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Best AI subscription 2026: 10 paid plans scored on what a year costs, what comes bundled and what the limits say

Ten paid AI plans from Google, Microsoft, Anthropic, OpenAI, Mistral, xAI and Perplexity, scored on six printed rules from official pages checked on 22 October 2026: 12-month cost, bundled extras, published usage, tools, long documents and training controls, with each vendor's plans explained and a worked example.

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Best AI subscription 2026 — NOXI blog cover: count the year, not the month; ten paid AI plans scored on yearly cost, bundled extras, usage limits, tools and training controls

Disclosure: NOXI publishes this comparison. NOXI is a presentation maker, not an AI assistant subscription, so it is not one of the ten scored plans; it appears only in the section for readers whose goal is a presentation. The rubric, the weights, every score and every official source are printed below so that you can re-score any plan yourself.

Quick answer: Pick Google AI Plus ($4.99 a month) or Google AI Pro ($19.99) for the most documented tools and storage per dollar, 87 of 100 each; Microsoft 365 Personal ($99.99 a year, 84) if you need Office; Claude Pro ($200 a year, 76) for long documents; ChatGPT Plus ($20 a month, 63) for OpenAI's tools. Official pages, checked 22 October 2026.

The real question is where $5 to $30 a month should go. Ten paid plans from seven vendors are scored here on six printed rules, using only what each vendor documents; the higher tiers from $99.99 to $500 a month are listed, not scored.

In short

  • RankingGoogle AI Plus 87, Google AI Pro 87, Microsoft 365 Personal 84, Microsoft 365 Premium 83, Claude Pro 76, Mistral Pro 70, ChatGPT Go 69, Perplexity Pro 65, X Subscription Premium 64, ChatGPT Plus 63.
  • Count the yearA $20 plan costs $240 a year. Claude Pro and Perplexity Pro sell a year for $200; OpenAI sells Go, Plus and Pro monthly only.
  • MethodDocumented capability on six criteria; it does not measure answer quality, which no official page documents.
  • Copilot ProNo longer sold; Microsoft 365 Premium ($199.99 a year) replaces it.
  • StudentsUS college students aged 18+ can claim a free year of Google AI Pro if they redeem by 31 December 2026.

Key numbers

$8
ChatGPT Go per month, US price on OpenAI's pricing page, 22 October 2026 [1]
$20
ChatGPT Plus per month; OpenAI offers no annual billing for Go, Plus or Pro [2][3]
$200/yr
Claude Pro billed annually ($17 a month); $20 if billed monthly, Anthropic [11]
$4.99
Google AI Plus per month (US): 2x the free plan's usage and 400 GB of storage [14]
$19.99
Google AI Pro per month (US): 4x the free plan's usage, 5 TB and a 1M-token window [14][15]
$99.99/yr
Microsoft 365 Personal: Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook with Copilot, 1 TB [19]

The ranking: 10 AI subscriptions side by side

Ten plans, ordered by their total out of 100 on rubric B. The 12-month cost is the cheapest official way to pay for a year. "Best when" is a fit statement resting on a documented fact. Ties are listed alphabetically.

#Plan12 months (USD)ScoreBest when
1Google AI Plus$59.8887Images, video, Deep Research and 400 GB for the lowest yearly price here.
2Google AI Pro$239.8887You need a 1M-token window and would pay for 5 TB of storage anyway.
3Microsoft 365 Personal$99.9984You need desktop Office at home, with Copilot inside, for about $8.33 a month.
4Microsoft 365 Premium$199.9983Office for up to six people plus Researcher and "extensive" Copilot usage.
5Claude Pro$20076Long documents and Research matter more than image generation.
6Mistral Pro$179.8870You want published multiples: up to 6x messages and 40x images.
7ChatGPT Go$9669ChatGPT with higher limits than Free for images and files, at $8 a month.
8Perplexity Pro$20065Cited web answers and research reports are the job.
9X Subscription Premium$30064You use Grok and X daily and want X Premium+ benefits in the same bill.
10ChatGPT Plus$24063You want OpenAI's deep research, voice and images in one app.

