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Best AI for data analysis (July 26, 2026)

The top models are close on reasoning. Claude leads the overall intelligence index, Gemini 3.1 Pro leads several reasoning boards, and ChatGPT has the most mature built-in tools for uploaded data files.

Ranking · medium confidence

  1. Claude (Anthropic) · open ↗ · Holds the top two spots on the July 24 AA snapshot (Opus 5 = 60.7, Fable 5 = 59.9) with careful, assumption-stating reasoning - a good default for rigorous analysis.Free tier: Claude Sonnet 5 (usage limits vary by demand)
  2. Gemini (Google) · open ↗ · Leads several reasoning benchmarks and handles very long documents well.Free tier: Gemini 3.6 Flash (most generous free tier, includes a monthly Deep Research allowance)
  3. ChatGPT (OpenAI) · open ↗ · Best built-in tooling for spreadsheets and data files you upload directly in chat.Free tier: GPT-5.5 (limited messages, then a smaller model)
  4. Perplexity (Perplexity AI) · open ↗ · Good for pulling in current external data and benchmarks to feed the analysis, with citations.Free tier: Sonar (unlimited basic cited searches + 5 Pro searches/day)

Medium confidence: based on adjacent benchmarks plus app features. Snapshot curated from public leaderboards and comparisons. Rankings shift fast - treat this as guidance, not gospel.

Sources: Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index · LMArena leaderboard (community head-to-head votes)

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