ANTHROPIC has expanded the Claude Free tier, allowing non-paying users to access features previously gated behind a paywall, including “File Creation,” “Connectors,” and “Skills.” The update comes as the firm aims to attract users disenchanted by advertising, with the official push emphasising an ad-free experience in contrast to ChatGPT.
Since September last year, free-tier access to File Creation has been broadened, enabling Claude to generate and refine Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, Word documents, and PDFs without a subscription. The enhancements are powered by the Sonnet 4.5 model, which had been restricted to premium users and now supports turning raw data into organised Excel tables or distilling long articles into PowerPoint outlines at no cost.
Additional features include Connectors, which link Claude with platforms such as Canva, Slack, Notion, Zapier and PayPal, and Skills, which allow users to load directive repositories to tailor Claude for specific tasks. The timing is viewed as a challenge to OpenAI, which recently announced advertisements in the ChatGPT free tier, with Anthropic responding via a Super Bowl advertisement that mocked the move and suggested GPT-4o “kisses ass.”