Tool detail

ChatGPT

ChatGPT is the lowest-risk default when one subscription needs to span research, writing, meetings, ChatGPT Work deliverables, and Codex-backed workflow work instead of only the IDE. The operational distinction matters: Chat is conversational, Work is outcome-oriented, and Codex is for software development.

Powered by GPT-6 Astra · generalist · research · coding

Updated because: Do not replace a production GPT-5.6 budget with Astra assumptions yet. Treat Astra as a separately governed high-cost pilot until access, safety controls, and workload gains are validated for the buyer's organization.

Best for
Individual · Research • 10/10
Avoid if
Coding is better than general assistants used to be, but still not as IDE-native as Cursor.
Starting price
$20 /mo
Last verified: Sep 4, 2026

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Choosing a tool

Strengths and limits

Check the reasons to choose it and the limitations.

Choosing a tool

  • GPT-6 Astra materially raises the top-end capability and price ceiling, but it is not yet a generally available default. Buyers should separate a Trusted Access pilot from current GPT-5.6 production budgeting.
  • ChatGPT now has a clearer self-serve ladder from Free to Go to Plus, which lowers the jump from casual use to a paid general-purpose AI seat.
  • ChatGPT Pro now has $100 and $200 monthly tiers, so heavy individual users can buy 5x or 20x more Plus-level usage without moving into a team workspace.
  • Bundling connectors and Codex into the same workspace lowers the need to buy a separate chat seat plus coding seat for every mixed-role team member.
  • Role-specific Codex plugins, annotations, and Sites shift Codex from a coding-only helper toward a workflow surface beyond coding for analysts, marketers, operators, and product teams.
  • At $20 per user per month on annual billing, ChatGPT Business is now materially cheaper than its $30 monthly path. The deciding variable for coding-heavy teams is no longer a fixed Codex-only seat: it is included allowance plus token-based credit consumption.
  • ChatGPT Work creates a third operating surface between Chat and Codex. It expands the case for a mixed-role workspace, but its Codex-aligned consumption, app permissions, and desktop local-access boundary mean it should be budgeted and governed as an agent, not marketed as unlimited chat.

Trade-offs

  • Coding is better than general assistants used to be, but still not as IDE-native as Cursor.
  • Enterprise pricing remains sales-led, so large-scale cost planning is less transparent.
  • The product surface is broad enough that teams need governance to avoid tool sprawl inside one workspace.
  • Work availability and access differ by surface, plan, workspace, and enabled apps; do not promise local-file or write access before validating desktop permissions and admin action controls.

Fit by user

Who is it for?

Review the trade-offs for individuals, teams, and enterprises.

Individual

10/10

Best use case: Research

For solo operators, ChatGPT is the widest one-seat answer when coding is only one part of the day and research or writing quality matters just as much.

Coding 9/10 · Research 10/10 · Meetings 7/10 · Automation 8/10 · Writing 9/10 · Customer service 6/10

Team

9/10

Best use case: Research

For teams, Business closes much of the gap between personal chat subscriptions and a governed workspace by combining admin controls, shared context, and connectors.

Coding 8/10 · Research 9/10 · Meetings 8/10 · Automation 8/10 · Writing 8/10 · Customer service 7/10

Enterprise

8/10

Best use case: Research

For enterprises, ChatGPT is strongest when leaders want one cross-functional assistant, but final enterprise buying still needs a sales conversation for final pricing and controls.

Coding 7/10 · Research 8/10 · Meetings 8/10 · Automation 8/10 · Writing 8/10 · Customer service 7/10

Individual plans

For individual subscribers

Check the features and costs for your own work.

For solo operators, ChatGPT is the widest one-seat answer when coding is only one part of the day and research or writing quality matters just as much.

Pricing

Plans and pricing

Compare plan prices, features, and usage limits.

