I recently stopped subscribing to ChatGPT.
This wasn’t an easy decision. I’ve been paying since the day ChatGPT started supporting paid subscriptions. This subscription lasted for nearly 3 years.
Reasons for Stopping the Subscription
- Huge delays. I often wait dozens of seconds for a response with no reply. However, the free version usually uses mini models, which are sufficient for most tasks. But the free version is actually faster. I don’t understand - is this because there are no compute nodes or forwarding nodes in Europe?
- Too many bugs on Mac. Lagging, high CPU usage, bugs when copying LaTeX text.
- Poor interaction experience. For example, we might need to use Thinking again to regenerate responses. However, this option is in the model switching menu, requiring an extra click because it’s in a secondary menu. Meanwhile, the less frequently used “more concise/more detailed” regenerate buttons are in the primary regenerate menu.
- Product updates change too drastically, model personality changes too quickly. This requires the cost of re-familiarizing with the model.
- The model is stubborn and doesn’t follow instructions. For example, repeatedly needing to emphasize when to search and when not to ask follow-up questions.
- Unstable model behavior that’s hard to control. For example, in instant mode, after the model calls search, it switches to a smaller model and uses web resources to answer questions, rather than the instant model.
- Model quality is inferior to other models, even some open-source free models like DeepSeek.
Reasons that still make me want to stay:
- Thinking mode is still the king. Continuously calling tool chains for search and verification is still a top performer. But Grok is also very good at search, and Grok’s free quota is already sufficient.
- More powerful product matrix, such as ChatGPT Atlas browser, or Mac’s standalone client. Plus many plugins. However, it’s concerning that the Atlas browser’s Agent quota is surprisingly low, almost unusable for practical purposes.
Current Alternatives
I’ve tried numerous free software, including all conceivable/most LLMs, even models developed by teams like MiniMax/Kimi. I’ve summarized my findings. Before summarizing, I need to define a software industry term. This phenomenon is very characteristic of China, or regional characteristics.
Current LLM software indeed shows a trend of sacrificing tool purity and user experience in pursuit of daily active users (DAU), retention rates, and monetization. Some LLM software is stuffed with many operational elements, such as trendy operational topics, or many things not very related to technology, such as agents, competition zones, headline copywriting, or Xiaohongshu copywriting. This phenomenon indicates software bloat, over-operationalization, de-tooling, vulgarization, and reduced signal-to-noise ratio. In this article, we call this phenomenon platform decay / enshittification.
- Zhipu Qingyan (智谱清言): Zhipu Qingyan’s GLM4.6 is a very powerful model, especially its Agent capabilities. However, its client is severely enshittified, with the homepage immediately showing enshittified content like “Love Strategist” and “Dark Cuisine Challenge”. Not recommended.
- Yunbao: Yunbao is Tencent’s software, supporting Tencent’s self-developed models and DeepSeek, but model capabilities are average. The software shows mild enshittification, such as embedding Tencent game Honor of Kings content. Not recommended.
- Gemini: The new king. Gemini 3 Pro model performance is outstanding. Nano Banana Pro’s image generation capability is excellent. Suitable for work and life use. Operated by Google, overall experience is good. However, recently due to high traffic, the service is not particularly stable. Recently, traffic has been too high, service degradation is severe, and quantized services have started to be provided, so quality has declined. Long thinking with multiple tool calls is not as good as GPT5-Thinking or Grok Expert. The software has almost no enshittification. Highly recommended.
- Grok: The free king. Powerful search capabilities, both short and long thinking produce high-quality results. Excellent at mining network information. Free Expert version is sufficient for general users. Some operational content, such as AI virtual characters, but enshittification is very mild. Recommended.
- ChatGPT: Gradually stepping down from the throne. Many features are still only available in ChatGPT, such as voice conversations. Large user base. Free version is sufficient. Many users still have inertia/dependency. Can keep on phone.
- DeepSeek: The stable king. Fewest features, completely no enshittification, the cleanest application, extremely stable service, extremely stable model style, and quite stable intelligence. Recommended to keep on phone.
