Best Free AI Models in Business: A 101 Guide to Automation and LLM’s

Artificial intelligence (AI) can be both a blessing and a curse in business.

On the one hand, it can unlock multiple resources within an enterprise. Conversely, it may get out of control – especially if not handled correctly. No matter which of those viewpoints you lean to, one thing is certain: it is no longer possible to ignore growing AI potential.

So, which AI models best suit your business?

Before You Read | Useful Definitions

• AI model – A set of algorithms trained on data to perform specific tasks like, internet research, image recognition or language translation.
• LLM (Large Language Model) – A type of AI model specializing in natural language processing and generation.
• Token – A unit of text AI models use for input and output, often corresponding to words or parts of words. It is a measure of AI operational cost.
• Constitutional AI principles – A set of ethical guidelines certain AI models follow to ensure safe and reliable usage. Community forums play a crucial role in discussing and debating the implications of open-source AI models, providing a platform for enthusiasts to engage in dialogue about evolving standards.

By now, almost everyone has tried ChatGPT or Midjourney.

Did you know that none of them are an actual AI model? They’re usable tools or interfaces operating on refined sets of pre-trained algorithms and automation.

To put it simply – ChatGPT (a tool) is powered by GPT-3.5 or GPT-4 (AI model).

This is a vital distinction.

Another important thing to acknowledge is this:

Most of the AI models, just like GPT-3.5 or GPT-4, are quite similar in terms of capabilities.

That is why the choice of the right AI model for business often boils down to accuracy, operational costs, computation speed or …ethics.

Here is a list of the prominent AI models that won’t disappear from the radar any time soon:

GPT-3.5 & GPT-4-Turbo Models | Open AI

In general, Open AI offers 2 pricing plans for casual users:

• Free access – Good for light usage but limited mostly to the GPT-3.5 model.
• ChatGPT Plus ($20/month per user) – more thorough and precise, gives access to GPT-4-turbo.

Both of those models are probably the most recognizable general-purpose AI variants around the world.

So, what are the major distinctions between those two?

Note: GPT-4o (Omni) is particularly notable for improved efficiency, faster response times, and the ability to handle multimodal inputs (text, images, and voice). Integrating external data sources can further enhance the performance of these models.

It is worth noting that using GPT 3,5 via the API (for integrating into apps or services) is not free. This AI model charges fees based on usage (around $0.002 per 1,000 tokens).

However, regarding cost-effectiveness or light casual usage, GPT 3.5 remains one of the most easily accessible free AI models available on the market.

When to Use GPT-3.5 Instead of GPT-4?

• When cost matters (free to use or cheaper API).
• When speed is a priority (faster average response times).
• For basic business automation, email drafting, and general content creation.
• When building chatbots that don't need complex reasoning or advanced creativity.

Gemma 2 & Gemini 2.0 | Google

Integrating AI models without the need for expensive cloud infrastructure can be a huge upper hand in developing larger projects.

Fortunately, Gemma 2 is free to use – but only if you run it on your hardware.

Please note that if you are planning to access it through a cloud service (like Google Cloud, Hugging Face, or an AI platform) you’ll be charged a fee due to computation costs.

Gemma 2 AI models are available in two variants:

• Flash – Fast, good for reasoning tasks.
• Flash Lite – Smaller, ultra-fast, optimized for lightweight applications.

Both are particularly useful for edge AI applications, such as mobile devices, chatbots, and embedded systems. High-quality images generated by advanced models, including generative adversarial networks, are crucial for various industries like marketing, design, and e-commerce, ensuring effective content creation.

Besides Gemma 2, Google is also a creator of Gemini 2.0, a flagship AI model which competes with GPT-4-turbo. While it is designed for high-end AI applications, such as research, enterprise AI, and advanced automation, there are some areas where it can be used for free.

LLaMA AI Model | Meta

Formerly known as Facebook, Meta created LLaMA AI models primarily for natural language processing (NLP) tasks, like:

• Text generation,
• Information summarization,
• Multilingual translation,
• Conversational chatbots.

Similar to Gemma 2 from Google, LLaMA is an open-source AI model, allowing companies to fine-tune and deploy artificial intelligence on their infrastructure without vendor lock-in.

Meta AI Models (such as LLaMA 2, and LLaMA 3) are available for free for research and non-commercial purposes.

Running LLaMA on-premises or within your cloud environments provides greater control over data privacy and compliance with industry regulations.