Cost for 12 months and bundled extras carry 40 of the 100 points, so bundles from Google and Microsoft rise and plans sold monthly only, such as ChatGPT Plus, fall.

How we scored: rubric B, six printed rules

Every plan was scored on documented capability from official pages opened on 22 October 2026: pricing pages, help centres, privacy pages and the vendors' own documentation. It is not a new hands-on test. A cell credits a feature only when an official page documents it for that plan; when a page we opened did not document a feature, the plan does not get the point, and the same treatment applies to every vendor. Weighted score = rating ÷ 5 × weight; the weights add up to 100.

CodeCriterion (weight)The rule, identical for every plan
B1Cost for 12 months (25)The cheapest official way to pay for 12 months: the published annual price, otherwise monthly × 12. 5 = up to $100; 4 = $100.01–200; 3 = $200.01–240; 2 = $240.01–300; 1 = over $300.
B2Extras outside the assistant (15)Non-AI extras in the price: cloud storage beyond the free tier, office desktop apps, or another paid service. 5 = two or more; 3 = one; 1 = none.
B3Published headroom (15)5 = the vendor publishes a number or multiple for this plan's usage against its free plan; 3 = "higher" or "more" in words only; 1 = nothing.
B4Tools (20)Count six tools documented for the plan: web search, deep research, image generation, voice conversation, file creation (the assistant produces a document, presentation, spreadsheet or PDF, in the chat or in an office app, or exports to Docs or Slides), video generation. 5 = 5–6; 4 = 4; 3 = 3; 2 = 2; 1 = 0–1.
B5Long documents (10)The largest context window the vendor publishes for this plan. 5 = 1M tokens or more; 3 = 128K to under 1M; 1 = under 128K; 2 = not published on an official page opened that day.
B6Training control (15)5 = the vendor states consumer chats on this plan are not used to train its models; 4 = an opt-out setting plus a chat mode excluded from training; 3 = an opt-out setting only; 2 = opt-out by request or form; 1 = no opt-out stated.

Three facts would move scores. OpenAI, Microsoft, Perplexity, Mistral and xAI publish no context window on the pages we could open (chatgpt.com/pricing asks for a login), so they get 2 on B5; a published 1M-token window would add 6 points. Perplexity's "$17 /month … billed annually" matches its help centre's $200 a year (200 ÷ 12 = $16.67). xAI states Premium's usage as "4x more usage compared to Plus", not against Free, so B3 is 3; counting multiples of a paid tier would give Premium 70.

The scores: every cell and its arithmetic

Google AI Plus and Google AI Pro tie at 87 (listed alphabetically); Microsoft 365 Personal follows at 84 and Premium at 83, while ChatGPT Plus scores 63 because it is the only $20-class plan with no annual price, no bundled extra and no published usage number.

PlanB1 cost (25)B2 extras (15)B3 headroom (15)B4 tools (20)B5 long docs (10)B6 training (15)Total (arithmetic)
Google AI Plus53553425 + 9 + 15 + 20 + 6 + 12 = 87
Google AI Pro35555415 + 15 + 15 + 20 + 10 + 12 = 87
Microsoft 365 Personal55342525 + 15 + 9 + 16 + 4 + 15 = 84
Microsoft 365 Premium45352520 + 15 + 9 + 20 + 4 + 15 = 83
Claude Pro41545420 + 3 + 15 + 16 + 10 + 12 = 76
Mistral Pro41542420 + 3 + 15 + 16 + 4 + 12 = 70
ChatGPT Go51342425 + 3 + 9 + 16 + 4 + 12 = 69
Perplexity Pro41352320 + 3 + 9 + 20 + 4 + 9 = 65
X Subscription Premium23352410 + 9 + 9 + 20 + 4 + 12 = 64
ChatGPT Plus31352415 + 3 + 9 + 20 + 4 + 12 = 63
Stacked bar chart of rubric B scores for ten AI subscriptions, split into cost, extras, headroom, tools, long documents and training control: Google AI Plus 87, Google AI Pro 87, Microsoft 365 Personal 84, Microsoft 365 Premium 83, Claude Pro 76, Mistral Pro 70, ChatGPT Go 69, Perplexity Pro 65, X Subscription Premium 64, ChatGPT Plus 63.
Where each plan's points come from: bundles win on cost and extras, while ChatGPT Plus, Perplexity Pro and X Subscription Premium score full marks on tools.

