AI Comparison: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini Pricing

What generative AI can now do, in one line per type

Generative AI covers five broad kinds of output: text, images, video, audio, and code. The four vendors compared, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Microsoft, sell their plans through one chat product each rather than a separate plan per output type. So the real price comparison is between chat plans, and the kind of work you do tells you where you'll hit a limit first.

Text, image, video, audio, and code, briefly

Text and chat are the part of every plan with the most room on the free tier. ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini all let you chat for free, and Claude's free plan already includes web search, file creation, and running code. For writing, summarizing, and quick research, the free plans are a real starting point, not a demo.

Images and video are harder to compare. The OpenAI, Claude, and Google AI plan pages cited below don't break out image or video allowances by tier, so treat them as part of each vendor's general usage cap and test them on the free plan first. Audio is clearer on the ChatGPT side: third-party pricing trackers list audio and video mode as a Plus feature.

Code has the cleanest answer. Claude's free plan can run code, and Claude Pro includes Claude Code, Anthropic's coding tool, along with Design, Slides, and Docs. If most of your work is code, that difference matters more than any other line on the price sheet.

Where the free-tier line usually falls

Free plans stop in two ways: they cap how much you can use, and they hold back certain features. On ChatGPT, third-party trackers describe the $8-a-month, ad-supported Go plan as unlimited GPT-5 Instant access with more uploads and data analysis, but without Thinking, Deep Research, custom GPTs, or agents. Those arrive with Plus, which is the first tier where ChatGPT's full feature set opens up.

Claude limits its free plan mostly by volume. The free plan covers chat on web, desktop, and mobile, plus search, files, and code, and Pro adds more usage and the extra tools. Google limits almost entirely by volume: it describes each paid plan as a multiple of the free plan's usage limit.

ChatGPT vs Claude vs Gemini vs Copilot: what $20 buys you in 2026

Three of the four vendors now sell a standard tier at the same price. ChatGPT Plus and Claude Pro are both $20 a month, and Google AI Pro is Google's plan at that level. At the same price, the deciding factor is whose limits and bundled tools match the work you actually do.

The converged $20 tier across three vendors

ChatGPT Plus costs $20 a month, and OpenAI doesn't offer annual billing or a way to prepay several months. API usage isn't part of the subscription either, so developers pay for that separately. Claude Pro is also $20 when billed monthly and bundles Claude Code, Design, Slides, and Docs with more usage than the free plan.

Google AI Pro belongs in the same tier, though Google's Japan page lists ¥2,900 a month and shows no USD price. Independent comparisons group Google AI Pro with ChatGPT Plus and Claude Pro as the standard plan, and they report 5TB of Google One cloud storage in the bundle. Check the Google AI plans page for your own region before you put it side by side with the $20 plans.

What separates the three at this price is how each one limits you: Claude resets on rolling five-hour windows, Google sells a fixed multiple of its free limit, and ChatGPT unlocks features such as agents and custom GPTs at Plus. For a closer look at Claude and ChatGPT, see What Is Claude AI? Free Plan, Models, vs ChatGPT.

Why Copilot's model is different

Microsoft 365 Copilot doesn't compete at $20 because it isn't sold as a standalone chat plan. Microsoft sells Copilot Business as an add-on plan, and only customers who already have an eligible Microsoft 365 Business plan can buy it. Your real Copilot cost is the add-on price on top of the Microsoft 365 license you already pay for.

Microsoft's Copilot pricing page lists these plans per user per month, paid yearly under an annual commitment, so they don't line up one-for-one with the $20 personal tiers. If you're buying just for yourself, check Microsoft's plans for individuals separately before you compare.

Free plan limits: how far each free tier actually goes

ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini each offer a free plan you can use for real work. What differs is how the free plan runs out: some limits reset within hours, some push you toward a cheaper step before the main plan, and some are simply a smaller share of what the paid tier gives you. Knowing which kind of limit you're up against tells you whether paying will fix it.

Session windows, usage multipliers, and ad-supported tiers

Claude's limits reset on a rolling five-hour session window. Hitting the cap means waiting a few hours, not until next month, which suits people who work in bursts. The free plan includes chat on web, desktop, and mobile, along with web search, file creation, and running code.

Gemini's free plan is the baseline Google measures everything else against. On the Japan page, Google AI Plus costs ¥725 a month for 2x the free usage limit, and Google AI Pro costs ¥2,900 for 4x. If Gemini's free plan runs out only now and then, the smaller Plus step may be all you need.

