September update: GPT-6 Astra now exists
Updated 9 September 2026. OpenAI released GPT-6 Astra on 3 September, and its president called it a “generational leap”.
What changes for you today, and what does not:
- Free plan: nothing changes for now. You stay on the GPT-5.6 family.
- Plus: confirmed on 4 September by Sam Altman himself (who called the rollout “messy”): no GPT-6 in normal chat, only inside ChatGPT Work and Codex.
- Pro and business: there, in normal chat, it appears as GPT-6 Pro (the $100-200 plans), on a weekly message quota.
- API: $10 per million input tokens, $50 output, one-million-token context.
The public version ships capped on cybersecurity: it deliberately refuses certain requests, following the delay OpenAI applied for safety reasons.
The prices and plans below have not changed with this launch.
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is the most popular artificial intelligence assistant in the world, developed by OpenAI. Since its launch in November 2022, it has revolutionized the way millions of people work, study and create content.
Plans and pricing
| Plan | Price | Limits |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | GPT-5.6 Luna, unlimited text chats, Think button, basic image generation |
| Go | $8/mo | More messages, more uploads, more memory, voice with video |
| Plus | $20/mo | GPT-5.6 Sol + Luna, advanced reasoning, expanded Codex, ChatGPT Work |
| Pro | $100/mo and $200/mo | GPT-5.6 Sol Pro, Pro reasoning, 5-20x higher usage, ChatGPT Work |
| Business | $25/user/mo | ChatGPT Work + Codex, billed annually |
| Enterprise | Custom pricing | No limits, advanced security |
| Enterprise | Custom | No limits |
ChatGPT Work: the agent that finishes the task
In July 2026, OpenAI launched ChatGPT Work, probably the most important product change since launch. It isn’t a new plan and doesn’t cost extra: it comes included in Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise at no additional cost.
The idea is to move from “chatbot that answers” to agent that executes. ChatGPT Work merges three things that used to be separate into a single desktop app (macOS and Windows): the classic ChatGPT interface, the Codex coding tool, and an agent that works in the background.
What actually changes:
- Background tasks: kick off a job from your phone and the agent keeps working on its own; you can track progress - and step in if needed - from the web or desktop
- Connection to your tools: it reaches files, third-party apps and a built-in browser
- @ mentions: you can type @Slack, @Google Drive, @Microsoft Teams or @SharePoint inside the conversation to give it access to that data or let it act on your behalf
The desktop app can be used for free, but web access requires a paid plan.
What is it best for?
Writing and content
ChatGPT shines especially at generating text: from professional emails to blog articles. Its understanding of context and ability to adapt tone make it indispensable for content creators.
Programming
With code interpreter mode, ChatGPT can write, debug and explain code in more than 30 programming languages. It’s especially useful for developers working with Python, JavaScript or SQL.
Data analysis
Upload a spreadsheet and ChatGPT analyzes it in seconds, generates charts and extracts key insights. A task that used to take hours now takes minutes.
Free plan vs Plus
The free plan is surprisingly generous: you get GPT-5.6 Luna with unlimited text chats and basic image generation. If you lean on it heavily, Plus is worth it. For occasional use, the free tier is more than enough. Note that from 24 August 2026 the free and Go tiers show ads in Europe.
What users say
ChatGPT remains the world’s most-used chatbot, but the Reddit community has grown more critical since GPT-5 launched: the most repeated complaints are message limits on the Plus plan (heavy users burn through them fast, with extra unannounced caps), shorter-than-expected answers, and the model’s personality shifting between versions - Sam Altman himself admitted the model had become “sycophantic and annoying” in one iteration.
Even so, for most casual users the experience is still excellent, and OpenAI usually walks things back when the community pushes back (as when it restored older models after complaints).
Final verdict
ChatGPT remains the king of AI chatbots in 2026. It’s not perfect - it still hallucinates and has context limits - but for most users it’s the most balanced option between capability, ease of use and price.
Who is it ideal for? Content creators, developers, students and any professional who wants to multiply their productivity.
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