ChatGPT Plans Comparison: Free, Go, Plus and Pro
ChatGPT has the widest range. Free costs $0, Go costs $8 a month and Plus costs $20, and Pro comes in three plans at $100, $200 and $500 a month. OpenAI says Go may include ads. Plus adds GPT-6.1 Sol and GPT-6 Astra, more deep research and more Codex use. Go, Plus and Pro bill monthly only, with yearly billing reserved for Business and Enterprise.
Pro is three plans in one. Pro 100, Pro 200 and Pro 500 differ in included usage, and only Pro 500 includes Ultrafast. OpenAI has reopened Pro 200 to new subscriptions at the same $200, with a lower allowance unless the account qualifies for grandfathering. Accounts with an active Pro 200 plan at any point from September 22 to 10 a.m. Pacific on September 29, 2026 keep the old allowance through October 29.
My guide to ChatGPT Pro 100, 200 and 500 explains who keeps the old allowance and how I would pick a tier.
Claude Plans: Free, Pro and Max
Claude has three plans for individuals. Free costs $0. Pro costs $20 a month, or $17 a month when you pay $200 for the year up front, and it includes Claude Code. Max costs $100 a month for five times Pro's usage per session, or $200 for twenty times, and it bills monthly only. Anthropic says the Max prices apply to web subscriptions and can differ in the mobile apps.
Two details change the value of Max. Both tiers now include monthly API credits for building on the Claude Platform: $100 on Max 5x and $200 on Max 20x. And Max lets you spend up to half of the weekly limit on the Fable models, while Pro pays for Fable with usage credits.
For every Claude plan from Free to Enterprise, with what each one includes, read my guide to Claude pricing.
Torn between the two Max tiers? My breakdown of Claude Max 5x vs 20x usage limits shows how the session and weekly limits work.
Google Gemini Plans: AI Plus, AI Pro and AI Ultra
Google sells four consumer tiers. Free costs $0 with a Google account. Google AI Plus costs $4.99 a month for twice the Free usage, and Google AI Pro costs $19.99 a month, or $199.99 a year, for four times the Free usage. Google AI Ultra costs $99.99 a month for five times the AI Pro limits, or $199.99 a month for twenty times.
Google bundles storage into every tier. AI Plus includes 400 GB, AI Pro 5 TB and Ultra starts at 20 TB, and Ultra adds a YouTube Premium individual plan. If you already pay Google for storage, compare the bundle with your current bill before you count AI Pro as a new expense. Ultra is billed monthly only.
ChatGPT vs Claude Pricing: Where the Two Differ
At list price, ChatGPT and Claude are almost the same purchase. Both charge $20 for the standard plan, $100 and $200 for heavy use and $25 per team seat. The differences sit at the edges. ChatGPT has a cheaper Go plan and a $500 Pro plan. Claude has a yearly price on Pro, and its Max plans include API credits.
My read: price should rarely decide between these two. Usage limits and the work decide. Claude is my daily driver for writing, research and connector work, and I would pick ChatGPT for image generation and always-on agents. Run both on the same real tasks before you buy seats for a team.
My comparison of Claude vs ChatGPT for business covers usage limits, agents and data rules for teams.
Team and Business Plans Compared
For teams the prices line up even more closely. ChatGPT Business and Claude Team both charge $25 per standard seat a month, or $20 billed yearly, and $125 per premium seat, or $100 billed yearly. On both, a premium seat gives five times the usage of a standard seat. Google's Gemini Enterprise starts at $21 per seat a month.
Enterprise is where ChatGPT and Claude split. Claude Enterprise charges $20 per seat a month, billed yearly, plus every token at API rates, with at least 20 seats on the self-serve plan. ChatGPT Enterprise uses custom pricing through OpenAI's sales team. Both companies say their business plans keep your data out of model training by default.
For what each ChatGPT plan does with your chats, read my guide on whether ChatGPT is safe for company data.
AI API Pricing per Million Tokens
The API is billed per token. OpenAI says API usage is billed separately from ChatGPT plans such as Go and Plus, while Anthropic adds monthly API credits to Max and Team. On short prompts, the cheapest latest models from OpenAI and Anthropic now cost the same. GPT-6 Luna and Claude Haiku 5.5 both charge $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.50 per million output tokens.
Two details are easy to miss. Google lists Gemini 3.8 Flash at $0.75 and $3.75 through December 31, 2026, and at $1.50 and $7.50 from January 1, 2027, so budget for the new rate. And all three vendors halve the price for batch jobs that can wait. For reports and enrichment that nobody reads until morning, I would start there.
Per-token prices still hide the real bill. Each vendor counts tokens with its own tokenizer, and models that think longer write more output tokens. Anthropic says its newer tokenizer produces about 30% more tokens for the same text. Compare the cost of a finished job on your own prompts before you move a workload.
To price your own workload on any Claude model, use my free Claude API cost calculator.
Caching, batch math and a worked agent bill are in my guide to Claude API pricing for Opus, Sonnet and Fable.
The two price tiers of Haiku 5.5 and the 100,000-token catch are in my guide to Claude Haiku pricing.
If the lowest price per token matters most, my list of the best Chinese AI models compares their API prices and cost per task.
Which AI Subscription Should You Pay For?
I would start one tier lower than you think and upgrade only when a limit stops work that pays. In my experience, most people buy the plan for the busiest day they imagine. A week of real use tells you more than any price table. Here is how I would match the plan to the person.
