- ChatGPT currently has three main plans: Free, Plus at $20/month, and Pro at $200/month, with the biggest differences lying in usage limits, early access, and premium models.
- The Free plan is much stronger than before, allowing the use of GPT-5.2 Auto with about 10 messages every 5 hours, new image generation, shopping research, web browsing with citations, and Deep Research, though heavily limited.
- Plus was introduced by OpenAI to ensure access during peak hours and unlock new features early, suitable for frequent users for work, writing, programming, and content creation.
- Plus users can access legacy models like GPT-4o, GPT-4.1, o3, o4-mini, and various GPT-5 variants, which the Free plan does not have.
- GPT-5.2 is the flagship model series, where Plus allows selecting Instant and Thinking modes with much higher limits: about 160 messages every 3 hours.
- Plus unlocks access to Sora for AI video creation but is limited to 5 seconds at 720p or 10 seconds at 480p, with watermarks.
- For image generation, Plus has significantly higher limits compared to Free, making it suitable for designers or marketers.
- Codex is integrated into Plus, supporting code writing and debugging, and working with GitHub without needing to upgrade to Pro.
- Agent and Deep Research on Plus allow handling multi-step tasks, but the number of runs is still capped.
- Pro targets users with ultra-heavy workloads, offering GPT-5.2 Pro, Deep Research up to about 250 tasks/month, Agent about 400 runs, and Sora in 1080p quality without watermarks.
📌 ChatGPT Free currently meets basic needs and light usage well, while Plus is the most balanced choice for frequent users wanting fewer restrictions and early access to GPT-5.2, Codex, Agent, and Sora for $20. Pro is only truly reasonable for research experts, programmers, or businesses needing maximum power, as the $200 price tag mainly trades for high limits, fast speed, and the GPT-5.2 Pro model.
