranking **Author**: Guillaume Pakula **Published**: 2026-11-04 **Updated**: 2026-11-06 **Section**: Explained **Canonical URL**: https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/best-ai-2026/ **French original**: https://projetcelsius.com/blog/meilleures-ia-2026/ **Source**: Projet Celsius (https://projetcelsius.com/en/), a climate strategy consultancy of engineers and PhDs based in Paris and Marseille. > **Claude is the best AI of 2026**, with **74/100** in the Celsius ranking, ahead of Gemini (68) and ChatGPT (60). Our final score gives equal weight to performance, ethics and environment. Claude wins on performance and ethics, Gemini on environment. **Grok comes last**, at 24/100, with the worst score on both ethics and environment. ## Key takeaways - **Claude leads the Celsius ranking** of AI assistants, with 74/100, ahead of Gemini and ChatGPT. - Performance, ethics and environment **each count for a third** of the final score. - **Gemini is the most frugal AI**, closely followed by Vibe, the French assistant from Mistral AI. - **Grok comes last**, with the worst score of all on both ethics and environment. The most widely cited AI rankings only score performance. [Projet Celsius](https://projetcelsius.com/en/), a French consultancy in environmental strategy and AI ethics, adds **ethics and environment**, with equal weight, for the 10 best-known consumer assistants, from ChatGPT to Qwen. ## What are the best AI assistants in 2026? ### Claude leads, ahead of Gemini and ChatGPT An AI can be brilliant and behave badly, or frugal and not very capable: the best is the one that holds up on all 3 fronts at once. On that basis, **Claude comes first with 74/100**, ahead of Gemini (68) and ChatGPT (60). Copilot, 4th with 56, is **the most consistent**: its 3 scores sit between 53 and 58. Vibe, the French assistant from Mistral AI long known as Le Chat, comes last on performance but climbs to 6th place **thanks to its frugality**. **Grok brings up the rear at 24/100**, with the worst score on both ethics and environment. ### The planet weighs as much as performance Each AI receives 3 scores out of 100, then a final score, **their average with equal weights**. In all 3, the higher the score, the better. The free version and audience size stay out of the score, as notes below the table: - The performance score combines 5 public rankings (75%) and our own experience of use (25%). - The ethics score is the one from [our ranking of the most ethical AI assistants](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/most-ethical-ai/), covering what they agree to produce, your data, their safety and the company behind them. - The environment score is the one from [our ranking of the most polluting AI assistants](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/most-polluting-ai/), covering the model that answers, images and video, the electricity powering the servers and the developer's efforts. ## Which AI performs best? Performance is what people compare first, and it is also what changes fastest. Our score combines **5 public rankings**: 2 where users pick the better of 2 answers blind, [LMArena](https://lmarena.ai/leaderboard) and the French compar:IA, and 3 where every AI sits **the same exams**, those of Artificial Analysis, Epoch AI and ARC Prize. On that basis, **Claude is the best-performing AI**, with **98/100**, ahead of ChatGPT (90) and Gemini (86). Vibe, from Mistral AI, comes last at **15/100**. Progress is fast. The ARC-AGI-3 test is made of small logic games that are **easy for a human**. In March 2026, **no AI solved more than 1%** of them. By the end of October, the best, from OpenAI, solved **nearly 2 in 3**. ### No AI wins everywhere **Claude wins only one of the 5 rankings, the French users' vote on compar:IA, but it is 2nd in all the others**: its consistency gives it the best average. Gemini wins the worldwide vote on LMArena and the Artificial Analysis index, ChatGPT the hardest exams. ### Claude excels at code, ChatGPT at the hardest problems Each has its strength. Claude is the best at **writing code, building websites** and running agents, AIs that carry out a series of tasks on their own. ChatGPT is **the only AI to answer more than half correctly** on Humanity's Last Exam, specialist questions from every discipline chosen because AI assistants failed them: **54.8% in September 2026**. Vibe, the French AI from Mistral AI, is **clearly behind**: it ranks only 113th out of 419 in the users' vote. Yet it is **the best European AI**. Our [comparison of ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/chatgpt-vs-claude-vs-gemini-environmental-impact/) compares the models one by one. ## Which AI is the most ethical? An AI's ethics are judged by what it agrees to produce, what it does with your data and how its developer holds its limits. On these points, **Claude is the most ethical AI**, with **77/100**, ahead of Copilot (58) and ChatGPT (52): it refuses sexual content even in fiction and **said no to the Pentagon** in February 2026. **Grok comes last**, at 17/100, just behind DeepSeek (18). According to the British NGO Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), it produced **around 3 million sexualised images** in 11 days in early 2026, and DeepSeek **stores your data in China**. With **7 of the 8 major assistants**, your conversations train the AI unless you opt out, and the option is switched off in the settings. Our [ranking of the most ethical AI assistants](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/most-ethical-ai/) details the 10 scores, and [should you boycott AI?](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/should-you-boycott-ai/) gathers the arguments of those who give it up. ## Which AI is the least polluting? Not all AI assistants use the same energy to answer the same question. The gap depends less on the brand than on 2 choices made by the developer: the size of the model that answers by default, and the electricity that powers its servers. > **What is a model?