- Free, on any of the three, to test your own tasks before you pay.
- Google AI Plus or ChatGPT Go, for light daily use on a tight budget.
- Claude Pro, ChatGPT Plus or Google AI Pro, for one person who works with AI every day.
- Claude Max, ChatGPT Pro or Google AI Ultra, when the standard plan's limits interrupt work that matters.
- Team or Business seats, as soon as two or more people need shared billing and admin controls.
- The API, when software calls the model and you want spend you can meter.
Before you upgrade, score each plan on your own work with my guide to evaluating AI models.
How to Pay Less for AI
Pay yearly where you can. Claude Pro drops from $20 to $17 a month on the $200 yearly plan, and Google AI Pro costs $199.99 a year against $19.99 a month. Standard seats on Claude Team and ChatGPT Business drop from $25 to $20 a month when billed yearly. ChatGPT offers yearly billing only on Business and Enterprise.
Buy extra usage before you jump a tier. Claude Pro, Max and Team can turn on usage credits at API rates, and ChatGPT Plus and Pro can add credits for Codex and other eligible features. Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers can buy top-up AI credits. If you only need a break on ChatGPT or Claude, cancel before the renewal date and you keep access until the period ends.
Need a month off ChatGPT? My guide on how to pause or cancel a ChatGPT subscription has the steps for web, iPhone and Android.
Every Wednesday, AI Frontier gives B2B operators one verified signal, my read on it and one practical AI revenue play. If a price on this page changes before I catch it, tell me on LinkedIn and I will update the tables.
Frequently asked questions
How much do AI subscriptions cost?
ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini each have a free plan. Paid plans start at $4.99 a month for Google AI Plus and $8 for ChatGPT Go. The standard plans cost $20 on ChatGPT and Claude and $19.99 on Google. Heavy-use plans cost about $100 or $200 a month, and ChatGPT Pro 500 costs $500.
Is Claude cheaper than ChatGPT?
At list price they match: $20 for the standard plan, $100 and $200 for heavy use and $25 per team seat. Claude Pro drops to $17 a month billed yearly, while ChatGPT bills Go, Plus and Pro monthly only. ChatGPT is cheaper at the bottom, with Go at $8 a month.
What is the cheapest paid AI subscription?
Among ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini, Google AI Plus is the cheapest at $4.99 a month in the US, followed by ChatGPT Go at $8. Claude's cheapest paid plan is Pro, at $20 a month or $17 a month billed yearly.
How much does ChatGPT Pro cost?
ChatGPT Pro comes in three monthly plans: Pro 100 at $100, Pro 200 at $200 and Pro 500 at $500. They differ in included usage, and only Pro 500 includes Ultrafast. OpenAI offers no yearly billing on Pro.
How much does Google AI Ultra cost?
Google AI Ultra costs $99.99 a month for five times the AI Pro usage limits, or $199.99 a month for twenty times. Ultra is billed monthly only. Google AI Pro costs $19.99 a month or $199.99 a year.
Which AI API is the cheapest?
Among the latest models, GPT-6 Luna and Claude Haiku 5.5 both cost $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.50 per million output tokens, with Haiku at that price on prompts up to 100,000 tokens. Google's older Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite lists $0.10 and $0.40. For new projects Google points to Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite, at $0.30 and $2.50.
Does a ChatGPT or Claude subscription include API access?
OpenAI says ChatGPT Go and Plus exclude API usage, which it bills separately. Claude Max includes $100 or $200 a month in API credits, and Claude Team includes up to $500 a month in pooled credits. Claude Pro includes none.
Can you pay for AI subscriptions yearly?
Yes, on some plans. Claude Pro costs $200 a year, Google AI Pro costs $199.99 a year, and Claude Team and ChatGPT Business seats cost $20 a month billed yearly. ChatGPT Go, Plus and Pro, Claude Max and Google AI Ultra are billed monthly only.
Sources
OpenAI, ChatGPT pricing, read October 12, 2026.
OpenAI, ChatGPT Business and Enterprise pricing, read October 12, 2026.
OpenAI Help Center, About ChatGPT Pro tiers, read October 12, 2026.
OpenAI Help Center, What is ChatGPT Go?, read October 12, 2026.
OpenAI Help Center, What is ChatGPT Plus?, read October 12, 2026.
OpenAI Help Center, Using credits for flexible usage in ChatGPT, read October 12, 2026.
OpenAI, API pricing, read October 12, 2026.
Anthropic, Claude pricing, read October 12, 2026.
Claude Help Center, What is the Pro plan?, read October 12, 2026.
Claude Help Center, What is the Max plan?, read October 12, 2026.
Claude Help Center, What is the Team plan?, read October 12, 2026.
Claude Help Center, What is the Enterprise plan?, read October 12, 2026.
Claude Help Center, Monthly API credits for Max and Team plans, read October 12, 2026.
Claude Platform Docs, Pricing, read October 12, 2026.
Google, Google AI Pro and Ultra plans, read October 12, 2026.
Google One, Google AI plans with cloud storage, read October 12, 2026.
Google, Everything new in our Google AI subscriptions, May 19, 2026, read October 12, 2026.
Google AI for Developers, Gemini Developer API pricing, read October 12, 2026.
Google AI for Developers, Gemini models, read October 12, 2026.
