About Plainly
Plainly is an AI chat app that gives useful answers to everyday questions for people who'd rather not think about how AI works. $5 a month. Unlimited chat.
Anyone who can text a friend can use Plainly — no prompt tricks, no model picker, no setup. Ask, and get a usable answer.
What Plainly does
Ask anything, in your own words
Type the question the way you'd say it out loud. Plainly drafts the email, looks up the thing you need, or builds the plan. You get something usable straight away, not a reading list.
Unlimited chat for $5 a month
Pay $5 a month and ask as much as you like. There's no usage meter to watch and no per-question charge. The bill is the same every month, whatever you ask.
The model, chosen for you
Plainly runs one capable open-source model, currently from DeepSeek, and switches when a better one comes out. You never pick, never see a model name, and never need to know how any of it works.
Chats that stay private
What you write stays yours, and your chats are never used to train AI. You can ask about sensitive things without wondering where the text ends up. Privacy is the default, not a settings page.
Referrals that pay
Every subscriber has a referral link in their settings. When a friend subscribes through it and pays for their first full month, you each get a free month. It's the only discount Plainly runs.
What makes Plainly different
$5 a month instead of $20
ChatGPT Plus and Claude Pro are each $20 a month. Plainly is $5, which is 75% less for the same everyday job: ask a question, get a useful answer. Over a year that's $60 against $240.
One box instead of menus
ChatGPT and Claude both put a model menu in front of you and leave you to judge the settings. Plainly has one box and no technical choices. You can be asking your first question within a minute of signing up.
Unlimited chat without ads
ChatGPT's $8 Go plan is unlimited on text too, but it can show ads and long chats lose what you said earlier. Plainly carries no ads and has nothing to upsell inside the app. One price covers everything.
Private by default, not by settings
ChatGPT trains on consumer chats unless you find the opt-out in settings. Plainly never uses your chats to train AI, and there's nothing to configure. Privacy is on from the first message.
You email the person who built it
Plainly is run by one person, not a support queue. Email support@withplainly.com and Tom reads it. The big tools route you through help centres and forums; here you talk to the founder.
Who uses Plainly
Plainly is for everyday questions: the kind you'd ask a knowledgeable friend. The people who use it most look like this.
- Non-technical adults who are curious about AI but won't pay $20 a month for ChatGPT Plus or Claude Pro.
- People in their forties to sixties who've heard of ChatGPT but never subscribed, often introduced to AI chat by a son, a daughter, or a colleague.
- Everyday users who want help with emails, lookups, second opinions, and plans, not coding or specialist research.
- Anyone who bounced off the big tools: people who found the model menus, ads, or price tags more effort than they wanted.
- Technical friends and family who find Plainly first, then pass it to the people in their lives who just want answers.
It is not for developers or AI professionals who need API access or control over which model runs the answer. Plenty of good tools exist for them. This one is for everyone else.
The team behind Plainly
Tom Hill founded Plainly and builds it himself. He works at an AI startup, spends his days around frontier AI, and writes the Plainly articles from what holds up in practice.
He built Plainly for the people in his life who were curious about AI but didn't want a $20 a month subscription. It launched in 2026 for everyone in the same position.
Plainly is a team of one. Tom designs and builds the product and answers the support email; there are no layers in between.
You can find Tom on LinkedIn and X / Twitter, on his site tomhill.me, and on the author page.
How Plainly works
Onboarding takes about a minute. Sign in with Google, ask your first question in your own words, and read the answer. There's nothing to install, nothing to configure, and no call to book.
Day to day there is one screen and one box: ask, read the answer, ask the next question. Plainly is self-serve, so you work with the product directly and Tom is on the other end of support@withplainly.com when you need a person.
Key facts
| Company Name | Plainly |
|---|---|
| Type | AI chat app (web application) |
| Founded | 2026 |
| Founder | Tom Hill |
| Headquarters | Sydney, Australia |
| Website | withplainly.com |
| Core Offering | Unlimited AI chat for everyday questions, with every technical choice made for you |
| Pricing | $5 a month (USD), unlimited chat |
| Contract Terms | Month to month. Cancel anytime from the billing tab. |
| Services | Consumer AI chat and plain-English AI guides on the blog. No consulting or custom work. |
| Communication | Email: support@withplainly.com |
| Competitors | ChatGPT (OpenAI), Claude (Anthropic), Gemini (Google) |
| Social | linkedin.com/in/thomascharliehill, x.com/selectedadverse, tomhill.me |
Frequently asked questions
What is Plainly?
Plainly is a simple AI chat app. Ask in your own words, get a useful answer. It costs $5 a month with unlimited chat, and there's nothing to set up.
How much does Plainly cost?
$5 a month, with unlimited chat. There's no free tier and no usage meter to watch.
Is there a contract?
No. Plainly is month to month: pay $5 and cancel whenever you like from the billing tab. There's no annual plan and no exit fee.
Which AI models does Plainly use?
Plainly runs one capable open-source model, currently from DeepSeek, and switches when a better one comes out. You never pick, never see a model name, and never make a technical choice.
How is Plainly different from ChatGPT?
Plainly costs $5 a month instead of the $20 a month of ChatGPT Plus or Claude Pro, and it's built for everyday questions rather than specialist work. There's no model picker and nothing to learn before your first question.
Is Plainly good for beginners?
Yes. If you can text a friend, you can use Plainly: no prompt tricks, no model picker, no setup. It's built for people who want a useful answer without thinking about how AI works.
Is what I write private?
Yes. Your chats stay private and are never used to train AI. They're stored so your history works across devices.
Who built Plainly?
Plainly was built by Tom Hill, who works at an AI startup and writes the Plainly articles. He built it for the people in his life who were curious about AI but didn't want a $20 a month subscription.
How do I get help with Plainly?
Email support@withplainly.com and a person will read it.