I pay for three AI subscriptions right now.
That’s $60 a month. $720 a year. And honestly? I’m not sure I need all of them.
If you’re staring at ChatGPT Plus, Claude Pro, Gemini Advanced, and Perplexity Pro—all priced at that magic $20/month—wondering which ones are actually worth it, I spent the last few months figuring that out.
Here’s what I learned.
The $20/Month Club
Somehow, every major AI company landed on the same price point. ChatGPT Plus: $20. Claude Pro: $20. Gemini Advanced: $20 (technically $19.99). Perplexity Pro: $20.
Coincidence? Probably not. But it makes comparison shopping annoying, because you can’t just pick the cheapest option.
You have to pick the one that actually fits what you do.
Quick Verdict: Which One Should You Get?
If you can only pick one:
| Your Main Use | Get This |
|---|---|
| General everything | ChatGPT Plus |
| Writing and coding | Claude Pro |
| Google Workspace user | Gemini Advanced |
| Research and fact-checking | Perplexity Pro |
If you’re a power user: Claude Pro + Perplexity Pro is my favorite combo. Writing + research, covered.
If budget matters: Stick with free tiers. They’re surprisingly good now.
Let me explain the reasoning.
ChatGPT Plus ($20/month)
ChatGPT is the Honda Civic of AI. Reliable, does everything reasonably well, and everyone knows how to use it.
What you get:
- GPT-4o with faster response times
- 80 messages every 3 hours with the best model
- DALL-E 3 for image generation
- Web browsing and data analysis
- Memory that remembers your preferences
- Voice mode for conversations
The real value: Memory. ChatGPT remembers your writing style, your common requests, your preferences. Over time, it feels less like a tool and more like an assistant who actually knows you.
92% of Fortune 500 companies use ChatGPT. There’s a reason for that—it just works.
Who should subscribe:
- People who want one AI for everything
- Users who need image generation built-in
- Anyone already deep in the OpenAI ecosystem
Who shouldn’t:
- Writers who care about voice and style (Claude is better)
- Researchers who need citations (Perplexity is better)
- Budget-conscious users (free tier is pretty capable)
Claude Pro ($20/month)
Claude is the AI that sounds the least like an AI.
I know that’s a weird compliment. But if you’ve ever read AI output and thought “this sounds robotic,” Claude is the fix.
What you get:
- Claude Opus 4 (the flagship model)
- 200K+ token context window
- About 216 messages per day
- Priority access during peak times
- Projects feature for organizing work
The real value: Quality over quantity. Claude’s responses feel more thoughtful. It asks clarifying questions. It pushes back on bad ideas. It writes copy that doesn’t need as much editing.
Claude Pro saves $36 annually if you pay yearly ($17/month instead of $20).
Who should subscribe:
- Writers, copywriters, content creators
- Developers who want thoughtful code review
- Anyone tired of AI output that sounds like AI
- People working with large documents
Who shouldn’t:
- Users who need image generation
- People who want memory/personalization features
- Those who do lots of quick, simple queries
Gemini Advanced ($19.99/month)
Gemini has a secret weapon: 2TB of Google One storage.
If you already pay $10/month for Google storage, Gemini Advanced is basically a $10 AI upgrade. That changes the math completely.
What you get:
- Gemini 2.0 Ultra model access
- 1 million token context window (biggest in the industry)
- 2TB Google One storage (worth $10/month alone)
- Deep integration with Google Workspace
- Image generation through Imagen 3
The real value: Integration. If you live in Gmail, Google Docs, and Google Drive, Gemini works right where you work. No copy-pasting between apps.
Gemini’s context window is 5x larger than ChatGPT’s. You can paste entire books.
Who should subscribe:
- Heavy Google Workspace users
- Anyone who needs massive document analysis
- Users who already pay for Google storage
- People who want image generation
Who shouldn’t:
- Apple or Microsoft ecosystem users
- Writers who need the highest quality prose
- Users who want a standalone AI experience
Perplexity Pro ($20/month)
Perplexity is what Google Search should have become.
You ask a question. It finds sources. It cites them. You can verify every claim. That’s it. And it’s really good at it.
What you get:
- 600+ Pro searches per day
- Access to GPT-4, Claude, and other models
- Unlimited file uploads
- AI-generated search profiles
- $5/month API credit
The real value: Trust. When you need facts, not opinions, Perplexity shows its work. Every claim links to a source. You can click through and verify. This is huge if you’re writing anything that needs to be accurate.