Free plan available · Paid from $20/mo

Free

$0 / month

$0 per seat / month on annual billing

Included models: GPT-5.5 Instant, GPT-5.6 Terra

  • Limited GPT-5.5 Instant access, with limited GPT-5.6 Terra access in Codex and ChatGPT Work
  • Limited messages, uploads, and image generation
  • Limited deep research and memory
Verification status
Review required · 31 days since verification
Last checked
Sep 4, 2026
Scope
Global English availability · Plan: Individual
Official evidence
ChatGPT Free pricing
Official pricing

Go

Custom quote

No annual price published

Included models: GPT-5.5 Instant, GPT-5.6 Terra

  • More GPT-5.5 Instant access plus limited GPT-5.6 Terra access in Codex and ChatGPT Work
  • More messages, uploads, and image creation
  • Longer memory and past-chat recall
  • Data analysis, search, canvas, and projects
Verification status
Review required · 31 days since verification
Last checked
Sep 4, 2026
Scope
Global English availability · Plan: Individual
Official evidence
ChatGPT Go pricing
Official pricing

Plus

Popular

$20 / month

No annual price published

Included models: GPT-5.5 Instant, GPT-5.6 Sol, GPT-5.6 Terra, GPT-5.6 Luna

  • GPT-5.6 Sol, Terra, and Luna with configurable reasoning effort
  • Expanded messages and uploads
  • Expanded and faster image creation
  • Expanded deep research and agent mode
Verification status
Review required · 31 days since verification
Last checked
Sep 4, 2026
Scope
Global English availability · Plan: Individual
Official evidence
ChatGPT Plus pricing
Official pricing

Pro 5x

$100 / month

No annual price published

  • 5x more usage than Plus
  • GPT-5.6 Sol Pro and advanced reasoning access
  • Expanded file uploads, deep research, agent mode, memory, and context
  • ChatGPT Work for longer multi-step deliverables
Verification status
Review required · 31 days since verification
Last checked
Sep 4, 2026
Scope
Global English availability · Plan: Individual
Official evidence
ChatGPT Pro 5x pricing
Official pricing

Pro 20x

$200 / month

No annual price published

  • 20x more usage than Plus
  • Highest ChatGPT Pro usage tier
  • Maximum file uploads, deep research, agent mode, memory, and context
  • ChatGPT Work for longer multi-step deliverables
Verification status
Review required · 31 days since verification
Last checked
Sep 4, 2026
Scope
Global English availability · Plan: Individual
Official evidence
ChatGPT Pro 20x pricing
Official pricing

Business

$30 / month

$20 per seat / month on annual billing

Included models: GPT-5.5 Instant, GPT-5.6 Sol, GPT-5.6 Terra, GPT-5.6 Luna

  • Standard Business seats include a Codex usage allowance
  • Most Codex usage and purchased credits now follow a token-based rate card
  • ChatGPT Work for multi-step documents, analyses, presentations, and Sites across enabled apps and files
  • New Business workspaces cannot add Codex-only pay-as-you-go seats; existing Codex-only seats are unaffected
Verification status
Review required · 31 days since verification
Last checked
Sep 4, 2026
Scope
Global English availability · Plan: Team
Official pricing

Enterprise

Custom quote

No annual price published

Included models: GPT-5.5 Instant, GPT-5.6 Sol, GPT-5.6 Terra, GPT-5.6 Luna

  • Everything in Business with expanded context windows and larger files
  • ChatGPT Work access is governed by workspace, role, and Enterprise Key Management eligibility
  • SCIM, EKM, analytics, domain verification, and role-based access controls
  • Custom data retention policies and data residency in ten regions
Verification status
Review required · 31 days since verification
Last checked
Sep 4, 2026
Scope
Global English availability · Plan: Enterprise
Official pricing

FAQ

Common questions

Answers about pricing and usage terms.

