Ads are the price you pay for access to many apps and features. It has been the culture across multiple ecosystems for years. Even though something is technically free at first, you’ll eventually pay for it with your attention. And so it's unsurprising that OpenAI is now bringing advertisements to its cheapest subscription tier.
ChatGPT Go will now have ads
OpenAI expanded ChatGPT with the Go tier in August 2025. It first launched in India before reaching everyone globally. It's now available in 170 additional countries. The budget version provides almost everything important you need, especially GPT-5.2 Instant.
In the US, the plan costs $8 per month, and it's a little higher than India’s $5 equivalent. ChatGPT Plus costs $20 per month, while ChatGPT Pro costs $200 per month. OpenAI is now testing ads in the free and Go tiers.
We plan to begin testing ads in the free tier and ChatGPT Go in the US soon. Ads support our commitment to making AI accessible to everyone by helping us keep ChatGPT available at free and affordable price points. ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise will remain ad-free.
OpenAI
According to the company, the ads are coming because they want to keep ChatGPT affordable without cutting back features or raising prices.
Running a model at this scale isn’t cheap, and it's now clear that inference, safety review, memory, notuptime, and constant model updates are too much for the company to sustain.
Since most people on the platform are using the free tier, it was only a matter of time before they forced you to pay. However, they've reassured users that they won’t interfere with the core experience.
Ads will be clearly separated from the actual response, and you can turn off personalization if you want. You may clear any data used. But if you prefer an entirely ad-free experience, you'll have to go for the Plus or Pro plans.
Here's what ChatGPT Go ads will look like
According to OpenAI’s wording, ads appear as simple sponsored recommendations at the bottom of a ChatGPT response.
The ad preview released on their Reddit account shows a small product image on the left, a short description on the right, and it’s designed to blend into the chat layout.
It looks similar to how Google inserts shopping cards into search results. It's roughly the size of a single short chat bubble and takes up about 10–15% of the phone’s screen height.
That said, it’s unfair for OpenAI to run ads on the Go subscription. The whole point of paying, even a smaller amount, is to escape the compromises that come with a free plan. Now, it just undermines the value proposition.
A lot of angry comments have been made, threatening to cancel their subscriptions if the company dares to bring ads to higher tiers. Even Go plan users feel it’s weird to have ads at all. Some are trying to switch to Claude, DeepSeek, and other AI alternatives.
But there's only so much running around you can do. Every new platform eventually adopts the same monetisation model. You may dodge the wave for a year or two, maybe even three, but eventually the tide catches up with everyone.