The evidence behind each cell, by criterion:

  • B1: monthly × 12 for Google AI Plus, ChatGPT Go, Mistral Pro, Google AI Pro and ChatGPT Plus [1][3][14][31]; published annual prices for Microsoft 365, Claude Pro, Perplexity Pro and X Subscription Premium [11][19][29][33].
  • B2: Google AI Plus lists 400 GB of storage (one extra); Google AI Pro lists 5 TB, YouTube Premium Lite and Google Home Premium Standard [14]. Microsoft 365 lists desktop Office apps, 1 TB or 2 TB of OneDrive storage and Microsoft Defender [19]. X Subscription Premium includes "full X Premium+ benefits" [35]. The other plans list no non-AI extra.
  • B3: Google publishes 2x and 4x the free plan's usage [14]; Anthropic says Pro gives "at least 5x more usage per 5-hour session than Free" [11]; Mistral lists "up to 6x" Free messages and "up to 40x" image generations [31]. xAI lists Premium at 4x Plus, not against Free, which counts as words [33]; OpenAI ("higher usage limits", "higher model limits"), Microsoft ("higher than free", "extensive") and Perplexity ("extended access") use words only [2][3][19][28].
  • B4: Google: Deep Research, images and Gemini Live on Free, video on Plus and Pro, Canvas export to Docs and Slides [14][16]. Microsoft: web search, image creation, Copilot Voice, Copilot in Word and PowerPoint, and Researcher on Premium only [19][23][24][25]. Claude Pro: web search, Research, voice, file creation [11]. ChatGPT Go: web search, images, voice and ChatGPT for PowerPoint, deep research not listed [2][5][7]; Plus adds deep research [3]. Perplexity Pro: web, research, images, video, "Create files and apps" [28]. Mistral Pro: web, deep research, images, spreadsheets and slides; its voice mode transcribes speech into a prompt, so it is not counted as voice conversation [31][40]. Grok on Premium: web search [37], voice, images and video [36][38], and Grok Bot, which returns documents, spreadsheets and slide decks [41].
  • B5: Google publishes 128K tokens for AI Plus and 1 million for AI Pro [15]; Claude lists "Up to 1M" on every plan [11]. The other vendors publish no window on the pages we opened.
  • B6: Microsoft states that Copilot prompts, responses and files are not used to train foundation models [22][26]. OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Mistral and xAI pair an opt-out with a chat mode excluded from training [6][39][17][40][37]; Perplexity documents an opt-out only [27]. Our guide to AI training settings shows each switch.

Count the year: 12-month costs side by side

Count the year, not the month: a $20 plan costs $240 a year, and an annual price, bundled storage or Office apps can make a pricier-looking plan the cheaper one. Five of the ten plans publish an annual price.

