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Merlin
Puts GPT 5.2, Claude, Gemini, and more in a sidebar on any tab for the price of one subscription, with a fair-use cap to know about.
Creators who script, research, and answer comments in the browser and currently pay for two or more AI subscriptions.
Power users who rely on a single model's native depth (ChatGPT's memory, long context sessions), and light users the free plan already covers.
Worth it for creators paying for two or more AI subscriptions whose work lives in the browser; start on the free plan, and skip Pro if your heaviest use is long sessions inside one model, where the native apps still win.
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Overview
Merlin bundles Claude Opus 4.6, GPT 5.2, Gemini, DeepSeek, and more behind one subscription, opened as a sidebar on any webpage with Ctrl+M. For creators, the practical wins sit at the research and drafting stage: YouTube video summaries, page and PDF breakdowns, and reply drafting inside Gmail, LinkedIn, and X. Pro runs $19 a month on annual billing, less than ChatGPT Plus and Claude Pro combined. The "unlimited" label carries a real fair-use cap, so read the pricing notes before you pay.
Pros
- Claude Opus 4.6, GPT 5.2, Gemini, DeepSeek, and Grok under one $19/mo annual subscription, less than ChatGPT Plus and Claude Pro separately ($40/mo combined).
- YouTube summarization is the most-praised feature across G2, Capterra, AppSumo, and Product Hunt reviews, and Pro covers up to 2,500 hours of video a month.
- Ctrl+M opens the sidebar on any page, with reply drafting built into Gmail, LinkedIn, and X, so research and drafting stay on the page you're already on.
- The free plan needs no credit card and is enough to test the workflow on your own tasks before paying.
- Hitting a Pro limit no longer dead-ends your account: a top-up option lets you buy extra credits mid-cycle.
Cons
- "Unlimited" Pro has a fair-use cap: independent reporting puts it around $100 of model usage a month, proportionally lower on discounted plans, and some users reach that cap sooner than they expect.
- Memory is thinner than ChatGPT's, so long working sessions can mean re-explaining context the model should already have.
- If you hit a billing issue, resolution can take a few back-and-forths, so keep records of any plan changes you make.
Features
- Multi-model chat: Claude Opus 4.6, Claude Sonnet 4.6, GPT 5.2, Gemini, DeepSeek, and Grok, with per-model monthly caps on Pro (500 Opus messages, 5,000 GPT 5.2 messages).
- Sidebar on any website (Ctrl/⌘+M): summarize pages, blogs, and PDF or PPT documents, and draft posts and replies on Gmail, LinkedIn, and X without leaving the tab.
- YouTube summarizer: turns long videos into key points for research, with Pro allowing up to 2,500 hours of video a month.
- Projects: build reusable knowledge bases from links, Google Drive files, and YouTube videos, then query them repeatedly for tailored answers.
- Image and video generation on Pro: FLUX 1.1 Pro, Recraft V3, and Ideogram V3 Turbo for images; Veo 3.1 Fast, Kling V3, and Seedance 2.0 for video.
- iOS and Android apps with conversation history synced across devices.
Pricing
- ~102 queries/day (per independent reviews)
- Basic models, limited premium access
- Basic image generation
- Limited extension features
- Claude Opus 4.6, GPT 5.2, Gemini + more
- 50x premium-model usage vs Free
- Image & video generation
- Fair-use cap (~$100/mo of usage)
- Everything in Pro
- Larger context window on all models
- Usage dashboard
- SOC2, GDPR, ISO 27001
The free plan covers basic models with limited access to the premium ones. Pro is $19 a month on annual billing ($228 up front) or $29 month-to-month, and "unlimited" comes with an asterisk: fair-use limits scale with what you actually paid, independent reporting puts the full-price ceiling around $100 of model usage a month, and discounted promo accounts get proportionally less. Heavy daily use of the most expensive models can slow you down until the next cycle, though Merlin now sells top-up credits when you hit the wall.
Check current Merlin pricingPricing changes often and varies by region, currency, and active promotions. Always confirm the current price, and any live deals, on the official pricing page before you buy.
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