Who should subscribe:
- Researchers, journalists, academics
- Anyone who writes fact-based content
- Users who need to verify AI claims
- People burned by AI hallucinations before
Who shouldn’t:
- Creative writers (not its strength)
- Users who primarily need coding help
- People who just want a chatbot experience
The Premium Tier: Is $200/Month Ever Worth It?
Both ChatGPT and Claude now offer ultra-premium tiers:
| Plan | Price | Main Benefit |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT Pro | $200/month | Unlimited GPT-4o, priority access |
| Claude Max | $100-200/month | Higher usage limits, longer outputs |
| Perplexity Max | $200/month | Enterprise-grade research features |
My honest take: Unless your job is AI, probably not.
These tiers make sense if you’re an AI researcher, a power user who hits rate limits daily, or a company buying for teams. For normal people, even heavy users, the $20 tier handles 95% of use cases.
I tried ChatGPT Pro for a month. Hit the $20 tier limits maybe twice. Cancelled.
The Free Tier Reality
Here’s something the AI companies don’t advertise: the free tiers are pretty good now.
| Platform | Free Tier |
|---|---|
| ChatGPT | GPT-4o mini, limited GPT-4o |
| Claude | Sonnet 4 with usage caps |
| Gemini | Flash 2.0, generous limits |
| Perplexity | 5 Pro searches/day, unlimited basic |
If you’re just trying AI, or use it occasionally, free might be enough. I know several people who’ve tried paid tiers and gone back to free.
The question isn’t “is AI worth paying for?” It’s “do I use it enough that the limits bother me?”
The Hidden Costs
Rate Limits
Paid doesn’t mean unlimited. All subscriptions have caps:
- ChatGPT Plus: 80 messages every 3 hours on GPT-4o
- Claude Pro: ~216 messages per day
- Gemini Advanced: Flexible but undisclosed quotas
- Perplexity Pro: 600+ searches per day
For most people, these limits never matter. But if you’re building with AI or using it constantly, you’ll hit them.
Feature Lock-in
Once you organize your life around Claude Projects or ChatGPT’s Memory, switching costs go up. Your prompts, your workflows, your muscle memory—all optimized for one platform.
This isn’t necessarily bad. But it’s worth knowing: the longer you use one, the harder it is to switch.
What I Actually Pay For
After testing everything, here’s my setup:
Claude Pro ($20/month) — Primary AI for writing and coding. Best quality output, worth the limitation on features.
Perplexity Pro ($20/month) — Research assistant. When I need facts with sources, nothing else compares.
ChatGPT Free — Occasional use for quick questions, image generation when I need it.
Gemini Free — Access through Google Workspace, use it when I’m already in Docs.
Total: $40/month. Could justify $60 if I subscribed to ChatGPT Plus, but I don’t hit the free limits often enough.
The Rule of Thumb
If AI saves you 2+ hours monthly, a $20 subscription pays for itself.
Calculate your hourly rate. Divide $20 by it. That’s how many hours of time savings you need to break even.
At $50/hour, you need 24 minutes of time saved per month. That’s… not much.
At $20/hour, you need an hour. Still easy if you use AI regularly.
The question isn’t whether AI is worth $20. It’s which $20 subscription fits your work.
My Recommendations
For Freelancers and Creators
Claude Pro. Best writing quality, solid coding, no BS. Your output needs to sound good. Claude delivers.
For Business Professionals
ChatGPT Plus. Versatile, reliable, works with everything. Memory feature learns your style over time.
For Researchers and Journalists
Perplexity Pro. Citations you can trust. Sources you can verify. Essential for fact-based work.
For Google Workspace Users
Gemini Advanced. Integration is worth more than features. Plus you get cloud storage.
For Budget-Conscious Users
Free tiers + AI skills. Honestly, a well-crafted prompt on a free tier often beats a lazy prompt on a paid one. The skills matter more than the subscription.
The Real Answer
You probably don’t need all of them.
Pick one that fits your main use case. Use free tiers for everything else. Upgrade only when you hit limits that actually bother you.
The AI companies want you to subscribe to everything. Your wallet (and your focus) want you to pick the right one.
Choose wisely.
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