as artificial intelligence has become more ingrained in our daily lives, the idea of ​​paying for an AI tool is not as optional as it was just a few years ago. For casual use of creating text or images, the free plan of most chatbots should be sufficient. But if you need AI for heavier or more complex uses, you can easily run into limits. Free chatbot plans may also be limited to older AI models.

Now that ChatGPT is started showing adspeople are undoubtedly looking to get rid of them, and the the new $8-a-month Go plan won’t cut it. If you are looking to upgrade your chatbot, you may want to consider other options. While all paid plans offer higher limits, some give you more benefits.

Below, we’ll go over how much each plan for some of the most popular chatbots around costs and what you’ll actually get for your hard-earned money.

By the numbers

Here’s a price breakdown of the most popular chatbots.

ChatGPT Go, Plus and Pro

OpenAI’s first paid tier, Go, is the newest plan. For just $8 a month, you get higher limits and more access across the board. That said, if you’re looking to avoid new ads on ChatGPT, you can’t do it with this plan and you’ll have to go up to the next level to go ad-free.

The second premium plan is ChatGPT Pluswhich opens the doors to expanded GPT-5 access and higher limits for messaging, uploading, data analysis and image creation. You can get it too advanced voice mode with video and screensharing, the ChatGPT agentand limited access to Sora video generation.

If you want more, you can choose the Pro plan, which costs $200 a month. It offers unlimited messages, image uploading and creation, and extended ChatGPT and Sora agent access. Pro unlocks the more advanced GPT-5 Pro and o3 Pro models, which have more computing power for more complex queries.

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, saying it infringed on Ziff Davis’ copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

Google AI Plus, Pro and AI Ultra

With Gemini, Google is integrated into the center of the chatbot experience, making it a great choice for Google power users.

Google’s AI Pro offers more features across the board than the free version, opening Gemini to Google Workspace apps, the flowing filmmaking tools, and Search’s more advanced models AI Fashion. It doesn’t stop at Gemini, though. You also get 2TB of storage for Google Photos, Drive and Gmail. This plan also includes 10% credit on purchases from the Google Store.

Despite the abundance of features in the Google AI Pro plan, the free level of Gemini offers a lot for most people.

Google’s highest tier is AI Ultra, which costs $250 per month, though there are usually discounts for the first few months. Still, it’s a lot of money, no matter how many extras are thrown at you. This plan provides the maximum limit (read: not unlimited) for every feature offered by AI Pro, breaks 2TB of cloud storage to 30TB, and adds YouTube Premium, along with early access to the agent prototype, Project Mariner.

Like ChatGPT, Google also introduced a new $8 plan. The Plus plan offers 200GB of storage and more access to the latest Gemini 3 Pro models. For a limited time, Google is offering the Plus plan at a 50% discount for the first two months. Even at full price, this plan is great for those who are just hitting the limits of the free plan but don’t need all the bells and whistles from the Pro plan.

Copilot

Microsoft’s Copilot has the advantage of being preinstalled on a ton of Windows computers, making it more accessible (like Gemini on Android). Although it’s based on the ChatGPT models with Microsoft Graph, Copilot feels different enough to be its own thing.

To my surprise, Copilot produces the most interesting images when I compare it to other chatbots. Sometimes Gemini and ChatGPT produce similar images, but Copilot almost always produces something different. Although I don’t do it often, I still consider it a necessary feature.

Like Google, Copilot integrates well with Microsoft 365 apps, although some of its features are locked behind Microsoft 365 for Business, like its NotebookLM competitor, Copilot Notebooks. Without jumping to 365 for business, Copilot offers three plans that give you access to higher limits and allow you to use them in selected Microsoft 365 apps. Upgraded plans also give you access to Deep research models and Actions, which allow Copilot to fill out forms for you or assist with shopping.

Confusion

The confusion is ours favorite chatbot for researchbut the free version limits you to three Pro searches and Research usage per day. That might be fine for casual users, but those really trying to tap into Perplexity’s capabilities will want more of everything, and you’ll have to fork over $20 a month to keep it.

Perplexity Pro gives you unlimited Pro Searches and unlimited file uploads, and multiple file uploads per Luna. It also unlocks image creation and access to more advanced models than the standard “best” model in the free version.

There is also confusion Cometits limited access to its web browser with AI baked into it. Pro and Max subscribers receive Comet Plus included in their subscription.

Claude Pro and Max

The paid version of Anthropic’s Claude is in line with the competition, costs $20 a month, and it has a 5x increase in usage per session compared to the free version during peak hours, however. there are still limitations. Basically, if you send basic questions up to 200 sentences in English, each roughly 15 to 20 words, you can send about 45 messages every 5 hours on Claude Pro.

Despite taking the top spot on our best chatbot list, Anthropic’s pricing page for Claude’s Pro and Max plans feels a little dry compared to the rest of the list. The first part of the $20 Pro plan with “more usage” is immediately followed by an asterisk that mentions the area limitations for Pro plans. Such limitations are to be expected for anything other than the best plan, but they seem to depend on how you use Claude. In addition to more usage, the Pro plan unlocks Claude Code, unlimited Projects, access to Research mode and other Models.

The Max plan offers more usage than the Pro plan, increases the output limits of all tasks, provides priority access during peak traffic times and offers early access to new Claude features. This bump is probably helpful for the Claude power users out there and costs $100 per person per month.

Grok

Grok’s premium tiers are the most expensive for personal use, either on a monthly or yearly basis. The first premium level, SuperGrok, adds access to Grok 3 and 4, extends token limits to 128,000, gives you priority voice access, and includes the Imagine image model. It costs $30 a month, or $300 a year. This level also opens access to Ani and Valentine AI partners.

The next level is SuperGrok Heavy, and usually “more” than you can get from SuperGrok for $300 a month or $3,000 a year. This level gives you preview access to Grok 4 Heavy, extended access to Grok 4, and provides unlimited access to Grok 3. SuperGrok Heavy has a higher token count and early access to new features.