ChatGPT
"ChatGPT earns its place as the default starting point for anyone new to AI tools and remains a strong daily driver for experienced users who value breadth over depth. GPT-5.5 is a genuinely capable model across writing, coding, and reasoning. The multimodal coverage including images, voice, video, and deep research under one $20 per month subscription is exceptional value. The free plan is a real product with meaningful capability for light use. Where it falls short relative to some specialised tools is in extended document analysis and complex multi-step reasoning, where narrower tools occasionally produce better output. For most professionals the Plus plan at $20 per month is the right starting point and covers the vast majority of everyday AI use cases."
- Over 700 million weekly users making it the most widely adopted AI tool globally
- GPT-5.5 covers writing, coding, research, images, voice, and video under one subscription
- Plus plan at $20 per month has held the same price for three years while adding significant new features
- Largest ecosystem of integrations and custom GPTs of any AI assistant available in 2026
- Free plan is a genuine product suitable for light daily use with no credit card required
- Business plan dropped to $20 per user per month in April 2026 making it more competitive for teams
- Agent Mode handles multi-step autonomous tasks across connected apps
- Free and Go plans show ads in the US as of February 2026
- Plus conversations may be used for model training unless manually opted out in settings
- Deep Research capped at 10 runs per month on Plus which is quickly exhausted for heavy research workflows
- No annual billing option on Plus, Pro $100, or Pro $200 plans
- Context window on Plus is smaller than some competing models at the same price point
Key Features
GPT-5.5 Multimodal AI Model
The current flagship model handles writing, coding, research, image analysis, document processing, and complex reasoning in a single conversation interface available on Plus and above
ChatGPT Images 2.0
Generates high-quality images from text prompts with Thinking Mode on Plus and above, applying reasoning and web search to produce images with character consistency across up to 8 images per prompt
Sora Video Generation
Creates short video clips from text prompts directly inside ChatGPT without switching to a separate tool, available on Plus and above
Deep Research
Conducts multi-step research across the web, synthesising findings from dozens of sources into structured reports covering complex questions that require more than a single search, available on all paid plans
Codex Agentic Coding
Reads codebases, writes multi-file code, runs tests, and deploys changes autonomously as an AI coding agent built directly into ChatGPT, available on all paid plans
Agent Mode
Takes multi-step autonomous actions across connected apps and workflows, handling tasks that previously required manual execution across multiple tools, available on Plus and above
Custom GPTs
Build specialised AI assistants for specific recurring tasks and share them across your organisation, with access to thousands of community-built GPTs in the GPT store
60 Plus App Integrations on Business
Connect ChatGPT to Slack, Google Drive, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, GitHub, Atlassian, Salesforce, and 55 plus other tools for context-aware responses drawn from your actual company data
Voice Mode
Conduct natural spoken conversations with GPT-5.5 with real-time response, emotional awareness, and extended session length on paid plans
Advanced Data Analysis
Upload spreadsheets, PDFs, and data files for ChatGPT to analyse, visualise, and summarise in plain language without any coding required
Pricing Plans
$0/mo
- ✓ GPT-5.3 access
- ✓ Message limits
- ✓ Limited image generation
- ✓ Ads in the US
$8/mo
- ✓ More message volume than free
- ✓ GPT-5.5 in Codex only
- ✓ Ads still included in the US
$20/mo
- ✓ GPT-5.5 access
- ✓ Deep Research 10 runs/mo
- ✓ ChatGPT Images 2.0 & Sora
- ✓ Codex & Agent Mode
- ✓ Custom GPT creation
$100/mo
- ✓ GPT-5.5 Pro access
- ✓ 5x Plus usage limits
- ✓ o1 Pro mode
- ✓ Deep Research higher volume
$200/mo
- ✓ 20x Plus usage limits
- ✓ 1 million token context window
- ✓ Maximum Codex usage
- ✓ Parallel workflow support
$20/user/mo
- ✓ Shared workspaces
- ✓ 60+ app integrations
- ✓ SAML SSO & SCIM
- ✓ Data not used for training
About ChatGPT
No AI tool has shaped how the world thinks about artificial intelligence more directly than ChatGPT. Launched in November 2022 and now used by over 700 million people every week, it has grown from a text-based chat tool into a full multimodal platform covering writing, coding, research, image generation, voice conversation, and video creation from a single interface.
The GPT-5.5 model launched April 23, 2026 and is now the default across Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise tiers. It handles the full range of tasks that professionals use AI for daily: drafting and editing written content, generating and debugging code, analysing documents and data, answering research questions with web search, and producing images and short video clips from text prompts. The breadth of what a single ChatGPT subscription covers is genuinely hard to match from any individual tool.
Deep Research is one of the most practically useful features added in recent months. Activate it and ChatGPT conducts multi-step research across the web, synthesising findings from dozens of sources into a structured report rather than returning a simple answer. It is available on all paid plans with 10 runs per month on Plus and significantly more on higher tiers. Codex handles agentic coding tasks, reading codebases, writing multi-file code, running tests, and deploying changes autonomously. Sora generates short video clips from text prompts directly inside the ChatGPT interface.
The ecosystem advantage is where ChatGPT maintains a lead no competitor has matched. Over 60 pre-built app integrations are available on Business plans covering Slack, Google Drive, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, GitHub, Atlassian, Salesforce, and more. Custom GPTs let users build specialised assistants for specific tasks and share them across their organisation. The Custom GPT store contains thousands of community-built tools covering virtually every professional workflow imaginable.
Agent Mode, launched in 2025 and expanded in 2026, lets ChatGPT take multi-step actions autonomously across connected apps, handling tasks that would previously require manual execution across multiple tools. For teams already paying for Business plans, the combination of 60 plus app integrations and Agent Mode increasingly replaces several separate workflow automation subscriptions.