PlanMonthly priceAnnual optionCheapest 12 months
Google AI Plus$4.99None shown on the US page4.99 × 12 = $59.88
ChatGPT Go$8None; OpenAI says it does not support annual billing8 × 12 = $96
Microsoft 365 Personal$9.99$99.99 a year$99.99 (monthly would be $119.88)
Mistral Pro$14.99None shown14.99 × 12 = $179.88
Microsoft 365 Premium$19.99$199.99 a year$199.99 (monthly would be $239.88)
Claude Pro$20$200 billed up front ($17 a month)$200 (monthly would be $240)
Perplexity Pro$20$200 a year$200 (monthly would be $240)
Google AI Pro$19.99None shown on the US page19.99 × 12 = $239.88
ChatGPT Plus$20None; billed monthly20 × 12 = $240
X Subscription Premium$30$300 a year ($25 a month)$300 (monthly would be $360)
Bar chart of the cheapest official 12-month cost of ten AI subscriptions on 22 October 2026: Google AI Plus $59.88, ChatGPT Go $96, Microsoft 365 Personal $99.99, Mistral Pro $179.88, Microsoft 365 Premium $199.99, Claude Pro $200, Perplexity Pro $200, Google AI Pro $239.88, ChatGPT Plus $240 and X Subscription Premium $300.
Three plans priced at $20 a month end up $40 apart once annual billing is counted.

Annual billing saves $40 on Claude Pro and Perplexity Pro (40 ÷ 240 = 16.7%) and 119.88 − 99.99 = $19.89 on Microsoft 365 Personal, the figure Microsoft prints [19]. It is paid up front, so it suits a tool you already use, not one you are trying.

ChatGPT Plus vs Claude Pro vs Google AI Pro: the three $20 plans

ChatGPT Plus, Claude Pro and Google AI Pro all list at about $20 a month, but they differ on yearly cost, bundled extras and the context window they publish. Claude Pro is the cheapest of the three over a year at $200; Google AI Pro is the only one with storage and other services included; ChatGPT Plus and Google AI Pro each document five of the six tools, and Claude Pro four, with no image generation listed on its plan page.

Fact (22 Oct 2026)ChatGPT PlusClaude ProGoogle AI Pro
Price$20 a month, monthly only [3]$20 monthly or $200 a year [11]$19.99 a month [14]
12 months$240$200$239.88
Stated usage"Higher model limits" than Free [3]At least 5x Free per 5-hour session [11]4x Free [14]
Context windowNot published on the pages we openedUp to 1M tokens [11]1 million tokens [15]
Tools (of six)Web, deep research, images, voice, file creation (5)Web, Research, voice, file creation (4)Deep Research, images, Gemini Live, Canvas export, video (5)
Bundled extrasNone listedNone listed5 TB storage, YouTube Premium Lite, Google Home Premium Standard
Training controlOpt-out plus Temporary chat [6]Opt-out plus Incognito chats [11][39]Keep Activity off plus Temporary chats [17]
Rubric B score637687

Start from the job: image generation with deep research and voice points to ChatGPT Plus or Google AI Pro, long files to Claude or Google (both publish 1M tokens), and a household that buys storage anyway to Google AI Pro.

ChatGPT plans explained: Free, Go, Plus and Pro

ChatGPT has four personal plans: Free ($0), Go ($8 a month), Plus ($20 a month) and Pro ($100, $200 or $500 a month), all billed monthly with no annual option [1][2][4]. Business costs $20 a user a month billed annually for two or more users, or $25 billed monthly [1]. OpenAI said on 31 March 2026 that ChatGPT had more than 50 million subscribers [10].

PlanPriceWhat OpenAI listsScore
Free$0Web search, uploads, data analysis, image creation; no fixed cap on everyday text chats [5]Not scored
Go$8 a monthEverything in Free, with higher limits for images, files and data analysis [2]69
Plus$20 a monthHigher model limits, voice, images, file uploads, "Deep Research tools (where available)" [3]63
Pro$100, $200 or $500 a monthPro models, Codex, deep research, image creation; Ultrafast on Pro 500 [4]Not scored

ChatGPT Go vs Plus: what the extra $12 buys

Plus costs $12 a month, or $144 a year, more than Go. OpenAI describes Go as Free with higher limits for "eligible features such as image generation, file uploads, and data analysis", adding that some advanced products "may require Plus" [2]. Plus adds priority access, higher model limits and deep research [3]. Choose Go for chat, images and files; choose Plus for deep research or heavier use.

