Nine paid consumer tiers, three very different ideas of what a subscription should include. We read every official pricing page and help article on 7 November 2026 so you can match a plan to how you actually work.
The Review at NYU is not affiliated with New York University.
Short answer. As of 7 November 2026, the three main US tiers cost almost the same per month: ChatGPT Plus is $20, Google AI Pro is $19.99 and Claude Pro is $20. Google AI Pro is the best value on paper because it adds 5 TB of storage, Gemini in Gmail and Docs, and a $199.99 annual price; Claude Pro is the strongest fit for coding and long writing work because Claude Code is included and the context window goes up to 1M tokens depending on the model; ChatGPT Plus is the most complete all rounder for images, deep research and agent features. Heavy users can step up to $100 or $200 tiers on all three, and ChatGPT adds a $500 Pro tier.
We did not run hands on tests for this article. We compared the plans the way a careful buyer would before paying: by reading the official pricing pages of OpenAI, Google and Anthropic, the help center articles they link to for limits and billing, and the official student offer pages, all on 7 November 2026 with US pricing selected. Where a company publishes a number, we quote it. Where it publishes only a multiplier or the words "limits apply", we say that, rather than filling the gap with forum estimates.
Before forming any verdict, we set six criteria and weighed every plan against them:
We gave the most weight to the first two. A plan that looks generous but runs out mid task, or that costs more than it needs to because annual billing is missing, is a worse deal than its feature list suggests. If you are new to the vocabulary used below (models, context windows, agents), our explainer The Modern AI World, Explained Simply covers the basics.
Each company now runs a ladder of roughly the same shape: a free tier, a budget tier, a main tier around $20, and one or more power tiers at $100 and above. The names do not line up neatly, which is the first source of confusion. Anthropic and Google both use the word "Ultra", but for different things, and "Pro" means a $20 plan at Google and Anthropic and a $100 to $500 plan at OpenAI.
All prices are US list prices before tax, as shown on the official pages on 7 November 2026.
The table below covers the paid consumer tiers only. Business, Team and Enterprise plans are left out because they are priced per seat and bought by organisations.
| Plan | US price | Annual option | Headline models | Usage as officially described | Deep research | Image and video | Coding agent | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT Go | $8/month | No (monthly) | GPT-5.6 Luna (default and Think) | Unlimited everyday text chats subject to guardrails; more tools, uploads and images than Free | Limited | Images yes; no video listed | Codex, limited | None |
| ChatGPT Plus | $20/month | No (monthly) | GPT-6 (Medium and High thinking); GPT-6 Astra in Work and Codex | "Limits apply"; no message count published | Expanded | Images, including image generation with Thinking | Codex, expanded usage | None |
| ChatGPT Pro | $100, $200 or $500/month | No (monthly only) | GPT-6 Pro powered by GPT-6 Astra; Extra High thinking | Three usage tiers; GPT-6 Pro has weekly limits; Ultrafast only on Pro 500 | Maximum | Unlimited image creation subject to guardrails | Codex, longer sessions | None |
| Google AI Plus | $4.99/month | Not stated | Flash (no Pro model) | 2x the free limit | Yes (also on Free) | Images and video generation; 200 Flow credits | None listed | 400 GB |
| Google AI Pro | $19.99/month | $199.99/year | Gemini 4 Argon, Pro and Flash models | 4x the free limit | Yes | Images and video generation; 1,000 Flow credits | Antigravity, entry rate limits | 5 TB |
| Google AI Ultra | $99.99 or $199.99/month | No (monthly only) | Highest access to Gemini 4 Argon, Pro and Flash | 5x or 20x Google AI Pro | Yes, highest access | 10,000 or 25,000 Flow credits; Project Genie | Antigravity, higher or highest rate limits | From 20 TB |
| Claude Pro | $20/month | $200/year ($17/month) | Opus, Sonnet, Haiku; Fable via paid usage credits | At least 5x Free per 5 hour session, plus a weekly limit | Yes (Research) | None listed | Claude Code included | None |
| Claude Max | $100/month | No (monthly) | Opus, Sonnet, Haiku; Fable up to half the weekly limit | 5x Pro every 5 hours and every week | Yes | None listed | Claude Code included | None |
| Claude Ultra | $200/month | No (monthly) | Same models as Max | 10x Pro per week; no 5 hour limit for verified accounts | Yes | None listed | Claude Code included | None |
Two rows in that table deserve a second look. First, Google AI Plus does not include the Pro model: Google's help center shows Plus subscribers getting Flash-Lite and Flash only. Second, none of the Claude plans list image or video generation on the pricing page, which matters if those are a reason you are paying.
