Is ChatGPT Plus actually worth it? I compared OpenAI’s paid subscription to the free version and the results might surprise you
Like many others, I was an early adopter of ChatGPT and enjoyed exploring what it could do. When OpenAI debuted the ChatGPT Plus subscription, I was skeptical about whether I needed the greater access and additional features it promised. However, as the subscription option arrived, many of us using the free version started to encounter slower responses, unexpected usage caps, and other frustrations.
This was likely just because of the growing popularity of ChatGPT, though when particularly annoyed, I did speculate about a dark conspiracy. Either way, $20 a month started to seem reasonable, especially since testing out new ChatGPT features has been a professional need as much as something I personally want to do. I hesitated for a little while. If I had a dollar for every time I almost upgraded, I’d have had enough to pay for ChatGPT Plus for several years. Still, within a few weeks, I clicked on upgrade, and I can say I haven’t regretted it at all.
Plus access
Since signing up, I’ve employed ChatGPT Plus, and its benefits have been extensive in my personal life. I can use it to come up with dinner ideas, entertain children, make New Year’s Resolutions, and perform many other tasks. A lot of those would be more difficult or impossible without ChatGPT Plus.
When you sign up, the first and most obvious difference you’ll note is that you have access to the ChatGPT models in beta. Currently, the default model is GPT-4o, but with a subscription, you can try the logic-heavy o1 model, the o3-mini model, which is even faster at advanced logic and reasoning, and the o3-mini-high model, which goes even further. I can always tell, even without looking, when a response uses the ChatGPT Plus-only models. The responses are sharper and more insightful, and they often feel like they have been run through an actual human editor.
If I stick to GPT-4o, I still benefit from subscribing to ChatGPT Plus. Those dreaded message limits disappear, which, if you’ve ever had ChatGPT cut you off just when a conversation was getting interesting, is very frustrating. If you hit the limit, the free tier sends you down to the GPT-4o-mini model. That model is fine, but it feels threadbare compared to the richer experience of GPT-4o. Similarly, the limits on uploading files and making and analyzing images also disappear when you subscribe. You might still hit a cap, but you’d have to really work at it.
Plus features
There are also options for GPT-4o exclusive to ChatGPT Plus. You can converse with ChatGPT in both standard and advanced voice modes. You can also play with customizing ChatGPT’s abilities by making custom GPTs. The Tasks feature for ChatGPT that lets you schedule out missions for the AI in the future is also only available if you have a subscription to ChatGPT Plus, as it’s currently in beta testing.
There is a laundry list of other ChatGPT features that were on the same list but have since migrated to the free tier. ChatGPT Plus subscribers were once the only ones able to use the editable Canvas page, the latest DALL-E image-making model, the web browsing function, and several other tools. Even the GPT-4o-mini model is a huge step up from earlier free-tier models, closing the quality gap significantly.
A fair argument against ChatGPT Plus is that those exclusive perks don’t stay exclusive. So, if you’re the type of person who likes waiting for features to trickle down, maybe Plus isn’t necessary. But if you’re someone who wants to be that early adopter and play with the latest models and features immediately, then the subscription still holds a lot of value. It’s not just about what features exist; it’s about when you get them and how smoothly they work.
Plus more
If you’re a casual user who just wants ChatGPT for quick questions, occasional brainstorming, or settling silly debates (like whether pineapple belongs on pizza), you’re probably fine sticking with the free tier. It’s gotten much better over time, and OpenAI keeps pushing updates that make it a pretty robust option.
But if you rely on ChatGPT every day for any number of projects at work or home, I’d say that ChatGPT Plus is absolutely worth it. The speed, model quality, unlimited access, and extra tools make a noticeable difference.
When I want a cute image to go with a hand-written greeting card, I don’t want to worry about hitting a cap on DALL-E use. And if I want to know if the confusing array of parking signs beside my car say my car won’t be towed in the next hour, I want the most powerful and logical AI model available.
If you like using ChatGPT, the real question is how much you use it and whether you’re willing to wait for features to roll out to everyone. If you’re someone who wants the best AI experience right now, ChatGPT Plus is a no-brainer. If you don’t mind waiting for features to trickle down, the free version will probably get there.
Just to be sure, I asked ChatGPT’s most advanced model if the subscription was worth it, and ChatGPT declared that if it were human, it would happily pay.
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Like many others, I was an early adopter of ChatGPT and enjoyed exploring what it could do. When OpenAI debuted the ChatGPT Plus subscription, I was skeptical about whether I needed the greater access and additional features it promised. However, as the subscription option arrived, many of us using the…
