What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is OpenAI's AI assistant, used by more than 1.2 billion people a week by OpenAI's count. The Chat tab answers questions, writes and edits, searches the web, makes images and talks by voice. With GPT-6 it can answer with interactive charts, maps and small tools when those read better than plain text.
Two more modes share the same account. ChatGPT Work builds documents, slide decks, spreadsheets and PDFs from your files and connected apps such as Gmail and Slack, and Codex plans, writes and reviews code. Unlike Claude, whose plans count every chat toward a five-hour limit, everyday ChatGPT chats never run out; the catch is that reasoning, Work and Codex draw on allowances OpenAI keeps reworking.
Who is ChatGPT best for?
ChatGPT is best for students, writers and office workers who want one assistant for questions, research, images, documents and code.
Everyday questions and writing
Even the Free plan has unlimited everyday text chats, and paid plans add deeper reasoning levels for harder questions.
Office work from your own files
ChatGPT Work turns files and connected apps like Gmail, Slack and Google Drive into finished documents, slide decks and spreadsheets.
Coding on the same subscription
Codex comes with every plan, from limited use on Free to the web, terminal, IDE extension and iOS on Plus, with more on Pro.
Small teams
Business seats cost $25 per user a month, or $20 billed yearly, and keep company data out of model training by default.
What's included with ChatGPT?
Interactive answers, ChatGPT Work for documents and decks, Codex for code, deep research, images, voice, plugins, and always-on dots on Pro.
- Intelligent UI
- GPT-6 can answer with charts, maps, forms and small interactive tools inside the chat, and falls back to plain text when that fits better.
- ChatGPT Work
- Creates and edits documents, slide decks, spreadsheets, charts and PDFs using your files and the apps you connect.
- Codex
- OpenAI's coding agent plans, writes, tests and reviews code, and its cloud tasks keep running while your computer sleeps.
- Deep research
- Writes a report from many sources, and you can point it at chosen websites and connected apps; Free and Go get limited runs, Plus more and Pro the most.
- Images and voice
- ChatGPT Images 2.6 makes and edits pictures and short GIFs, and Voice holds spoken conversations, with video from the Go plan up.
- Plugins and memory
- Plugins link apps like Gmail, Google Calendar and Slack, Library opens files from Google Drive, Box, Dropbox and SharePoint, and memory recalls past chats.
- Dots on Pro
- Always-on agents with their own cloud computer keep working toward a goal between chats and bring results back for review.
How much does ChatGPT cost?
ChatGPT is free with unlimited everyday chats, and paid plans cost $8 a month for Go, $20 for Plus and from $100 for Pro, or $25 per user a month for Business.
- Unlimited everyday text chats with GPT-6
- Limited uploads, images, voice and deep research
- Limited Codex and ChatGPT Work on desktop
- More messages with tools, uploads and images
- Longer memory, scheduled tasks and voice with video
- May show ads
- GPT-6 reasoning at Medium and High
- ChatGPT Work on desktop, web and mobile, plus Codex
- No ads, Sites and expanded deep research
- Pro 100, Pro 200 or Pro 500 usage tiers
- GPT-6 Pro reasoning, powered by GPT-6 Astra
- Dots, the always-on agents
Pro comes in three tiers at $100, $200 and $500 a month; only Pro 500 includes Ultrafast. Business costs $25 per user per month, or $20 billed yearly, for teams of 2 to 200, and a Premium seat with more usage and no 5-hour limit costs $125 a month, or $100 billed yearly. Enterprise and Edu are priced by OpenAI's sales team, and nonprofits can get up to 75% off Business or Enterprise. On paid plans you can buy credits to keep using Work and Codex after the allowance runs out. Plus, Pro and Business are moving to one token-based allowance shared across ChatGPT and Codex; Instant chats will not count against it. Full pricing on chatgpt.com. We checked these prices on .
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ChatGPT pros and cons
It bundles chat, Work and Codex into one $20 plan and never caps everyday chat, but its usage limits are hard to follow and Free and Go may show ads.
Pros
- Everyday text chats are unlimited even on the Free plan, while Claude's free plan caps usage every five hours and every week.
- One $20 Plus plan covers GPT-6 reasoning, ChatGPT Work, Codex, deep research, images and voice.
