Anthropic has made some of Claude’s most powerful features available to all users without a subscription. File creation, connectors, and custom skills, previously locked behind paid tiers, are now accessible on the free plan.
The update positions Claude as a stronger competitor to ChatGPT and Google Gemini, particularly for users who want advanced tools without committing to a monthly fee.
Free users can now generate PowerPoint presentations, spreadsheets, PDFs, and Word documents directly from a conversation. Asking Claude for a budget plan, for example, produces a usable spreadsheet with formulas built in.
Connectors allow Claude to integrate with apps like Google Drive, Gmail, GitHub, Canva, and Figma. Once connected, the assistant can pull in context from these services automatically, eliminating the need to copy and paste data between platforms.
Custom skills let users define reusable instructions for repetitive tasks. Users can teach Claude to draft emails in a specific style, format reports to particular guidelines, or follow workflow preferences across sessions.
Anthropic has also extended conversation length limits for free users and improved voice and image search features. The company announced the changes on February 11 through its official channels.
The move comes as OpenAI recently introduced ads to its free and lower-cost ChatGPT plans. Anthropic responded by highlighting Claude’s ad-free approach, running high-profile advertisements that emphasized the difference in strategy between the two companies.
