AI Compare · AI tools
ChatGPT: plans, prices, strengths and limits
ChatGPT is OpenAI's general assistant, with Codex for coding. It suits people who want one app for chat, images, files, voice and code, from a free tier up to $500 a month.
Prices for United States, before sales tax Data release 2026.10.16-3, Oct 16, 2026 Rules 2.1.0
- Made by
- OpenAI
- Individual plans
- 6, one free
- Paid plans
- $8 to $500 a month
- Facts checked
- Oct 16, 2026
Quick verdict
ChatGPT is a fit if you want one subscription that covers chat, image generation, file analysis, voice and a coding agent. Plus at $20 a month is the first plan without ads, and the first where OpenAI documents Codex in your code editor, background coding tasks, GitHub pull request reviews and full use of the Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Google Sheets extensions. Free and Go ($8 a month) may show ads. The principal limitations: no paid plan can be billed yearly, the context OpenAI documents (256K tokens for reasoning models on Plus) is smaller than the 1 million tokens Anthropic documents for Claude, and most limits are described as Limited, Expanded or Maximum without figures. This rests on what OpenAI documents, not on our tests.
Strengths and limits
Strengths
- Images on every planOpenAI lists image generation on all six plans: limited on Free, more on Go, included on Plus (also with Thinking), and unlimited and faster on the Pro tiers, subject to abuse guardrails. Claude does not generate photos or illustrations on any plan.
- Inside Office and Google SheetsOpenAI documents ChatGPT extensions for Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Google Sheets: limited on Free and Go, included on Plus and expanded on Pro. Whether they handle your files well is something to try on your own documents.
- Codex in the editor, the cloud and GitHubFrom Plus, the Codex extension runs in VS Code, VS Code Insiders, Cursor and Windsurf, with Xcode and JetBrains IDEs through their own integrations. Codex Cloud runs repo tasks while your computer sleeps (subject to rollout), and @codex review posts pull request reviews. All of it uses plan usage.
- A low-cost paid tierGo costs $8 a month (the US price in OpenAI's January 16, 2026 launch post). It documents more uploads, image creation and memory than Free, extended advanced data analysis, and 256K tokens of context for reasoning models, against 27K for Instant on Free.
- Room to scale upThree Pro tiers at $100, $200 and $500 a month document 400K tokens for reasoning models, Pro reasoning (powered by GPT-6 Astra), the always-on Dot agent and, for now, no five-hour Codex limit. They differ in usage; only Pro 500 includes Ultrafast mode.
Limits
- No yearly billingPlan limit. OpenAI says it does not support annual billing for Go, Plus or Pro. You can stop at the end of any month, but there is no yearly price, unlike Claude Pro at $200 a year paid up front.
- Ads on Free and GoDocumented. OpenAI says ads may appear on Free and Go, and it has tested ads in the US since February 9, 2026. Plus and the three Pro tiers have no ads.
- Limits without numbersUnverified point. Most features are described as Limited, Expanded or Maximum, with no counts given. Everyday text chats are listed as unlimited, subject to abuse guardrails. New Pro 200 subscriptions get a lower allowance than grandfathered ones, which keep theirs through October 29, 2026.
- Smaller context on lower plansPlan limit. Free documents 27K tokens for GPT Instant, about 12 pages of input. Go and Plus document 54K for Instant and 256K for reasoning, Pro 400K. Anthropic documents up to 1 million tokens on every Claude plan, including Free.
- Coding on Free and Go is unclearUnverified point. Codex is listed as limited on Free and Go, but OpenAI's pages conflict on whether the editor extension is included, Codex Cloud is not included, and pull request review is not stated. Code completions as you type are not documented on any plan.
Based on what OpenAI documents for each plan, not on our tests.
Who it suits
A good fit if you
- Making images in the same app you chat in
- Working in Excel, Word, PowerPoint or Google Sheets (Plus and up)
- Coding with Codex in an editor, in the cloud and on GitHub (Plus and up)
- A low-cost paid tier at $8 a month (Go)
- Heavy users who may need the $100 to $500 Pro tiers
Look elsewhere if you
- Video generation: not offered on any plan
- Paying yearly: not offered on Go, Plus or Pro
- Code completions as you type: not documented, so not verified
- Models from other companies: only OpenAI models are listed
Plans and prices
| Plan | Monthly | Yearly | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT Free | Free | Oct 12, 2026 | |
| ChatGPT Go | $8 a month | Not listed | Oct 12, 2026 Source |
| ChatGPT Plus | $20 a month | Not listed | Oct 12, 2026 Source |
| ChatGPT Pro 100 | $100 a month | Not listed | Oct 12, 2026 Source |
| ChatGPT Pro 200 | $200 a month | Not listed | Oct 12, 2026 Source |
| ChatGPT Pro 500 | $500 a month | Not listed | Oct 12, 2026 Source |
Prices for United States, before sales tax unless a plan says otherwise. A yearly plan is paid up front and is not cancel-any-time.