One of the latest versions, LLaMA 3.3 70B, offers a balance between high performance and lower computational costs, making AI more accessible for enterprises with budget constraints.

With optimizations for efficiency, this model is suitable for large-scale applications, from customer service automation to real-time analytics.

Additionally, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) can enhance the capabilities of LLaMA models by integrating information retrieval, allowing them to source relevant data from extensive datasets and improve the accuracy and context of AI responses.

In short:

LlaMA AI Model is free, but there may be specific conditions depending on how you plan to use it.

You may need to get in touch with Meta or the platform hosting the model (like Hugging Face) to review any terms and conditions or possible fees.

When to use the LLaMA AI model?

• While doing academic research or testing language models,
• When commissioning general NLP tasks (text generation, summarization, classification, translation, or question answering),
• If cost efficiency is a priority (LLaMA is free to use, avoids ongoing API usage fees, and can be run on local hardware and modified without proprietary restrictions),
• When avoiding third-party dependencies is crucial,
• Adapting the model to domain-specific applications will be useful (e.g., healthcare, finance, legal).

Mistral 7B & Mixtral Models | Mistral AI

Among free AI models Mistral AI stands out as a leading choice with state-of-the-art privacy and security. After all, you can run it in-house, which significantly mitigates the risks of exposing sensitive business data to third-party APIs.

Mistral's flagship AI models are:

• Mistral 7B – An open-source model released available for free to anyone who wants to use it. It is a lightweight yet highly capable model with 7 billion parameters, optimized for speed and cost efficiency.
• Mixtral – A mixture of experts (MoE) model that dynamically activates only a subset of its 12.9 billion parameters per query, enhancing both performance and efficiency. You can run it locally or host it on services that support such models.

Free and open weight, they provide flexibility and control businesses need. This allows businesses to run them on-premises or in a private cloud, ensuring greater data control and compliance.

In short:

These AI models offer a compelling blend of efficiency, scalability, and openness while maintaining strong data security features.

Jamba Model | AI21 Labs

AI21 Labs specializes in advanced NLP technologies.

They offer a suite of high-performance AI models designed for text generation, comprehension, and semantic search.

One of their flagship offerings is the Jamba-Instruct AI model. Just like GPT-4 or Claude, it is an advanced language model used in:

• text generation,
• summarization,
• translation,
• etc.

With a 256K context window, Jamba-Instruct enables enterprises to reliably and accurately summarize and query lengthy documents or databases.

Additionally, the integration of text to image models into various creative applications enhances their value for developers and creative professionals by generating high-quality images from natural language prompts.

For businesses looking to integrate AI capabilities into their operations, AI21 Labs also provides AI21 Studio. It is a platform that allows the building of sophisticated language apps on top of AI21’s language models.

While AI21 Labs offers powerful tools and models, it’s important to note that their enterprise-grade solutions are typically tailored to meet specific business requirements.

AI21 Labs, however, provides flexible usage-based pricing models and free trials to help businesses get started.

When to use the Jamba-Instruct AI Model?

• When you need to test their model in specific, structured instructions to complete tasks (e.g., answering detailed questions or performing step-by-step procedures).
• While generating content that needs to follow specific guidelines or constraints (e.g., writing articles, reports, or summaries).
• If you need to provide clear, instruction-based answers or explanations (e.g., tutoring or creating study materials).

Bedrock & AWS | Amazon

While Bedrock doesn’t have an entirely free service, AWS offers a free tier for some of its services (including AWS Lambda, S3, etc.), which may allow you to try out Bedrock with limited usage under the free tier if you’re just experimenting or prototyping.

By offering access to models from AI leaders such as Anthropic, Stability AI, and AI21 Labs. Amazon also provides a suite of AI models designed for various business applications, including:

• Amazon Comprehend – for natural language processing,
• Amazon Polly – for text-to-speech conversion,
• Amazon Lex – for building conversational interfaces.

These models allow businesses to automate workflows, enhance customer interactions, and extract valuable insights from data within AWS’s secure cloud environment. Advanced generative video models also play a significant role in video generation, offering innovative applications and creative opportunities across various industries.

Many of them come with free-tier access, enabling organizations to experiment with AI-driven solutions before scaling them across operations.

DeepSeek-V3 & R1 Model

Created by Chinese AI startup, DeepSeek AI models have rapidly emerged as a significant player in the industry.