Go is OpenAI's budget tier. The pricing page describes it as "best for longer conversations" and lists more messages with tools, more uploads, more image creation, more voice chats and longer memory than Free. It also carries a note that the plan "may include ads". The model is the important limit: OpenAI's help center says Free and Go users get GPT-5.6 Luna, described as the fastest and lowest cost model in the GPT-5.6 family, and that the Think option on Go also uses Luna rather than the stronger GPT-5.6 Sol. Deep research and Codex are listed as limited. Go does add scheduled tasks and voice with video, which Free lacks.
Context is better than Free: OpenAI lists a 54K token instant context window (about 40 pages of text as input) and a 256K reasoning window (about 320 pages) on Go, the same figures it lists for Plus.
Plus is where ChatGPT becomes a serious work tool. According to OpenAI's help center, GPT-6 is rolling out as the default in Chat for Plus users, with GPT-6 Sol powering the Instant, Medium and High thinking levels; the Extra High and Pro levels are not included on Plus. Plus also includes GPT-6 Astra inside ChatGPT Work and Codex, OpenAI's agent workspace and coding agent. The pricing page lists expanded deep research, projects, scheduled tasks and custom GPTs, interactive tables and charts, Sites, developer mode (beta), and the Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Google Sheets extensions.
The weakness is transparency. The Plus card links to a page titled with the words "Limits apply", and that article describes thinking limits and fallbacks without giving a message count for GPT-6. When you hit a thinking limit, ChatGPT may continue with another available model. Plus is also monthly only for individuals: the pricing FAQ says annual plans are offered for Business and Enterprise, not for Go or Plus.
Pro is now three plans. OpenAI's help article on Pro tiers lists Pro 100 at $100, Pro 200 at $200 and Pro 500 at $500, all billed monthly, with no annual option. All three include GPT-6 Pro, powered by GPT-6 Astra, along with maximum deep research, the largest context (128K instant, about 250 pages of input; 400K reasoning, about 680 pages), longer Codex and ChatGPT Work sessions, and an always on agent the pricing page calls Dot. Each tier also includes monthly API credits: $100, $200 or $500 respectively, with activation and eligibility requirements and credits that expire at the end of each billing cycle.
The word "unlimited" on Pro needs reading closely. OpenAI says unlimited access is subject to abuse guardrails, and its model help article states plainly that a Pro subscription does not include unlimited use of the GPT-6 Pro model; it has weekly limits, and Pro 200 has a higher weekly limit than Pro 100. Ultrafast mode for GPT-6 Astra and GPT-6.1 Sol is only on Pro 500, and it consumes the included allowance at 8 times the standard rate.
Google sells Gemini as part of Google AI plans billed through Google One, which is why storage and other Google benefits come bundled. All Google AI plans require the account holder to be 18 or over, according to the subscriptions page.
Plus is the cheapest paid tier of the three companies. It includes the Flash model, double the free usage limit, video generation and Daily Brief in the Gemini app, 200 Google Flow credits for Google's AI video and image studio, Gemini in Gmail and Vids, more Audio Overviews in Gemini Notebook, and 400 GB of storage across Gmail, Drive and Photos. Google's help center table shows Plus with Flash-Lite and Flash but not the Pro model, so it is a capacity and storage upgrade more than an intelligence upgrade. The official pages we checked did not state an annual price for Plus.
Pro is Google's main tier and the one that competes directly with ChatGPT Plus and Claude Pro. The subscriptions page lists access to Gemini 4 Argon and the Pro and Flash models, four times the free usage limit, 1,000 Flow credits, entry rate limits for the agent model in Google Antigravity (Google's agentic coding platform), Gemini in Gmail, Docs and Vids, auto browse in Gemini in Chrome, the Standard plan of Google Home Premium, a YouTube Premium Lite plan, and 5 TB of storage. The same page advertises file uploads of up to 1,500 pages, code uploads of up to 30,000 lines, and a 1M token context window.
One editorial caution: parts of Google's own subscriptions page still refer to "3.1 Pro" and Veo 3.1 in its FAQ and feature carousel, while the plan cards and banner name Gemini 4 Argon. We report the plan cards, but the mixed naming suggests the page is mid update. Confirm the exact model list in the Gemini app before you subscribe.
