14 Free AI Assistants for Business: Where Does Your Data Go?

Which free AI assistants are on IMDA's list?

These are the 14 general assistants on IMDA's AI Tools page, with each vendor's free option as of October 2026.

How we chose and what 'free' means here

IMDA picked these tools, not us. Its AI Tools page says the list was "curated from multiple sources, considering signals of market adoption with generally positive user sentiment and relevance to local SMEs needs." These are not grant-supported pre-approved solutions, so no EDGE Grant funding applies to them.

We checked each vendor's own pricing or help pages in October 2026. Where we could not confirm free terms there, we say so. We give no paid prices, because they change often.

Two kinds of free appear below. A free tier is permanent but capped: fewer messages, lighter models, fewer features. A free trial gives you the paid product for a set period, sometimes with a card on file that is charged when the trial ends. Put the end date in your calendar the day you sign up.

Which are the best general AI assistants for business?

Five assistants cover most SME needs. Here is what each free option includes and where it falls short.

• ChatGPT: The assistant most staff already know. OpenAI's help centre says the free plan includes chat, web search, file analysis, image creation, Projects and voice, each with its own usage limit. Best for drafting emails and summarising notes. Limit: the strongest models and higher limits are paid.
• Claude: Known for careful writing and long documents. Anthropic's pricing page says the free plan includes web search, file creation, memory, connectors and up to five projects, with limits that reset every five hours. Best for reading a long tenancy agreement or rewriting a proposal. Limit: no free trial on the Team plan.
• Gemini: Free as an app with a Google account. Workspace business plans have a 14-day trial, and Gemini inside Gmail and other Workspace apps starts on the paid plans. Best for a team that lives in Gmail and Drive. Limit: the free app does not sit inside your company's Workspace files.
• Perplexity: An answer engine that shows its sources. Its pricing page says the free plan suits limited usage, with citations in every answer and basic models. Best for checking a competitor, regulation or supplier. Limit: advanced models and connectors are paid.
• Microsoft 365 Copilot: Microsoft says Copilot Chat comes at no additional cost with eligible Microsoft 365 plans. Copilot business plans have a one-month free trial that needs a credit card and converts to paid unless you cancel. Best for an accounting firm working in Word, Excel and Outlook. Limit: in-app Copilot needs the paid licence.

If your team already pays for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, start with the assistant built into it. If not, a free ChatGPT or Claude plan is enough to learn what you need before paying.

What about DeepSeek, Kimi, Qwen and other China-built assistants?

Six assistants on the list come from China-headquartered companies. Several are strong and low-cost; the question for a Singapore business is where your data goes.

• DeepSeek: Known for strong reasoning and maths, and for releasing open-weight models. IMDA lists a free tier; check the vendor's current terms. Its privacy policy states that it collects, processes and stores personal data in the People's Republic of China.
• Kimi: Moonshot AI's assistant handles long documents and agent tasks such as research and slides. IMDA lists a free tier; Kimi's pricing pages describe paid memberships, so check the current free allowance. Its developer platform policy names Moonshot AI Pte. Ltd. in Singapore as the provider.
• Qwen Studio: Alibaba's consumer app for its Qwen models, which are also published as open weights. IMDA lists a free tier; check the vendor's current terms, including where chats are processed.
• MiniMax: MiniMax Agent runs multi-step tasks. Its subscription terms say users receive free credits on registration and that new users may receive complimentary daily credits; the amounts are not stated.
• Z.ai: Built on Zhipu's GLM models. IMDA lists a free tier; check the vendor's current terms. Its privacy policy names a Singapore-registered company as controller, says services are generally provided from Singapore, and says data may be transferred and processed outside your jurisdiction.
• Dola: ByteDance's international consumer assistant, formerly called Cici, built for quick everyday help on a phone. IMDA lists a free tier; check the vendor's current terms.

Is it safe to put client data into a free AI assistant?

This question applies to every tool on the list, not only the China-built ones. Under Singapore's Personal Data Protection Act, your business remains responsible for personal data in its possession or control, including data you paste into an outside tool. If that data leaves Singapore, the PDPA's Transfer Limitation Obligation requires you to make sure it is protected to a standard comparable to the PDPA.

Before staff paste in client names, NRIC numbers, medical notes or bank details, check where the vendor stores data, whether chats train its models, and whether a business plan offers a data processing agreement. DeepSeek's policy names the People's Republic of China; Z.ai's names a Singapore-registered controller but allows transfers abroad. US-based assistants have their own training settings to check too.

A practical rule for a clinic or accounting firm: use free assistants for work with no personal data, such as drafting a policy or explaining a regulation. Keep identifiable client data in tools with a business agreement and a known storage location.

What are 1min.AI, TESS AI and Manus good for?

• 1min.AI: One app with several AI models for chat, writing, images and audio. Its pricing page lists a free plan, no card required, with limited AI features and three days of storage. Best for testing which model suits a task. Limit: everything runs on credits.
• TESS AI: A multi-model workspace aimed at teams. IMDA lists a free tier; check the vendor's current terms, as we could not confirm them on the vendor's site.
• Manus: An agent that carries out multi-step tasks such as research reports and slide decks. Manus's help centre says free users get 300 daily credits, claimed by logging in, up to 1,500 a month, in Lite mode only, one task at a time. Limit: complex tasks use credits quickly.

How do you choose the right free AI assistant for your business?

Match the assistant to the work your team actually does each week.

Run one real task through two assistants for a week. The difference shows up in your own documents, not in feature lists.

What do free AI assistants not do for you?

• They wait to be asked: An assistant answers when someone opens it. Nobody gets a Monday briefing unless they remember to ask for one.
• They do not know your business: Each conversation starts from what you paste in. Your price list, client history and approval rules live elsewhere.
• They do not connect to your systems: Moving the answer into Xero, a spreadsheet or a customer's WhatsApp thread is still a person's job.
• They do not clean up your data: If your invoices are photos of printouts across three inboxes, the assistant sees only what you hand it.
• Nobody is accountable for the result: When the output is wrong, there is no one whose job it is to notice and fix it.

Free AI assistant on its own vs assistant + Biks

Both have a place. This is how they compare for recurring business admin.

How Biks can help with AI assistants

Most directors we meet already use ChatGPT or Gemini, and they should keep using them for open-ended thinking. What those tools do not do is the recurring admin around your decisions. Rapi, the executive assistant Biks builds, works inside WhatsApp: you forward a contract, a supplier quote or a photo of a printout, and the summary, report, draft or follow-up comes back in the same thread. It sees what you send it and nothing else, each business runs in its own isolated environment, and it never asks for a PIN, OTP or password. Our comparison of Rapi, ChatGPT, Muse and Instinct explains when each fits.

Behind Rapi sit the same workflows Biks runs for finance and customer operations, working alongside Xero, Google Sheets and WhatsApp. One multi-outlet group replaced five admins' two-hour morning check with a five-minute review across eleven outlets. If there is a piece of admin you redo every week, book a call and we will show you what it looks like in your WhatsApp. For the rest of IMDA's list, see our guides to free AI customer service tools, free AI workplace tools and the full IMDA free AI tools overview.