Features by plan
What OpenAI documents for each plan. A hatched mark means we could not verify it, which is not the same as "not offered".
| Feature | ChatGPT Free | ChatGPT Go | ChatGPT Plus | ChatGPT Pro 100 | ChatGPT Pro 200 | ChatGPT Pro 500 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Models and limits | ||||||
| Top models included | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Context window | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Models from several companies | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| General-purpose assistant | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Research and sources | ||||||
| Web search with sources | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Deep research reports | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Files and data | ||||||
| File and document uploads | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Spreadsheet and data analysis | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Coding | ||||||
| Coding agent | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Works in your code editor | Unclear | Unclear | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Code completions as you type | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Background coding agent | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Pull request review | Unclear | Unclear | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images, video and voice | ||||||
| Image generation | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Video generation | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Real-time voice | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Image editing and design | ||||||
| Photo editing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Background removal | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Text inside images | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Logo maker | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Vector (SVG) files | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Upscaling | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Video editing and presenters | ||||||
| Photo to video | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Footage editing | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Avatar presenters | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Lip sync | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Automatic captions | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Clips from long videos | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Exports without a watermark | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| App building and hosting | ||||||
| Apps from a description | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Hosting and publishing | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Custom domain | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Database and sign-in | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Code export | Unclear | Unclear | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Music, voice and transcription | ||||||
| Songs with vocals | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Instrumental music | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Separate stems | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Voiceover from text | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Voice cloning | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Dubbing into other languages | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Sound effects | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Transcription | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Meeting notes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Dictation into any app | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Projects and memory | ||||||
| Projects | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Custom assistants | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Memory across chats | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Integrations and agents | ||||||
| Connectors to other apps | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Inside Gmail | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Inside Google Docs | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Inside Google Sheets | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Inside Word | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Inside Excel | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Inside PowerPoint | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Inside Outlook | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Browser agent | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Privacy and control | ||||||
| Opt out of model training | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Export your data | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Shows ads | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Rights and licensing | ||||||
| Commercial use of outputs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Apps and extras | ||||||
| Cloud storage included | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Apps | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
The details and sources of every row are in Compare two AIs and the data release.
Models on each plan
The models each plan's own pages name, on the terms they give. A model being offered says nothing about how well the plan does your work.
ChatGPT Free
ChatGPT Go
ChatGPT Plus
ChatGPT Pro 100
- GPT-5.6 Sol Pro Included Source
- GPT-6.1 Sol Included Expanded access. Source
- GPT-6 Astra Included Expanded access; it also powers Pro reasoning. Source
- GPT-6 Sol Included Expanded access. Source
- GPT-6 Luna Included Expanded access. Source
- GPT-5.6 Sol Included Listed as unlimited, subject to OpenAI's usage policies. Source
- GPT-5.6 Terra Included Listed as unlimited, subject to OpenAI's usage policies. Source
