AI in practice

ChatGPT Pricing: Every Plan and What I Actually Pay

By Artur Neumann. Updated November 13, 2026.

My verdict in 60 seconds

ChatGPT is the AI assistant from OpenAI in San Francisco. In Germany it costs between €0 and €23 per month as long as you do not need a large plan. The free version is enough to try it. Plus at €23 is enough to start working with it every day. You only need Pro, from €103, once you work with Codex for many hours a day. Codex is the OpenAI tool that builds software and workflows on your computer.

I have paid for ChatGPT Pro since February 18, 2026. Every month, €192.44 goes to OpenAI Ireland in Dublin. Since October 2024 I have paid OpenAI €3,468.74 in total, in 26 payments. The numbers come from my bank statements, as of November 13, 2026.

The main lesson from these two years: the plan follows the task. Without a fixed task, even the small plan is too expensive.

What ChatGPT costs

This is what the German pricing page of OpenAI shows on November 13, 2026. I am based in Germany, so these are the prices I see:

With annual billing, Business costs €21 instead of €26 and €105 instead of €130 per month. Enterprise has no fixed price. The pricing page says nothing about taxes. Prices can change.

Pro comes in three plans. The OpenAI help center lists them in US dollars: Pro 100, Pro 200 and Pro 500. The number is the monthly price. The higher the plan, the more usage in Codex and ChatGPT Work it includes. Pro is billed monthly only, there is no annual plan.

Two things many people miss:

• Ads: According to OpenAI, ads may appear in Free and Go. Plus, Pro and Business stay without ads.
• API: The programming interface is billed separately from the subscription. Your own programs use it to reach the models. Pro and Business include monthly API credits, on Pro $100, $200 or $500 depending on the plan. You have to activate them once. What you do not use expires at the end of the billing cycle.

What I actually pay

From October 2024 to February 2025 I already had Plus and Pro once. Plus cost $20 back then, which was between €18.82 and €19.87 per month for me. After that, my bank statements show almost a year without a subscription. In early 2026 I worked almost only with Claude.

In February 2026 ChatGPT came back. The reason was Codex. The story is in my comparison ChatGPT vs Claude.

My payments to OpenAI in 2026, up to November 13:

The second account ran for another project. It was charged in May and in September. I ended it on October 10, 2026. Since then I pay for one Pro plan only.

The credits are three single purchases of $10 and twice $100. OpenAI bills them separately from the subscription. The cover images of my articles, for example, are made through the API.

What I use Pro for

I pay for Pro because of Codex. There are 1,795 Codex sessions from 2026 on my Mac. One session is one job with all follow-up questions.

In that time, Codex checked my server, wrote English versions of my articles and built calculators for my website. At €2,116.84 for the two Pro plans, that is about €1.18 per session.

The table also shows the downside. In August I used Pro fully. In October it was 102 sessions, and the charge stayed at €192.44. A large plan only pays off in months when you use it to the limit.

One more thing: in an email dated September 29, OpenAI had announced a cut to the allowance in Pro 200. According to the help page, that cut is canceled, and the lower allowance was doubled. The price stayed the same. With the large plans, the content changes more often than the price. Read the emails from your provider.

Which plan fits you

• Free: You want to get to know ChatGPT. Start here and only pay once you hit a limit.
• Plus: You write offers, emails and posts every week, or you research with it. I show what that looks like in ChatGPT for business owners.
• Pro: You let Codex work for hours every day and keep hitting the limit in Plus. Start with the smallest plan.
• Business: You have employees, or customer data comes into play.

I leave Go out of this list. According to OpenAI it may include ads. Projects, scheduled tasks and the expanded use of Codex only start with Plus.

Privacy for business owners

For customers in the EU, the privacy policy names OpenAI Ireland Limited in Dublin as the controller. For training, the plan decides:

• Free, Plus and Pro: OpenAI may use your content for training. You opt out under Settings, Data Controls, “Improve the model for everyone”.
• Feedback: If you give a response a thumbs up or down, OpenAI may use that conversation even after you opted out.
• Business, Enterprise and API: By default, no training on your inputs and outputs.

This is what the OpenAI help center says. My rule: no customer data in personal accounts. This is not legal advice. If in doubt, ask your privacy advisor.

Strengths and weaknesses

What speaks for ChatGPT from my point of view:

• Codex works on its own and finds the information it needs.
• Images are created right in the chat.
• Plus, Pro and Business have no ads.

What speaks against it:

• There is no step between Plus at €23 and Pro from €103.
• What a Pro plan includes changes while your subscription is running.
• Subscription, credits and API are three separate bills. You have to keep track yourself.

Alternatives to ChatGPT

Prices checked on the German pages on November 13, 2026. I use Claude every day. I have not tested the paid Gemini plans. I canceled Perplexity Pro on October 20, 2026, because ChatGPT and Claude cover web search for me.

What you can do now

Write down one task that comes back every week. Do it with the free version for one week. If the allowance is not enough, take Plus for one month. Then look at your account: what did you pay, and how often did you open ChatGPT?

The other tools I use are in AI tools for solopreneurs. All articles on the topic are in AI for business owners.