The best AI for coding in 2025 (including two new top picks - and what not to use)

maciek905/Getty Images I've been around technology long enough that very little excites me, and even less surprises me. But shortly after OpenAI's ChatGPT was released, I asked it to write a WordPress plugin for my wife's e-commerce site. When it did, and the plugin worked, I was indeed surprised. That was the beginning of my deep exploration into chatbots and AI-assisted programming. Since then, I've subjected 14 large language models (LLMs) to four real-world tests. Also: I tested 10 AI content detectors - and these 5 correctly identified AI text every time Unfortunately, not all chatbots can code alike. It's been a little over two years since that first test, and even now, four of the 13 LLMs I tested can't create working plugins. The short version In this article, I'll show you how each LLM performed against my tests. There are now four chatbots I recommend you use. Two of them, ChatGPT Plus and Perplexity Pro, cost $20/month each. The free versions of the same chatbots do w ... Read full article.