ChatGPT memory vs Claude memory vs bubbles: what each keeps and where it works
Bubbles are context you save once and use in any AI app. Built-in memory saves things for you and comes with the app, and it stays inside that app. That's the main difference.
Updated Nov 3, 2026
Side by side
| ChatGPT memory | Claude memory | Gemini memory | Bubbles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| How it's saved | On its own as you chat, or when you ask | On its own as you chat, or when you ask | From your past chats | Only when you or your AI ask |
| Reading and changing it | A list of saved memories. Chat history is only a switch. | Read, edit or delete each topic in Settings, Your Claude | To remove something, delete the chats it came from | Every bubble is text you can read and edit |
| Where it works | ChatGPT | Claude on the web, desktop and mobile | Gemini | ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Perplexity, Cursor and 20+ more AI tools |
| Who gets it | Depends on plan and region | On by default on Free, Pro, Max and Ultra. Admins decide on Team and Enterprise. | 18 or over, on a personal Google account, with Keep Activity on | Free for 20 bubbles of up to 512 KB. Each AI app sets its own limits on connectors. |
From each company's help pages on Nov 3, 2026, and these features change often: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini.
When you don't need bubbles
If you use one AI app, its own memory is enough, and it picks up things you'd never think to save. You don't have to do anything to get it, and you can't beat that for convenience.
If you're leaving one app for another for good, a one-time import will do. Claude and Gemini both have one. See how to move your ChatGPT memory to Claude. Gemini's import isn't available in the EEA, Switzerland or the UK.
When bubbles fit better
- You use two or more AI apps and you're tired of explaining yourself to each one.
- You want to read exactly what your AI is working from, and change it in one place.
- Your coding tools need the same project brief.
- A colleague needs it too, since you can share a copy by email.
You can use both. Built-in memory keeps the small things it notices, and a bubble holds what you've decided every app should know. Bubbles do ask more of you, because nothing lands in one unless you or your AI save it.
Try one
Paste this into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Perplexity, Cursor or whichever AI you use, and it walks you through connecting:
Connect my Sixteen Bridges account — follow https://sixteenbridges.com/llms.txtThen say “save this as a bubble” in one app and “read my bubble” in another. Bubbles are stored as plain text, not end-to-end encrypted, so keep passwords and keys out of them. If your AI can't open the link, the steps for each app are here.
Memory and bubbles both skip the chat you're in right now. To move that, use LLM Context Bridge, our free Chrome extension: one click, and a new tab opens with the whole conversation pasted in and sent.