Poe is useful in a specific scenario: you want to compare several frontier models and do not want to manage multiple subscriptions. One Poe account gives you access to the latest ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and a collection of community-built bots. For experimenters and researchers who need to switch models frequently, the flexibility is real.
The tradeoff is cost efficiency. If you have a clear preference for one model, buying that model's own subscription is usually better value and gives higher usage limits. Poe's $19.99/mo keeps you a tier behind the top of each model anyway. Where Poe earns its place is the custom bot creation: you can build persistent AI assistants with specific system prompts and share them, which is a feature neither OpenAI nor Anthropic offers at the consumer level in quite the same way.