Google’s AI assistant, Gemini, is already built into tools like Docs, Sheets, and Gmail. But it’s not the only option. More and more AI tools are now connecting with Google Drive, offering features that go beyond what Gemini can do. Some give you more control, some work better with other apps your team uses, and others are built to support entire workflows.
So what exactly is a Google Drive AI assistant?
It’s a smart helper that works with your Drive content. These assistants use AI to help you find information faster, summarize documents, write drafts, organize files, or even automate tasks. Some are designed for everyday use inside Google Docs. Others connect to Drive and turn your documents into a searchable knowledge base or power support tools for your team or your customers.
This post looks at how Gemini works inside Google Drive, where it falls short, and how it compares to other AI assistants that use your Google Drive content. If you’re trying to choose the right tool for your team, this guide will help you find what fits best.
Google Gemini: AI capabilities in Google Drive
Google Gemini is Google’s main AI model, and they’re putting it everywhere across the Google Workspace suite, including Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Gmail. This is great because it means you can get to its features without leaving the Google tools you already use. You can often chat with Gemini through a side panel in apps like Docs or Sheets, or use features like “Help me write” to create content right away. It can even look at files from your Drive within the chat itself to help you work with them.
Key limitations of Gemini for users
But, Gemini being so tied to Google can also be its main downside, especially for businesses.
Here are some key limitations:
- It pretty much stays within the Google world, meaning it doesn’t really work well with major tools outside of Google Workspace like Slack, Zendesk, or Confluence. That can be a real problem if your team uses lots of different platforms.
- You also don’t get many options to really customize things, like making sure the AI sounds like your brand or building complex steps for how things get done. The ways you can change the tone are pretty basic.
- Like many big AI models, Gemini can sometimes make things up or give you wrong information, and it doesn’t tell you where it got the answer from, which makes it hard to check if it’s right.
- It also won’t give you deeper insights into all your files put together, like telling you if there’s info missing across your entire knowledge base.
Exploring other AI assistants for Google Drive
Gemini isn’t the only AI assistant that works with Google Drive. A growing number of tools now offer more specialized features that go beyond what a built-in workspace tool can do.
Some focus on smarter search, helping you find answers across Drive and other platforms all at once. Others are built to automate tasks, support customers, or manage content using your Drive files. You’ll also find general AI platforms that let you upload files from Drive to train custom assistants.
Here are a few examples:
- Search tools like Everfind, Curiosity, and Gems unify search across your tools, including Drive.
- Automation and support bots like Workativ and Cassidy use Drive content to handle tasks or answer questions.
- Custom Q&A builders like Folderr and Infobox.ai turn your files into searchable, interactive assistants.
Each tool brings something different to the table and may offer more depth than Gemini, depending on your goals.
Comparing features for business needs
When you’re looking at AI assistants for a business, especially one that uses Google Drive a lot, the features you need go beyond just summarizing text. You need tools that fit right into how you already work, give you reliable information, and can be tweaked to match exactly what you need. Comparing Gemini to the wider range of other AI assistants really shows where specialized tools often have an edge.
Integration flexibility across platforms
This is a really big difference. Gemini is awesome within Google Workspace, but if your team uses tools like Zendesk, Intercom, or Freshdesk for support, Salesforce for managing customers, or Slack and Teams for talking to each other, Gemini doesn’t really connect directly in a helpful way. Many other AI assistants are built specifically to fix these gaps.
They specialize in linking up your Google Drive content with your helpdesk, CRM, team chat tools, internal wikis like Confluence or Notion, and over 100 other apps. This is super important for building a single source of truth that isn’t stuck in separate places. eesel AI, for example, is designed to easily blend your Google Drive knowledge with all these other tools, which is a huge help for teams that need everything connected.
Customization and brand voice
While Gemini lets you pick a basic tone, it doesn’t give you the detailed control many businesses need to make sure AI interactions sound exactly like their brand. Other AI tools often let you customize things much more deeply. With eesel AI, you can fine-tune everything from how the bot sounds and greets people to specific answers and how it handles things it can’t answer, making sure it sounds just the way you want it to.
Accuracy, sources, and knowledge insights
Getting the right information is key, especially when the AI is answering questions using your company’s documents. Gemini can sometimes give you wrong info and doesn’t tell you where it got the answer. Many other AI assistants solve this by only learning from the specific information sources you give them, like your Google Drive files, and importantly, they give you links back to the original documents so you can check the information yourself.
Some even offer helpful AI insights to point out gaps in your knowledge base, showing you where the AI couldn’t find answers. eesel AI learns only from the sources you provide (including Google Docs and files in Drive), links straight to those sources in its answers for full transparency, and gives you insights into where your knowledge might be missing.
