Which AI Tool Should You Actually Be Using?

Welcome back.

It's a tale as old as…2023. I’ve been getting some version of this question at least twice a week: "Should I be using ChatGPT or Claude?"

The honest answer is that it depends. But "it depends" isn't useful, so I built a framework. This is the decision tree I walk people through when they ask me which tool to use, updated for where things stand right now in February 2026.

If you're already deep in the AI tool stack, this one might not be for you. But if you're still figuring out which tool to open for which job, or you've been meaning to try something beyond ChatGPT, this should save you a few hours of trial and error.

Most people treat all AI tools like search engines. Type a question, get an answer, move on.

That works for Bucket 1. It's terrible for everything else.

Claude Code doesn't want you to ask it how to fix a bug. It wants you to point it at your repo and tell it to fix the bug. Claude Cowork doesn't want you to ask how to build a financial model. It wants you to describe the model and come back to a finished spreadsheet.

The productivity unlock isn't better prompts. It's using tools that match the work you're actually trying to do.

So here’s how you’re actually going to go about it.

Before you pick a tool, figure out which bucket your work falls into. This matters more than any benchmark.

Bucket 1: "I need to think through something." You're writing, strategizing, analyzing a document, drafting an email, or working through a complex decision. This is the classic chatbot use case: you type, the AI responds, you go back and forth.

Bucket 2: "I need something built." You want code written, a bug fixed, a script automated, or a codebase modified. You need the AI to actually do things in your dev environment, not just talk about them.

Bucket 3: "I need work done on my computer." You want documents created, files organized, spreadsheets built, presentations made, or multi-step workflows executed. You want to describe the outcome and come back to finished work.

Bucket 4: "I need an AI that runs in the background." You want something that manages your email, updates your CRM, monitors your competitors, or handles repetitive tasks autonomously without you sitting in front of it.

Most people are in Bucket 1 and don't realize they should be in Bucket 2 or 3. That's where the real time savings are.

This is where most people start, and both tools are good here. But they're good at different things.

Use ChatGPT when you need:

Use Claude when you need:

The price is the same. Both are $20/month for the Pro/Plus tier. If you can only pick one for general use, my suggestion: try both for a month and see which one matches how you think. ChatGPT is broader. Claude is deeper.

If you can justify $40/month, having both is genuinely worth it. Use ChatGPT for images, voice, and quick research. Use Claude for writing, analysis, and anything requiring careful reasoning.

If you write code, this is where things get interesting.

Claude Code is a command-line tool that lives in your terminal. You describe what you want in plain English, and it reads your codebase, writes the code, runs the tests, and submits the PR. It's included free with the $20/month Claude Pro plan.

This isn't autocomplete. It's an agent. It can handle multi-file changes, debug across your stack, and work with your actual git history. It has native extensions for VS Code and JetBrains, so it plugs into whatever IDE you already use.

ChatGPT has Codex, which is solid for structured workflows and faster on simple tasks. But on the SWE-bench coding benchmark, Claude Opus 4.5 scored 80.9% vs GPT-5.2's ~70%. For deep, multi-step programming work, Claude Code is the better tool right now.

Bottom line: If you code professionally, Claude Code alone justifies the $20/month Claude Pro subscription.

This is the newest option, and the one most people don't know about yet.

Claude Cowork runs inside the Claude desktop app (Mac and Windows as of February 10th). It's built on the same engine as Claude Code, but instead of targeting developers, it targets knowledge workers.

What it can actually do: read and create files on your computer (Word docs, spreadsheets, presentations, PDFs), run code in a sandboxed environment, connect to external tools through plugins (Gmail, Notion, Slack, and more), and execute multi-step workflows. You describe what you want, it does it, and you come back to finished files.

The key difference from regular Claude chat: Cowork can take action. It doesn't just tell you how to build a spreadsheet. It builds the spreadsheet. It doesn't summarize a PDF for you in the chat. It creates a new document with the summary and saves it to your folder.

It also supports scheduled tasks, meaning you can set up recurring work that Claude handles automatically. That crosses into Bucket 4 territory.

Who this is for: Anyone who creates documents, analyzes data, manages files, or does repetitive knowledge work. If your job involves a lot of "take this thing and turn it into that thing," Cowork is worth trying. It's included with Claude Pro at $20/month.

This is the frontier. If you've been following AI Ready, you know I've written about OpenClaw and the security risks that come with it.

OpenClaw is an open-source AI agent that runs on your computer and acts on your behalf. Not "answers questions." Acts. It manages email, books meetings, reviews code, updates your CRM, browses the web, and executes commands. You talk to it through WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, or iMessage. It connects to whatever LLM you want (Claude, GPT, Gemini) and uses that intelligence to take action.

It's the most powerful option on this list. It's also the riskiest. Out of the box, it runs with full OS permissions, no sandboxing, and no credential isolation. Security researchers have found 135,000+ exposed instances leaking API keys, and prompt injection attacks succeed 91% of the time on default deployments.

My honest take: OpenClaw is incredible technology and a glimpse of where everything is heading. But don't run it without proper security controls. If you want to deploy it for your team, that's literally what my team at Seeko does: isolated infrastructure, credential vaults, full audit trails, same-week deployment. If you want to experiment solo, use a dedicated machine you don't care about, and don't connect it to anything sensitive.

Here's the simple version.

If you're just getting started with AI: Start with ChatGPT Plus ($20/month). It's the most versatile, easiest to use, and covers the widest range of tasks. Once you've built the habit, try Claude Pro for a month and compare.

If you write code: Get Claude Pro ($20/month). Claude Code is included, and it's the best coding agent available at that price point.

If you do knowledge work (docs, spreadsheets, research, presentations): Get Claude Pro ($20/month) and use Cowork. It's the closest thing to having a junior analyst who works in your file system.

If you want AI running in the background doing real work autonomously: Look at OpenClaw, but deploy it securely. This is not a "download and go" situation.

If you can afford both: ChatGPT Plus + Claude Pro ($40/month total). Use ChatGPT for images, voice, and browsing. Use Claude for writing, coding, and file-based work through Cowork. That combination covers almost everything.

The tool matters less than the habit.

I've watched dozens of teams adopt AI over the past year. The ones who got the most out of it weren't the ones who picked the "best" tool. They were the ones who picked something, used it every day, and slowly figured out where it fit into their actual workflow.

The worst outcome isn't picking the wrong tool. It's spending so long comparing tools that you never start using one.

Pick one. Use it for two weeks. Then decide if you need something different.

This week's question: What's your current AI tool stack? Just ChatGPT? Both? Something else entirely? Hit reply and tell me what you're trying to do — I'll tell you which tool you should actually be using.

Until next week,

Haroon