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Claude vs ChatGPT
Claude and ChatGPT both charge about $20 a month for their main plan. They differ around it: ChatGPT adds an $8 Go plan and Pro tiers up to $500, while Claude goes from Pro straight to Max, from $100. ChatGPT also makes images in its app, and it is used far more widely. Here is what each plan includes, what the models cost through the API, and what people say.
Checked October 18, 2026 against Claude’s pricing page and ChatGPT’s
| Claude | ChatGPT | |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0: Sonnet and Haiku; web search, files and code, memory, voice | $0: Includes image generation, OpenAI’s app listing says |
| Low-cost plan | None | Go: $8 a month |
| Main plan | Pro: $20 a month, or $17 a month billed yearly | Plus: $20 a month |
| Top plans | Max: from $100 a month, with 5x or 20x Pro’s usage | Pro: from $100 a month, with tiers of $100, $200 and $500 in Apple’s App Store |
| Newest models | Opus 5.5 (Pro and up), Sonnet 5.5, Haiku 5.5; Fable 5.1 with limits | GPT-6 Luna on Free and Go; GPT-6 Astra, GPT-6.1 Sol and GPT-6 Sol from Plus |
| Images | Not on the plan list; Claude makes designs, slides and docs | Image generation and editing: limited on Free, more on Go and Plus, unlimited on Pro |
| Share of chatbot visits to websites | 0.95% | 80.48% |
Through Apple’s App Store, ChatGPT Plus costs $19.99. Share of visits: Statcounter, September 2026.
Claude and ChatGPT plans by price
- FreeChatGPTFree
- FreeClaudeFree
- GoChatGPT$8 a month
- PlusChatGPT$20 a month
- ProClaude$20 a month$17 billed yearly
- ProChatGPTfrom $100 a month
- MaxClaudefrom $100 a month
US prices a month before tax. Max and Pro are the lowest of several tiers.
What the plans include
Claude. The free plan covers chat on the web, desktop and phone with Sonnet and Haiku, web search, file creation and code, memory and voice mode. Pro adds Opus, Claude Code, Research, Claude in Chrome and Microsoft 365, and more usage. Max multiplies Pro’s usage by 5 or 20 and adds $100 or $200 a month of API credits. Fable 5.1 comes out of usage credits on Pro and is capped at half the weekly limit on Max. On every individual plan, using your chats to train models is something you can switch off.
ChatGPT. OpenAI’s app listing describes image generation (making pictures from a description or changing existing ones), Advanced Voice Mode and photo upload, all in the free app. Its plans are Go at $8, Plus at $20 and Pro from $100 a month, with Pro tiers of $100, $200 and $500 in Apple’s App Store. Free and Go use GPT-6 Luna; OpenAI’s top model, GPT-6 Astra, comes with Plus and Pro. Go may include ads, OpenAI says. On every personal plan you can opt out of having your chats used for training.
Claude vs ChatGPT models through the API
Developers pay per token instead of a monthly plan. Anthropic’s top model is cheaper than OpenAI’s: Claude Opus 5.5 costs $4.00 per million input tokens and $20.00 per million output tokens, against $10.00 and $50.00 for GPT-6 Astra. Anthropic says Opus 5.5 “matches GPT-6 Astra at about 40% of the cost”, a claim worth testing on your own work.
| Tier | Claude | In / out | ChatGPT (OpenAI) | In / out |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top | Opus 5.5 | $4.00 / $20.00 | GPT-6 Astra | $10.00 / $50.00 |
| Middle | Sonnet 5.5 | $2.00 / $10.00 | GPT-6.1 Sol | $2.00 / $10.00 |
| Low cost | Haiku 5.5 | $0.10 / $0.50 | GPT-6 Luna | $0.10 / $0.50 |
Prices side by side
US dollars per 1 million tokens, standard tier, from each company’s pricing page. The month: 30,000 requests of 2,000 tokens in (half read from cache) and 500 out. Set your own numbers in the calculator below.
What the top models cost in a month
Claude vs GPT for your use
Choose models
- Turn on JavaScript to see the costs. The price tables below work without it.
What people say
On Hacker News, where the Claude Opus 5.5 launch drew more than 1,100 comments and GPT-6 Astra’s more than 2,000, three themes stood out:
- Writing style. Some developers said Claude’s earlier writing style had pushed them to GPT-6 Astra; Anthropic says Opus 5.5 writes more clearly and puts the important information first.
- Usage limits. A few Claude Max subscribers said they kept running into limits and were moving to OpenAI’s Codex; others welcomed Opus 5.5’s lower price.
- Fatigue. Many said models and prices now change almost weekly, which makes any choice provisional.
Usage tells a simpler story: in September 2026, ChatGPT sent 80.48% of the visits that AI chatbots referred to websites, Claude 0.95%, according to Statcounter. That measures clicks out of each chatbot, not how many questions it answers.
Which to choose
- Images in the chat app: ChatGPT. Claude’s plans list designs, slides and docs, not image generation.
- The cheapest paid plan: ChatGPT Go at $8 a month; Claude has nothing between Free and Pro.
- The $20 plan: about the same price. Claude Pro includes Opus and Claude Code; compare what Plus includes on OpenAI’s site.
- Building with the API: Opus 5.5 costs less per token than GPT-6 Astra; Haiku 5.5 and GPT-6 Luna cost the same.
Questions
Is Claude better than ChatGPT?
Neither wins everything. ChatGPT has image generation and more plans to choose from, including an $8 one; Claude Pro includes Opus and Claude Code for $20. Through the API, Anthropic says Opus 5.5 matches GPT-6 Astra at about 40% of the cost. Try both on your own work: both have free plans.
How much is Claude Pro vs ChatGPT Plus?
Claude Pro is $20 a month, or $17 a month billed yearly ($200). ChatGPT Plus is $20 a month ($19.99 through Apple’s App Store).
Is Claude free?
Yes. Claude’s free plan includes Sonnet and Haiku, web search, memory, voice mode and up to five projects. Opus and Claude Code need Pro.
Are people switching from ChatGPT to Claude?
Some are, in both directions: in recent launch discussions people cited writing style, usage limits and coding tools as reasons to switch either way. Overall, ChatGPT still accounts for about 80% of the website visits sent by AI chatbots, and Claude about 1% (Statcounter, September 2026).
Which is cheaper for developers?
At the top, Claude: Opus 5.5 costs $4.00 in and $20.00 out per million tokens, against $10.00 and $50.00 for GPT-6 Astra. At the low end, Haiku 5.5 and GPT-6 Luna cost the same.
Sources
- Anthropic: Claude pricing (plans, features, models by plan)
- Anthropic: Claude Opus 5.5 (price, writing, the comparison with GPT-6 Astra)
- ChatGPT pricing (plan prices) and ChatGPT on the App Store (app features, Pro tiers)
- OpenAI: models and our OpenAI API pricing, Claude API pricing
- Wikipedia: GPT-6 Astra (release dates)
- Statcounter Global Stats, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0