ChatGPT vs Gemini: plans, limits and prices compared

ChatGPT vs Gemini comes down to plans, limits and what each subscription bundles: both companies have a free plan, a plan around $20 a month and heavy-use tiers starting at about $100 a month. This page compares what OpenAI and Google publish about their consumer plans (price, models, usage limits, extras and data use), checked on October 28, 2026. For the details of each ChatGPT plan, see ChatGPT pricing.

What this page is not: a quality ranking. We have not run a hands-on test of both assistants, so we do not say which writes, reasons or codes better. How we checked: this comparison relies only on OpenAI's and Google's own pages, never on a tool's opinion of itself or of its competitors.

ChatGPT vs Gemini: plans and prices side by side

Google sells its Gemini plans as Google's Plus plan, Pro and Ultra, bundled with Google One storage. OpenAI sells ChatGPT as Go, Plus and Pro. The table lines them up by rank, not by features.

Table: ChatGPT and Google's Gemini plans (October 28, 2026)

OpenAI does not say whether its euro prices include VAT, and Google's subscription page does not mention tax either, so read the checkout total. The two companies price the main paid plans within a dollar of each other in the US; in euros, ChatGPT Plus costs €23 against €21.99 for Google's Pro plan, as shown from Spain.

What do the free plans include?

ChatGPT Free has unlimited text chats with GPT-6 (subject to abuse guardrails) and limited uploads, images, voice, deep research, memory, Codex and ChatGPT Work on desktop. Gemini Free has access to the Flash-Lite model (since October 9, 2026, Auto model selection sends most prompts to it and may send those that need deeper reasoning to Flash or Pro), image generation and editing, Deep Research, Gemini Live, Canvas, Gems, a limited allowance in the Google Flow creative studio, Gemini Notebook and 15 GB of Google cloud storage. Google is turning Gems into skills: on personal accounts, Gems become read-only on November 17, 2026 and are removed on December 17.

Both are usable without paying. The difference is the shape of the limit: ChatGPT advertises unlimited everyday text chats, while Google describes compute-based limits that depend on the prompt, the features you use and the length of the chat.

How do usage limits compare?

OpenAI lists "unlimited" everyday text chats on every plan and puts limits on uploads, images, voice, deep research and Codex that grow with the plan. Google's Gemini app uses compute-based limits that "factor in the complexity of your prompt, the features you use, and the length of your chat". Google says the limit refreshes every five hours until you reach a weekly limit, and that you can extend limits by buying extra credits.

Google also states its paid tiers as multiples: Google's Plus plan gives 2x the usage of Free, Google's Pro plan gives 4x the usage of Free, and Google's Ultra plan gives 5x or 20x the usage of Google's Pro plan, with the 5x tier at $99.99 and the 20x tier at $199.99. OpenAI states Pro in tiers instead (Pro 100, 200 and 500), and says Pro 500 includes the highest usage and the Ultrafast option.

Which models does each plan give you?

ChatGPT's free plan runs GPT-6 Luna, which OpenAI rolled out to Free and Go from October 8, 2026. Plus adds GPT-6 Sol, GPT-6 Astra and GPT-6.1 Sol, and Pro adds Pro reasoning powered by GPT-6 Astra and GPT-5.6 Sol Pro. Google's free plan uses Flash-Lite; Google's Plus plan adds the Flash model, Google's Pro plan adds Gemini 4 Argon and the Pro model, and Google's Ultra plan gives the highest access to them plus first access to features such as Tasks in Gemini in select countries. In Google Search, the paid plans raise the access to Nano Banana and, from Google's Pro plan, to Gemini 4 Argon and agentic capabilities. Model names change every few months on both sides, so use this as a snapshot.

Context windows and file uploads

OpenAI publishes a context window per plan: for its fast model, 27K tokens on Free, 54K on Go and Plus and 128K on Pro, and for its reasoning models 256K on Go and Plus and 400K on Pro (see what a token is for the unit). Google's plan page does not list a context window for the Gemini app; it mentions working with up to 1,500 pages of file uploads. Google's developer documentation lists token limits per API model, which is a different product.

What else comes with the subscription?

This is where the two diverge most. Google bundles Gemini with storage and other Google services: Google's Plus plan adds 400 GB of storage and Gemini in Gmail, Vids and other Google apps; Google's Pro plan adds 5 TB, names Docs too among the apps with Gemini and adds Gemini in Chrome and the YouTube Premium Lite plan; and Google's Ultra plan adds Project Genie, a YouTube Premium individual plan and cloud storage starting at 20 TB. ChatGPT bundles tools instead: projects, scheduled tasks, custom GPTs, Codex, ChatGPT Work, sites, image generation with Thinking and, on Pro, an always-on agent called Dot.

Coding, images and research

For coding, ChatGPT includes Codex (limited on Free and Go, expanded on Plus and Pro). Google's Pro and Ultra plans include higher limits for Jules, an asynchronous coding agent that Google says is in beta, and entry-level to highest rate limits for the Google Antigravity agentic development platform. ChatGPT and Gemini both include deep research, which ChatGPT limits on Free and Go. For images, ChatGPT lists image creation from Go upward and unlimited on Pro; Google lists image generation on Free and video generation from Google's Plus plan.

What do they do with your conversations?

OpenAI lists "Opt-out available" for training on content on all four individual plans, and says it will not train on a Business workspace's data. Google's Gemini Apps Privacy Hub says a subset of chats is reviewed by human reviewers, that chats are saved to your Activity when Keep Activity is on, that temporary chats and chats with Keep Activity off are retained for 72 hours, and that reviewed chats are not deleted when you delete your activity but retained for up to three years. Read both policies before you paste in anything sensitive; our guide to the Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 covers the rules that apply to businesses using these tools.

Which should you try first?

Without a quality test, the honest answer follows from what you need:

• You live in Google's apps (Gmail, Docs, Drive, Chrome): Google's Pro plan bundles Gemini into them and adds storage.
• You want reasoning models, deep research and a coding agent in one subscription: ChatGPT Plus lists them together.
• You want the cheapest paid step: compare Go (€8) with Google's Plus plan (€4.99), and note Go may carry ads.
• You are choosing for a team: ChatGPT Business has published seat prices; Google points work accounts to its Enterprise app.
• You want a third opinion: read Claude vs ChatGPT and Claude pricing.

The cheapest way to decide is to use both free plans on your own tasks for a week.

What to check before you pay

Prices before tax and in your currency can differ from this page, so read the checkout total. Limits are not message counts on either side, so check your usage page. Plan contents and model names change often; this page is reviewed monthly and every change is logged in the history below.