OpenAI’s powerful GPT-4o model is now available to all ChatGPT users, including those on the free plan. This update gives free users access to many features that were once exclusive to the paid $20/month Plus subscribers.
The change has made it more difficult for users to decide which plan is the right investment. Below, we compare the tiers to help you decide which one is the best fit for you, whether it’s the Free plan, ChatGPT Plus, or the high-performance ChatGPT Pro subscription.
Reasons to choose ChatGPT free
“Access” doesn’t mean “unlimited”. Free users get a taste of the premium features, but with significant caps.
Features:
- Use of OpenAI’s best model, GPT-4o
- Get answers that use current info from the web
- Use custom bots from the official GPT Store
- Upload files, photos, and ask questions about them
- Analyze data from files like PDFs and spreadsheets
- Save your chat preferences using “memories”
Limitations:
- There is a daily limit for using the GPT-4o model. After you hit the limit, you will use the older GPT-3.5 model.
- You do not get the most advanced data analysis tools. Those are only available in the paid plans.
- You have very limited access to research tools. For example, you can only run 5 “lightweight” tasks with the Deep Research tool each month.
For casual users who don’t hit the free tier limits, this plan might just be enough. It’s all about how often you use the AI and what features are important to you. Consider the free version if you fit into any of these categories:
- You are a casual user: If you only need AI help sometimes, the free plan is perfect. There is no need to pay for a tool you only use now and then.
- You don’t want to spend money: The free plan gives you access to an advanced AI model without any cost. It is a great option for students, enthusiasts, or anyone who wants to use powerful AI without a monthly fee.
- Your needs are covered by the basic features: Free users can access the smart GPT-4o model, use custom GPTs, and upload files. While there are limits, these features are more than enough for many tasks. If you are not hitting the usage caps, then you don’t need to upgrade.
- You just want to test it out: The free plan is the best way to learn what ChatGPT can do. You can see how it fits into your workflow, and if you later find that you need more, you can always choose to subscribe.
Reasons to choose ChatGPT Plus
The ChatGPT Plus plan costs $20 a month. It gives you all the features of the free version but with much higher usage limits. You get extended limits on messages, creating images, and analyzing files. It also adds the Codex AI coding agent and gives you the first chance to test new tools from OpenAI.
Features:
- Higher usage limits: You get much higher caps on messages with the best models, like GPT-4o.
- Full access to Voice Mode: You get full access to the Advanced Voice Mode, which lets you have real-time chats without the daily limits of the free plan.
- More image generation: The Plus plan gives you a much larger daily quota to generate pictures for your projects.
- More research tasks: You can run 10 full research tasks and an additional 15 lightweight ones each month with the Deep Research tool.
- Access to a coding assistant: Get an agent that can help write, test, and fix code.
- Create short videos with Sora: Create short videos simply by describing them in text.
Limitations:
- It’s still not the top tier: While way better than the free version, Plus still has usage limits; they’re much higher than the free plan but lower than the more expensive Pro plan.
- No access to Pro-level tools: The most advanced features, like the “o1 Pro” reasoning mode for extremely complex problems, are reserved for the Pro subscription.
- You use ChatGPT for your daily work. If you rely on the AI for writing, research, or analysis, the higher limits are essential.
- You are a frequent creator. Anyone who regularly generates AI images, writes code, or needs in-depth research will get their money’s worth from the expanded tools.
- You constantly hit the free plan’s limits. If you often see the message telling you to “try again later”, that’s the clearest sign it’s time to upgrade.
- You want to be the first to try new things. Plus subscribers get early access to the latest features and models from OpenAI.
When to choose ChatGPT Pro
At $200 a month, ChatGPT Pro gives you everything from the Plus plan, and a lot more.
You can use the main tools like the Voice Mode and GPT-4o as much as you want, without worrying about limits. This plan is for people who need the strongest AI for their work, as it includes special tools for solving difficult problems. As a Pro user, you are always first in line, so the service is very reliable. It’s also easy to upgrade from a Plus account at any time.
Features:
- Unlimited core tools: You get unlimited use of the main tools like GPT-4o, voice mode, and image creation. You will not hit a daily cap for these features.
- More research tasks: You can run 125 full research tasks with the Deep Research tool each month. You also get another 125 simple research tasks on top of that.
- Better video making: You can make more videos with the Sora AI tool. They can be longer (up to 20 seconds) and in higher quality (1080p). Your videos will not have a watermark on them.
- OpenAI o1 Pro mode: This is a special, more powerful model built to solve very difficult problems in math, science, or programming that other models struggle with.
- Operator research preview (US only): This tool can do tasks for you on the internet, like booking travel or filling out forms. Right now, it is only available for users in the United States.
- Try future AI models: You get early access to test OpenAI’s newest models before they are released to other users.
Limitations:
- The price: The plan costs $200 every month.
- Some tools are in testing: Features like Operator and the GPT-4.5 Preview are not finished products. This means they are still being tested and might have bugs or change without notice.
- Some features have location limits: A few special tools are only available to users in certain countries.
When is GPT-5 coming out?
GPT-5 is OpenAI’s next big language model, and after months of rumors, it looks like it’s finally on the way. According to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, it’s likely to be released later this summer.
GPT-5 isn’t just a bigger, faster AI model; it’s a shift toward AI that can reason, adapt, and take action more independently. Here are its key features:
- Massive memory: GPT-5 will have an extended context window of over one million tokens. This means it can understand and remember the equivalent of more than 10 full books or entire project histories at once.
- Smarter thinking modes: The model could internally decide how deeply to think about a problem and adapt its reasoning style to it.
- Native video understanding: GPT-5 is expected to understand videos as continuous streams with dialogue and evolving content, so not just as pictures. This means it could “watch and understand” complex videos like lectures or security footage.
- Personalized memory: GPT-5 is designed to have structured, ongoing memory about you.
- Better multimodal understanding: It may understand different types of input like text, images, and audio together at a core level.
- Powerful engine for AI Agents: GPT-5 won’t work on its own like a full AI agent, but it will be a much better tool for building and running smart AI systems like AutoGPT.
Did you know Google’s Gemini is now the most powerful AI model out there? The newest version, Gemini 2.5 Pro, scores higher than other AI models on important benchmarks. It handles coding tasks better, solves complex problems more effectively, and creates more well-organized responses.
At Revolgy, we offer Gemini AI services to help your business take advantage of these capabilities. If you’re curious or want to start using Gemini in your own projects, we’re here to help.
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