ChatGPT-4o free vs paid: features and usage limits explained
OpenAI has made ChatGPT-4o free, but it's limited and not all of the new AI features are available unless you sped $20/mo for ChatGPT Plus
🤖 ChatGPT-4o free vs paid differences come down to feature and usage limits
🆓 ChatGPT-4o free is limited to just 10 AI messages every five hours
💰 ChatGPT-4o paid offers 5x usage limits, Dall-E and first access to new tools
🎨 Dall-E image creation also remains locked behind ChatGPT Plus
🚫 You won’t get many of those newly demoed ChatGPT-4o features for free
🗣️ Voice and image functionality will roll out to paid members first
🛑 Usage limits on advanced data analysis, file uploads, vision and web browsing
💰 In other words, you’ll have to pay $20/mo for the full-featured ChatGPT 4o AI
We created an in-depth ChatGPT-4o free vs paid comparison because while OpenAI’s demos were impressive, most people were confused by the fact that the new version of the LLM is “free” – up to a point. ChatGPT Plus users were wondering what exactly they were paying for in 2024.
When researching the ChatGPT 4o free vs paid differences, I found out that you’re not going to be able to cancel ChatGPT Plus so easily. You’ll lose out on many new features and run into rate limits. Here’s a brief free vs paid comparison.
How it worked before ChatGPT 4o
Previously ChatGPT 4o, free members were limited to the outdated ChatGPT 3.5, while ChatGPT Plus members were paying $20/mo for ChatGPT 4 and Dall-E. That all changed this week – kind of.
ChatGPT 4o free vs paid: no Dall-E
ChatGPT 4o paid members can access Dall-E, OpenAI’s image creator that allows for text-to-image creation, originally launched within paid ChatGPT 4. Switching over to my ChatGPT 4o free account, I was no longer able to create AI images.
So, just because you suddenly have access to ChatGPT 4o for free, doesn’t mean you get Dall-E. It was always tied to a paid ChatGPT Plus account, not just a ChatGPT 4 feature. Having ChatGPT 4o doesn’t make a difference. You didn’t leapfrog your way to free Dall-E.
ChatGPT free vs paid: voice and image
You also won’t get the ChatGPT-4o voice and image features demoed at the OpenAI launch event, at least not right away. Say goodbye to the sassy, dramatic personality like the AI voice from the film Her. These features are rolling out to ChatGPT Plus and enterprise subscribers first over the next two weeks, not free members.
Here’s an official statement from OpenAI:
“All users will start to get access to GPT-4o today. In coming weeks we’ll begin rolling out the new voice and vision capabilities we demo’d today to ChatGPT Plus.”
ChatGPT free vs paid: usage limits
ChatGPT 4o free access is limited to 10 messages per day, according to our testing of the new version of LLM. It will then prompt you to purchase a ChatGPT paid plan for $20 per month. This rate limit will reset after five hours.
ChatGPT 4o paid offers 5x the usage limits, so you’ll be able to send at least 50 messages. The enterprise version, known as ChatGPT Team, has even higher usage limits, according to OpenAI, although the AI company hasn’t gotten specific.
The same goes for access to advanced data analysis, file uploads, vision, and web browsing. You can, in fact, use these features (well, when they launch), but don’t expect the threshold to be very high if you’re using ChatGPT for free.
If you don’t want to be rate-limited, you’ll have to pony up for chatGPT 4o paid via a $20/mo ChatGPT Plus account. The GPU power required to compute the increasingly complex LLM costs money, and OpenAI is going to make you pay for high usage.
So what’s the point of ChatGPT-4o free?
The main benefit of using ChatGPT 4o for free is that the LLM is finally up to date. The ChatGPT 3.5 date limit was September 2021 before knowledge was cut off. However, there remain many usage limitations among free users.
If you only dabble with the OpenAI chatbot from time to time, don’t require Dall-E images whatsoever, and can wait to try the new voice and image features, then downgrading or sticking with a ChatGPT-4o free account may be for you.
What about ChatGPT-5?
OpenAI promises that ChatGPT Plus subscribers get “early access to new features.” When ChatGPT-5 launches later this year, you’ll likely be able to use the new model, while ChatGPT 4o free users will stay rate-limited where they are. In other words, ChatGPT 5 will be the new paid-only ChatGPT 4, and ChatGPT 4o will be the free users’ limited ChatGPT 3.5 experience.