** The same AI, such as ChatGPT or Claude, runs several models, its engines, from the lightest to the most powerful. The small one answers quickly and uses little energy; the large one reasons better and uses much more. On these 2 points, **Gemini makes the best choice**: it answers with a lightweight model that Google measured at 0.24 Wh (watt-hour) per query, as much as an LED bulb lit for a minute and a half. Vibe, from Mistral AI, follows closely: it answers in fast mode by default, on European servers, where electricity emits [about half as much carbon as in the United States](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/ai-electricity-consumption/). At the other end, **Grok combines everything that weighs**: [unlimited video](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/ai-video-environmental-impact/), [servers partly powered by gas](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/data-center-carbon-footprint/), and not a single published figure. Our [ranking of the most polluting AI assistants](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/most-polluting-ai/) details the 10 scores. Claude scores only **47/100** on environment, even though outside estimates judge it rather economical. The reason lies with its developer: **Anthropic publishes no energy figures**. Without a measurement, the energy used by a query is **scored at the midpoint**, and Claude loses the points reserved for developers that publish. That silence is the rule, and **Google remains the only developer** to have measured a query under real conditions. Our experience of use adds a caveat to this score, without being able to put a figure on it: to reach a given result, Claude goes so directly to the point that it needs fewer back-and-forths, and therefore **less computation**. Used for real work, it is **very efficient**. Anthropic points the same way for its latest large model, Opus 5.5, which [it says needs less computation](https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-opus-5-5) than its predecessor, without giving an energy figure. [Claude's carbon footprint](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/claude-carbon-footprint/) has its own article. ## Which AI should you use for what? The scores do not tell the whole story: each AI has ground where it serves better than the others, depending on its strengths and where you come across it. ### For documents and code: Claude Claude is the assistant that comes closest to a colleague: you can hand it **a whole task**, from code to reviewing a report. Its large model is **1st in the users' votes** on website building and agents. Its weak point is the environment, for lack of a single published figure. ### For everyday life and images: ChatGPT ChatGPT serves everyday life: a quick question, an email, an image, a search. It is **the most used**, with **56% of web traffic** to AI sites in September 2026, and OpenAI also leads the votes on images. Its free tier lags far behind the paid one: **its free model ranks only 97th out of 419** in the users' vote. The detail is in [our article on the most used AI assistants](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/most-used-ai/). ### The other assistants serve narrower uses The other 8 each have narrower ground, shaped by their scores and their uses: - Gemini is built into Google and Android phones: it is the most frugal in the ranking, and its free version is the best placed in the users' vote, 10th out of 419. - Perplexity suits research, since every question launches a web search and cites the pages it finds. - Copilot serves the office, installed by default in Windows, with more than **30 million paid licences** for Microsoft 365 Copilot in July 2026. - Vibe, from Mistral AI, keeps your conversations in the European Union by default, which makes it the natural choice for sensitive data. - DeepSeek is free and its models can be downloaded freely, but its app stores your data in China. - Meta AI lives in WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger, and its Muse app is not available in Europe. - Qwen, from Alibaba, remains little known, since almost no independent test covers its app. - Grok sits one click from the X feed, but it comes last in the ranking, on ethics as on environment. ## Our verdict The scores settle the extremes and, for the rest, leave the choice to your use. > **The verdict** **For working on documents and code, Claude is the most reliable. Grok is best avoided.** > - **Claude is the best AI of 2026**, the best-performing and the most ethical, provided you keep its largest model for the work that needs it. > - **ChatGPT remains the best everyday assistant**, especially in its paid version, well above its free tier. > - **Gemini is the best free choice**, and the most frugal in the ranking. > - For sensitive data, choose **a business plan**, or Vibe for hosting in Europe. Putting the most powerful AI first has a cost for the climate: Claude's large model uses **about 20 times as much** as the small one, according to CLEER, an independent database of estimates. **The right setting is the small model by default**, and the large one for the work that needs it. Our [10 actions ranked by effectiveness](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/reduce-ai-environmental-impact/) show which setting changes the most, our article on [the energy used by a ChatGPT query](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/chatgpt-query-energy-consumption/) starts from a single question, and [AI in a company's Bilan Carbone®](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/ai-carbon-footprint-in-your-company/), the French carbon accounting method, shows how to account for it. ## Key takeaways - **Claude is the best