Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET
When ChatGPT first launched two years ago, the AI chatbot was met with such high demand that OpenAI introduced a premium plan called ChatGPT Plus. This plan guaranteed access to the chatbot even during blackout periods. The perks also included access to OpenAI's most advanced models, which at the time included GPT-4, making the $20 plan almost a no-brainer for superusers. However, as OpenAI's offerings have continued to grow over the past couple of years, so have its plans.
Also: How ChatGPT could replace the internet as we know it
If you consider yourself an AI power user, you're likely wondering which ChatGPT tier you should try. In this guide, we'll help you decide whether a free plan, ChatGPT Plus, or a $200-per-month ChatGPT Pro subscription is the best fit for you.
(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET's parent company, filed an April 2025 lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)
You should use ChatGPT Plus if...
ChatGPT Plus costs $20 per month. You're probably asking yourself: Why pay when you can use it for free? There are five main advantages, but the TL;DR is that the free tier has heavy usage limits, and the Plus tier gets you the latest features and models first. If you only use ChatGPT now and then for fun, it's not worth subscribing. But if you use it for work, writing, creating images, using it as a search engine, or you find yourself opening the app all day, every day, then you need to subscribe.
Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET
1. You want to use Deep Research a lot
OpenAI recently launched Deep Research, and it's one of ChatGPT's most powerful tools. Deep Research lets the AI conduct multi-step web research and synthesize sources into a comprehensive report. Its agentic capabilities let it work independently, like a research analyst, generating a detailed report in five to 30 minutes, depending on complexity.
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