ChatGPT's free plan costs nothing, and third-party pricing trackers list a Go plan at $8 a month between Free and Plus. Those trackers describe Go as ad-supported, with unlimited GPT-5 Instant access and more uploads and data analysis. It leaves out Thinking, Deep Research, custom GPTs, and agents, so if you need those, Go won't be enough.

Paid tiers above $20: Max, Pro $100/$200, Ultra, and Business seats

The tiers above $20 don't unlock a different product. They sell more of the same one, measured as a multiple of the standard plan, plus seats and admin for teams. Skip past the $20 tier only if you already know you'll hit its limit most days, or if you're buying for more than one person.

When the $20 tier isn't enough

Anthropic prices its top individual plan as a usage multiple of the standard tier. Claude Max starts at $100 a month and gives 5x or 20x more usage than Pro, with higher output limits for all tasks. Google AI Ultra on the Japan page is ¥14,500 a month.

ChatGPT Pro comes in two levels, $100 and $200 a month, and third-party trackers describe them as 5x and 20x Plus usage. As of September 10, 2026, OpenAI has temporarily paused new sign-ups and upgrades to the $200 level, which it calls Pro 20X. Existing $200 subscribers keep their plan, and the $100 level is still open to new and existing subscribers.

Context window, meaning how much text a model can hold at once, is a separate question from price. Third-party comparisons from September 2026 report 2-million-token windows for Claude's and Gemini's top models, and 256,000 tokens for ChatGPT in Thinking mode as of September 14, 2026. These aren't vendor-published figures, so treat them as a rough guide if you work with very long documents.

Team and business seat pricing

For teams, pricing moves to a per-seat model, and the vendors structure it differently. Claude Team offers a Standard seat at $25 a month and a Premium seat at $125 a month, both billed monthly, with the Premium seat getting 5x more usage than a standard one. Claude Enterprise is $20 per seat per month billed annually, but usage costs scale with the model and task, so the seat price isn't the whole bill.

Third-party pricing trackers list ChatGPT Business at $25 per seat per month, or $20 billed annually, with a two-seat minimum. Microsoft 365 Copilot is instead an add-on to a license you already pay for. If your company already runs on Microsoft 365, start with that add-on; if it doesn't, compare Claude Team and ChatGPT Business seat for seat.

Which generative AI to pick, by job

Once the prices line up, the choice comes down to what you do most. Since three of the four vendors sell a standard tier at the same level, the tie-breakers are the kind of limit you'll hit and the tools bundled in. Start on a free plan, note what stops you, and pay for the plan that removes that specific limit.

Writing, research, and everyday use

For writing, summarizing, and quick research, the free plans are the right place to start. If you hit Claude's limit, it resets within five hours, so a burst-heavy workday may still fit on the free plan. If you want agents, Deep Research, or custom GPTs, those point you to ChatGPT Plus rather than Go.

Gemini has the most gradual upgrade path for everyday use, with Google AI Plus at 2x the free limit before Google AI Pro at 4x. Third-party trackers call ChatGPT Plus the best all-rounder for individuals, and Claude Pro matches its $20 price when billed monthly. For more on ChatGPT's tiers and models, see GPT-5 in ChatGPT: Pricing, Free Tier, Models.

Business and productivity

If your organization already pays for a Microsoft 365 business license, Microsoft 365 Copilot is the simplest option, as an add-on to that license. For a team starting fresh, compare Claude Team's $25 standard seat against the ChatGPT Business pricing that trackers report.

Bigger rollouts point toward Claude Enterprise at $20 per seat per month billed annually, with usage billed on top. If you plan to build ChatGPT into your own tools, API usage is billed separately from any ChatGPT subscription. The seat price is only part of the cost in both cases.

Image, video, audio, and code work

For code, the answer is clearest: Claude's free plan can run code, and Claude Pro adds Claude Code for $20 a month billed monthly. Claude Pro also bundles Design, Slides, and Docs, which helps if your output is documents and decks rather than plain chat. If most of your paid use would be code, Claude Pro is the straightforward pick at the standard tier.

For voice, third-party trackers list audio and video mode as part of ChatGPT Plus. Image and video generation aren't broken out by tier on the vendors' plan pages cited above, so try them on each free plan and upgrade only when the free cap is what's holding you back. Prices and plans move quickly, so check each vendor's pricing page again before you subscribe.