Is ChatGPT Plus price your $20? Here is the way it compares to Free and Professional plans

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ZDNET’s key takeaways

• Every ChatGPT plan presents completely different advantages for various customers.
• Paid tiers get early entry and fewer utilization limits.
• It’s possible you’ll not must pay, relying on how typically you employ ChatGPT.

It has been just a few years since ChatGPT burst onto the scene, and over that point, the AI chatbot has constantly up to date with new fashions, options, merchandise, and limitations. Whereas there’s a lot you can do with the free tier, which does present entry to the newest and strongest GPT-5 mannequin, some options and perks are reserved for paid plans like ChatGPT Plus.

OpenAI launched Plus to handle demand and assure entry throughout busy intervals (no extra “at capability” errors!). Plus additionally unlocks early entry to new options and fashions, making the $20 plan a no brainer for energy customers. Nonetheless, as ChatGPT has advanced, the free tier has acquired many upgrades. It is, subsequently, price re-evaluating whether or not Plus is price it in 2025.

Additionally: How to use ChatGPT: A beginner’s guide to the most popular AI chatbot

A few of you could even be new to generative AI and questioning which ChatGPT tier to attempt first. Let’s break it down, and I will assist you to lastly resolve whether or not the free plan, ChatGPT Plus, and even the $200-per-month ChatGPT Pro subscription is best for you.

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET’s dad or mum firm, filed an April 2025 lawsuit in opposition to OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in coaching and working its AI techniques.)

You need to use ChatGPT Plus if…

Since Plus prices $20 per 30 days, you’ve got most likely requested your self: Why pay when you should use ChatGPT free of charge? I’ve pored over the small print and used the AI chatbot, and from what I can inform, there are 9 primary benefits. The TL;DR is that the free tier has heavy utilization limits, whereas Plus will get you the newest options and fashions first, with precedence entry even throughout peak occasions.

Additionally: Want better ChatGPT responses? Try this surprising trick, researchers say

In the event you solely use ChatGPT sometimes for enjoyable, it is not price subscribing. However should you use it for work, writing, coding, or creating photographs — or you end up opening the app each day, all day — then subscribing is a good suggestion. With Plus, you may all the time entry the chatbot, even when demand is excessive, and it removes most of the caps that free customers face.

1. You need to use the legacy fashions nonetheless

When OpenAI launched GPT-5, it initially changed all its legacy fashions in ChatGPT with it. This unified mannequin was meant to simplify issues and mix the most effective of OpenAI’s choices, utilizing a quick “good” mannequin for many queries and a deeper reasoning mannequin for more durable ones. Nonetheless, some paying subscribers most well-liked the older fashions or relied on them for workflows.

CEO Sam Altman acknowledged that “all of the sudden deprecating outdated fashions that customers relied on of their workflows was a mistake.” Consequently, OpenAI introduced again the choice for ChatGPT Plus customers to entry legacy fashions. Subscribers can allow the older variations in settings, together with GPT-4o, GPT-4.1, o3, and o4-mini, after which they will see them within the mannequin picker.

Additionally: Don’t like GPT-5? You can still use GPT-4 and other legacy models in ChatGPT – here’s how

So, when you have a most well-liked mannequin or workflow that labored with GPT-4-era fashions, the Plus tier enables you to stick to what you already know.

2. You need entry to each new GPT-5 mannequin

Whereas GPT-5 combines the most effective of a deep reasoning mannequin (GPT-5 Thinking) and a normal good mannequin for a steadiness of velocity and high quality, customers with a Plus subscription can manually toggle between all of the GPT-5 fashions: GPT-5 Auto, GPT-5 Immediate, GPT-5 Considering, and GPT-5 Considering Mini. The default Auto mannequin decides when to “suppose more durable” or when to reply rapidly.

The profit: Plus customers can select which mannequin to make use of and when, as a substitute of getting ChatGPT routinely guess based mostly on the dialog and immediate complexity. In the event you typically work on more durable issues that require a mannequin to suppose extra to output the absolute best reply, then having the choice to toggle on GPT-5 Considering, as an example, is a compelling motive to subscribe.