Does ChatGPT Business include coding workflows?
Yes. Standard Business seats include a Codex allowance. For most migrated workspaces, credits now map to input, cached-input, and output-token use; new Business workspaces cannot add Codex-only pay-as-you-go seats, while existing ones are unaffected. Codex is still a general-workspace coding surface rather than an IDE-native cockpit.
How should a team budget Codex inside ChatGPT Business?
Treat the annual Business seat and heavy agent consumption as separate questions. Start with the included allowance, then use the token-based rate card to model representative input, cached-input, and output mix. Do not assume a new workspace can solve overage with a Codex-only pay-as-you-go seat.
When is ChatGPT Go worth considering?
Go matters when Free is too constrained but Plus is still more capability than the buyer needs. It mainly buys more GPT-5.5 Instant access, more uploads and images, longer memory, and limited GPT-5.6 Terra access in Codex and ChatGPT Work.
How should a team choose between ChatGPT Chat, Work, and Codex?
Use Chat for quick questions and iteration, Work when the requested outcome is a multi-step document, analysis, spreadsheet, presentation, report, or Site, and Codex for code, repositories, tests, and developer tools. Work follows the Codex usage structure, so a long deliverable is not automatically covered by the visible seat price.
What must an admin validate before enabling ChatGPT Work?
Validate the plan and workspace eligibility, role access, enabled apps and their allowed actions, plus whether the pilot needs cloud Work or desktop access to local files and apps. For file creation, confirm the target surface: Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides need the corresponding enabled Google app; direct Excel control is a Codex desktop add-in flow, not a Work guarantee.
When should a team buy Business instead of handing out Plus seats?
Buy Business when shared governance, SAML SSO, connectors, shared projects, and business-data controls matter. Plus remains fine for loose individual usage, but it is not a governed team rollout surface.
Does OpenAI train on ChatGPT Business or Enterprise data?
Business and Enterprise are positioned with no training on business data by default. That is one of the main reasons to move off personal plans when rollout becomes company-wide.
Is ChatGPT still the best buy if coding is the main job?
Usually only if the same seat also needs research, writing, and cross-tool work. For a pure IDE-native coding cockpit, Cursor or GitHub Copilot can still be better buys.

Alternatives

When to consider an alternative to ChatGPT

Keep ChatGPT when one seat still has to cover research, writing, meetings, and coding-adjacent work together. Switch only when the seat exists for one dominant workflow: Claude for reasoning-heavy writing, Perplexity for citation-backed research, Gemini for Google Workspace rollout.

Claude

Claude is the cleanest alternative when the team keeps reaching for ChatGPT mainly for difficult reasoning or editorial work rather than breadth.

Perplexity

Perplexity is the better alternative when the daily job is finding cited answers quickly, not maintaining a broad assistant workspace.

Gemini

Gemini becomes the practical alternative when Google Workspace rollout and admin familiarity outweigh the value of ChatGPT's wider product surface.

Watchlist

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Model details

Models, benchmarks, and API pricing

Review supported models and published measurements.

Models

GPT-6 Astra

Context window
1,050,000 tokens
Max output
128,000 tokens
Training cutoff
Apr 30, 2026

GPT-5.5 Instant

Context window
128,000 tokens

Available in: Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise

GPT-5.6 Sol

Context window
1,050,000 tokens
Max output
128,000 tokens
Training cutoff
Feb 16, 2026

Available in: Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise

GPT-5.6 Terra

Context window
1,050,000 tokens
Max output
128,000 tokens
Training cutoff
Feb 16, 2026

Available in: Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise

GPT-5.6 Luna

Context window
1,050,000 tokens
Max output
128,000 tokens
Training cutoff
Feb 16, 2026

Available in: Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise

Benchmarks

Benchmarks
DimensionScoreModelMeasuredSource
Terminal-Bench 2.188.8%GPT-5.6 SolJul 9, 2026Source
SWE-Bench Pro (Public)64.6%GPT-5.6 SolJul 9, 2026Source
OSWorld 2.062.6%GPT-5.6 SolJul 9, 2026Source
Toolathlon58%GPT-5.6 SolJul 9, 2026Source
Agents' Last Exam52.7%GPT-5.6 SolJul 9, 2026Source

