OpenAI · Tools

ChatGPT

OpenAI's conversational AI assistant for writing, research and coding.

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At a glance

Pricing model
freemium
Price
from 8 $/mo
Hosting region
Global
Vendor
OpenAI

Pros & cons

Strengths

  • Free entry tier (freemium pricing)
  • Backed by an established vendor (OpenAI)

Weaknesses

  • US-based vendor — no dedicated EU hosting

Specifications & properties

Key decision factors

Pricing model
Freemium 1
Context window
1,050,000 tokens 1
Input price per 1M tokens
5 USD per 1M tokens 1
GDPR / EU hosting
EU option available 1
Open weights / self-hosting
No 2

Pricing

Price from
8 $/mo 1
Free tier
Yes 1
Output price per 1M tokens
30 USD per 1M tokens 1
Cache price per 1M tokens
0.5 USD per 1M tokens 1

Integration

API available
Yes 1
Export formats
  • Markdown
  • PDF
  • JSON
1

Model

Base model
GPT-5.6 1

Capabilities

Factuality / source citations
Yes 1
Team collaboration
Yes 1

Compliance

SOC 2
Yes 1
Report data / suggest a correction

Metrics vs. the category

Context window
1,050,000 tokens Category max 1,050,000 tokens (6 with data)
Input price per 1M tokens
5 USD per 1M tokens Category max 10 USD per 1M tokens (7 with data)
Output price per 1M tokens
30 USD per 1M tokens Category max 50 USD per 1M tokens (7 with data)
Cache price per 1M tokens
0.5 USD per 1M tokens Category max 1 USD per 1M tokens (4 with data)

ChatGPT is OpenAI's conversational AI assistant for text generation, writing, research, and coding, powered by the GPT-5.6 model family. It offers a free tier plus Go, Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise plans, with API access via the OpenAI platform.

Profile

ChatGPT is OpenAI's conversational AI assistant for writing, research, coding, and everyday text generation, available on the web, desktop, and mobile. It runs on a freemium model with a genuine free tier, and paid consumer plans start at $8 per month (ChatGPT Go, US pricing), so individuals and teams can use OpenAI's latest models without running any infrastructure of their own.

Who builds it

ChatGPT is developed by OpenAI. The consumer product at chatgpt.com is the same assistant that exposes its underlying models through the OpenAI API, so what you type into the chat window and what developers build against share the same lineage.

What it does

At its core, ChatGPT turns natural-language prompts into text: drafts, rewrites, summaries, translations, code, and structured data. The current default model is GPT-5.6, with a context window of roughly 1,050,000 tokens — long enough to hold large documents, codebases, or long conversations in a single session. Built-in web search adds inline source citations to answers, and conversations can be exported to Markdown, PDF, or JSON.

Core features

  • Freemium access with a free tier and paid consumer plans from $8/month (ChatGPT Go, US)
  • GPT-5.6 default model with a ~1.05M-token context window
  • Web search with inline source citations
  • Team collaboration for shared workspaces (Business and above)
  • Export to Markdown, PDF, and JSON
  • Full OpenAI API for developers (GPT-5.6 at $5 input / $30 output per 1M tokens, $0.50 cached input)
  • SOC 2 alignment and data residency options across multiple regions

Who it's for

ChatGPT suits writers, marketers, researchers, developers, and support teams who want a general-purpose assistant rather than a single-task tool. The free tier is enough to evaluate it; Go and the higher Plus/Pro tiers raise usage limits and unlock the newest models. Teams that need shared workspaces, admin controls, or regional data residency move up to the Business and Enterprise tiers.

Data and compliance

OpenAI supports data residency in the US, EU, UK and several other regions, and states support for compliance with GDPR, CCPA and other privacy laws. For API and business use, submitted data is not used to train models by default; consumer accounts carry their own privacy controls. Anyone with strict requirements should confirm the current terms on OpenAI's own data and pricing pages before rolling ChatGPT out at scale.

Frequently asked questions

What does ChatGPT cost?

ChatGPT runs on a freemium model. There is a genuine free tier, and paid consumer plans start at $8 per month with ChatGPT Go (US pricing), with Plus and Pro tiers above it; Business and Enterprise plans are priced per seat. Exact figures and regional availability are listed on OpenAI's pricing page.

Is there a free version of ChatGPT?

Yes. The free version of ChatGPT is available to everyone with usage limits. Upgrading to Go ($8/month, US), Plus or Pro raises those limits and unlocks the newest models and higher-throughput features.

Does ChatGPT have an API?

Yes. OpenAI exposes ChatGPT's models through the OpenAI API. The default GPT-5.6 model is priced per token — $5.00 per 1M input tokens, $30.00 per 1M output tokens, and $0.50 per 1M cached-input tokens — billed separately from the ChatGPT consumer subscription.

What can you use ChatGPT for?

ChatGPT is a general-purpose text assistant: drafting and rewriting, summarization, translation, research with web search and inline citations, coding, and structured-data generation. Its roughly 1,050,000-token context window lets it work over large documents or long conversations in a single session.

ChatGPT vs Claude — which should I pick?

Both are freemium conversational assistants with public APIs. ChatGPT (OpenAI) starts at $8/month, defaults to GPT-5.6, and adds web search with inline citations; Claude (Anthropic) starts at $17/month. Pick ChatGPT for the broadest ecosystem and the lowest entry price, and compare each vendor's current pricing before committing.

Is ChatGPT GDPR-compliant, and does it train on my data?

OpenAI offers data residency in the US, EU, UK and other regions and states support for compliance with GDPR, CCPA and other privacy laws. For API and business/enterprise use, submitted data is not used to train models by default; consumer accounts have separate privacy controls you can adjust. Confirm the current terms on OpenAI's data pages for your specific plan.