ChatGPT Go vs Plus vs Pro: Which Plan to Choose? Prices, Limits and December Changes

ChatGPT's personal plans now come in four tiers: Free, Go, Plus and Pro, and Pro itself has three levels at $100, $200 and $500. In short: pick Go if you mostly chat, Plus if you want Codex, the Work agent and deep research, and Pro only if you code heavily or run long agent tasks every day. This guide uses official prices, feature tables and usage rules to help you find your fit.

1. The short answer

• Free: unlimited everyday text chats (subject to abuse guardrails), with limited uploads, image creation, deep research and Codex. Good for trying ChatGPT out.
• Go ($8/month): more messages with tools, uploads, image creation and voice than Free, plus longer memory; may include ads. Good for people who mainly chat, write and translate.
• Plus ($20/month): unlocks advanced reasoning models, Codex and ChatGPT Work on desktop, web and mobile, and deep research is no longer "limited". Enough for most people.
• Pro ($100 / $200 / $500): on top of Plus, you get Pro reasoning in chat (powered by GPT-6 Astra), longer Codex and Work sessions, dot (an always-on agent) and much higher usage. For people who write a lot of code or run long tasks every day.

2. Official prices and features compared

The table below is based on OpenAI's official pricing page and Help Center. "Limited" means the feature is available with a lower allowance; OpenAI does not publish fixed numbers.

Three more points: Go may show ads, while Plus and Pro are ad-free; Go, Plus and Pro are billed monthly only, with no annual billing or multi-month prepayment; and when Plus or Pro users run out of allowance, they can buy credits to keep using supported features such as Codex and Work instead of upgrading.

3. How the three Pro tiers differ

The three Pro tiers share essentially the same features. The main differences are included usage and Ultrafast access:

• Pro 100 ($100/month): entry-level Pro, no Ultrafast.
• Pro 200 ($200/month): more usage than Pro 100, no Ultrafast; open to new subscriptions again since September 29.
• Pro 500 ($500/month): the highest usage of the three, and the only tier where you can turn on Ultrafast (GPT-6 Astra and GPT-6.1 Sol) in the model picker.

The October 29 change: Pro 100 and Pro 500 now get twice their previous Work and Codex allowance. Pro 200's planned reduction was cancelled, and subscribers on the lower allowance were doubled to match everyone else. Existing subscribers get this automatically, without renewing or resubscribing. Plus usage is unchanged.

Watch the consumption rates: for the same model, Fast mode uses your included allowance at 2.5 times the Standard rate and Ultrafast at 8 times; once you move on to credits, Ultrafast is charged at 6 times the Standard credit rate. OpenAI also notes that a doubled allowance does not guarantee twice as many completed tasks; it depends on the model, context, reasoning effort and tool use.

Each Pro tier also includes monthly API credits equal to its price ($100 / $200 / $500). You activate them manually once your subscription has been active for at least 7 days; they fund one linked API organization, do not roll over, and do not add to your ChatGPT allowance. Plus is not eligible.

4. What changes in December: ChatGPT and Codex share one allowance

According to the OpenAI Help Center, starting in December the usage allowance for Plus, Pro and Business will be shared between ChatGPT and Codex:

• Usage is measured in tokens; more advanced models and more complex tasks use more.
• Instant chat does not draw from this allowance, so quick everyday questions are unaffected.
• You can see your combined remaining usage and reset times in Settings → Usage.
• If you hit the limit, you can wait for it to reset, upgrade your plan, or buy credits to keep using eligible features.

OpenAI expects most users won't have to wait for resets more often than they do now. For reference, OpenAI's estimates of local messages per five hours on Plus are about 15–160 for GPT-6.1 Sol, 5–45 for GPT-6 Astra and 350–3,000 for GPT-6 Luna, and weekly limits may also apply. Pro currently has no five-hour limit, but still has an overall allowance. These are estimates, not fixed limits.

5. Choosing by use case

• Students, writing, translation, everyday questions: Go is enough; consider Plus when you need deep research for reports.
• Occasional coding, trying out Codex and Work: Plus. If you already use Claude Code, see our guide to the Codex plugin for Claude Code.
• Hours of Codex or agent work every day: start with Pro 100 and move up to Pro 200 if you keep hitting limits.
• Speed and long parallel tasks: only Pro 500 has Ultrafast, but remember it consumes usage at 8 times the rate.
• Teams: look at Business. Standard seats are $25 per user per month ($20 billed annually) and Premium seats $125 ($100 billed annually), with a 2-seat minimum. Premium seats get more usage than Standard with no five-hour limit, and OpenAI raised Premium's Work and Codex allowance again on October 29.

6. How to subscribe and switch plans

1. Sign in to ChatGPT: sign in to your own account at chatgpt.com; see our ChatGPT login guide.
2. Open the upgrade page: click your profile icon → Upgrade plan, then choose Go, Plus or a Pro tier.
3. Pay: OpenAI accepts major credit cards. Before using a virtual card, read our notes on subscribing to ChatGPT Plus with a virtual card.
4. Switch Pro tiers: go to Settings → My Plan to see the plan changes available to you.
5. Secure your account: after subscribing, turn on multi-factor authentication; see our ChatGPT account security guide.