Is ChatGPT Plus worth it?

ChatGPT Plus is worth $20 a month if you use deep research, voice and image generation together. It scores 63 here: full marks for tools, but monthly-only billing ($240 a year), no bundled extras and no published usage number or context window hold it back.

ChatGPT Pro vs Plus

ChatGPT Pro is for people who exhaust Plus. It comes in three monthly tiers, Pro 100 at $100, Pro 200 at $200 and Pro 500 at $500; Pro 200 includes more usage than Pro 100, and only Pro 500 includes Ultrafast mode [4]. OpenAI's pricing page says Pro plans "currently have no five-hour limit" for its coding product [1]. Subscribers who held Pro 200 between 22 and 29 September 2026 keep the earlier allowance until 29 October 2026 [4].

Claude plans: Free vs Pro vs Max

Claude has three individual plans: Free ($0), Pro ($20 a month, or $17 a month billed annually as $200 up front) and Max (from $100 a month, monthly only) [11][12]. Every plan, Free included, lists web search, voice mode, file creation with code execution, connectors, memory and a context window of up to 1M tokens that varies by model [11].

Claude Free vs Pro

Claude Pro adds at least five times the Free plan's usage per five-hour session, Research, Projects without the Free plan's limit of five, more Claude models, Claude Code, Claude in Chrome and Claude for Microsoft 365 [11]. Free already includes Slides, Docs, web search and file creation, so the upgrade buys volume, Research and extra surfaces.

Is Claude Pro worth it?

Claude Pro is worth it for long documents, Research and Claude Code, and at $200 billed annually it is the cheapest $20-class plan over a year. It scores 76: full marks for its 1M-token window and 5x multiple, but no image generation or bundled extras. Pay monthly first, then switch to annual.

Claude Max vs Pro

Claude Max costs $100 a month for 5x Pro's usage or $200 a month for 20x, per five-hour session, and is billed monthly only [12]. Max adds higher output limits, priority access at busy times, early access to features and $100 or $200 a month in API credits for the Claude Platform [11]. Moving from Pro to Max 5x multiplies the price by 5 (100 ÷ 20) for five times Pro's usage.

Google AI plans: Free, AI Plus, AI Pro and AI Ultra

Google sells four personal tiers in the US: Free, Google AI Plus at $4.99 a month, Google AI Pro at $19.99 and Google AI Ultra from $99.99 [14]. The Free plan already lists image generation and editing, Deep Research, Gemini Live, Canvas, Gems and Gemini Notebook, so the paid tiers buy usage, storage, video generation and a larger context window.

TierUS priceUsageContext windowStorage and extras
Free$0Standard limits32K tokens15 GB
AI Plus$4.99 a month2x Free128K tokens400 GB; video generation; Gemini in Gmail and Vids
AI Pro$19.99 a month4x Free1 million tokens5 TB; YouTube Premium Lite; Google Home Premium Standard; Gemini in Chrome
AI Ultra$99.99 or $199.99 a month5x or 20x AI Pro1 million tokensFrom 20 TB; YouTube Premium individual

Usage and context windows are from Google's help page [15]; prices and extras from the US subscriptions page [14].

Google AI Plus vs Pro

Google AI Pro costs $15 a month more than AI Plus (19.99 − 4.99) and buys twice the usage (4x Free against 2x), a 1M-token window instead of 128K, 5 TB of storage instead of 400 GB, YouTube Premium Lite, Google Home Premium Standard and Gemini in Chrome's auto browse [14][15]. Both list video generation. Over a year the gap is 239.88 − 59.88 = $180. Choose Pro for very long documents or if you would buy the storage anyway.

Gemini free vs Pro, and is Gemini Pro worth it?

