Here’s what’s included with OpenAI’s $200 ChatGPT Pro monthly subscription

This morning, OpenAI has launched ChatGPT Pro, a $200 monthly subscription for its flagship chatbot. This release is the first of many expected over the next 12 days, as the San Francisco startup will release a series of announcements starting today.

At this price level, everything from OpenAI’s $20 monthly subscription is included, as well as significantly more access to the GPT-4o and o1 artificial intelligence models. With a ChatGPT Pro subscription – which costs $2,400 for a full year – users can also take advantage of an exclusive model from OpenAI called o1 Pro mode, which requires more computing power to process responses.

“ChatGPT power users are really using it a lot right now and they want more computing power than is available for $20,” said CEO Sam Altman during the video broadcast announcing the new premium tier. While the high price may come as a shock to many consumers, this subscription is aimed at very dedicated users who want near-unlimited access and researchers who may want to experiment with using ChatGPT for more complex, intensive tasks.

No changes to the pricing of OpenAI’s other subscription plans have been announced and the free option remains available. The startup’s first subscription option for its consumer chatbot called ChatGPT Plus was originally launched in February last year for $20 per month and will remain at that price for now. At the Plus tier, users unlock most of ChatGPT’s new features and generative AI models. These subscribers are also not as rate-limited by OpenAI as free users. How many ChatGPT requests users can make per day or how much time they can spend using ChatGPT’s best voice interface depends on their subscription level.

The company is targeting its new $200 monthly subscription to those who use OpenAI’s generative AI model for more technical work. “People will find o1 Pro mode most useful for difficult math, science or programming problems,” said Jason Wei, an OpenAI researcher, during the video stream. WIRED hasn’t yet tried a ChatGPT Pro subscription firsthand to see how it handles these types of requests. However, I’m excited to try out the tool to help readers better understand its strengths and limitations, similar to our previous work on ChatGPT Plus, as well as its specific features such as advanced voice mode and AI web browsing.

Even though ChatGPT Pro subscribers get what OpenAI calls “unlimited access” to the o1 model, the GPT-4o model, and the Advanced Voice Mode feature, the startup is clear that its terms of service still apply. Therefore, actions such as sharing an account between multiple people or using the Pro plan to use your own service are not permitted and may result in suspension of your account. Users can request a refund for the $200 subscription within the first two weeks of purchase if they are dissatisfied by contacting OpenAI’s online help center.

In addition to ChatGPT Pro, OpenAI announced that the o1 model, which focuses on “reasoning” features and multi-stage processing of user input, is no longer available in limited preview. According to the startup, this fully released o1 model answers questions faster, can now accept images as input, and makes fewer errors. The startup plans to add web browsing and file upload features to ChatGPT’s o1 setting in the future.

OpenAI is expected to continue introducing new AI features towards the end of the year. Reports from The Verge suggest that these year-end releases could include OpenAI’s highly anticipated generative AI video model, Sora. It’s possible that some of these upcoming announcements could also provide further insight into Altman’s thinking about AI agents, tools that can potentially perform online tasks on your behalf, and the company’s focus heading into 2025.