Additionally: What is OpenAI’s GPT-5? Here’s everything you need to know about the company’s latest model

It mainly offers you extra management over GPT-5’s habits to fit your wants.

3. You need to attempt Sora 2 video era

OpenAI’s Sora 2 video-generating mannequin permits customers to create gorgeous, sensible movies from prompts or photographs. With ChatGPT Plus, you will get limitless generations, 10-second movies in 720p, and as much as two creations working without delay. ChatGPT Professional expands on that provision, with sooner generations, 20-second movies in 1080p, as much as 5 concurrent generations, and downloads with out watermarks.

Additionally: I tried the new Sora 2 to generate AI videos – and the results were pure sorcery

Sora 2 is simply accessible to paid plans. Free customers haven’t got entry but.

4. It’s worthwhile to generate loads of photographs

To create photographs, ChatGPT makes use of the GPT-4o picture generator, OpenAI’s most succesful picture generator to this point.

With this device, you may ask “create a picture of…,” describe a scene, and obtain an AI-generated image that may embrace sensible human figures and even legible textual content. You can too add an current picture and describe edits for GPT-4o to use — like including textual content, refining particulars, or altering backgrounds. Simply bear in mind that complicated requests might take a few minutes.

Utilization is capped free of charge customers, however Plus and Professional subscribers can get pleasure from a lot increased each day quotas. OpenAI stated free-tier customers can use GPT-4o solely a restricted variety of occasions inside just a few hours. It can notify you as soon as you’ve got reached the restrict and invite you to improve.

Additionally: ChatGPT’s new image generator shattered my expectations – and now it’s free to try

For instance, should you’re on the Free tier and rely closely on picture creation, you may see a message like, “You’ve got reached your picture creation restrict. Improve to ChatGPT Plus or attempt once more tomorrow…” In contrast, Plus customers can generate many extra photographs per day, whereas Professional customers are basically limitless. So, should you typically use the AI for photographs, Plus is a simple selection.

5. You need to code with Codex’s assist

OpenAI just lately built-in its highly effective Codex AI coding agent into ChatGPT Plus, so now anybody with the $20-a-month Plus plan can get AI-powered coding ideas with out shelling out $200.

Codex is an AI agent that helps write and evaluation code. You’ll be able to level it at your GitHub repo, and it will whip up code adjustments, run checks to ensure nothing’s damaged, and even deal with putting in dependencies should you let it. (This was a Professional-only functionality.) Have in mind the agent does not “keep in mind” something between classes, so you must give it clear directions each time.

Additionally: 10 ChatGPT Codex secrets I only learned after 60 hours of pair programming with it

Codex works throughout your IDE, terminal, and even the ChatGPT interface, and it is included at no additional value for Plus customers. Because the coding agent is new to ChatGPT, you may encounter some velocity bumps if many individuals are utilizing it without delay. However having an AI “pair programmer” on demand is extremely helpful should you code commonly, and now you do not want the $200 Professional plan to make use of it.

6. You need Agent to deal with duties for you

The brand new Agent characteristic in ChatGPT is extremely enjoyable to play with and take a look at. As a substitute of simply answering questions, it will possibly really get issues completed. As an example, you may inform it to do your grocery purchasing. I attempted it just lately and had it add everything to my Walmart cart, however I nonetheless wanted to take a look at myself. It will probably browse the online, fill out types, and deal with multi-step duties.

Additionally: My 8 ChatGPT Agent tests produced only 1 near-perfect result – and a lot of alternative facts

From my expertise, you could hit partitions with duties that require delicate logins or funds, for the reason that agent pauses and palms issues off to you for safety causes. It is not flawless; typically it will get caught or confused by web site layouts. Nonetheless, it is an enormous step towards an AI that may suppose, plan, and act in your behalf, and it feels fairly wild seeing ChatGPT deal with real-world duties for me.

Simply consider it as ChatGPT with palms.

Agent is simply accessible to paid ChatGPT customers, so should you’re on the Free plan, you may’t use it but. Plus customers reportedly get round 40 agent runs a month, whereas Professional and Workforce customers can use as much as about 400 and get sooner execution.