Gemini's Free plan already includes image generation, Deep Research and Gemini Live, so Google AI Pro is worth it when you hit the free limits, need the 1M-token window (Free has 32K), or would use 5 TB of storage and YouTube Premium Lite. Without the bundle, its $239.88 a year buys mostly usage.

Is Google AI Pro free for students?

Yes, for eligible US college students aged 18 and over: Google offers a free year of Google AI Pro that must be redeemed by 31 December 2026, needs a payment method and verification each year, and then renews at $19.99 a month unless cancelled [18]. Students whose 2025 AI Pro trial has expired can also qualify, according to the same page.

Microsoft 365 with Copilot, and what replaced Copilot Pro

Microsoft now sells Copilot for home users inside Microsoft 365 plans: Personal at $99.99 a year or $9.99 a month, Family at $129.99 a year or $12.99 a month, and Premium at $199.99 a year or $19.99 a month [19]. All include desktop Office apps with Copilot, Microsoft Defender and OneDrive (1 TB on Personal, 2 TB on Family and Premium). Family is not scored: its AI is for the owner only and matches Personal's.

PlanPriceCopilot usage (Microsoft's words)Score
Personal$99.99 a year"Higher than free"; Copilot in Word, Excel and PowerPoint; image creation; voice84
Family$129.99 a year"Higher than free", AI for the subscription owner only; up to 6 people for apps and storageNot scored
Premium$199.99 a year"Extensive"; adds agentic AI for advanced research and analytics (Researcher)83

What happened to Copilot Pro?

Copilot Pro is no longer available for purchase. Microsoft announced on 1 October 2025 that it would stop selling Copilot Pro and introduced Microsoft 365 Premium at $19.99 a month, combining Microsoft 365 Family and Copilot Pro [21]. Its support page says existing subscribers could keep using Copilot Pro with support ending on 1 August 2026, and names Premium as one option for continued extensive Copilot use [20].

Microsoft's privacy page says Copilot prompts, responses and file contents in Microsoft 365 apps for home "aren't used to train foundation models" on Personal, Family, Premium and Pro plans [22], which is why both Microsoft plans score 5 on B6.

Perplexity Pro, Mistral Pro and Grok on The X Subscription

Perplexity Pro, Mistral Pro and Premium on The X Subscription score between 64 and 70, and each leads on one documented point: Perplexity documents five of the six tools, Mistral publishes the most specific multiples against Free, and xAI prints an annual price for every paid tier.

Perplexity Pro price

Perplexity Pro costs $20 a month or $200 a year according to Perplexity's help centre, and the Pro page shows "$17 /month or equivalent, when billed annually", which is $200 ÷ 12 rounded [27][29]. Education Pro costs $10 a month with SheerID verification [28]. Pro adds extended Pro Search (Free gets a "very limited amount"), image and video generation, deep research and "Create files and apps" [28]. Searches may be used to improve Perplexity's AI unless you opt out [27]. Perplexity Max costs $200 a month or $2,000 a year [30].

Mistral Pro

Mistral's assistant, which mistral.ai's pricing page now presents as Vibe, has a Pro plan at $14.99 a month, and verified students pay $5.99 [31]. It is the plan that publishes the most specific multiples: up to 6x Free messages, 5x web searches and 40x image generations, plus spreadsheet and slide generation and deep research reports. Training is on by default for individual users, who can opt out in settings [32], and a Temporary Chat "isn't saved to your history or used to train our models" [40].

SuperGrok price: what new customers get now

New xAI customers no longer start on SuperGrok: they choose The X Subscription, while existing SuperGrok, Cursor and X Premium plans continue [33][34]. The X Subscription has five tiers: Free, Plus at $8 a month or $80 a year, Premium at $30 or $300, Super at $100 or $1,000, and Ultra at $200 or $2,000 [33]. Premium includes 4x Plus usage, Grok Bot, images and video, and full X Premium+ benefits [35][36].