- Heavy users on Hacker News say paid chat almost never runs out, and OpenAI's Pro plans have no five-hour limit on Work and Codex.
- Answers can arrive as interactive charts, maps and calculators, and GPT-6 starts web-search answers 44% sooner than GPT-5.6, by OpenAI's measure.
Cons
- Limits are hard to follow: reasoning, Work, Codex, images and deep research each have their own allowance, and on Plus, Work and Codex reset in five-hour windows that users say run dry fast.
- Free and Go may show ads below answers in supported regions; only Plus and higher plans are ad-free.
- Chats on Free, Go, Plus and Pro can be used to train OpenAI's models until you switch it off in Data controls.
- Some users say answers got worse or forgot context after model updates, and others find the new interactive answers cluttered when they want plain text.
What are the best ChatGPT alternatives?
Claude for long writing and code, Gemini for Google's apps and Android, and Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365.
ClaudeFreeChoose it when you mostly write long documents or code across a whole project; Pro also costs $20 a month, though even plain chats count toward its five-hour limit.
GeminiFreeChoose it when your day runs on Gmail, Google Docs and an Android phone, where Google builds its assistant in.
Microsoft CopilotFreeChoose it when you already pay for Microsoft 365 and want the assistant inside the Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook desktop apps.
Articles about ChatGPT
Two of our articles name ChatGPT the best for a job, and one more covers it.
Named best overall. ChatGPT vs Claude vs Gemini: ChatGPT Plus is the $20 plan that does the most, Gemini is the best value and Claude is best for coding. Free plans too.
The best AI tools for students in 2026 that help you learnBestNamed best overall. The best AI tools for students start with ChatGPT's study mode, free on every plan. Seven tools that help you learn, with student prices and school rules.
How to write a good AI prompt: a step-by-step guideHow toHow to write a good prompt for ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini: say who it's for, name the task, set the limits and format. Six steps from the makers' guides.
Questions about ChatGPT
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is OpenAI's AI assistant for everyday questions, writing, research, images and voice, and its Work and Codex modes turn the same account into a maker of documents, spreadsheets and code.
Who is ChatGPT for?
ChatGPT is best for students, writers and office workers who want one assistant for questions, research, images, documents and code.
Is ChatGPT free?
Yes. ChatGPT has a free plan: unlimited everyday text chats with GPT-6.
How much does ChatGPT cost?
ChatGPT's paid plans are Go at $8 per month, Plus at $20 per month and Pro at From $100 per month.
What are the best ChatGPT alternatives?
The closest alternatives on Recaply are Claude, Gemini and Microsoft Copilot.
Where can I try ChatGPT?
On its official website, chatgpt.com.
How is ChatGPT Plus different from Pro?
ChatGPT Plus costs $20 a month and covers GPT-6 reasoning at Medium and High, ChatGPT Work and Codex for regular use. Pro starts at $100 a month in three tiers with far more Work and Codex usage and no five-hour limit, GPT-6 Pro reasoning, a 400K reasoning context and dots.
Does ChatGPT have ads?
Only on the Free and Go plans, in the regions where OpenAI has switched them on. A labelled ad can appear below an answer, and OpenAI says ads never change what ChatGPT answers. Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu have no ads.
Does ChatGPT use my chats for training?
On Free, Go, Plus and Pro it can, unless you turn off Improve the model for everyone in Settings, Data controls. Temporary chats are not used, and Business, Enterprise and Edu data is kept out of training by default.
How do ChatGPT's usage limits work?
Everyday Instant chats are unlimited on every plan. Reasoning, ChatGPT Work and Codex draw on an allowance that grows with the plan, and OpenAI is merging it into one token-based allowance for ChatGPT and Codex. When it runs out you can wait for the reset, upgrade or buy credits.
Our verdict
ChatGPT is the safest default for most people who want one AI assistant.
Its Free plan never caps everyday chats, and the $20 Plus plan adds GPT-6 reasoning, ChatGPT Work for documents and decks, and Codex for code in one subscription.
- Skip it for
- Daily heavy agent and coding work on Plus, where the Work and Codex allowance runs out quickly and Pro or a dedicated coding tool fits better.
- Check first
- Watch Settings, Usage for a week to see how fast your reasoning chats, Work tasks and Codex runs use the allowance.
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