Ultra comes in two sizes. The $99.99 plan gives five times the Google AI Pro usage limit and the $199.99 plan gives twenty times. Both are billed monthly only, according to Google One. Ultra adds 10,000 or 25,000 Flow credits, higher or highest Antigravity rate limits, Project Genie (Google's interactive world model, available only on Ultra), first access to features such as Tasks in Gemini in select countries, the Advanced plan of Google Home Premium, a full YouTube Premium individual plan, and storage starting at 20 TB.
Anthropic's lineup is the most focused of the three. It has no budget tier between Free and Pro, no storage bundle and no image or video generation on its pricing page. What it does include in every paid plan is Claude Code, its coding agent, drawing from the same usage pool as chat.
Claude Pro costs $20 billed monthly or $200 billed up front for a year, which Anthropic presents as $17 a month. The plan includes Opus, Sonnet and Haiku models, Research, Projects, scheduled and handed off tasks, Claude in Chrome, Claude for Microsoft 365 and Outlook, Claude Science, Claude Dashboards (beta), memory, connectors to other apps, and code execution for creating and editing files. Anthropic's top model, Fable, is available on Pro only through paid usage credits. The context window is listed as up to 1M tokens, varying by model, on every plan including Free.
Max gives five times Pro usage, both per 5 hour window and per week, plus Fable included for up to half of the weekly limit, $100 a month in API credits for building on the Claude Platform, early access to advanced features and priority access at high traffic times. It is billed monthly only.
Ultra removes the 5 hour limit for verified accounts and gives ten times Pro usage per week, with $200 a month in API credits. It keeps the Fable allowance of up to half the weekly limit. Like Max, it is monthly only.
Usage limits are the most important and least transparent part of every plan. None of the three companies publishes a fixed message count for its main chat model on its $20 tier as of 7 November 2026. Here is what each one does say.
Google moved the Gemini app to compute based usage limits in 2026. Its help center says your limit refreshes every 5 hours until you reach a weekly limit, and that usage depends on the complexity of the prompt, the features used and the length of the chat. Premium features use the limit faster: media generation, Deep Research, the Pro model, and extended thinking or Deep Think. The plans are then described as multiples: Plus is 2x the standard limit, Pro is 4x, and Ultra is 5x or 20x Pro. You can buy AI credits to extend the limit.
Anthropic describes the same structure. Most accounts have a limit that resets on a rolling five hour window, and paid plans add weekly limits. Use across web, desktop, mobile and Claude Code draws from one pool. Anthropic says outright that there is no fixed message count, and that it may also apply other caps at its discretion. Pro gives at least 5x the Free usage per session, Max gives 5x Pro, and Ultra gives 10x Pro weekly without a 5 hour limit for verified accounts. On paid plans you can switch on usage credits at standard API rates once you hit a limit.
OpenAI is the most generous on everyday chat: all plans, including Free and Go, are described as having unlimited everyday text chats, subject to abuse guardrails. Separate limits apply to uploads, image generation, voice, data analysis and the thinking models. OpenAI publishes context sizes per plan, which the others mostly do not, but it does not publish a weekly GPT-6 thinking message count for Plus. On Pro, the help center explains how the GPT-6 Pro weekly allowance works, and how Fast mode (2.5x) and Ultrafast (8x) consume it faster, without giving the base numbers. Credits can be bought for Codex, ChatGPT Work and the Office extensions only.
The practical lesson is the same for all three: a multiplier tells you how plans compare to each other within one company, not how much work you will get done, and it cannot be compared across companies. The only reliable test is your own workload during the first month.
Because ChatGPT does not offer annual billing to individuals, its main tier ends up the most expensive over twelve months even though the monthly sticker price matches its rivals. The figures below are straightforward arithmetic on the official US list prices as of 7 November 2026, before tax.
| Plan | 12 x monthly price | Official annual price | Saving with annual |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT Go | $96 | Not offered | None |
| Google AI Plus | $59.88 | Not stated | Unknown |
| ChatGPT Plus | $240 | Not offered | None |
| Google AI Pro | $239.88 | $199.99 | $39.89 |
| Claude Pro | $240 | $200 | $40 |
| Claude Max | $1,200 | Not offered | None |
| Google AI Ultra (5x) | $1,199.88 | Not offered | None |
| ChatGPT Pro 100 | $1,200 | Not offered | None |
The bundles shift the picture further. If you already pay Google for 2 TB or more of storage, or for YouTube Premium Lite, part of the Google AI Pro price is money you would spend anyway. If you would never use the storage, it is worth nothing to you, and the comparison comes down to the models and limits.
These verdicts apply our six criteria to the published plan details above. They are recommendations about plan fit, not claims about which model writes or codes best, which we did not test.
