ChatGPT Free vs Go vs Plus vs Pro: the differences that matter
ChatGPT has four individual plans: Free, Go, Plus and Pro. Prices, context windows, models and the features that separate them, from OpenAI's pricing page.
ChatGPT has four plans for individuals: Free, Go, Plus at $20 a month and Pro from $100 a month. Go is priced by country; OpenAI’s page showed $5.50 when we checked. The biggest practical differences are not the number of messages, which OpenAI does not fix for any plan, but the context window each plan gets, access to the reasoning models, and the agent and coding features.
Plans at a glance
| Free | Go | Plus | Pro | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price a month | $0 | $5.50 where we checked (by country) | $20 | From $100, three usage tiers |
| OpenAI’s summary | Best for trying out ChatGPT | Best for longer conversations | Best for advanced work and productivity | Best for research and coding |
| GPT Instant context window | 27K | 54K | 54K | 128K |
| GPT Reasoning context window | Varies | 256K | 256K | 400K |
| Ads | – | “This plan may include ads” | – | – |
The context window is how much text ChatGPT can keep in view at once: your messages, any files, its memory and its own reasoning. OpenAI’s page translates the input part into pages: about 12 pages on Free, about 40 on Go and Plus with GPT Instant, about 320 with GPT Reasoning, and about 250 and 680 pages on Pro. It also notes that the space for your input is smaller than the total, because instructions, memory and reasoning share the window.
What each step up adds
Free
Unlimited text chats with GPT-6, subject to OpenAI’s abuse guardrails, plus limited uploads, image creation, voice chats, deep research, memory and Codex access.
Go
Everything in Free with more messages when using tools, more uploads, more image creation, more voice chats and longer memory. Go doubles the GPT Instant window to 54K and opens the 256K reasoning window, which is why OpenAI pitches it for longer conversations. It is the only paid plan that may show ads.
Plus
Everything in Go plus advanced reasoning with GPT-6, expanded messages and uploads, more complex image creation, expanded deep research, memory and context, projects, scheduled tasks and custom GPTs, expanded Codex usage, ChatGPT Work on desktop, web and mobile, and early access to new features. OpenAI adds that limits apply.
Pro
Everything in Plus with a choice of three usage tiers, Pro reasoning powered by GPT-6 Astra, longer Codex and ChatGPT Work sessions, Dot (OpenAI’s always-on agent), unlimited and faster image creation, maximum deep research, memory and context, and the larger 128K and 400K windows.
Which plan for which person
- Occasional questions: Free covers unlimited text chats. Its 27K window is the constraint: long documents and long chats run out of room.
- Long chats, tight budget: Go doubles the window and adds the 256K reasoning window for a fraction of Plus, if you accept possible ads.
- Daily work with files, research and code: Plus adds the reasoning models, projects and Codex. Most of what separates it from Go is features, not context: both have the same windows.
- All-day research or coding agents: Pro’s 400K reasoning window and longer agent sessions are the reason to pay five times as much.
Is paying per use cheaper?
For light use, often yes. OpenAI’s smallest current API model, GPT-6 Luna, costs $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.50 per million output tokens; GPT-6.1 Sol costs $2 and $10. The API does not include the ChatGPT apps, image creation, voice or Codex limits, so it is a fair comparison only for text work. The subscription or API tool does the arithmetic for your own usage.
Sources
- OpenAI, ChatGPT plans and pricing, read in a browser on October 26, 2026.
- OpenAI, API pricing, read October 26, 2026.
