Guide
Test chatbots on your own 10 tasks before you pay
For this guide and its prompts we recommend:
Offers checked 21 Oct 2026
You can now test chatbots on your own tasks.
A scorecard of two or three assistants and two price tiers on your own ten tasks, a cheat sheet for the one you keep and a short habit list.
What you need
- A week of real work to take the tasks from
- Free or trial versions of two or three different AI chat assistants
- A spreadsheet and a time tracker
- A document for the cheat sheet and the habit list
Recommended AI tools
GammaA laid-out deck or page from an outlineFree plan
Steps
Write ten tasks from your real week
Pick ten things you really did or will do: a customer reply, a product description, a summary of a long document, a price table. Write each one as the exact prompt you would use, with the same input text every time.
WeakWrite a marketing email.
BetterWrite a 120-word email to past customers about our new wool socks, using the product facts below, in the tone of the two emails pasted.
Run the same tasks in each assistant
Paste the identical prompt and input into each assistant, on the tier you are testing. Open a new chat for every task, so earlier answers do not help. Note the date: results change when the models change.
Score quality and time in one sheet
Decide your criteria before you start, for example correct, usable without edits and in your tone, each scored 1 to 5. Time how long you spend fixing each answer. Score one answer before you look at the next assistant's answer.
ExampleTask 4, price table. Assistant A: correct 5, usable 3, tone 4, fixing time noted. Assistant B: correct 4, usable 5, tone 4, fixing time noted.
Decide from your own scores, then make a cheat sheet
Pick the assistant and tier that did best on the tasks that matter most to you, not only on the total. Then write a one-page cheat sheet of the features you will really use: files, projects, voice, images, limits.
Make your allowance last
Open the usage page of the tool you keep and write a short habit list: one chat per project, paste only the part of a file that matters, ask for a short answer first, save prompts that work. Run the ten tasks again when a new model comes out.
The full instruction
Copy it into any AI chat assistant and change only the first line.
Change only this line: BUSINESS = [a home bakery that makes custom cakes] You help me test AI assistants on my own work before I pay for one. My business is my BUSINESS. I can test two or three assistants, using free tiers and one paid trial. Before you write anything, ask me up to 5 questions about the work I do every week, one at a time. Then do three things: 1. Write 10 test tasks as exact prompts, each with the input I must paste, mixed across writing, summaries, tables and replies. 2. Write a scoring sheet: task, assistant, tier, correct 1-5, usable 1-5, tone 1-5, minutes fixing, notes. 3. Write 5 habits that save usage on any assistant. Do not rank assistants yourself and do not guess prices or limits. Start with your first question.
What you end up with
A scorecard built on your own tasks, so the choice of assistant and tier rests on what you saw yourself, plus a cheat sheet and habits that make the allowance last. Test again after new models come out.
Common mistakes
- Testing with made-up tasks instead of your real work.
- Reading both answers before scoring, so the first impression decides.
- Paying for a higher tier before running the same tasks on the free one.
Processes that need more than one tool
Each process below uses several tools, each for the job it does best. Any AI chat assistant works where one is named.
Write ten real tasks
Tools, in order: a spreadsheet → any AI chat assistant
- List a week of real work in a spreadsheet, one row per task, with the input you used.
- Ask the chat assistant to turn each row into an exact test prompt and paste them back into the sheet.
The prompt for this process
Act as a careful tester. Turn my real work into ten test prompts for comparing AI assistants. My tasks from last week: [paste rows: task, input, what a good result looks like] My tone: [paste two short texts I wrote] For each task, write one exact prompt that includes the input and a clear finish line, such as a word count or a table layout. Mix writing, summaries, tables and customer replies. Check that no prompt depends on an earlier chat. Return a table I can paste into a spreadsheet: number, task, prompt, what good looks like. Start with task 1.
Run the same tasks elsewhere
Tools, in order: a second AI chat assistant → a third AI chat assistant
- Paste each prompt, unchanged, into a new chat in a second assistant.
- Do the same in a third assistant and on any paid tier you have on trial, and note the date of the test.
The prompt for this process
I am testing you against other assistants on my real work. Answer the task below exactly as written. Task: [paste the test prompt number and text] Input: [paste the text, table or part of the file] Format I need: [e.g. 120 words, a table with three columns] Do not ask follow-up questions in this test. If something is missing, write [MISSING: what] in the answer. After the answer, list any assumption you made in at most 3 lines, so I can score you fairly. Start with the answer.
Score quality and time
Tools, in order: a spreadsheet → a time tracker
- Start a timer in a time tracker while you fix each answer until it is usable.
- Enter the three scores and the minutes in a spreadsheet before you open the next assistant's answer.
The prompt for this process
Act as a strict but fair reviewer. Check my scoring sheet from an AI assistant test. Sheet: [paste: task, assistant, tier, correct, usable, tone, minutes fixing] Tasks that matter most to my business: [list three] Point out scores that look inconsistent, for example the same kind of fix scored differently. Then total each assistant twice: once over all tasks and once over the three that matter most. Use only the numbers I pasted and ignore brand reputation. Start with the inconsistencies.
Feature cheat sheet for the one you keep
Tools, in order: any AI chat assistant → a document → Gamma
- Ask the assistant you kept for a one-page cheat sheet of its features for your tasks.
- Edit it in a document and keep it next to your saved prompts.
- If your team needs to see the choice, turn the scorecard and the cheat sheet into a short Gamma deck.
The prompt for this process
You are the assistant I chose after testing. Help me use you well. What I will use you for: [list my top tasks from the test] Tier I have: [free or paid] What went wrong in my test: [notes] Make a one-page cheat sheet: the features that matter for my tasks (files, projects, voice, images, connected apps), one example prompt for each and the limits I should know. If you are not sure a feature exists on my tier, say so instead of guessing. Format it for a document with short headings. Start with the feature list.
Make your allowance last
Tools, in order: the assistant's usage page → a document
- Open the usage or limits page of the assistant you kept and note when the allowance resets.
- Write a habit list in a document and keep it next to the cheat sheet.
The prompt for this process
Help me make my AI assistant allowance last through the month. Assistant and tier: [name and tier] How I use it now: [e.g. many short chats, long files pasted, images] When the allowance resets: [from the usage page] Write 8 habits that cut wasted usage, each one line with why it helps. Then review your own list: remove any habit that would lower the quality of my work, and say which 3 to start with. Do not quote limits or prices you cannot see in my notes. Start with the habits.
For this result we recommend these tools
This guide describes a result. These tools are one way to get there faster. Whether one pays for itself depends on your work, and we promise no result.
From Ema’s story: Ema designs invitations that spell correctly
ToolGamma
AI tool for creating presentations, documents and simple websites from prompts.
From $9 per seat per month, $108 per seat billed annually (Plus) (source, checked 2026-10-07)
Gamma is an AI tool that builds slide decks, one-page documents and simple web pages from an outline. In this guide it is used in “Feature cheat sheet for the one you keep”. People use it for proposals, lesson slides and reports, and it stands out because the result is shared as a link that reads well on a phone.
Free plan (source, checked 21 Oct 2026)
We recommend a specialised tool for each process rather than one tool that does everything. Tools that try to do everything rarely do any one job really well, because no single function gets perfected. It is the same in life, in business and in relationships: spread your attention over ten places and nothing gets done properly.
Forward, without brakes
Now that the Kailiniai Heroes exist, you can have your own. Create one hero or several, and use them for goals that used to need a whole team or a big budget.