7. You do loads of deep analysis

You are most likely noticing a theme right here: A lot of ChatGPT’s most superior options launch first for paying subscribers, and whereas they finally attain free customers, they arrive with utilization limits.

An awesome instance of that is Deep Analysis. It is mainly ChatGPT’s “analysis analyst mode.” You ask it a fancy query, and it goes off to browse the online, dig by way of PDFs, photographs, and articles, then synthesizes all the pieces right into a structured report with citations and a abstract of its steps. Free customers can attempt Deep Analysis, however beneath very tight quotas.

Additionally: I tested ChatGPT’s Deep Research against Gemini, Perplexity, and Grok AI to see which is best

Presently, Free customers get about 5 duties per 30 days utilizing a “light-weight” model of the device. Paid tiers (Plus, Workforce, and Professional) get increased limits. For instance, Plus customers get round 25 duties per 30 days (a mixture of full and light-weight), whereas Professional customers rise up to 250. The “light-weight” model kicks in when you hit the restrict of the complete analysis mannequin.

9. You need the most effective options with increased limits

Subscribing to ChatGPT Plus offers you early entry to OpenAI’s latest fashions and instruments, resembling Sora 2, Codex, and Agent, properly earlier than they attain free customers. And even when superior options like Deep Analysis or GPT-4o picture era do change into accessible on the Free plan, they’re often restricted or capped. You should use them far more typically and with fewer restrictions on Plus.

With a Plus account, you get increased limits throughout a number of options, together with:

• Messaging
• File uploads
• Knowledge evaluation
• Deep Analysis
• Picture era
• Reminiscence and context retention
• Superior Voice Mode conversations

That final one could be particularly attention-grabbing to Plus customers. Whereas Free ChatGPT customers can attempt Superior Voice Mode, they get shorter each day classes — often about quarter-hour of voice chat per day — and it runs on a lighter GPT-4o Mini mannequin as a substitute of the complete one accessible to paying customers. Plus subscribers, alternatively, get longer, practically unrestricted use.

OpenAI is slowly phasing out the older customary voice mode, however for now, each variations are nonetheless accessible.

You need to use ChatGPT Professional if…

OK, so now that we have mentioned why Plus is price it for a lot of, let us take a look at the costlier Professional plan that prices $200 a month. Most individuals would by no means pay a automobile fee’s price of cash to make use of AI, however there are particular situations the place it may very well be price it. Let’s be clear, although: Professional is for probably the most hardcore customers who want the utmost ChatGPT expertise.

1. You need ChatGPT Plus on a good larger scale

All of the perks and options included in ChatGPT Plus carry over to ChatGPT Professional, however with far fewer limits. Professional additionally provides a number of unique capabilities, resembling Pulse. Here is a breakdown of the largest advantages should you’re significantly contemplating the improve:

• Limitless and sooner picture era: Professional customers can generate GPT-4o photographs with nearly no each day cap and get precedence in era queues, so picture creation feels on the spot in comparison with different tiers.
• Most Deep Analysis, Agent, Reminiscence, and Context: Professional considerably expands ChatGPT’s “considering” capability. You’ll be able to run extra Deep Analysis duties and use Agent with out the tight restrictions discovered within the Free or Plus plans. The context window is bigger too, permitting ChatGPT to recollect and course of much more data in a single session.
• Increased entry to Codex, tasks, duties, and customized GPTs: The Codex coding agent in Professional can deal with bigger, multi-step tasks with extra duties. You can too create and deploy extra customized GPTs (your individual tailor-made chatbots) in your workspace. Primarily, Professional treats ChatGPT as a full improvement platform, and it is very troublesome to hit its ceiling.
• Precedence entry to Sora 2 video era: Professional customers get VIP therapy with Sora 2, together with video rendering at as much as 1080p decision and 20-second size, the flexibility to generate 5 movies without delay, and watermark-free downloads. In the event you plan to experiment with AI video, Professional eliminates practically all friction.

Briefly, Professional presents increased limits, sooner speeds, and entry to all the pieces OpenAI has to supply. If you would like probably the most highly effective, no-compromise model of ChatGPT, Professional is the plan for you. That is assuming you are tremendous with the upper price ticket, after all.