AI of 2026** in the Celsius ranking, with **74/100**, ahead of Gemini (68) and ChatGPT (60). - The final score gives **equal weight** to performance, ethics and environment. - Claude wins on performance, at **98/100**, and on ethics, at **77/100**, as in [our ranking of the most ethical AI assistants](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/most-ethical-ai/). - **Gemini is the most frugal AI**, at 73/100 on environment, and **Grok has the lowest score** on both ethics and environment, according to [our ranking of the most polluting AI assistants](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/most-polluting-ai/). - **ChatGPT is still by far the most used**, with **56% of web traffic** to AI sites, according to [our ranking of the most used AI assistants](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/most-used-ai/). For the overall figures, see [the carbon footprint of AI](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/chatgpt-carbon-footprint/) and [all the impacts of AI](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/environmental-impact-of-ai/), and for the so-called green alternatives, [Ecosia, Euria and GreenPT put to the test](https://projetcelsius.com/en/blog/most-eco-friendly-ai/). ## Frequently asked questions ## Frequently asked questions ### What is the best AI in 2026? Claude, from Anthropic, with 74/100 in the Celsius ranking of 5 November 2026, ahead of Gemini (68) and ChatGPT (60). The final score gives a third to performance, a third to ethics and a third to environment. Claude wins on performance and ethics, Gemini on environment, and Grok comes last. ### How is the Celsius ranking calculated? Each AI receives 3 scores out of 100. Performance combines 5 public rankings (75%), such as LMArena, where users vote, or ARC, which sets exams, with Projet Celsius's own experience of use (25%). Ethics and environment come from its 2 detailed rankings. The final score is their average, with equal weights. ### Is Claude better than ChatGPT? In the Celsius ranking, yes: 98/100 against 90 on performance, 77 against 52 on ethics and 47 against 40 on environment. Claude's large model leads on code and agents in November 2026, and ChatGPT wins the hardest reasoning exams, such as the ARC logic games and Humanity's Last Exam. ### What is the best free AI? Gemini, from Google. Among the models each developer offers for free, Google's ranks highest in the LMArena users' vote, 10th out of 419 in November 2026, and Gemini is also the most frugal AI in the Celsius ranking. ChatGPT's free model ranks only 97th. ### Which AI is the least polluting? Gemini, with 73/100 on environment in the Celsius ranking, just ahead of Vibe from Mistral AI (72). Gemini answers by default with a lightweight model, measured by Google at 0.24 Wh per median prompt. Grok is the most polluting, with 13/100 on environment. ### What is the most used AI in the world? ChatGPT, with 56% of global web traffic to AI sites in September 2026 according to Similarweb, and more than 1.2 billion users a week according to OpenAI. Gemini is 2nd with 25% of traffic, Claude 3rd with 9.6%. ## Sources - LMArena, [Text, WebDev, Agent, Search and image leaderboards](https://lmarena.ai/leaderboard), published from 13 October to 2 November 2026, data from the [official dataset](https://huggingface.co/datasets/lmarena-ai/leaderboard-dataset) updated on 3 November 2026 - Artificial Analysis, [Intelligence Index](https://artificialanalysis.ai/leaderboards/models), version 5.0.1, accessed on 4 November 2026 - Artificial Analysis, [Gemini 4 Carbon is the new number 1](https://artificialanalysis.ai/articles/gemini-4-carbon-new-number-1), 28 October 2026 - Epoch AI, [Epoch Capabilities Index and benchmark data](https://epoch.ai/benchmarks), accessed on 4 November 2026 - Scale AI, [Humanity's Last Exam, leaderboard](https://labs.scale.com/leaderboard/humanitys_last_exam), updated on 17 September 2026 - ARC Prize, [ARC-AGI leaderboard](https://arcprize.org/leaderboard), ARC-AGI-2 as of 28 October 2026 and ARC-AGI-3 as of 2 November 2026 - French Ministry of Culture, [compar:IA, model ranking](https://arene.comparia.beta.gouv.fr/ranking) (in French), accessed on 4 November 2026 - Future of Life Institute, [AI Safety Index, summer 2026](https://futureoflife.org/ai-safety-index-summer-2026/), July 2026 - Stanford CRFM, [Foundation Model Transparency Index, December 2025](https://crfm.stanford.edu/fmti/December-2025/index.html), 11 December 2025 - Google, [Measuring the environmental impact of delivering AI at Google Scale](https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.15734), arXiv 2508.15734, 21 August 2025 - The Star, from AFP, [Musk's Grok created three million sexualised images, research says](https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2026/01/23/musk039s-grok-created-three-million-sexualised-images-research-says), estimate by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, 23 January 2026 - Cisco, [Evaluating security risk in DeepSeek and other frontier reasoning models](https://blogs.cisco.com/security/evaluating-security-risk-in-deepseek-and-other-frontier-reasoning-models), 31 January 2025 - Similarweb, shares of web traffic to generative AI sites, September 2026, reported by [OfficeChai](https://officechai.com/ai/geminis-traffic-share-falls-for-fourth-straight-month-as-chatgpt-regains-ground-similarweb-data/), 12 October 2026 - Microsoft, results of 29 July 2026, Microsoft 365 Copilot licences - Sustainable AI Group, [CLEER, technical report](https://reports.sustainableaigroup.com/CLEER-Tech-Report), 29 September 2026 - Anthropic, [Introducing Claude Opus 5.5](https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-opus-5-5), 22 September 2026 - Projet Celsius, rankings of the most polluting, most ethical and most used AI assistants, 4 November 2026, and Celsius ranking, 5 November 2026