We score Premium because it is the tier xAI recommends for new AI users, and the first to list Grok Bot, image and video creation and full X Premium+ benefits [35][36]; Plus is listed for "social creators with limited AI usage". Grok's consumer FAQ documents real-time web search, an "Improve the model" opt-out and Private Chat, whose content is not used for model training [37].

AI subscription usage limits by plan: what each vendor publishes

Usage limits decide how much you can do before a plan pauses. Most vendors now meter them in rolling windows rather than message counts, and only some publish multiples.

VendorHow limits work (official wording)Multiples published
AnthropicLimits reset on a rolling five-hour session window; paid plans add weekly limits [11]Pro at least 5x Free; Max 5x or 20x Pro [11]
GoogleLimits refresh every 5 hours until you reach a weekly limit; video and Deep Research use the most [15]AI Plus 2x, AI Pro 4x Free; Ultra 5x or 20x AI Pro [15]
OpenAIFree has no fixed cap on everyday text chats; tools have separate limits; Plus "may include usage limits such as message caps" [3][5]None for Go or Plus; words only [2][3]
MicrosoftUsage described per plan in words; the FAQ links to details on credits [19]"Higher than free" or "Extensive" [19]
xAIOne weekly pool shared across Grok and Cursor; Chat, Imagine, Voice and Bot draw from it [33][36]Premium 4x, Super 15x, Ultra 50x Plus [33]
MistralPay-as-you-go beyond the plan limit at API rates [31]Up to 6x messages, 5x searches, 40x images [31]
PerplexityFree: a "very limited amount" of Pro Searches; Pro: "extended access" [28]None for Pro beyond "extended" [28]

The higher tiers: ChatGPT Pro, Claude Max, Google AI Ultra and others (unscored)

Every major vendor sells a tier between $99.99 and $500 a month for heavy users; they serve a different budget, so they are listed, not scored.

TierPriceCheapest 12 monthsStated usage
ChatGPT Pro 100 / 200 / 500$100 / $200 / $500 a month$1,200 / $2,400 / $6,000Pro 200 more than Pro 100; Pro 500 the highest, with Ultrafast [4]
Claude Max 5x / 20x$100 / $200 a month$1,200 / $2,4005x or 20x Pro per five-hour session [12]
Google AI Ultra$99.99 / $199.99 a month$1,199.88 / $2,399.885x or 20x AI Pro; from 20 TB storage [14]
Perplexity Max$200 a month or $2,000 a year$2,000Top-tier model access with high limits [30]
X Subscription Super / Ultra$100 / $200 a month; $1,000 / $2,000 a year$1,000 / $2,00015x or 50x Plus [33]

What changed in 2025–2026: dated plan changes

The past year brought a $4.99 Google tier, an $8 ChatGPT tier and a $500 ChatGPT tier, ended Copilot Pro and replaced SuperGrok for new customers. Every row was read on the vendor's own page on 22 October 2026.

DateWhat changedSource
1 Oct 2025Microsoft introduces Microsoft 365 Premium at $19.99 a month and stops selling Copilot ProMicrosoft Copilot blog [21]
1 Aug 2026Support ends for existing Copilot Pro subscribersMicrosoft Support [20]
Updated 21 Oct 2026ChatGPT Pro sold at $100, $200 or $500 a month; new Pro 200 subscriptions get a lower allowance, while holders from 22–29 September 2026 keep the earlier one until 29 October 2026OpenAI Help Center [4]
Live on 22 Oct 2026ChatGPT Go is available in every country ChatGPT supports, at $8 a month in the USOpenAI [1][2]
Live on 22 Oct 2026Google AI Plus at $4.99 a month with 2x Free usage, in more than 160 countries and territoriesGoogle [14]
Live on 22 Oct 2026New xAI customers start on The X Subscription; SuperGrok continues for existing subscribersxAI docs [33][34]
19 Oct 2026Gemini Apps Privacy Hub updated; Temporary chats "are not used to train Google's AI models"Google [17]
31 Dec 2026Last day to redeem Google's free year of AI Pro for US college studentsGoogle [18]

Which AI subscription is best for you: by situation

The best AI subscription is the one whose extras you would buy anyway and whose tools you will use every week.

