Choosing a Platform

Before you build your first AI agent, you need to pick a platform to work with. This course supports five platforms, and each one has different strengths. The good news: the core concepts you learn apply to all of them, so you can switch platforms later without starting over.

This page will help you understand what each platform offers and choose the best starting point for your situation.

The Five Platforms

Claude

• Made by: Anthropic
• Website: claude.ai
• Type: Cloud-based (runs on Anthropic’s servers)

Claude is Anthropic’s AI assistant. It is known for being especially good at following detailed instructions, handling long documents, and producing well-structured output. Claude tends to be careful and thorough, which makes it a strong choice for tasks that require accuracy, like drafting professional emails, analyzing reports, or following multi-step workflows.

Free tier: Yes. The free plan gives you access to Claude with a limited number of messages per day. The paid plan (Claude Pro) increases limits and gives access to more powerful models.

Best for: Writing tasks, document analysis, following complex instructions, and tasks that require careful reasoning.

Tip

Claude’s Projects feature lets you upload reference documents and set custom instructions, which makes it particularly easy to build persistent AI agents.

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ChatGPT

• Made by: OpenAI
• Website: chatgpt.com
• Type: Cloud-based (runs on OpenAI’s servers)

ChatGPT is one of the most widely used AI assistants in the world. It is built on OpenAI’s GPT models and offers a broad range of capabilities including text generation, image creation, web browsing, and code execution.

ChatGPT has a large ecosystem of plugins and a Custom GPTs feature that lets you create specialized agents with custom instructions, knowledge files, and specific capabilities. Creating Custom GPTs requires a paid plan, but all users can use Custom Instructions and browse existing GPTs from the GPT Store.

Free tier: Yes. The free plan provides access to ChatGPT’s current standard model with daily usage limits. The paid plan (ChatGPT Plus, $20/month) gives higher limits, access to the latest models, and additional features like image generation and advanced data analysis.

Best for: General-purpose tasks, creative writing, brainstorming, image generation, and users who want an all-in-one platform with many built-in tools.

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Gemini

• Made by: Google
• Website: gemini.google.com
• Type: Cloud-based (runs on Google’s servers)

Gemini is Google’s AI assistant, built on their Gemini family of models. Its biggest advantage is deep integration with Google’s ecosystem: Gmail, Google Docs, Google Drive, Google Calendar, and more. If you already use Google products for work or school, Gemini can access your documents and emails directly, which makes it very practical for productivity tasks.

Gemini also supports multimodal input, meaning it can understand text, images, audio, and video.

Free tier: Yes. The free plan gives access to Gemini with standard usage limits. Gemini Advanced (part of Google One AI Premium) provides access to the most powerful models and deeper Google Workspace integration.

Best for: Users who live in the Google ecosystem, tasks involving Google Docs/Gmail/Drive, multimodal work (images, video), and research tasks that benefit from Google Search integration.

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Ollama

• Made by: Ollama (open-source project)
• Website: ollama.com
• Type: Local (runs on your computer)

Ollama lets you run open-source AI models directly on your own computer. This means your data never leaves your machine. Everything is processed locally. Ollama uses a command-line interface, which means you type commands in a terminal window rather than using a web browser.

Ollama supports a wide range of open-source models including Llama, Mistral, Gemma, Phi, and many others. You can switch between models easily and even run multiple models at the same time.

Free tier: Completely free. Ollama is open-source software. The only cost is the computing power of your own machine.

Best for: Privacy-conscious users, people who want to work offline, users with powerful computers (especially with dedicated GPUs), and anyone who wants to experiment with many different open-source models.

Caution

Running AI models locally requires a reasonably powerful computer. Models will run slowly on older machines or those without a dedicated graphics card (GPU). For most beginners, a cloud platform is an easier starting point.

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LM Studio

• Made by: LM Studio
• Website: lmstudio.ai
• Type: Local (runs on your computer)

LM Studio provides a graphical desktop application for running open-source AI models locally. Think of it as a user-friendly alternative to Ollama. It gives you the same privacy benefits of local execution, but with a visual interface that feels more like ChatGPT than a command line.

LM Studio lets you browse and download models from a built-in catalog, adjust settings with sliders and dropdowns, and chat with models through a familiar chat interface.

Free tier: Completely free for personal use. LM Studio is free to download and use.

Best for: Users who want local AI but prefer a graphical interface over the command line, beginners who want to explore open-source models in a familiar chat-style environment, and anyone who needs offline access without the technical setup of Ollama.

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Quick Comparison

Feature	Claude	ChatGPT	Gemini	Ollama	LM Studio
Cost	Free tier + paid	Free tier + paid	Free tier + paid	Free	Free
Runs on	Cloud	Cloud	Cloud	Your computer	Your computer
Internet needed	Yes	Yes	Yes	Only for download	Only for download
Interface	Web chat	Web chat	Web chat	Terminal / command line	Desktop app
Privacy	Data on servers	Data on servers	Data on servers	Fully local	Fully local
Custom agents	Projects	Custom GPTs (paid) / Custom Instructions (free)	Gems (paid)	Model configs	Model configs
Best strength	Instruction following	All-in-one features	Google integration	Model variety	User-friendly local
Setup difficulty	Easy	Easy	Easy	Moderate	Easy

Our Recommendation

Start with whichever platform you already have access to. If you have a Google account, Gemini is one click away. If you have already used ChatGPT, stick with it. If you are starting completely fresh, any of the three cloud platforms (Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini) is a great choice.

Tip

Do not spend too much time deciding. The concepts you learn (writing prompts, creating system instructions, configuring memory) work across all platforms. You can always try a different one later.

If privacy is your top priority or you want to work offline, try LM Studio first (it is the easier of the two local options) or Ollama if you are comfortable with the command line.

Throughout this course, every lesson and project includes instructions for all five platforms, so you will never be left behind regardless of which one you choose.

Note

Some advanced features like ChatGPT’s Custom GPTs and Gemini’s Gems require a paid plan. However, the free tier on every platform is sufficient to complete all course projects. When a paid feature is mentioned, we always show the free alternative (such as Custom Instructions for ChatGPT or pasting a system prompt directly for Gemini).

Ready to set up your platform? Head to the Setting Up page for step-by-step instructions.