The short version
- Both are $20 a month billed monthly. Claude Pro is $17 a month if you pay $200 for a year up front; OpenAI’s help page lists Plus as billed monthly.
- Context: Anthropic lists up to 1M on every Claude plan, varying by model. ChatGPT Plus lists 54K for Instant models and 256K for reasoning models.
- Models: Plus lists advanced reasoning models with GPT-6. Claude Pro adds Opus to the Sonnet and Haiku models on Free, with usage credits for Fable.
- Each plan includes the vendor’s coding agent and research mode: Codex and deep research are expanded on Plus; Claude Code and Research start at Pro.
- Voice: Plus lists 3 hours of GPT-Live-1, measured over a rolling 24 hours. Claude’s voice mode counts toward the plan’s regular usage limits.
- Uploads: OpenAI lists 512MB per file; Anthropic lists 500MB per file in a chat and 30MB per file in a project.
Plans and prices
US dollars unless a cell says otherwise. Vendors show different prices in different countries and add tax in some.
| What | ClaudeAnthropic | ChatGPTOpenAI |
|---|---|---|
| Low-cost tier | None listed between Free and ProSource: Anthropic, checked 1 Oct 2026 | Go. A$13/month on the Australian page; this plan may include adsUS dollar price not verified: OpenAI's help page for Go gives no figure and points to the pricing page, which showed A$ from our connection (re-checked 2 Oct 2026).Source: OpenAI, checked 1 Oct 2026 |
| Main paid plan | Pro, $20/month billed monthly, or $17/month on annual billing ($200 up front)Source: Anthropic, checked 1 Oct 2026 | Plus, $20/month, billed monthlySource: OpenAI, checked 1 Oct 2026 |
| Heavy-use plans | Max, from $100/month. Choose 5x or 20x the Pro usagePrice of the 20x option was not shown as a number on the page we read.Source: Anthropic, checked 1 Oct 2026 | Pro 100, Pro 200 and Pro 500: $100, $200 and $500/monthSource: OpenAI, checked 1 Oct 2026 |
| Bundled extras on the main paid plan | No cloud storage or other non-Claude service is listed for Pro on the pricing pageSource: Anthropic, checked 1 Oct 2026 | No cloud storage or other non-ChatGPT service is listed for Plus on the pricing pageSource: OpenAI, checked 1 Oct 2026 |
Limits and models
| What | ClaudeAnthropic | ChatGPTOpenAI |
|---|---|---|
| Context window in the app | Up to 1M on every plan, varies by modelSource: Anthropic, checked 1 Oct 2026 | Instant models: 27K (Free), 54K (Go and Plus), 128K (Pro). Reasoning models: 256K (Go and Plus), 400K (Pro)Source: OpenAI, checked 1 Oct 2026 |
| How usage limits are described | Pro has 'more usage' than Free; Max is 5x or 20x Pro; Team premium seats are 5x standard. No message counts on the pricing pageSource: Anthropic, checked 1 Oct 2026 | Free: limited messages with uploads. Go: more messages with tools and more uploads. Plus: expanded messages and uploads. Pro: three usage tiers. Exact message counts are not published on the pricing pageSource: OpenAI, checked 1 Oct 2026 |
| Models you get | Free: Sonnet and Haiku. Pro and up: adds Opus. Fable: usage credits on Pro, up to 50% of weekly limits on MaxSource: Anthropic, checked 1 Oct 2026 | Free: GPT-5.6 Luna. Plus: advanced reasoning models with GPT-6. Pro: Pro reasoning powered by GPT-6 AstraSource: OpenAI, checked 1 Oct 2026 |
Features by plan
| What | ClaudeAnthropic | ChatGPTOpenAI |
|---|---|---|
| Deep research | Research: not on Free; included from ProSource: Anthropic, checked 1 Oct 2026 | Limited on Free; expanded on Plus; maximum on ProSource: OpenAI, checked 1 Oct 2026 |
| Coding agent | Claude Code: not on Free; included from ProSource: Anthropic, checked 1 Oct 2026 | Codex: limited on Free, expanded on Plus, longer sessions on ProSource: OpenAI, checked 1 Oct 2026 |
| Image generation | Not verified Not listed on Anthropic's pricing page. We did not check further, so we make no claim either way. | Limited on Free; more on Go; unlimited and faster on ProSource: OpenAI, checked 1 Oct 2026 |
| Memory | Memory across conversations on every planSource: Anthropic, checked 1 Oct 2026 | Limited memory and context on Free; longer on Go; expanded on PlusSource: OpenAI, checked 1 Oct 2026 |
| Projects and custom assistants | Projects: up to 5 on Free, included on paid plansSource: Anthropic, checked 1 Oct 2026 | Projects, scheduled tasks and custom GPTs from PlusSource: OpenAI, checked 1 Oct 2026 |
| Works inside other apps | Claude in Chrome and Claude for Microsoft 365 from ProSource: Anthropic, checked 1 Oct 2026 | Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Google Sheets extensions are listed; which plan gets what was not readable on the pageSource: OpenAI, checked 1 Oct 2026 |