DeepSeek is gaining recognition for its ability to deliver high-performance AI models at lower costs, making it a strong competitor to OpenAI, Google DeepMind, or Anthropic.

Models like DeepSeek-R1 and DeepSeek-V3 became very popular due to exceptional efficiency and relatively low operational costs that challenge existing paradigms.

DeepSeek is designed for various AI applications, including:

• Natural Language Processing (NLP),
• Advanced Reasoning & Problem-Solving,
• AI Research & Open-Source Innovation,
• Business & Industry Applications.

In short:

DeepSeek models can be free if used locally with the proper hardware. Cloud or platform access usually involves pay-per-use pricing or requires a subscription.

It is also worth noting that DeepSeek AI models are burdened by controversies over sufficient data privacy security. If this is one of your priorities, you may want to focus on models respecting all constitutional AI principles.

Claude 3 Models | Anthropic

Anthropic has developed a series of AI models under the Claude family, including Claude 3 Opus and the more recent Claude 3.5 Sonnet.

While it is true, that there are limited free trials to experiment with Claude models, for sustained or commercial use, you will typically incur costs based on the number of tokens processed, API calls, or service integration.

Claude AI models are generally available through platforms like Anthropic's API or partners like Slack or Notion.

A notable feature of Claude 3.5 Sonnet is its "computer use" capability.

It allows the AI to interact with computer interfaces similarly to a human. This includes moving the cursor, clicking buttons, typing text, etc. It is also very capable when it comes to creative processes.

It is worth adding that Claude 3.5 Sonnet excels in coding tasks, including:

• code generation,
• translation,
• debugging.

In terms of safety, Anthropic has introduced "constitutional classifiers" to prevent AI from generating harmful content. This system monitors inputs and outputs to filter out dangerous information.

It also addresses concerns over "jailbreaking," where users might manipulate AI to produce harmful results. This initiative underscores Anthropic's commitment to responsible AI deployment.

Grok 1 Model | xAI

Grok 1 is a 314-billion-parameter Mixture-of-Experts model designed to excel in data analysis and interpretation.

Unlike some AI models with knowledge cutoffs, Grok has access to the latest information from X, making it useful for staying up to date with current events. After all, it was developed to provide advanced conversational abilities, potentially focused on improving Musk-owned platforms (like Tesla or SpaceX).

Its analytical prowess can become quite handy while making informed, data-driven decisions. This AI model is particularly adept at identifying patterns and insights within large datasets. It has already proved invaluable in fields like:

• finance,
• research,
• healthcare.

Main Grok's advantage?

It is integrated into X (formerly Twitter).

Grok 1.5 features improved reasoning capabilities and an extended context length of 128,000 tokens, enhancing its performance in complex analytical tasks.

With its latest developments, including the standalone Grok app on iOS, xAI is positioning Grok as a serious competitor to AI models like GPT-4, Gemini, and Claude, with a strong emphasis on humour, real-time knowledge, and deep analysis.

While it may be available for free to users on X (formerly Twitter), it's generally available with limits (like limited interactions or features).

To get access to full capabilities, Grok may be part of X Premium or Twitter Blue subscriptions. This would give users enhanced AI features, better integration with the platform, and potentially more advanced uses of Grok.

Open-source AI models have revolutionized the field of artificial intelligence by making cutting-edge technology accessible to everyone.

These models are released under licenses that define usage, modification, and sharing conditions, allowing developers to tailor them to specific needs and benefit from ongoing enhancements.

With open-source AI models, businesses can customize solutions to fit their unique requirements, ensuring greater flexibility and innovation.

The collaborative nature of open-source projects also means that these models are continuously improved by a global community of developers, making them a reliable choice for various applications.

Open-Source vs. Proprietary Models

Open-source AI models offer several advantages over proprietary models, including:

• customization,
• transparency,
• community-driven innovation, etc.

Businesses can modify open-source models to suit their specific needs, ensuring a tailored fit for their operations. The transparency of open-source models also allows for greater scrutiny and trust, as the underlying code is available for review.

However, proprietary models often perform better in industries that demand strict regulatory compliance, data privacy, and specialized support.

Proprietary models provide stronger legal frameworks, dedicated customer support, and optimizations tailored to industry requirements, making them a preferred choice for sectors like healthcare, finance, and legal services.

Licensing in Open-Source AI Models

Open-source AI models are released under various licenses, including Apache 2.0, MIT, and Creative ML OpenRAIL-M.

