As the popularity of artificial intelligence (AI) has exploded over the last couple of years, ChatGPT has continued to hold its place as a go-to resource for many users. In fact, ChatGPT gets over 2.5 billion prompts a day. ChatGPT can be accessed simply through its web page and is easy to use. You just type in your question and have a conversation with the AI to help resolve it. It can be used to help with calculating a budget, planning a trip, playing a game for fun, and a multitude of other options.
ChatGPT-5 is the newest model. It’s now the default for everyone who uses ChatGPT. You don’t need to switch, download, or choose anything. If you use ChatGPT, that’s what you are currently using. ChatGPT Plus is a paid-for version that offers extra benefits at the cost of $20 per month.
GPT-5 boasts the best performance and capabilities to date. Because of that, is paying for the Plus subscription still worth it? There is certainly a great deal of overlap between the two versions. Ultimately, if you rely on ChatGPT for your job, the Plus version will still be the best option. Whereas if you are just a casual user, GPT-5 has everything you need.
The benefits of ChatGPT Plus
One of the best benefits of Plus is that you can access it even during heavy traffic periods. Meaning that if a bunch of people are using ChatGPT at the same time, your requests have priority. This is key to getting on-demand work completed faster so you can meet project deadlines. You also have fewer usage limits, able to send 160 messages every three hours without a loss of any type of performance.
GPT Plus can understand image files and even generate images for you. It can listen to and understand audio files. You can send it massive text documents that you want it to read and analyze. You can communicate with it via voice and even access older GPT models if you have a preference.
All of these capabilities make it best suited for people who use it for their jobs, including two very specific features. GPT Plus lets you create videos, so if you generate AI videos for your job, that is a great feature to have access to. It is also ideal for coders because of its Codex AI coding agent, which gives suggestions and assists you in working through very complex lines of code. After all, if you rely on it for your career, you want to get the most out of ChatGPT every time you use it.
The benefits of ChatGPT-5
There is some overlap in what GPT-5 and Plus both offer. Both do web searches, generate images, and let you create custom instructions. Both allow you to upload files and images, and they will analyze them for you and answer your questions about the files.
GPT-5 boasts more in-depth analysis than previous models. It can compare and contrast, do financial analysis, answer coding questions, and take in large-scale information you give it to provide you with answers. Basically, it does what ChatGPT always has done, but reportedly faster, more accurately, and it is able to handle greater levels of complexity.
However, it does not generate videos, does not do voice commands, and doesn’t have the Codex AI feature. You are not prioritized during heavy traffic periods. GPT-5 has a usage limit of 10 messages every five hours at the same performance quality. But you don’t pay $20 a month. So this is best for casual users. The ones that use ChatGPT for fun or just need occasional assistance with things like homework or brainstorming. If you are in no hurry and don’t rely on it for deadlines, the new ChatGPT-5 has everything you will need.
