ChatGPT vs. ChatGPT Plus: Is a paid subscription still worth it?

When GPT-4 was OpenAI’s strongest synthetic intelligence massive language mannequin (LLM), paying for a subscription to ChatGPT Plus—which prices $20 a month—made sense. However now that OpenAI introduced the provision of GPT-4o, I am not so certain. 

With this newest replace, OpenAI revealed an omnimodel that makes GPT-4-level intelligence out there for all, so you will not want a Plus subscription to entry it. What’s extra, free customers can now entry options that have been beforehand reserved for paid subscribers, together with GPT Retailer entry to make use of customized GPT bots; the Reminiscence function to provide their conversations a way of continuity; importing images and paperwork to debate them with ChatGPT; searching the online to provide extra present context; and superior knowledge evaluation. 

These adjustments could make it laborious to find out who will discover free ChatGPT ample and who ought to spring for a Plus subscription. As a ChatGPT Plus subscriber, I will clarify beneath in precisely which instances it is best to use one or the opposite. As soon as GPT-4o is extensively out there, I will check it to see the way it performs totally free customers and ChatGPT Plus subscribers and report if any additional variations come up.

It is best to use ChatGPT Plus if…

1. You utilize ChatGPT much more than the typical person

With GPT-4o giving free customers lots of the similar capabilities that have been solely out there behind a Plus subscription, the explanations to join a month-to-month price have dwindled however aren’t utterly gone. Free ChatGPT customers can be restricted within the variety of messages they will ship with GPT-4o, relying on utilization and demand; nonetheless, OpenAI would not specify that restrict. 

OpenAI says ChatGPT will change routinely to GPT-3.5 when free customers attain their restrict. ChatGPT Plus subscribers have 5 instances the capability of free customers. Paid customers will be capable to ask GPT-4o 5 instances as many questions as free customers and can nonetheless have entry to GPT-4 once they exceed their restrict. We anticipate OpenAI will enhance the boundaries for GPT-4o for each free and paid customers. 

2. You’ll be able to’t wait

OpenAI says it’s starting to roll out GPT-4o to ChatGPT Plus, Staff, and ChatGPT free customers at present, with Enterprise customers coming quickly. Through the Spring Replace reside stream, OpenAI CTO Mira Murati introduced that the brand new GPT-4o mannequin and the remainder of the updates will roll out iteratively to clients over the subsequent few weeks. Because of this solely a fraction of ChatGPT customers presently have entry to the brand new options, with this quantity rising shortly.

In the event you do not need to wait till you get the brand new replace in your account to make use of Plus options as a free subscriber, you may get a Plus subscription now to stave off the joy. Observe which you can cancel the subscription everytime you need.

ChatGPT Plus customers nonetheless get early entry to new options that OpenAI rolls out, together with the brand new ChatGPT desktop app for macOS. This early entry will quickly embody the brand new Voice Mode, which can roll out over the approaching weeks. OpenAI may even launch a Home windows model of the app later this yr.

3. You need a software to create charts and tables

ChatGPT is getting an upgraded knowledge evaluation function that allows customers to create interactive charts and tables from datasets. The improve additionally lets customers add recordsdata straight from Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive, along with the choice to browse for recordsdata on their native gadget. These new options can be out there solely in GPT-4o to ChatGPT Plus, Staff, and Enterprise customers.

With these capabilities, you can add a complete analysis examine to ChatGPT and ask it to generate a desk with sure parameters (all the time test that the information ChatGPT enters is right). Then, you can click on on a cell and ask ChatGPT a query about it or immediate it to create a pie chart. The pie chart, which might even be interactive, might be custom-made and downloaded to be used in shows and paperwork.   

It is best to use free ChatGPT if…

1. You do not need to pay a month-to-month price

When GPT-4o is obtainable, ChatGPT customers will now not want a Plus subscription to entry many of the options that originally attracted subscribers. OpenAI is making GPT-4o out there to all customers, whether or not they’re paying or not. 

ChatGPT free customers will be capable to entry the multimodal GPT-4o with GPT-4-level intelligence, get responses from the online, use superior knowledge evaluation, add recordsdata and images to debate with the chatbot, entry customized GPTs within the GPT Retailer, and have extra useful experiences with Reminiscence — all of which was once ChatGPT Plus advantages.

Though it is unclear whether or not free customers can generate pictures natively in GPT-4o (OpenAI didn’t disclose this through the occasion), free customers can have entry to GPT bots within the GPT Retailer. If DALL-E entry stays a Plus function, free customers can nonetheless entry the DALL-E bot within the GPT Retailer. 

2. You are an off-the-cuff ChatGPT person

There is no such thing as a have to improve to a ChatGPT Plus membership in case you’re only a informal person who would not attain the utilization limits of GPT-4o. The brand new GPT-4o mannequin is rolling out to ChatGPT free customers with utilization limits starting at present, however OpenAI hasn’t specified this restrict. Plus customers can have a message restrict that’s 5 instances better than that of free customers, with Staff and Enterprise customers getting even larger limits.

In the event you’re a free person who would not use ChatGPT typically and stays inside the utilization restrict, you would not get a lot profit from a ChatGPT Plus subscription now. I anticipate OpenAI will amend the subscription advantages or the worth as time passes and GPT-4o turns into extensively out there.