A free year of a $19.99 plan that includes a frontier model, Deep Research, file uploads of up to 1,500 pages and 5 TB of storage is hard to argue with, and it is the only verified student offer still open on 7 November 2026. Set a reminder before the renewal date. If you are not eligible, ChatGPT Go at $8 or Google AI Plus at $4.99 are the budget options, with the caveat that neither includes its company's top model. For language study specifically, our comparison of ChatGPT and dedicated AI tutor apps is worth reading before you pay for either.
Claude Pro's annual price of $200, a context window listed at up to 1M tokens, Projects for keeping drafts and reference files together, and Research make it the most writing focused of the three $20 plans. The trade off is that it lists no image generation, so a writer who also needs illustrations would need a second tool. ChatGPT Plus is the alternative if you want one subscription that covers text, images and charts. Our guide to the best AI writing tools in 2026 covers specialist options as well.
Every paid Claude plan includes Claude Code, sharing one usage pool with chat, and the step from Pro to Max is a clean 5x with $100 of API credits. ChatGPT Plus with Codex is a close alternative and includes GPT-6 Astra in Codex. Google AI Pro's Antigravity access is listed only as "entry rate limits", which suggests it is meant as a taste rather than a daily driver at that tier. For how the coding tools themselves compare, see AI coding assistants compared.
If deep research is your main use and you hit limits on a $20 plan, ChatGPT Pro offers "maximum deep research", the largest published context (400K reasoning) and a choice of three price points, so you can start at $100. Google AI Ultra at $99.99 gives 5x the Google AI Pro limit, and Deep Research is a premium feature that counts heavily against that limit. Claude Max is the third option at $100 with Research included and 5x Pro usage. Because none of them publishes base numbers, we would subscribe for one month, track how many research runs you complete, and only then commit.
Gemini in Gmail, Docs and Vids, auto browse in Chrome and 5 TB of Drive storage mean the AI shows up inside tools you already open every day, rather than in a separate tab. ChatGPT Plus does offer a Google Sheets extension, and Claude offers connectors to other apps, but neither puts an assistant directly into Gmail and Docs the way Google's own plan does. If your daily tools are Word, Excel and Outlook instead, Claude Pro (Claude for Microsoft 365 and Outlook) and ChatGPT Plus (Excel, Word and PowerPoint extensions) are the closer fit.
Plus combines GPT-6, image generation with Thinking, expanded deep research, Codex, Sites, scheduled tasks and the widest set of extras. It is the least transparent about limits and costs $40 more a year than its rivals because there is no annual option, but it has the fewest obvious gaps. If you choose a phone partly for its built in assistant, our iPhone 18 Pro vs Galaxy S26 Ultra comparison covers the on device side of the question.
On monthly billing they are close: ChatGPT Plus is $20, Google AI Pro is $19.99 and Claude Pro is $20, as of 7 November 2026. Over a year the gap opens. Google AI Pro costs $199.99 and Claude Pro $200 when paid annually, while ChatGPT Plus is only offered monthly to individuals, so it costs $240 for twelve months.
Not as fixed numbers for the main chat. Google and Anthropic both describe compute based limits that reset every 5 hours with a weekly cap and give only multipliers, such as 4x the free limit for Google AI Pro or 5x Pro for Claude Max. OpenAI publishes context window sizes per plan but says limits apply on Plus without listing a message count for GPT-6.
As of 7 November 2026, Google offers Google AI Pro free for one year to eligible US college students aged 18 or over, redeemable until 31 December 2026. OpenAI's offer of four free months of ChatGPT Plus for US students closed on 31 October 2026. Anthropic's pricing page lists no individual student discount, only an Education plan sold to institutions.
Google's plans are the only ones of the three that bundle storage. Google AI Plus includes 400 GB, Google AI Pro includes 5 TB and Google AI Ultra starts at 20 TB, shared across Gmail, Drive and Photos. ChatGPT and Claude subscriptions include no general cloud storage.
All three paid lines include one in some form. Claude Code is included in every paid Claude plan and shares the same usage pool as chat. ChatGPT Plus and Pro include Codex, with Pro getting longer sessions. Google AI Pro and Ultra include rate limits for the agent model in Google Antigravity, Google's agentic development platform.
Yes on all three, with conditions. Claude paid plans can turn on usage credits billed at standard API rates. Google lets you buy AI credits to extend Gemini app limits. OpenAI sells credits for eligible features such as Codex, ChatGPT Work and the Office extensions, but says credits do not add usage for every model or feature.