| Training on your chats | Opt-out on Free, Pro and Max; Team is not trained on by defaultSource: Anthropic, checked 1 Oct 2026 | Opt-out available on Free, Go, Plus and ProSource: OpenAI, checked 1 Oct 2026 |
| Ads | Not verified Nothing about ads is stated on the pricing page. | Ads may appear on the Free tier in certain countriesThe pricing page says the Go plan “may include ads”.Source: OpenAI, checked 1 Oct 2026 |
Voice, files and access
| What | ClaudeAnthropic | ChatGPTOpenAI |
|---|---|---|
| Voice: where it works and limits | Beta on Free, Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise, on iOS, Android, desktop and web. Voice counts toward your plan's regular usage limits. Fable is not available in voiceSource: Anthropic, checked 1 Oct 2026 | Free: limited access to GPT-Live-1 mini. Go: 3 hours of GPT-Live-1 mini. Plus: 3 hours of GPT-Live-1, measured over a rolling 24 hours. Live does not support video or screen sharingSource: OpenAI, checked 1 Oct 2026 |
| File uploads | 500MB per file in a chat, 30MB per file in a project. PDFs up to 100 pages are read with images and charts; from 101 to 1,000 pages, text onlySource: Anthropic, checked 1 Oct 2026 | 512MB per file; text and document files capped at 2M tokens; images 20MB each. Free users: 3 file uploads a daySource: OpenAI, checked 1 Oct 2026 |
Best for, and not ideal for
Each point follows from a row in the fact file; this page shows part of it, and the full comparisons show the rest. We have not run quality or speed tests, so nothing here says which one writes or codes better.
Claude
Best for
- Long documents and big codebases. The pricing page lists a context window of up to 1M on every plan, free included.
- Paying yearly. Pro drops to $17 a month on annual billing.
- Small teams that want published seat prices: $20 or $25 per standard seat.
Not ideal for
- Free users who want a research mode or a coding agent. Research and Claude Code start at Pro.
- Paying less than Pro. No paid plan is listed below Pro, which is $20 billed monthly or $17 a month on annual billing.
ChatGPT
Best for
- People who want tiers to grow into: there are Go, Plus and three Pro levels between free and $500 a month.
- Heavy image use. Image creation is listed from the Free plan and becomes unlimited on Pro.
- Developers who need a very cheap model: gpt-6-luna lists $0.10 per million input tokens, the lowest price among the models we read today.
Not ideal for
- Pasting very long documents on a $20 plan. Plus is capped at a 54K context window on Instant models and 256K on reasoning models.
- Anyone who wants an ad-free low-cost plan: OpenAI says Go may include ads.
Questions people ask
- Is Claude Pro or ChatGPT Plus cheaper?
- Billed monthly they cost the same, $20 a month. Claude Pro is $17 a month on annual billing, paid as $200 up front. OpenAI’s help page lists ChatGPT Plus at $20 a month, billed monthly.
- What is the step below and above each plan?
- Below Plus, OpenAI lists Go; we could only read its Australian price (A$13 a month) and OpenAI says Go may include ads. Anthropic lists nothing between Free and Pro. Above, OpenAI lists three Pro tiers at $100, $200 and $500 a month, and Anthropic lists Max from $100 a month.
- Do both plans let you opt out of training on your chats?
- OpenAI lists an opt-out on Free, Go, Plus and Pro. Anthropic lists an opt-out on Free, Pro and Max.
Sources
Every figure on this page was read from these vendor pages on 1 Oct 2026. A cell marked “Not verified” means we could not confirm it from a vendor page that day, so we left it blank.
- Anthropic: Claude pricing page, checked 1 Oct 2026. Prices shown with a $ sign; the page says they exclude applicable tax.
- OpenAI: ChatGPT pricing page, checked 1 Oct 2026. Read in a browser from an Australian connection; plan prices on this page were shown in A$.
- OpenAI: What is ChatGPT Plus? (Help Center), checked 1 Oct 2026.
- OpenAI: About ChatGPT Pro tiers (Help Center), checked 1 Oct 2026.
- OpenAI: ChatGPT Free Tier FAQ (Help Center), checked 1 Oct 2026.
- Anthropic: Use voice mode (Claude Help Center), checked 1 Oct 2026.
- OpenAI: ChatGPT Voice (Help Center), checked 1 Oct 2026.
- Anthropic: Upload files to Claude (Claude Help Center), checked 1 Oct 2026.
- OpenAI: File Uploads FAQ (Help Center), checked 1 Oct 2026.
Other comparisons
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