Workflow automation and actionability
Gemini is mostly focused on helping you create or summarize content inside Google apps. It’s not really built to take action or automate complicated steps based on that content. Many other AI assistants, though, have strong tools for building workflows.
They can look at information from your Google Drive files and use it to make things happen, like sorting tickets smartly, automatically adding tags to them, or even making calls to other systems to look up customer details in Shopify or BigCommerce, or update records elsewhere.
eesel AI is great at this, letting you automate complex workflows like smart sorting, tagging, sending tickets to the right person, and doing custom actions based on the content it gets from your Google Drive and other places.
Data privacy and security
When you connect other tools to your Google Drive, keeping your data private and secure is a big deal. Different tools handle this in different ways. Some highlight security certifications like SOC 2 or GDPR compliance and offer flexible ways to set things up.
eesel AI focuses on making sure you own your data and that it stays confidential, letting you control who can see information from your Google Docs and other sources using features like detailed access controls and setting up different bots for different needs.
Pricing considerations
Figuring out how much a Google Drive AI assistant costs can be confusing because prices are all over the place. It’s not always just a simple monthly fee.
Gemini’s pricing model
Gemini Advanced, the more powerful version, comes with Google One AI Premium plans, which also include extra storage and other Google One perks. This usually costs around $19.99 per person per month. While that seems pretty clear, the cost is for each user, which can really add up for teams.
How other AI tools are priced
Other AI assistants for Google Drive use a mix of pricing models. Some charge per user, which can get expensive as your team grows. Others offer tiered plans based on features or usage limits. You might also run into extra fees for connecting external apps, unlocking advanced features, or removing platform branding.
eesel AI takes a more flexible approach. Pricing starts at $39 per month, based on a pay per interaction model. You only pay when the AI is actually used. There are no per-user charges, no limits on how many teammates can access the assistant, and no extra cost for connecting to tools like Drive, Zendesk, Confluence, or Slack. It is designed to be predictable, scalable, and easy to budget as your team grows.
Why eesel AI stands out for businesses using Google Drive
While Gemini is helpful for basic AI tasks inside Google Drive, many businesses work across more than one platform. Their documents, guides, and help content often live in multiple places — not just Docs or Sheets. That’s where tools like eesel AI stand out. It’s built to connect and train on all your documentation, no matter where it lives, and turn that into accurate, helpful answers for your team or your customers.
eesel AI pulls together information from Google Drive, Confluence, Notion, help centers, and other internal or customer-facing sources. Then it uses that data to power a custom assistant that works across your entire stack.
Here’s why it stands out:
- Connects your documents across platforms: eesel AI brings together scattered content from Google Drive, Confluence, Notion, help centers, and more. This gives you one assistant that can pull answers from all your sources — not just Google tools. It works across platforms like Zendesk, Slack, Teams, Notion, SharePoint, and over one hundred others.
- Trains on your specific Google Drive content (and more): Instead of using general information from the web, eesel AI learns directly from your Google Drive files including Docs, Sheets, and Slides, as well as tickets, internal wikis, PDFs, websites, and other sources. This ensures the assistant reflects your specific processes and knowledge.
- Provides accurate, cited answers directly from your files: Unlike Gemini, which can sometimes generate vague or incorrect responses, eesel AI only answers based on the trusted sources you give it. Every reply includes direct links to the original files so you can check and verify the information easily.
- Goes beyond questions and answers: eesel AI does more than just retrieve information. It can look at your documentation, helpdesk tickets, or forms and use that data to sort requests, tag items, assign tasks, or trigger actions in other tools. For example, it can pull order details from Shopify or update records in your CRM using information from Google Drive.
- Offers transparent, scalable pricing: With eesel AI‘s pay-per-interaction model, you get a clear and easy-to-understand cost. Unlike per-user fees that get bigger as your team grows, you only pay for the AI interactions you actually use. This makes it a cost-effective way to add AI features without unexpected bills.
Turn your Google Drive into a smarter, connected workspace
Using AI to work with your Google Drive content can really boost how much you get done and make your tasks smoother. While Google’s built-in Gemini is a convenient place to start for basic tasks within the Google world, businesses often find they need solutions that are more powerful, flexible, and connect more deeply. The range of other AI assistants for Google Drive is pretty wide, with different strengths and focuses.
For companies that need AI that works perfectly across all their tools, gives accurate answers based on their specific Google Drive files and other info sources, and offers flexible ways to automate things with clear pricing, eesel AI really stands out. It links your Google Drive knowledge to all the tools your team uses, making sure your AI isn’t just smart, but genuinely helpful and can grow with you.
Ready to really unlock what your Google Drive content can do with AI that works everywhere your business does? See how eesel AI can change how you work. You can start a free 7-day trial (no credit card needed) or book a demo today!