Claude now has a ton of different Connectors (what it calls integrations). Some connect Claude to mainstream apps, such as those within the Google Workspace suite, while more novel ones AI video generation or payment processor apps. Claude’s Connectors do everything directly within its interface. Gemini, for comparison, pops up in the apps it integrates with; for example, you get a Gemini button directly within Gmail.
(Credit: Anthropic/PCMag)
On the one hand, this behavior makes some of Claude’s integrations, like within Workspace apps, feel less convenient and robust. I can ask Claude to list my unread emails or find a particular email that a keyword search isn’t surfacing, but its analysis of my email often feels superficial and biased toward newer messages. Gemini doesn’t have this issue.
On the other hand, since Claude doesn’t only integrate with apps its parent company owns, like Gemini, you get a wider variety of options. For instance, you can connect Claude to Asana for coordinating tasks and projects; Canva for creating new graphic designs; Notion for taking notes; or Workato for automating workflows, among other options. Keep in mind, however, that the above are just its web integrations.
If you download Claude’s desktop app, you can get another set of integrations via downloadable extensions. These similarly run the gamut, allowing you to control desktop apps such as Apple Notes, Chrome, iMessage, Spotify, your file explorer, and more. No other chatbot I’ve tested offers anything similar.
However, the actual performance of some of these integrations is mixed, and you need to keep some limitations in mind. For example, when I installed Claude’s Filesystem Connector and gave it access to a folder with creative writing, Claude couldn’t understand some files within it, failed to read through all the files it could understand, and even crashed occasionally. I appreciate Claude’s pop-ups that asked whether I was really sure I wanted it to do something from a privacy perspective, but these can also be a bit overbearing at times.
Other restrictions exist, too. For instance, some integrations depend on AppleScript and thus work only on macOS. This means that Claude can’t control Chrome or Spotify on Windows. iMessage and Notes integrations are also exclusive to macOS, too, of course. That said, many of Claude’s desktop integrations aren’t exclusive to macOS.
Both Claude’s web integrations and desktop extensions have potential, but I don’t yet have strong reasons to use them. I’m not sure why I would use Claude to control Canva or Spotify, for example, when I can just use the apps myself.
If you pay for Claude’s Max plan, which starts at $100 per month, you can join the waitlist to try Claude’s Chrome extension, which unlocks AI web browser features. It’s still in beta, but you can expect a Claude-powered AI agent that can take control of your browser and perform tasks for you, alongside a one-click way to talk to Claude from within Chrome. For now, though, the extension suffers from many of the same drawbacks as other AI web browsers.
