Free tiers let you have fun, but data export options mostly take it away

It’s the nightmare you didn’t even know you had until the moment you thought, “I want to use a different AI product.” If you’ve used any of these applications more than a few times, chances are you’ve accumulated a lot of data stored with your AI vendor. Getting in was easy. Getting out is slightly harder.

Recently, a lot of people have been thinking about exactly this scenario. When Anthropic declined to give the Pentagon unrestricted access to its models, and OpenAI moved quickly to fill that gap with a deal of its own, the government asked users to pick sides. Some pledged loyalty to the AI that matched their politics, while others wondered what their options even were.

You don’t need a political reason to make a switch. Privacy, cost, curiosity, or just wanting to try something new are all perfectly good reasons to change your AI vendor. Here’s how you can safely move on from your current AI provider to one that fits your needs.

Choose a provider

There are more options than most people realize, and several of them are free to start. Here are some popular options. Not every platform can generate images. Applications such as Claude and DeepSeek are text-based only. These prices are as of March 2, 2026. Please note that Google currently has its AI plans on sale for trial periods, but the prices below reflect the full monthly rate.

Platform	Paid plans, per month	Images?	Mobile app
ChatGPT (OpenAI)	Go, Plus, Pro: $8, 20, 200	Yes	Yes
Claude (Anthropic)	Pro, Max: $20, 200	No	Yes
Gemini (Google)	AI Plus, AI Pro, Ultra: $7.99, 19.99, 249.99	Yes	Yes
Copilot (Microsoft)	Personal, Premium: $9.99, 19.99	Yes	Yes
Meta AI	Not offered	Yes	Yes
Grok (xAI)	SuperGrok, Super Grok Heavy: $30, 300	Yes	Yes
DeepSeek	None	No	Yes
Perplexity	Pro, Max: $20, 200	Yes	Yes

A few things worth noting. ChatGPT’s free tier now shows ads in the US, and so does its most recent and cheapest plan, ChatGPT Go. Meta AI and DeepSeek are the only platforms without a paid tier, but Meta uses your data for ad targeting with no opt-out available. And DeepSeek, while free and capable, routes your data through servers based in China. Depending on how you are using it, that’s something you might consider.

Try free at first

Trying a new platform is often free. The free tier is usually enough to get a feel for how a model thinks and whether you like using it. The trade-off is that free tiers have usage caps, slower response times during peak hours, access to older or lighter versions of the model, and long gaps before usage time resumes.

Paid plans tend to unlock faster models, higher message limits, and features like image generation, document uploads, and memory. However, if you’re a casual user, free might be all you ever need. Because I use these applications for work, I have paid plans for many different accounts. Nevertheless, starting free lets you determine what you like. You can always upgrade if you hit a wall.

Pick an export option

Even within the same AI platform, your conversation history isn’t one big searchable archive. Each chat is stored as a collection of individual sessions. There’s no magic “export everything” button on any of the major applications. Yet, you have a few approaches, depending on how much effort you want to put in.

1. Export your data: In some cases, you can export the data that you’ve stored with your AI provider. In ChatGPT, for example, navigate to Settings, next Data Controls, and then select Export Data. You’ll be asked to confirm that you want to export. The data can then be stored in another genAI application by writing a prompt and asking the application to store the data in its memory.
2. Go through your chat history manually. Even on a free plan, you can copy your most important conversations into your new AI account. The best practice is to save your important prompts and output as you go, and changing vendors is a good time to start this habit. If certain chats represent ongoing projects, this is the cleanest and most reliable way to bring them with you.
3. Delete your account and move on. If you don’t care about the history you’re leaving behind, closing the account will eventually wipe your data—with one important caveat. When you agreed to the terms of service for your AI vendor, you also gave the vendor permission to use your data to improve their models. That data may already be baked into their model’s knowledge base and behavior script. The only way to avoid this is to never share personal information with an AI platform in the first place.
4. Ask your AI what it knows about you. You can ask the application what it has stored and when it saved each memory. Use this request:

List every memory you have stored about me, as well as any context you’ve learned about me from past conversations. Output everything in a single code block so I can easily copy it.

Format each entry as: [date saved, if available] – memory content.

Make sure to cover all the following. Preserve my words verbatim where possible:

• Instructions I’ve given you about how to respond (tone, format, style, ‘always do X’, ‘never do Y’).
• Personal details: name, location, job, family, interests.
• Projects, goals, and recurring topics.
• Tools, languages, and frameworks I use.
• Preferences and corrections I’ve made to your behavior.
• Any other stored context not covered above. Do not summarize, group, or omit any entries.

After the code block, confirm whether that is the complete set or if any remain.

Clean up data left behind

Each has its own method of deleting data. Here’s how to get it off some popular platforms.

ChatGPT

1. Sign in to ChatGPT.
2. Click your profile icon in the top right corner.
3. Select Settings.
4. Navigate to Data Controls.
5. Click Delete Account.
6. Type your email address and the word “DELETE” into the confirmation fields

If you subscribed through the Apple App Store or Google Play, you’ll need to cancel that subscription separately. Deleting your OpenAI account does not cancel them automatically. OpenAI will remove your data within 30 days of deletion.

Claude

If you’re on a paid Pro or Max plan, cancel your subscription through Billing settings first and wait until the end of your current billing period.

1. Click your name or initials in the lower left corner.
2. Select Settings.
3. Navigate to the Account tab.
4. Click Delete Account and follow the prompts.

Gemini

Gemini isn’t a standalone account. It’s built directly into your Google Account, and paid versions are part of Google One.

1. Go to myactivity.google.com.
2. Find Gemini Apps Activity.
3. Delete your conversation history from there.
4. Turn off the “Keep Activity” toggle to stop Google from saving future chats.

Be aware that even with activity turned off, new chats may still be saved for up to 72 hours for safety and legal compliance reasons.

Meta AI

As of December 2025, Meta AI uses your AI chat data to personalize ads on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. There’s no way to opt out in the United States. Options are limited. For step-by-step instructions on how to delete your chat history and data, visit Remove posts, chats and media from Meta AI and Vibes and follow the instructions on Meta’s help pages.

Mind your AI data

The AI market is moving fast. The company that seems like the obvious choice today might look very different tomorrow. Practicing good data hygiene with your AI application is as important as treating your computer with care. While it’s possible to move data, remember that moving data is not the same as getting it back from the vendor. In most cases, you never get it all back, so be mindful of what you say to generative AI applications.