Here's what you really get with ChatGPT's new $200 Pro subscription

Key Takeaways

OpenAI launches ChatGPT Pro, a $200 monthly plan with unlimited access to advanced AI models and tools.
ChatGPT Pro includes OpenAI o1, o1-mini, GPT-4o, and Advanced Voice, providing extensive capabilities.
ChatGPT Pro targets power users, and is a separate subscription tier from the existing ChatGPT Plus.

OpenAI, one of the ascendant powerhouses within the AI industry, has just announced its latest subscription service: ChatGPT Pro. This new, paid tier is available for a recurring monthly cost of $200, and provides access to some of the company’s most advanced AI technologies.

“Today, we’re adding ChatGPT Pro, a $200 monthly plan that enables scaled access to the best of OpenAI’s models and tools. This plan includes unlimited access to our smartest model, OpenAI o1, as well as to o1-mini, GPT-4o, and Advanced Voice,” says OpenAI in a blog post.

The AI and large language model (LLM) company already offers a standard, free ChatGPT client, as well as a paid ChatGPT Plus tier that costs $20 per month. On X, OpenAI touts ChatGPT Pro as being its best offering yet, but how much better is it truly, and why does it cost so much money to subscribe to?

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ChatGPT

The flagship chatbot and large language model (LLM) service from OpenAI, which can answer complex queries and leverage generative AI skill sets.

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What differentiates ChatGPT Pro from OpenAI’s other tiers?

ChatGPT Pro is designed specifically to cater to power users

OpenAI

According to OpenAI, a $20 subscription to ChatGPT Plus enables the following advanced AI features not available within the standard, free ChatGPT service:

Extended limits on messaging, file uploads, advanced data analysis, and image generation
Standard and advanced voice mode
Limited access to o1 and o1-mini
Opportunities to test new features
Create and use custom GPTs

As for the new ChatGPT Pro tier, which costs $200 per month, it includes all the aforementioned Plus features in addition to:

Unlimited access to o1, o1-mini, and GPT 4o
Unlimited access to advanced voice
Access to o1 pro mode, which uses more compute for the best answers to the hardest questions

In other words, this brand-new Pro tier provides advanced and unlimited access to the latest generative and LLM-based AI models, and a new oi pro mode which is capable of processing queries of a much more complex nature.

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Does it make sense to pay $2,400 per year for access to ChatGPT Pro?

ChatGPT Pro is meant for professionals, and OpenAI says as much

In short, no — ChatGPT Pro is a power user tool, and it’s pricing structure is meant to reflect this reality. OpenAI says that this Pro subscription tier is meant specifically for “researchers, engineers, and other individuals who use research-grade intelligence daily to accelerate their productivity and be at the cutting edge of advancements in AI.”

ChatGPT Pro is a power user tool, and it’s pricing structure is meant to reflect this reality.

For general-purpose consumers, the company’s ChatGPT Plus provides all the AI goodies you’d need, and then some. In fact, for most consumers, I’d recommend sticking with the free version of ChatGPT.

Vanilla ChatGPT is such a compelling service, in fact, that it will soon be built right into the latest iPhone models: Apple has struck a deal with OpenAI, and is testing deeper service integration within iOS 18.2‘s upcoming Apple Intelligence software release.