API pricing

API pricing
ModelInput (per 1M tokens)Output (per 1M tokens)Documentation
GPT-6 Astra$10$50Frontier model for the hardest end-to-end work. Access is initially limited to Trusted Access enterprises, with broader API and plan rollout announced for the coming days.
GPT-5.6 Sol$4$20Flagship GPT-5.6 tier for coding, professional work, and long-running agents.
GPT-5.6 Terra$2$12Balanced GPT-5.6 tier for cost-sensitive professional and agentic workloads.
GPT-5.6 Luna$0.20$1.20Fastest, lowest-cost GPT-5.6 tier for scaled routines and subagents.
o4-mini$1.10$4.40Legacy small reasoning model, now succeeded by GPT-5 mini.

Changes

Recent changes

Do not replace a production GPT-5.6 budget with Astra assumptions yet. Treat Astra as a separately governed high-cost pilot until access, safety controls, and workload gains are validated for the buyer's organization.

Sep 4, 2026high

GPT-6 Astra enters limited rollout above the GPT-5.6 family.

OpenAI introduced GPT-6 Astra with a 1.05M context window, 128K maximum output, and $10/$50 per million input/output token pricing. Initial access is limited to Trusted Access enterprises; broader API and Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise access was announced for the coming days.

Do not replace a production GPT-5.6 budget with Astra assumptions yet. Treat Astra as a separately governed high-cost pilot until access, safety controls, and workload gains are validated for the buyer's organization.

Open tool change history
Sep 4, 2026medium

GPT-5.6 API prices fall across Sol, Terra, and Luna.

Current OpenAI model documentation lists Sol at $4/$20, Terra at $2/$12, and Luna at $0.20/$1.20 per million input/output tokens.

Re-run routing and unit-cost models: Luna is now one-fifth of its launch input and output price, while Sol and Terra also became cheaper for production agent workloads.

Open tool change history
Aug 14, 2026high

ChatGPT Work creates a distinct outcome-agent surface between Chat and Codex.

ChatGPT Work handles longer multi-step deliverables across enabled apps and files, including documents, spreadsheets, presentations, reports, and Sites. Cloud Work is available through web and mobile, while desktop access to local files and apps needs permission. Its usage follows the same structure as Codex rather than an unlimited-chat model.

Budget Work as an agentic consumption surface and validate workspace eligibility, roles, enabled apps, allowed actions, and cloud-versus-local access before rollout. Do not assume an included chat seat grants every file-creation or desktop-control workflow.

Open tool change history
Aug 13, 2026high

ChatGPT Business annual pricing is now $20 per user per month, while Codex usage moves to a token ratecard.

OpenAI reduced annual Business pricing from $25 to $20 per user per month while monthly pricing remains $30. Codex usage and purchased credits now follow the token ratecard, and new Codex-only pay-as-you-go seats are no longer available for Business workspaces.

Business becomes a lower fixed-seat baseline, but coding-heavy teams must separately forecast token-credit consumption. Do not use the Business seat price as the complete Codex budget.

Open tool change history
Jul 11, 2026high

GPT-5.6 replaces GPT-5.5 across ChatGPT, Codex, and the OpenAI API.

OpenAI launched GPT-5.6 Sol, Terra, and Luna on July 9 with configurable reasoning, multi-agent and programmatic tool-calling paths, and API prices of $5/$30, $2.50/$15, and $1/$6 per million input/output tokens.

Teams should now model OpenAI as a three-tier GPT-5.6 family instead of a single premium flagship. Sol keeps GPT-5.5's flagship token price while improving agentic and computer-use performance; Terra and Luna create clearer cost-down paths for scaled assistants and subagents.

Open tool change history

Next reads

Compare with other tools

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Next reads

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Features

Features by plan

Check which features require a paid plan.