- Kimi: Model capability is average. Advertised Agent capabilities are strong, but actual experience shows heavy templating with lots of prompt engineering traces. Not recommended. Software has no enshittification, which is a plus.
- Claude: The god of code. Client performance is average, especially search is not as aggressive as Grok and ChatGPT thinking. Still suitable for work use. No enshittification. Can keep on phone, using free quota. It’s worth noting that the company has discriminatory regional remarks, which is concerning.
- Dola: A client produced by Douyin (TikTok). Model capability is average. Voice recognition capability is excellent. Severely enshittified. Not recommended.
- Copilot: A product relying on Microsoft search and ChatGPT, the software is mediocre. Not recommended.
- Manus: Early reliance on viral marketing affects the team’s long-term healthy development. This product will likely die a slow death in the medium to long term. Although it has some Agent capabilities, not recommended for long-term use.
- Perplexity: Model capability is average. Software usage logic is slightly confusing. Management team’s discriminatory remarks are concerning. Not recommended.
- MiniMax: Model capability is excellent, especially the Minimax M2 model, with good Agent capabilities. However, software experience is poor, even basic copy and paste functions are missing. Not recommended.
- Tongyi (通义): Only available for download in China. Software is heavily enshittified. Opening it reveals a screen full of operational content that’s suffocating, making it impossible to continue using. Recommend immediate uninstallation.
- Qwen Chat: Currently still not available on iOS platform. It’s a de-enshittified version of Tongyi, supporting Qwen large models. If it can be listed, it’s recommended.
Summary:
| Software Name | Model Capability | Enshittification | Advantages | Disadvantages | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Z-ai (Chinese version) | Strong | Severe | Strong Agent capability | Client enshittified | Not recommended |
| Yunbao | Average | Mild | Supports multiple models | Embedded game content | Not recommended |
| Gemini | Excellent | None | Outstanding performance, good experience | Unstable service | Highly recommended |
| Grok | Strong | Mild | Free, strong search capability | Some operational content | Recommended |
| ChatGPT | Declining | Mild | Many features, large user base | Gradually stepping down | Can keep |
| DeepSeek | Stable | None | Stable, no enshittification | Fewest features | Recommended to keep |
| Kimi | Average | None | No enshittification | Heavy templating | Not recommended |
| Claude | Strong | None | Suitable for work use | Average search performance | Can keep |
| Dola | Average | Severe | Excellent voice recognition | Average model capability | Not recommended |
| Copilot | Average | None | Microsoft support | Mediocre | Not recommended |
| Manus | Average | None | Some Agent capability | Poor long-term development | Not recommended |
| Perplexity | Average | Mild | No significant advantages | Discriminatory remarks | Not recommended |
| MiniMax | Excellent | None | Excellent model capability | Missing basic functions | Not recommended |
| Tongyi | Strong | Very severe | Strong model capability | Over-operationalized | Recommend uninstallation |
| Qwen | Strong | None | Strong model capability | Not yet on iOS | Can keep |
Conclusion:
- Highly recommended tools:
- Gemini: Despite service instability, model performance is outstanding and user experience is good, suitable for work and life use.
- Grok: Powerful search capabilities and free usage make it a worthwhile choice to keep.
- Recommended tools to keep:
- ChatGPT: Although gradually stepping down from the throne, the free version still meets most needs, and has a large user base.
- DeepSeek: Known for stability, with no over-operationalization issues, maintaining tool purity.
- Claude: Excellent performance in code, suitable for work use.
- Not recommended tools:
- Zhipu Qingyan, Yunbao, Kimi, Dola, Copilot, Manus, Perplexity, MiniMax, Tongyi: These tools are either severely enshittified, have average model capabilities, or are missing basic functions, and are not recommended for long-term use. However, the underlying models are still noteworthy, such as Kimi, MiniMax, and Qwen models. Unfortunately, the products aren’t user-friendly enough. Additionally, as of today, Qwen is still not available on the iOS App Store.
The above conclusions are limited to user clients, published in November 2025. Does not involve API calls. For work and programming scenarios, Claude Sonnet 4.5, ChatGPT-5.1-Codex, Grok Code Fast 1, MiniMax M2 and GLM 4.6, Gemini 3 Pro are worth recommending