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The AI ecosystem map: Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini

Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini are the three large language models from Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google respectively. They overlap in capability — all three can write, summarise, code, and reason — but differ in personality, context length, and which tools they plug into. Most teams pick one as their default and treat the others as fallbacks.

How it all connects: a visual map of the stack

Claude Chat is for one-off questions. Claude Projects are for repeatable work with persistent context. Cowork runs Claude on a schedule. n8n moves data between Claude and your other tools. You'll use whichever one matches the job.

Tokens, context windows, and what “running out” means

A token is roughly 4 characters of text — about three-quarters of a word. The context window is how much text Claude can hold in its head at once. Claude's current limit is 200,000 tokens, which is about 500 pages. "Running out" means the conversation is too long for Claude to remember the start.

Models 101: Opus, Sonnet, Haiku — when to pick which

Claude comes in three sizes: Haiku (fastest, cheapest, simplest tasks), Sonnet (balanced, the default), and Opus (most capable, slowest, most expensive). For most business work, Sonnet is the right choice. Use Haiku for high-volume simple tasks; use Opus for tasks where intelligence matters more than cost.

Self-hosted vs cloud: when data residency actually matters

For most Indian businesses, cloud is the right answer. Self-hosting only makes sense if you have specific data-residency requirements (regulated industries, sensitive customer data) or you're running enough volume that cost-per-token becomes painful. The "I want my data on my own servers" instinct is usually less important than people think.

What this all costs: a realistic monthly budget

For a small Indian team getting serious about AI, expect to spend ₹3,000–8,000 per month all-in. That covers Claude Pro for the people who need it, an n8n server, and modest API usage. Costs scale with volume, not team size — a five-person team running heavy automation can spend more than a fifty-person team using AI casually.

What is Claude Chat?

Claude Chat is the basic conversation interface at claude.ai — you type, Claude responds. It's the right tool for one-off questions, quick drafts, and exploring ideas. For repeatable work that uses the same context every time, use a Claude Project instead.

What is a Claude Project?

A Claude Project is a folder of knowledge files paired with a system prompt that tells Claude how to behave. Every conversation inside that Project starts with the knowledge already loaded and the instructions already given — you skip the setup and get straight to work.

What is Claude Code?

Claude Code is Claude inside your terminal. You run a command, point it at a folder of code, and Claude can read, write, edit, and execute files directly. It's built for developers, but the underlying idea — Claude with hands, not just a mouth — is increasingly relevant beyond coding.

Claude in your tools: Drive, Excel, Chrome

Anthropic ships Claude as embedded surfaces inside the tools you already use — a Chrome extension that browses with you, a spreadsheet agent for Excel, and integrations for Google Drive. The idea is that you don't switch to Claude; Claude shows up where you already work.

What is Cowork?

Cowork is Claude as a scheduled agent — it runs at a fixed time, performs a task you've defined in advance, and reports back. You don't chat with Cowork; you set it up once and let it work in the background.

What is n8n?

n8n is a workflow automation tool — like Zapier or Make.com, but open-source and self-hostable. It connects your apps (Gmail, Notion, Slack, Claude, anything with an API) and runs sequences of steps automatically. AI workflows that span multiple systems almost always need n8n or something like it.