AI · 3

Deep research

Turns open-ended questions into multi-step research with citations and synthesis.

Available in: Free, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise

Verification status
Review required · 31 days since verification
Last checked
Sep 4, 2026
Scope
Global English availability · Plan: Free, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise
Official evidence
ChatGPT pricing

ChatGPT Work

An outcome-oriented agent for longer, multi-step work: it can research, analyze sources, and create documents, spreadsheets, presentations, reports, or Sites across enabled apps and files. Use Chat for fast conversation, Work for a deliverable, and Codex for repository and software tasks.

Available in: Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise

Verification status
Review required · 31 days since verification
Last checked
Sep 4, 2026
Scope
Global English availability · Plan: Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise

Codex agent

Lets ChatGPT reason across codebases, related documentation, and role-specific Codex plugins from the same workspace; Business buyers should model the included allowance and any token-based credits separately.

Available in: Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise

Verification status
Review required · 31 days since verification
Last checked
Sep 4, 2026
Scope
Global English availability · Plan: Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise
Official evidence
ChatGPT pricing · Codex rate card
Integration · 2

Apps and connectors

Connects internal tools and cloud storage for grounded answers inside the workspace.

Available in: Business, Enterprise

Verification status
Review required · 31 days since verification
Last checked
Sep 4, 2026
Scope
Global English availability · Plan: Business, Enterprise
Official evidence
Apps in ChatGPT

Codex plugins and Sites

Packages apps, skills, instructions, workflows, and shareable Sites so teams can standardize Codex beyond software-only tasks.

Available in: Business, Enterprise

Verification status
Review required · 31 days since verification
Last checked
Sep 4, 2026
Scope
Global English availability · Plan: Business, Enterprise
Security · 3

Work surfaces and permission boundaries

Work on web and mobile runs in the cloud; desktop Work can use local files and desktop apps only with user permission. Access, enabled apps, and actions remain constrained by the plan, workspace, admin policy, and role, so a deliverable agent should be piloted with explicit read/write boundaries.

Available in: Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise

Verification status
Review required · 31 days since verification
Last checked
Sep 4, 2026
Scope
Global English availability · Plan: Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise

Codex usage and credit controls

Makes Codex consumption visible as token-based credits for most migrated plans, so heavy agent work can be budgeted by input, cached-input, and output-token mix instead of a simple request count.

Available in: Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise

Verification status
Review required · 31 days since verification
Last checked
Sep 4, 2026
Scope
Global English availability · Plan: Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise
Official evidence
Codex rate card

Business admin controls

Adds workspace controls, SAML SSO, and no-training defaults for business data.

Available in: Business, Enterprise

Verification status
Review required · 31 days since verification
Last checked
Sep 4, 2026
Scope
Global English availability · Plan: Business, Enterprise
Official evidence
ChatGPT Business · Apps in ChatGPT
Collaboration · 2

Projects and shared projects

Keeps recurring work organized in project spaces before a team needs a fully governed business workspace.

Available in: Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise

Verification status
Review required · 31 days since verification
Last checked
Sep 4, 2026
Scope
Global English availability · Plan: Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise
Official evidence
ChatGPT pricing

Custom GPTs

Packages prompts, tools, files, and tasks into reusable workflows once teams move above the Go tier.

Available in: Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise

Verification status
Review required · 31 days since verification
Last checked
Sep 4, 2026
Scope
Global English availability · Plan: Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise
Official evidence
ChatGPT pricing

Rollout policy evidence

Check policy and admin conditions against official evidence

These rollout signals come from security, help, and product documentation. Keep legal and security approval in your organization’s formal review process.

Verification status
Review required · 31 days since verification · Plan-specific conditions need confirmation
Last checked
Sep 4, 2026
Scope
Global English availability · Plan: Confirm official terms per plan

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ChatGPT Review (2026): Features, Fit Score, Pros/Cons & Buyer Guide | AgentHub