Get started with ChatGPT Work
Published by OpenAIWatch on YouTube
Updated Oct 4, 2026
AI Assistants
ChatGPT
OpenAI's AI assistant for writing, research, files and code
From $8/mo
ChatGPT at a glance
from our research
OpenAI's assistant for varied work: chat, research, files, images and code in one account
Work mode plans a task and returns a document, deck, spreadsheet or PDF to review and download
Usage is hard to forecast: Plus allowances reset every five hours, add weekly caps and vary by model
Plus costs $20 a month; Business is $25 per user a month, or $20 billed yearly, for two or more users
Overview
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is an AI assistant made by OpenAI, an American company founded in 2015. You start with a question, rough notes, a file or a task, then refine the result with follow-up messages. A switch above the message box sets the mode. Chat is for questions, brainstorming and drafting. Work is for a job with a defined result: ChatGPT plans the steps, searches the web, reads your files and connected apps, and returns a document, presentation, spreadsheet or PDF to review and download. Codex, OpenAI's coding agent, is a separate choice for debugging, running tests and changing code.
Projects keep related chats, files and standing instructions together. Web search answers show their sources in the chat, and deep research in Work produces a longer sourced report. ChatGPT can also generate and edit images, though not on the Free plan. Plugins connect it to services such as Google Drive, Gmail, Slack and GitHub; OpenAI is moving custom GPTs over to plugins.
ChatGPT runs in the browser at chatgpt.com, in desktop apps for macOS, Windows and Linux, and in mobile apps for iOS and Android. The desktop app can also work inside folders on your computer, and Codex runs in a terminal or IDE extension too. Personal plans are flat monthly subscriptions and team plans are billed per user. Plus and Business seats get a usage allowance that resets every five hours, plus weekly limits; Pro has no five-hour cap, and Plus and Pro subscribers can buy credits to keep working.
Our verdict on ChatGPT
Updated Oct 4, 2026Pricing checked Oct 3, 2026
ChatGPT makes the most sense for someone who wants one subscription to cover very different jobs. The same account answers questions with cited web results, turns a folder of notes into a report or slide deck, edits images and hands coding tasks to Codex, on desktop, web and phone. Work mode is what separates it from a plain chatbot: you describe the finished file, ChatGPT gathers the material and builds it, and you review the result instead of assembling it yourself.
The weaknesses come from the same breadth. Many features depend on plan, platform, region and rollout, and the GPT-6 models run in Work and Codex but not in Chat, so it takes work to learn what a given account includes. Usage is hard to predict. OpenAI's own estimate for Plus is 15 to 160 local messages every five hours on GPT-6.1 Sol, depending on the task, and image generation draws the allowance down three to five times faster. Teams that built custom GPTs face a migration, since OpenAI is retiring them in favor of plugins. OpenAI's plan comparison also reserves the default exclusion from model training for Business and Enterprise.
Plus, at $20 a month, is the plan most individuals will need. It adds GPT-6.1 Sol, Codex in the browser, terminal and code editor, and credits for when a limit is reached. Go, at $8 a month, stays on GPT-6 Luna. Pro starts at $100 a month, with tiers at $200 and $500, and removes the five-hour cap, which matters only to people who keep hitting it. Teams should start on Business at $25 per user a month, or $20 billed yearly, with a two-user minimum, for an admin-controlled workspace, SAML SSO and no training on business data by default.
Choose ChatGPT if your work is varied and does not live inside one vendor's office apps. If your company runs on Microsoft 365, Microsoft 365 Copilot Business puts an assistant inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams for $21 per user a month billed yearly, on top of an eligible Microsoft 365 Business plan. If you work mostly in Gmail and Google Docs, Google AI Pro, at $19.99 a month, brings Gemini into both.
Written by Lokesh Kapoor
Pros & cons
ChatGPT pros and cons
What it does well
- Web answers cite their sources, and deep research writes longer reports with citations
- Plus includes the Codex coding agent in the browser, terminal and IDE extension
- Desktop apps for Mac, Windows and Linux, plus mobile apps for iOS and Android
- Business workspaces get SAML SSO and are kept out of model training by default
Where it falls short
- Features vary by plan, platform, region and rollout, so accounts don't all match
- Plus and Pro lack the default exclusion from model training that Business gets
- Custom GPTs are being retired, so teams that built them have to move to plugins
Editor's assessment from vendor documentation and published pricing
Pricing
ChatGPT pricing
ChatGPT's paid plans start at $8/month, below the $16.67 median across the 5 tools in our AI Assistants ranking. A free plan is available.
Free
$0
Free plan
For one person
- GPT-6 Luna at standard speed
- Quick coding tasks with Codex
Usage: No image generation on the Free plan.
Go
$8/mo
per month
For one person
- GPT-6 Luna at standard speed
- Lightweight coding tasks with Codex
Plus
$20/mo
per month
For one person
- GPT-6.1 Sol and GPT-6 Luna
- Codex on web, CLI, IDE and iOS
- Automatic code review and Slack integrations
- Extra usage with ChatGPT credits
Usage: A usage allowance per five-hour window, with weekly limits; buy ChatGPT credits to keep going.
Pro
$100/mo
from $100 per month ($100, $200 or $500 tiers)
For one person
- Everything in Plus
- No five-hour limit
- Three usage tiers
Usage: Sold at $100, $200 or $500 a month, with more usage at each tier; Astra Ultrafast mode only on the $500 tier.
