Article by ICG member John Habershon
Introduction
This is the first of three waves of research in this fast moving market, based on 1,264 genuine conversations by informed users on Reddit and X. Although the process is enabled by AI, there is no synthetic data – these are real people exchanging views, based on real experience.
Timeline
The online conversations are up-to-date – drawn from the first week of February 2026 for Wave 1.
Overall Sentiment Ranking
Most suitable for Market Research Professionals
Themes
10 Primary Themes Tracked:
USE CASES – 303 mentions (24.0%) Practical applications: Coding, Content creation, API integration; PRICING / ACCESS – 259 mentions (20.5%) Subscription costs (107), Free tier limits (74), API pricing (45); LEARNING / TUTORIALS – 119 mentions (9.4%) How-to guides, community knowledge sharing; API / INTEGRATION – 92 mentions (7.3%) Developer workflows, automation; ISSUES / PROBLEMS; FEATURES; PRIVACY / SAFETY; PERFORMANCE – Speed, quality, accuracy; USER EXPERIENCE Interface, workflow, ease of use; COMPARISON – Tool-to-tool evaluations
Verbatim Comments
30 verbatim comments on each theme:
Provides texture for report
“There’s a ceiling every serious Claude user hits, and it has nothing to do with prompting skills. If you use Claude regularly for real work, you’ve probably gotten good at it. Detailed system prompts, rich context, maybe projects with carefully curated knowledge files.” Reddit user
Personas
Persona 1: The Technical Architect
Persona 2: The Pragmatic Professional
Persona 3: The Disappointed Explorer
Persona 4: The Cost-Conscious Switcher
Persona 5: The Workflow Optimiser
Persona 6: The Reddit Community Supporter
Improvements for each tool
Implementation Priority Matrix:
URGENT (0-30 days):
- X: Emergency quality fixes
- Y: Pricing strategy revision
- Z: Pricing communication
HIGH (30-90 days):
- X: Privacy + features
- Y: Differentiation + quality
- Z: Learning curve reduction
MEDIUM (90-180 days):
- All tools: Community improvements
- All tools: Platform-specific strategies
Subscribe and gain access to a full report and spreadsheet. You will receive two further waves to track developments and improvements in each tool in this fast developing market.