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Benchmarks: how the giants score
A few extra large tools, scored with the same six questions, so you can see what everything else is measured against.
The directory is for small and medium tools. Now and then we review a giant too, so a score of 25 has something to be compared with. These reviews are examples, not recommendations, and they are not listed in the directory.
Microsoft Word
The word processor that set the standard, and still sets the terms.
The chat app three billion people can't easily leave.
Adobe Creative Cloud
The creative suite that set the standard, rented by the month.
ChatGPT
The assistant that made generative AI mainstream, and a closed service all the way down.
Claude
Anthropic's assistant, a capable hosted service you cannot run yourself.
Google Drive
Free cloud storage that ties your files to one Google account.
Google Maps
The map most of us use, and one that also learns where we go.
Google Search
The search engine that sets the default for the web, and sells attention to pay for it.
Google Photos
Effortless photo backup, with your library living in a Google account.
Amazon Kindle
The easiest way to buy and read a book, on terms that keep the book Amazon's.
A lovely place to collect ideas, run as an advertising business.
Google Password Manager
Passwords built into Chrome and Android, tied to your Google account.
Gmail
Excellent email that anchors your whole Google life.
Where a huge number of people share photos and short video, paid for by advertising.
TikTok
A feed of short videos chosen for you by an algorithm, paid for by advertising.
Snapchat
A camera app built around filters, lenses and messages that disappear, paid for by advertising.
Google News
A news page that picks and orders stories for you, from a company that earns its money from ads.
Google Chrome
The most used browser, made by an advertising company.
Google Play
The store that comes with most Android phones.
Spotify
The most used music streaming service, paid for by ads and subscriptions.
Amazon Alexa
A voice assistant and smart home service that runs through Amazon's cloud.
Microsoft 365
The office suite that most workplaces run on, sold by subscription.
YouTube
The biggest video site, paid for by advertising and subscriptions.
Adobe Firefly
Adobe's image generator, built to be safe for commercial use and built into Creative Cloud.
Midjourney
The image generator many people picture first, sold by subscription and run entirely on its servers.
Otter.ai
A cloud service for transcribing meetings and recordings.
Google Translate
The translator most people start with, with a history that saves to your account when you are signed in.
Google Calendar
The calendar most of us share a schedule through, kept inside one big company's account.
Zoom
The video meeting service that set the standard, run as a subscription.
GitHub Copilot
The AI coding assistant built into GitHub and your editor, run by a company that owns the place your code lives.
ElevenLabs
The hosted voice service people reach for when they want speech that sounds human, paid for in data or money.
OpenAI Codex
OpenAI's coding agent for the terminal, with an open-source command line tool that works best with a ChatGPT login.
Claude Code
Anthropic's coding agent for the terminal and editors, a closed tool that talks to Anthropic's servers.
What they show
The giants tend to be excellent at the job and hard to leave. They score high on Delivery, because they work for nearly everyone, and low on Power, because one company holds the controls. See each giant next to its best replacement, open the directory to see the alternatives, or read how we score to see how the questions work.