- GPT-5.6 Luna Included Listed as unlimited, subject to OpenAI's usage policies. Source
- GPT-5 Thinking Mini Included Listed as unlimited, subject to OpenAI's usage policies. Source
ChatGPT Pro 200
- GPT-5.6 Sol Pro Included Source
- GPT-6.1 Sol Included Expanded access. Source
- GPT-6 Astra Included Expanded access; it also powers Pro reasoning. Source
- GPT-6 Sol Included Expanded access. Source
- GPT-6 Luna Included Expanded access. Source
- GPT-5.6 Sol Included Listed as unlimited, subject to OpenAI's usage policies. Source
- GPT-5.6 Terra Included Listed as unlimited, subject to OpenAI's usage policies. Source
- GPT-5.6 Luna Included Listed as unlimited, subject to OpenAI's usage policies. Source
- GPT-5 Thinking Mini Included Listed as unlimited, subject to OpenAI's usage policies. Source
ChatGPT Pro 500
- GPT-5.6 Sol Pro Included Source
- GPT-6.1 Sol Included Expanded access. Source
- GPT-6 Astra Included Expanded access; it also powers Pro reasoning. Source
- GPT-6 Sol Included Expanded access. Source
- GPT-6 Luna Included Expanded access. Source
- GPT-5.6 Sol Included Listed as unlimited, subject to OpenAI's usage policies. Source
- GPT-5.6 Terra Included Listed as unlimited, subject to OpenAI's usage policies. Source
- GPT-5.6 Luna Included Listed as unlimited, subject to OpenAI's usage policies. Source
- GPT-5 Thinking Mini Included Listed as unlimited, subject to OpenAI's usage policies. Source
What it documents for each use
- Research & Search Research a question with sources that hold up · Check claims against reliable sources · Get a research report from many sources · Summarize a report with traceable facts
- Writing & Content Edit an email without losing a detail · Edit an article without changing its facts · Draft long pieces that stay consistent · Write ads, posts and short copy
- Images & Design Create images from a description · Make graphics for posts and slides · Edit my own photos · Remove a background · Make images with exact text · Design a logo
- Coding & Development Code inside my editor · Hand repository tasks to an agent · Review pull requests automatically · Build an app without writing code · Put an app or site online
- Business & Productivity Connect AI to the apps I already use · Use AI inside Google Sheets · Use AI inside Word · Use AI inside Excel · Use AI inside PowerPoint · Get notes from my meetings
- Data & Analytics Analyze a spreadsheet and get the numbers right · Turn data into charts and tables
- Agents & Automation Let an agent do tasks in a browser
- Audio & Voice Talk it through by voice · Transcribe recordings and files
A use is listed when at least one plan documents every feature a task needs. Answer quality is a separate question: see below.
Using it day to day
ChatGPT runs on the web, on iOS and Android, and as a desktop app for macOS and Windows. You can subscribe on the web or through the Apple App Store or Google Play; cancellations and refunds are then handled by the store, and OpenAI does not document store price differences. The ChatGPT Work agent is limited to the desktop app on Free and Go, and works on desktop, web and mobile from Plus.
Codex signs in with your ChatGPT account and shares usage with ChatGPT Work. OpenAI lists everyday text chats as unlimited on Free, Go, Plus and Pro, subject to abuse guardrails, but describes most other limits only as Limited, Expanded or Maximum. On the Pro tiers, OpenAI says there is currently no five-hour limit for Codex.
OpenAI's pricing page showed Danish kroner when it was checked, so the US prices for Go come from OpenAI's help center and blog. Whether US sales tax is included is not documented on the pages we checked.
Privacy, data and ads
On every plan, ChatGPT uses your chats to improve OpenAI's models by default. To stop it, turn off Improve the model for everyone under Settings, Data controls. You can request a copy of your data from settings or OpenAI's Privacy Portal.
Ads may appear on Free and Go; Plus and the Pro tiers have no ads. Turning training off says nothing about how long data is kept for other purposes, which the pages we checked do not cover, so read OpenAI's data controls page if your work is confidential.
Read the vendor's own page: ChatGPT privacy and data controls. We make no legal or compliance claim.
Test results
We have not tested ChatGPT yet, so this page makes no claim about answer quality, and we show no example outputs. Run the same kit in it and in the alternatives, in your own account:
- Summarize a report with traceable facts
- Analyze a spreadsheet and get the numbers right
- Edit an email without losing a detail
- Diagnose and repair a small program
- Research a question with sources that support the answer
- Make sense of documents that disagree
- Research a current question within a date window
- Edit an article without changing its facts
- Turn project notes into a report that agrees with itself
- Implement a small specification
- Refactor code without changing what it does
- Make a picture that follows a detailed brief
- Put exact text into a graphic
- Change one thing in a picture and nothing else
- Make a short clip that follows a brief
- Make a song that sings your lyrics exactly
- Read a script with names, numbers and abbreviations
- Design a logo with an exact name
Getting started
Start on Free and turn off Improve the model for everyone under Settings, Data controls, if you do not want your chats used for training.
Try your real tasks: upload a document, ask for a short data analysis and make an image.
Run the email edit kit, the spreadsheet kit and the source check kit to see whether details, numbers and sources hold up.
If you code, Plus is the first plan with the documented editor extension, cloud tasks and pull request reviews. Run the code repair kit there.
If you hit limits on Plus, compare the Pro tiers with Claude Max in ChatGPT vs Claude before you upgrade.
Your fit
Tell Find my AI what you do and what matters; it checks every plan of ChatGPT against your priorities, next to the alternatives.