These licenses define the terms and conditions of usage, modification, and sharing, ensuring that the models are used responsibly and in compliance with the license agreements.

For businesses, understanding these licenses is crucial to ensure that they are leveraging the models within the legal boundaries and contributing back to the community when required. By adhering to these licenses, companies can benefit from the collective advancements in AI technology while maintaining ethical and legal standards.

As a business owner, you don't have to build AI tools from scratch. There are many solutions already existing on the market.

Here are a few examples:

Google Cloud

Google Cloud offers a range of free AI tools for businesses, including Translation, Speech-to-Text, Natural Language, and Video Intelligence. These tools can be used for various applications, such as language translation, speech recognition, and video analysis.

For instance, Google Cloud’s Translation tool can help businesses overcome language barriers, enabling seamless communication with international clients. The Speech-to-Text tool can transcribe audio files into text, making it easier to analyze and utilize spoken information.

Natural Language processing tools can extract insights from text data, while Video Intelligence can analyze video content to identify objects, actions, and scenes, providing valuable insights for marketing and security purposes.

Free AI Writing Tools

Gemini Code Assist and Gemini for Workspace are two free AI writing tools offered by Google Cloud. Gemini Code Assist assists in writing and developing code, making it a valuable resource for developers working on coding tasks.

It can help with code completion, debugging, and generating code snippets, streamlining the development process. Gemini for Workspace integrates with Docs to help users write and develop web pages, business proposals, and other content via a conversational interface.

This tool can enhance productivity by providing real-time suggestions and improvements, ensuring high-quality content creation.

NotebookLM is another free AI tool that allows users to create a personalized AI research assistant. It uses Gemini 1.5’s multimodal understanding capabilities to summarize uploaded source material and surface interesting insights between topics.

With Audio Overview, users can turn their sources into engaging “Deep Dive” discussions—similar to a podcast. This tool is particularly useful for researchers and content creators who need to synthesize large volumes of information quickly.

Google AI Studio is a web-based tool that lets users prototype, run prompts right in their browser, and experiment with the Gemini Developer API.

It offers free tiers across the family of multimodal generative AI models, making it easy to start building with Gemini. This platform is ideal for developers and businesses looking to explore the capabilities of generative AI without significant upfront investment.

Vertex AI is a unified platform for building and leveraging generative AI.

It offers a range of tools and services, including text, chat, and code generation, starting at $0.0001 per 1,000 characters. New Google Cloud customers get $300 in free credits to use towards Vertex AI.

This platform provides a comprehensive suite of AI tools that can help businesses automate workflows, enhance customer interactions, and extract valuable insights from data.

Overall, these free AI tools can help businesses and individuals explore and assess the power of AI, experiment with new ideas, and discover the potential of generative AI models. \

Here are a few things worth assessing before you choose the AI model for your business:

• Task Requirements: Determine the specific tasks for which you need an AI model (e.g., fiction writing, data analysis, coding assistance).
• Pricing: Compare the input/output prices per token for different models. This is vital in the long run.
• Input/Output Length Limits: Ensure the AI model you are about to employ can handle the length of your inputs and desired outputs.
• Features: Consider features like vision support, code interpretation, and document processing capabilities.
• Privacy: Choose models with privacy-focused modes if you are handling sensitive data. OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude may not be the best options. Both apps, just like DeepSeek, have faced criticism for their data privacy policies in the EU.
• Speed and Cost: Frontier models may be slower and more expensive than smaller models. Smaller models may be faster and more cost-effective.
• Model Specifics: Certain models, despite being labelled "smaller", are better at some tasks. For instance, Claude 3.5 Sonnet outperforms Claude 3 Opus, and GPT-4o is generally favoured over o1, apart from complex problems.
• Data Analysis Requirements: ChatGPT is suitable for statistical analyses. Claude is good for intuitive data understanding. Gemini emphasizes graphing.
• Format Considerations: Gemini, GPT-4o, and Claude can process PDFs with images and charts, while DeepSeek can only read text. So, choose wisely!

Click here to see a detailed comparison of AI models >

Summary:

In conclusion, 2025 has ushered in a new era of AI innovation, with models that are more powerful, efficient, and accessible than ever before. If you’re about to choose one AI model for your business start with our list of necessary assessments. With this article in your hand, you should be able to move forward confidently.

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