Claude and ChatGPT price increases feel inevitable. But what will actually happen when they

Stuff / Features / Claude and ChatGPT price increases feel inevitable. But what will actually happen when they start charging more for AI?

Somehow, despite all this extra functionality and complexity, AI companies are still trying to sell all this through the same simple choice – use the free version or pay a flat monthly fee. That obviously isn’t going to last forever.

What Happened

But the question isn’t really what happens when OpenAI and Anthropic start charging for AI, because they already do. It’s which bits they’ll charge more for – and how much useful stuff – if any – will remain free.

• At the time of writing, ChatGPT Plus and Claude Pro both cost $20 a month.

• ChatGPT Pro has $100 and $200 tiers, offering five or 20 times as much usage.

• At the time of writing, however, OpenAI has temporarily paused new sign-ups and upgrades to its $200 plan.

Key Details

OpenAI and Anthropic have arrived at very similar selection of subscriptions. Things escalate rather rapidly from there.

• Existing subscriptions are unaffected, and the $100 tier remains available.

• Claude Max uses the same $100 and $200 price points, again promising five or 20 times the usage of Claude Pro.

• If you occasionally use a chatbot to summarise an email or settle an argument about who played somebody in a film, paying $200 every month would be… well, not unhinged, per se… but it.

Why It Matters

Very few people need either of those top-end plans, mind. For a developer, researcher, or business that can turn all that AI work into glorious cash though, the higher tiers make more sense.

• In July, OpenAI cut the API price of its smaller GPT-5.6 Luna model by 80 per cent and reduced the price of GPT-5.6 Terra by 20 per cent.

• Oh, and like all good human beings, he's very fond of cats.

What Reports Say

Coverage of the story so far points to:

• Continued reporting by stuff.tv as more details emerge