# What is ChatGPT Plus, and is it worth $20 a month?

Date: 2023-02-02 · Author: Robert Scales · https://guidetoartificialintelligence.com/en/learn/what-is-chatgpt-plus/

**Answer:** ChatGPT Plus is a new $20-a-month pilot subscription that OpenAI launched on February 1, 2023, giving paying users access to ChatGPT even at busy times, faster replies and early access to new features. Free ChatGPT stays available, so Plus is mainly worth it for people who rely on ChatGPT daily and keep hitting capacity limits.

Yesterday, February 1, 2023, OpenAI introduced ChatGPT Plus, the first paid plan for its popular chatbot. It costs $20 a month and, for now, is open only to customers in the United States. OpenAI calls it a pilot, which means the company is testing the offer and expects to adjust it based on feedback.

The free version is not going away. OpenAI says it will keep offering free access, and that money from subscribers will help it keep that free access open to as many people as possible.

## What you get for $20

OpenAI lists three benefits. Here is what each means in everyday use.

| Benefit | What OpenAI promises | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Access at peak times | General access to ChatGPT even when demand is high | Fewer "at capacity" messages that stop you from logging in |
| Faster responses | Quicker reply times | Less waiting while the answer appears word by word |
| Priority on new features | Early access to new features and improvements | You may try changes before free users do |

What Plus does not promise is just as important. OpenAI does not say the paid version is a smarter model, gives more accurate answers or removes ChatGPT's known weaknesses. It is the same chatbot, with better access and speed.

## When and how you can get it

OpenAI says it will start inviting people from its waitlist and plans to add more countries and regions soon. The timing is a little uncertain: OpenAI's announcement speaks of the coming weeks, while TechCrunch's report says the coming months. Either way, sign-up comes in waves rather than all at once.

The plan did not appear from nowhere. TechCrunch reports that in early January OpenAI posted a survey about a possible "ChatGPT Professional" plan, asking people about price and features. A few users later reported seeing a $42-a-month professional tier, which seems to have been shown by mistake. The final price is less than half of that.

## Why OpenAI is charging now

ChatGPT launched at the end of November as a research preview, a public test meant to reveal strengths and weaknesses and gather feedback. OpenAI says millions of people have since sent feedback, and that users find it helpful for drafting and editing, brainstorming, programming help and learning new topics.

Running it is expensive. Each reply requires a large language model (a program trained on huge amounts of text to predict the next word) to run on powerful computers. TechCrunch quotes Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO, calling the costs "eye-watering," at a few cents per chat in computing alone. Multiply that by more than a million users, the figure reported in early December, and the bill grows fast.

A subscription turns some of that demand into income. It also gives OpenAI a way to manage busy periods: paying users get a reserved place, and free users still get in when there is room. Microsoft's multibillion-dollar investment, announced on January 23, adds pressure to show that ChatGPT can earn money, as TechCrunch points out.

OpenAI also hints at more options to come. It says it is exploring lower-cost plans, business plans and "data packs," and that a waitlist for a ChatGPT API, a way for developers to build ChatGPT into their own apps, is coming soon.

Taken together, these hints suggest a familiar pattern from other online services: a free tier to reach as many people as possible, a paid tier for heavy users, and separate offers for businesses and software makers. How each tier will differ, beyond access and speed, is not yet known.

> **Try it:** For one week, keep a short log every time you use free ChatGPT: the date, what you asked, and whether you hit a capacity message or a slow reply. At the end of the week, count the interruptions and decide whether they cost you more than $20 of your time.

## How do you decide between free ChatGPT and ChatGPT Plus?

Start with how often you are blocked. If you use ChatGPT a few times a week and rarely see the "at capacity" screen, the free version already gives you everything Plus offers in terms of answers. Plus does not change what the model knows or how well it reasons, so paying will not make its answers more reliable.

Plus makes sense if ChatGPT has become part of your daily work, for example drafting emails, outlining reports or explaining code, and peak-time outages or slow replies interrupt you. In that case, the subscription is less about better answers and more about reliable access, much like paying for a faster internet connection.

Whichever you choose, the same good habits apply. Give clear context, ask for a specific format, and check facts that matter, because ChatGPT can still state wrong information with confidence. If you are outside the United States, you will need to wait for OpenAI to expand the pilot, and you can keep using the free version in the meantime.

## Sources

- Introducing ChatGPT Plus: https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt-plus/
- OpenAI launches ChatGPT Plus, starting at $20 per month: https://techcrunch.com/2023/02/01/openai-launches-chatgpt-plus-starting-at-20-per-month/