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What is ChatGPT? Everything you need to know
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What is ChatGPT? Everything you need to know
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ChatGPT Plus explained — is this the right plan for you?
Christoph Schwaiger
19 September 2025
Free, Plus, or Pro? It’s all about access
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(Image credit: Shutterstock)
ChatGPT Free
ChatGPT Plus
ChatGPT Pro
Should I upgrade?
ChatGPT is among the leading multimodal AI assistants, but the real question is whether upgrading to a higher-tier plan will truly enhance your experience. The free plan includes a generous offering of AI features, meaning upgrading to ChatGPT Plus is less about new tricks and more about taking the brakes off.
With the ability to create stunning images, help you study, and act as your autonomous AI agent, ChatGPT continuously keeps pumping out reasons to switch to OpenAI’s bot, even for users of the powerful Claude and Gemini.
Plus and Pro members still get priority access and higher limits, but free users often gain access to new features shortly after they roll out to paying subscribers, making the no-cost plan far more generous than you might expect.
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With three tiers for individuals, and two more tailored for businesses, choosing the right ChatGPT plan ultimately comes down to how heavily you use the tool and how much you’re willing to spend each month. We’re here to help you narrow down the choice.
ChatGPT tiers
Similar to other consumer AI chatbots, users can pick between one of three ChatGPT plans.
If you don’t want to spend a dime, you can simply sign up for the free plan, which gives you access to ChatGPT’s main features.
The next step up would be ChatGPT Plus. At $20/month you start getting extended access to OpenAI’s models and more features that aren’t accessible if you’re only on the free plan.
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For the best of what ChatGPT has to offer, there’s the ChatGPT Pro plan with the highest access limits, featuring practically uncapped usage.
There are also two plans reserved for businesses that take into account privacy law compliance and higher data security.
ChatGPT Free: what do you get?
Free sounds more like freedom here, as signing up for the most basic ChatGPT account grants you access to the latest model by OpenAI – GPT-5 and plenty more to explore.
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You’ll be able to get real-time data from the web with search and use custom GPTs. However, the free tier will likely see you hitting usage restrictions quickly if you plan on uploading several files or generating multiple AI images. Voice mode usage is also capped.
ChatGPT Plus: Level up your access
For $20/month you can purchase a subscription to ChatGPT Plus.
The price point hovers around the industry standard for this level of access, which gives you extended access to all the tools available in the free plan.
A Plus account also unlocks some perks, including:
Access to ChatGPT agent
The ability to create your own custom GPTs
Limited access to the Sora video generator
ChatGPT Pro: The best of OpenAI with unlimited access
Regular ChatGPT users are not likely to come close to ChatGPT Plus’ usage limits, but for users who need practically unlimited access to OpenAI’s models, there’s the ChatGPT Pro plan.
Priced at a flat $200/month the Pro plan is all about offering you the highest level of access to all the features that are available in the two lower tiers (GPT-5, voice mode, Sora, and the works).
Over and above that, Pro users also gain access to GPT-5 Pro, which uses more computing power to tackle harder math, logic, and coding prompts.
Should I upgrade?
(Image credit: Future)
If you’re interested in dabbling with video generation and having access to ChatGPT agent, the $20/month subscription fee is worth considering, particularly because you’ll get very generous usage limits.
Users who’ve been using ChatGPT Free comfortably without having to frequently wait for their usage limits to reset are unlikely to notice a significant difference if they were to upgrade to one of the paid plans.
If you’re interested in dabbling with video generation and having access to ChatGPT agent, the $20/month subscription fee is worth considering, particularly because you’ll get very generous usage limits.
ChatGPT power users who’ve practically integrated ChatGPT as part of their daily workflow, constantly working with large files and deep research prompts, could consider buying ChatGPT Pro. Just keep in mind that most of the $200 each month is going toward the removal of usage caps, rather than access to entirely new features that aren’t already available in the lower tiers.
The takeaway
(Image credit: Shutterstock)
ChatGPT Plus is a solid multimodal AI assistant. It’s a powerful tool to keep in your arsenal if you’re working with text, images, and data analysis. With the additional ability to also create AI images and videos, the paid plan means you’re less likely to need to shop around for other AI subscriptions.
The free plan works great for casual users, but upgrading to Plus means you’re now highly unlikely to hit any of the usage caps set by OpenAI.
At the top of the range, ChatGPT Pro is less about unlocking novel functions than about removing restrictions. This is a plan designed for researchers, developers or professionals whose work relies on sustained, high-volume use. For most people, however, the free and Plus tiers will provide more than enough AI firepower.
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Christoph Schwaiger
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Christoph Schwaiger is a journalist who mainly covers technology, science, and current affairs. His stories have appeared in Tom’s Guide, New Scientist, Live Science, and other established publications. Always up for joining a good discussion, Christoph enjoys speaking at events or to other journalists and has appeared on LBC and Times Radio among other outlets. He believes in giving back to the community and has served on different consultative councils. He was also a National President for Junior Chamber International (JCI), a global organization founded in the USA. You can follow him on Twitter @cschwaigermt.
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What is ChatGPT? Everything you need to know
ChatGPT-5 is here — 7 biggest upgrades you need to know
The rise of $200/pm AI plans — why Perplexity, ChatGPT and Gemini are all going up
OpenAI’s Sam Altman brings back GPT-4o and boosts GPT-5 limits — but there’s a catch
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