ChatGPT vs Claude: Plans, Prices and Limits (Oct 2026)

Plan names and monthly prices read on 31 October 2026

Claude's pricing page lists four individual plans: Free at $0, Pro at $20 a month, Max at $100 a month and Ultra at $200 a month. Pro drops to $17 a month if you pay $200 up front for the year. Claude also lists Team seats at $25 a month ($20 on annual billing) and Enterprise at US$20 per seat per month with a 20-seat minimum.

OpenAI's pricing page lists Free at $0, Go at $8 a month, Plus at $20 a month and Pro from $100 a month. Pro comes as three plans at $100, $200 or $500 a month. ChatGPT Business costs $20 per user per month on annual billing, or $25 billed monthly, for two or more users.

Yearly cost of the entry paid plan: $96, $200 and $240

Take the cheapest paid plan from each company. ChatGPT Go at $8 a month costs $96 over 12 months. Claude Pro paid monthly costs $20 x 12 = $240, and Claude Pro on the up-front yearly option costs $200, which is $40 less than the monthly route.

ChatGPT Plus at $20 x 12 = $240 matches Claude Pro paid monthly. ChatGPT Pro at $100 and Claude Max at $100 both cost $1,200 a year; ChatGPT Pro at $200 and Claude Ultra at $200 both cost $2,400.

Claude lists the $200 yearly option on its own pricing page. The OpenAI pricing page read for this guide lists monthly prices only, so a fixed yearly price is something only the Claude side shows today.

Usage limits: ChatGPT gives message ranges, Claude gives multiples of Pro

The two companies describe limits in different units. OpenAI's pricing page gives estimates for Plus per 5-hour window: 5 to 45 messages on GPT-6 Astra, 15 to 160 on GPT-6.1 Sol, 35 to 285 on GPT-6.1 Terra and 350 to 3,000 on GPT-6 Luna. It adds that weekly limits may also apply. The page gives no limits for Free or Go, and says Pro currently has no 5-hour limit.

Claude does not publish message counts on its pricing page. Pro is the baseline of 1x usage every 5 hours and every week. Max is 5x Pro, and Ultra has 10x Pro weekly usage with no 5-hour limit for verified accounts. Free is listed only as limited usage every 5 hours and every week.

Models named on the official pages today

Anthropic's model overview shows four current models: Claude Fable 5.1, Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5.5 and Haiku 5.5. Each lists a 1M-token context window and 128K tokens of maximum output. Claude Free includes Sonnet and Haiku; Opus arrives with Pro, and the Pro page lists Fable as paid with usage credits.

OpenAI's API model page shows GPT-6 Astra, GPT-6.1 Sol, GPT-6.1 Terra and GPT-6 Luna, each with a 1.05M-token context window and 128K maximum output. In the ChatGPT pricing notes, Free and Go list GPT-6 Luna, and Plus lists GPT-6.1 Sol and GPT-6 Luna.

Context window: 1M tokens on Claude plans, 1.05M in OpenAI's API

A context window is how much text the model can hold in one conversation. Claude's pricing page says all individual plans offer up to 1M tokens, varying by model. 1M tokens is roughly 555,000 words on the current tokenizer, per Anthropic's model page. OpenAI's API model page lists 1.05M tokens for its four current models, but the ChatGPT apps can differ by plan and OpenAI's consumer pricing page could not be opened for this guide, so check the live page for the in-app figure.

File uploads: 500 MB and 20 files per chat on Claude

Claude's support page allows 500 MB per file and up to 20 files per chat, images up to 8000 x 8000 pixels, and PDFs up to 1,000 pages (100 pages or fewer are read for text and visuals). Project files are capped at 30 MB each. OpenAI's help center could not be opened for this guide, so ChatGPT upload limits are not listed here; read them on OpenAI's File uploads FAQ.

Memory, voice and search on Claude plans

Claude memory is on by default for Free, Pro, Max and Ultra on the web, Claude Desktop and mobile. You can pause it, reset it, or start a single chat with memory off. Claude Free also includes web search, voice mode and up to 5 Projects.

For ChatGPT, OpenAI's pricing page read for this guide lists Plus as able to buy extra credits when limits are reached, and Pro as having no 5-hour limit. Its voice, image and memory limits by plan were on pages that could not be opened, so they are left out.

Data and training: Claude's opt-in switch and ChatGPT Business

Claude's pricing page shows model training set to opt-out on individual plans. Anthropic's privacy page says consumer chats may be used for training only if you allow Model Improvement in Privacy Settings, or if a chat is flagged for safety review. Incognito chats are excluded. Thumbs up or down feedback is stored for up to 5 years.

For ChatGPT, the page read says ChatGPT Business states no training on business data by default. Settings for Free, Plus and Pro were on pages that could not be opened, so check OpenAI's data controls before you rely on them.

Who each plan ladder suits

The $8 Go plan suits someone who wants more than Free for a total of $96 a year and does not need the Plus models. Claude has no plan between Free and the $20 Pro tier.

Heavy daily users face the $100 tier on both sides: ChatGPT Pro at $100 or Claude Max at 5x Pro usage. Those who want no 5-hour cap can look at ChatGPT Pro, which currently has none, or Claude Ultra, which has none for verified accounts.

If you already pay for one of these, Crade can connect to your Claude or ChatGPT account, so you do not buy a second subscription.

Mistakes when comparing the two pages

The first mistake is comparing a monthly price to a yearly one. Claude's $17 a month needs $200 paid up front. The second is comparing API figures with app figures: both companies list a context window above 1M tokens for the API, but the in-app windows differ by plan.

A third is treating a limit as fixed. OpenAI calls its message counts estimates and says weekly limits may apply.