Business
$20/mo
per user, per month
or $25/mo billed monthly
Minimum 2 seats
- Dedicated workspace with admin controls
- SAML SSO and MFA
- No training on your business data by default
- Extra usage with ChatGPT credits
Usage: 2 users minimum. Standard seats get Plus-level usage per five-hour window, with weekly limits.
Enterprise
Custom
Tailored pricing for larger teams
- SCIM, EKM and role-based access
- Compliance API and audit logs
- Data retention and residency controls
- Priority request processing
Usage: With flexible pricing there are no fixed rate limits; usage scales with credits.
Checked against OpenAI's pricing page on October 3, 2026 · see the full breakdown
Capabilities
ChatGPT features
Checked against the same feature list as every other tool in its category.
Platform
- Included:Developer APIThe same models available programmatically for building your own applications.
Reasoning & Modes
- Included:Custom assistants & agentsSave a reusable assistant with its own instructions, files and tools.
- Included:Extended reasoning modeA slower mode that thinks through multi-step problems before answering, for maths, analysis and planning.
- Included:Long context windowAccepts book-length input in a single conversation without losing earlier detail.
- Included:Persistent memoryRemembers your preferences and context across separate conversations.
Knowledge & Sources
- Included:App connectorsConnects to Drive, SharePoint, email or a code host so the assistant can use your own data.
- Included:File & document analysisReads uploaded PDFs, spreadsheets and images and answers questions about them.
- Included:Inline source citationsLinks each claim back to the page it came from so answers can be checked.
- Included:Live web searchSearches the web during an answer rather than relying on training data alone.
Multimodal
- Included:Code execution & data analysisRuns code in a sandbox to analyse data, make charts and verify its own answers.
- Included:Image generationCreates and edits images from a text description inside the same conversation.
- Included:Voice conversationReal-time spoken conversation with interruption, not just dictation.
Team & Governance
- Included:No training on your dataBusiness tiers exclude your conversations from model training by default.
- Included:Team admin & SSOCentral billing, seat management and single sign-on for organisations.
Ecosystem
ChatGPT integrations
Videos
Watch ChatGPT in action
Product walkthroughs from ChatGPT's own YouTube channel.
Introduction to ChatGPT agent
Published by OpenAIWatch on YouTube
Alternatives
Top ChatGPT alternatives
Tools that do the same job, from the same category.
Fit check
Will ChatGPT fit your team?
Support
- Email support
- Live chat
- Knowledge base
Training
- Documentation
- Video tutorials
- Webinars
Deployment
- Web
- iOS
- Android
- macOS
- Windows
Typical users
- Freelancers
- Small businesses
- Mid-size companies
- Enterprises
FAQs
ChatGPT FAQs
Written by our editorial team.
Is ChatGPT free?
Yes. The Free plan costs nothing and includes GPT-6 Luna, OpenAI's most efficient model, along with quick coding tasks in Codex, but it does not include image generation. The cheapest paid plan is Go at $8 a month. Plus, at $20 a month, adds GPT-6.1 Sol, Codex on the web, in the terminal and in code editors, and the option to buy credits when you run out. See ChatGPT pricing for every plan, or ChatGPT vs Claude for a side-by-side.
How do ChatGPT's usage limits work?
Plus and standard Business seats get a usage allowance that resets every five hours, with weekly limits on top. How far it stretches depends on the model and the task: OpenAI estimates 15 to 160 local messages per five hours on GPT-6.1 Sol and 350 to 3,000 on GPT-6 Luna, and image generation uses the allowance three to five times faster. Pro has no five-hour limit. If you hit a limit mid-task, the current turn can finish, and Plus and Pro subscribers can buy credits to continue.
Does ChatGPT use your conversations to train its models?
On Business, Enterprise and Edu plans, no: OpenAI says workspace data is not used to train its models by default. Its plan comparison does not extend that default to the personal Plus and Pro plans. On a personal plan, review the options under Settings > Data controls, which also govern the information ChatGPT uses while it completes Work tasks. A company that needs the no-training default should buy Business seats rather than individual Plus subscriptions.
What is the difference between Chat, Work and Codex in ChatGPT?
Chat is for questions and back-and-forth conversation, Work is for handing ChatGPT a task with a defined result, and Codex is for software development. In Work, ChatGPT plans the steps, gathers context from the web, your files and plugins, and returns something to review, such as a report, a deck or a cleaned-up spreadsheet. Work and Codex share the same usage limits, and the GPT-6 models are available in those two modes but not in Chat.
Which devices does ChatGPT run on?
ChatGPT runs in the browser at chatgpt.com, in desktop apps for macOS, Windows and Linux, and in mobile apps for iOS and Android. The desktop app has the most features: it can work inside folders on your computer, and some plugins are marked Desktop only. Chats started on the web or a phone also appear in the desktop app. Developers can use Codex from the command line or an IDE extension. If you need an assistant inside your office apps instead, see ChatGPT alternatives.
Sources & methodology
Product details come from OpenAI's public website and documentation (United States). Every plan and price was checked against the vendor's pricing page on October 3, 2026. We haven't tested this product hands-on; the verdict is a desk assessment. How we research and rank tools
- Founded 2015
- 11 languages supported
- openai.com
Keep researching