2. You need GPT-5 Professional and probably the most highly effective fashions

With Professional, you get the complete lineup of fashions and modes, together with GPT-5 Professional with its “research-grade” reasoning. Consider it because the high-performance model of OpenAI’s newest mannequin for individuals who want severe reasoning energy and prolonged context processing. It runs on the identical base as GPT-5 however provides additional compute, deeper reasoning, and a bigger context window.

Additionally: What is ChatGPT Pro? Here’s what $200 per month gets you

GPT-5 Professional can reportedly deal with tons of of 1000’s of tokens, producing longer and extra detailed outputs. It is best fitted to ultra-heavy workloads, resembling analysis, coding, and information evaluation — duties the place depth and accuracy matter most. GPT-5 Professional is presently unique to ChatGPT Professional subscribers, who additionally get entry to different GPT-5 variants and legacy fashions.

Nothing is off-limits. You’ll be able to change between older and newer fashions as wanted with out worrying about hitting a quota.

3. You would like early entry to the latest options

Professional customers are sometimes the primary to check main upgrades. For instance, when OpenAI launched the GPT-4.5 mannequin, it went to Professional subscribers first, and so they received early entry to the Codex agent for months. Each of those at the moment are accessible to Plus subscribers, however OpenAI has confirmed that ChatGPT’s most compute-intensive instruments will launch on the Professional tier earlier than different plans.

Additionally: The best free AI for coding in 2025 now – only 3 make the cut (and 5 fall flat)

For instance, ChatGPT Pulse is a brand new characteristic that lets ChatGPT work proactively in your behalf. Every night time, it will possibly analysis and summarize data out of your chat historical past, pursuits, and directions, then generate a customized morning briefing with 5 to 10 “playing cards.” It is like waking as much as your individual TL;DR feed. However, for now, Pulse is simply accessible to Professional customers.

OpenAI does plan to convey Pulse to Plus customers sooner or later, following the identical rollout sample it makes use of for many of its latest options.

You need to use free ChatGPT if…

Lastly, let’s speak concerning the free model of ChatGPT. I’ve already coated most of its options, so this is the quick model: all of it relies on how typically you employ ChatGPT and whether or not early entry to new instruments issues to you. In the event you solely use it sometimes and do not care about testing the newest options first, the Free plan is completely the way in which to go.

1. You do not need to pay a month-to-month charge

In the event you solely want occasional AI help and do not thoughts utilization caps, the free tier ought to serve you properly. It is surprisingly sturdy and now contains some options that have been as soon as behind a paywall, resembling Deep Analysis. You actually do get loads of performance for $0.

Free ChatGPT customers can entry:

• GPT-5 (the unified flagship mannequin; accessible to Free customers however with limits)
• Internet search (built-in shopping for up-to-date data with supply citations)
• Picture era by way of GPT-4o (with limits – round two to 3 photographs at a time)
• Deep Analysis (as much as 5 “light-weight” duties per 30 days)
• Superior Voice Mode (with limits – as much as quarter-hour per day)
• File and photograph uploads (with limits – three file and two picture uploads per day)
• Reminiscence for referencing current conversations (light-weight model)
• Third-party apps (like Canva and different integrations; additionally accessible to Plus and Professional customers)

2. You are an informal ChatGPT consumer

In the event you hardly ever hit the each day utilization limits for textual content, voice, or picture era, upgrading to Plus or Professional may not be mandatory.

The free model presents loads of room for gentle use — asking just a few questions per day, producing a handful of photographs, making an attempt out superior information evaluation, importing recordsdata or pictures, and extra. Nonetheless, should you typically see messages about hitting your limits for textual content, voice, or photographs, it could be time to contemplate a paid plan resembling Plus and even Professional.

For energy customers who want top-tier capability and prolonged entry to superior options, there’s Professional, whereas Plus presents a extra reasonably priced center floor. 

Additionally: How to get ChatGPT Go free for a year in India (and what it unlocks)

Finally, in case your wants are minimal and the restrictions do not hassle you, sticking with the free tier is completely tremendous. You will not get new options instantly, and you may must tempo your self with utilization, however you will save.