Russian AI users favor free tiers, seek alternatives to paid services

In Russia, 73% of AI users rely on free versions of AI services, with many seeking alternatives due to payment barriers for international platforms. While most free tiers have usage limits, DeepSeek Chat offers unlimited free access for individuals, and Russian services like Alice AI and GigaChat are also free and accessible without VPNs. Paid tiers for services like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini offer significantly more usage, with average monthly spending for paid users around 3500 rubles. AI

IMPACT Highlights user reliance on free tiers and payment friction, influencing adoption strategies for AI services in specific markets.

RANK_REASON Article discusses usage trends and pricing of AI services in Russia, focusing on user behavior and payment challenges rather than a specific new release or event.

Read on dev.to — LLM tag →

• Anthropic
• ChatGPT
• Claude
• Claude Sonnet 5
• DeepSeek
• Gemini
• GigaChat
• GPT-5.2 Instant
• OpenAI

• product
• policy

AI-generated summary · Google Gemini · from 1 sources. How we write summaries →