ChatGPT is an amazing tool, but plugins make it even more so by unlocking a range of exciting new abilities. From booking a restaurant table for you to custom designing t-shirts based on your prompts, ChatGPT plugins are the future of AI chatbots. Until the next big thing comes along, at least.
Here are some of the best ChatGPT plugins you can use to leverage AI in ways you never even dreamed of.
How to use ChatGPT plugins
In order to run ChatGPT with plugins enabled, you need to be a ChatGPT Plus subscriber. It’s $20 a month, but you get priority access to the chatbot so there’s almost never any waiting, and you can also use advanced features like the GPT-4 language model, and play with the new web-search capabilities of ChatGPT.
If you’re a ChatGPT Plus subscriber, to use plugins you need to enable them. Use the three-dot settings menu icon in the bottom left of the screen to toggle plugins to On within the Beta features menu. Then, in a new chat window, select GPT-4, then select plugins. You’ll then need to scroll through the list to select the ones you want.
Look out for our favorite plugins below if you want to jump straight to the best.
Code interpreter
This one is, unfortunately, a little hard to get access to, as at the time of writing, OpenAI has only made it available to select ChatGPT Plus members. If you have it, though, you need to give it a go. The Code Interpreter lets you upload files to ChatGPT (and download them afterward), as well as run Python scripts within the ChatGPT conversation. That means you can have ChatGPT create almost anything you want, from basic video editors to running data analysis on a range of information. You can then work on it with the ChatBot to perfect it.
Want some tips to get started? We have a great guide on how to use the ChatGPT code interpreter.
Bing search
This one isn’t listed in the plugins menu on ChatGPT, but it’s there right next to the plugins module when you hover your mouse over GPT-4. Select it and you can have it search the web for you to augment its existing knowledgebase, answer questions from more recently, or perform research for you with multiple web searches. It can be a real timesaving feature and lets you keep all your ChatGPT interactions in one place, without having to visit the Bing website.
Instacart
ChatGPT is great at suggesting recipes and can even do so based on a list of ingredients. The Instacart plugin takes it to the logical conclusion by allowing you to order food from the main Instacart service page. If you find yourself short of an ingredient when you’re putting together a meal with ChatGPT’s help, the Instacart plugin can make it super simple to top up what you’re missing without going to an entirely different site or service.
ABCMouse
Got kids that are driving you up the wall asking for more time and attention than you have? ABCMouse is a great resource for providing different activities that your children can take part in based on what you tell the AI about them. It has activities for kids ages two to eight, and can make all kinds of suggestions for paid and free activities depending on what your kids are into.
You can specify what kind of materials you have handy, what kind of budget you’re working with, and how much time you have available. ABCMouse will find something fun and engaging for them to do.
Comic Finder
Like your memes to be fresh and your reaction comics on point? Maybe you just can’t find that XKCD you swear you read years ago. Comic Finder can find the perfect comic for any situation. It currently supports XKCD and SMBC, giving you hundreds of comics to choose from. Ask for comics you’ve never heard of and see if anything comes up. You never know what it might find.
Expedia
Plan your entire vacation within ChatGPT’s prompt window. With the Expedia plugin, you can have ChatGPT look up locations to visit, local resorts, restaurants, and activities, and factor it all in based on your budget. It can ask you follow-up questions to better fine-tune your search, and it can even base its suggestions on your availability, including preferred departure and arrival times.
You can also find ChatGPT incorporated into the Expedia standalone app if you’d rather access it that way.
Zapier
Unlocking the true power of ChatGPT only really comes when you let it off the leash. That’s what Zapier can do. By combining ChatGPT’s natural language interactions with the Zapier plugin’s wider range of capabilities, you can have ChatGPT do almost anything for you. Hook it up to your Slack account and it can message anyone in your team and compose the message for you. Connect to your Gmail and it can send emails for you. Have it analyze data for you and spit our interesting results.
The only downside is that you need to pay for Zapier to get its full functionality. That might be worth it for you, but do your research before paying.
ChatWithPDF
Want to have ChatGPT analyze a PDF for you? The ChatWithPDF plugin is great for that. It can analyze the PDF document, make suggestions about changes to it, extract relevant information, and summarize it — whatever you need. You can even use it to search through a long PDF document to find something you’re looking for, which can be a real time saver.
Do note, however, that there are a lot of websites claiming to offer AI PDF analysis for free. They may be legitimate, but they may also be looking for you to upload private PDF documents that they can glean information from. Only use the plugin via the ChatGPT prompt window on the OpenAI website.
Wolfram
ChatGPT is already good at Math, but the Wolfram plugin makes it a practical genius in comparison. It gives it access to more powerful computational tools, better math skills, real-time data, and visualization, letting you ask far more complicated questions of ChatGPT that cover the fields of geography, mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, and more.
The responses for complicated questions when using Wolfram tend to be more accurate and focused on the kind of answer you were looking for. The standard ChatGPT model tends to give you a lot of additional information you don’t need, like showing it’s working.
Speak
Move over RosettaStone, there’s a new kid on the block when it comes to learning foreign languages. ChatGPT with the Speak plugin lets ChatGPT coach you on a range of languages, helping you to better understand sentence structure, grammar, verb usage, conjunctions, and more, all within a ChatGPT prompt window.
Combine it with the Voice Control ChatGPT Chrome Extension and you can even talk with it to learn the language as naturally as if you were talking to a native.
Like that? Here are some more amazing Chrome Extensions for ChatGPT.
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