Alternatives
- Claude Anthropic documents up to 1 million tokens of context on every Claude plan, a yearly Pro price of $200 paid up front, and an ad-free commitment on all plans, including Free. Claude does not generate photos or illustrations. Read the comparison About Claude
- Gemini Google AI Pro ($19.99 a month) documents Gemini inside Gmail, Docs and Sheets, video generation and 5 TB of storage. ChatGPT lists no video generation and no storage bundle, and reaches Google Sheets only through an extension. Read the comparison About Gemini
- Perplexity Perplexity documents citations in every answer, and Pro ($20 a month or $204 a year) lets you pick models from several companies, including OpenAI. ChatGPT lists only OpenAI models. Read the comparison About Perplexity
- GitHub Copilot Copilot documents code completions as you type: 2,000 a month on Free and unlimited on Pro at $10 a month. OpenAI does not document inline completions for Codex on any plan. Read the comparison About GitHub Copilot
Questions
Can I pay yearly for ChatGPT?
No. OpenAI says it does not support annual billing for Go, Plus or Pro. Every paid plan, including the three Pro tiers, is billed monthly.
Does ChatGPT show ads?
Ads may appear on Free and Go. OpenAI has tested ads in the US since February 9, 2026. Plus and the Pro tiers have no ads.
Which ChatGPT plan do I need for coding?
Plus or a Pro tier. From Plus, OpenAI documents the Codex editor extension, Codex Cloud tasks (subject to rollout) and GitHub pull request reviews. Free and Go list Codex as limited, but editor access is not confirmed and Codex Cloud is not included.
Can ChatGPT make videos?
No. OpenAI lists no video generation on any plan, and the Sora web and app experiences were discontinued. ChatGPT does generate images on every plan.
What is the difference between Pro 100, Pro 200 and Pro 500?
Usage. OpenAI documents the same features and context on all three. Pro 200 includes more usage than Pro 100, and Pro 500 the most, plus Ultrafast mode. New Pro 200 subscriptions get a lower allowance than grandfathered ones, which keep theirs through October 29, 2026.
Sources
29 official pages, checked Oct 12, 2026 to Oct 16, 2026. This page was written by the What the tech desk with AI assistance from the facts in our data release; no company paid for or reviewed it.
- Pricing | ChatGPTOpenAI
- ChatGPT Free Tier FAQ | OpenAI Help CenterOpenAI
- Pricing (Codex) — redirected from developers.openai.com/codex/pricingOpenAI
- Codex IDE extension — redirected from developers.openai.com/codex/ideOpenAI
- Using Codex with your ChatGPT plan | OpenAI Help CenterOpenAI
- What to know about the Sora discontinuation | OpenAI Help CenterOpenAI
- Images in ChatGPT | OpenAI Help Center (read via help-lb.openai.com mirror)OpenAI
- Creating and using ChatGPT Sites | OpenAI Help Center (read via help-lb.openai.com mirror)OpenAI
- Sora (sunset notice)OpenAI
- ChatGPT Voice | OpenAI Help CenterOpenAI
- Uploading files and audio to ChatGPT | OpenAI Help CenterOpenAI
- Voice Dictation - FAQ | OpenAI Help CenterOpenAI
- Terms of Use | OpenAIOpenAI
- ChatGPT for Excel and Google Sheets | Build and update spreadsheets with ChatGPTOpenAI
- ChatGPT for Word | Draft and edit documents with ChatGPTOpenAI
- ChatGPT for PowerPoint | Create and edit presentations with ChatGPTOpenAI
- ChatGPT Plugins | Browse and add plugins to ChatGPTOpenAI
- Data controls in ChatGPT | OpenAI Help CenterOpenAI
- Ads in ChatGPT | OpenAI Help CenterOpenAI
- ChatGPT Work and Codex | OpenAI Help CenterOpenAI
- What is ChatGPT Go? | OpenAI Help CenterOpenAI
- Introducing ChatGPT Go, now available worldwide (Jan 16, 2026)OpenAI
- ChatGPT Sites | Build sites and apps with ChatGPTOpenAI
- Sites: Data and connectionsOpenAI
- Sites: Manage a siteOpenAI
- ChatGPT Record | OpenAI Help CenterOpenAI
- What is ChatGPT Plus? | OpenAI Help CenterOpenAI
- The Meetings plugin in ChatGPT | OpenAI Help CenterOpenAI
- About ChatGPT Pro tiers | OpenAI Help CenterOpenAI
Read how AI Compare works. Found an error? It goes in the change log once corrected.