Your situationPlan that fits12 monthsWhy (documented fact)
Lowest cost with images and videoGoogle AI Plus$59.88Image and video generation, Deep Research, 400 GB [14]
Personal use, value for moneyMicrosoft 365 Personal$99.99Office desktop apps, 1 TB and Copilot in one price [19]
A family sharing storage and OfficeMicrosoft 365 Family or Premium$129.99 or $199.99Up to six people; AI for the owner [19]
US college studentGoogle AI Pro, student offer$0 for the first yearRedeem by 31 Dec 2026 [18]
Student elsewhereMistral Pro student or Perplexity Education Pro$71.88 or $120$5.99 a month [31]; $10 a month [28]
Long documents and researchClaude Pro or Google AI Pro$200 or $239.881M-token windows [11][15]
OpenAI's deep research, voice and images in one appChatGPT Plus$240All listed on Plus; deep research not listed on Go [2][3]
Cited web answersPerplexity Pro$200Research reports and citations [27][28]

Student costs: Mistral 5.99 × 12 = $71.88 (for up to 12 months [31]); Perplexity 10 × 12 = $120.

Worked example: one consultant's two subscriptions, four options

Two $20 subscriptions cost $480 a year, and the cheapest change is often billing, not switching. The example is fictional; prices are official US prices on 22 October 2026.

Example Daniel Okafor (fictional) reviews his AI subscriptions. Daniel runs a two-person consultancy and pays for ChatGPT Plus and Claude Pro, both monthly. He uses ChatGPT's deep research and image generation for proposals and Claude's 1M-token window for due-diligence files. Today: (20 + 20) × 12 = $480 a year. Option A, Claude on annual billing: 240 + 200 = $440, a saving of $40, or 40 ÷ 480 = 8.3%. Option B, ChatGPT Go plus Claude Pro annual: 96 + 200 = $296, a saving of $184, or 184 ÷ 480 = 38.3%; deep research is not listed for Go. Option C, Google AI Pro alone: $239.88, a saving of 480 − 239.88 = $240.12, or 240.12 ÷ 480 = 50.0%, with 5 TB of storage added.
Four options for a fictional consultant's AI subscriptions: today ChatGPT Plus and Claude Pro monthly cost $480 a year; Option A with Claude billed annually costs $440, saving 8.3%; Option B with ChatGPT Go and Claude annual costs $296, saving 38.3%; Option C with Google AI Pro alone costs $239.88, saving 50.0%.
The same two jobs cost between $239.88 and $480 a year depending on billing and on which plans cover them.

Option C covers both of Daniel's documented needs on paper, image generation and a 1M-token window, at half the cost. He still chooses Option A from 1 December 2026, because C would mean moving every client project to a third tool, a switching cost the price table does not show, and B would drop a tool he uses weekly. His review date is 1 April 2027: Claude is then paid until December 2027, so the review decides only whether Go covers his ChatGPT use, which would be worth a further $144 a year (240 − 96).

To repeat the review, list each plan's 12-month cost and the one job it does that no other plan you pay for does; a subscription with no such job is the one to cancel.

Here are two slides from this article's worked example, as NOXI built them, unedited.

NOXI slide: the three $20 plans side by side, ChatGPT Plus $240 for 12 months billed monthly only, Claude Pro $200 on the annual plan, Google AI Pro $239.88 with 5 TB storage; scores 63, 76 and 87 out of 100.
The three $20 plans: twelve-month cost, stated usage, context window, bundled extras and score, from US list prices on 22 October 2026.
NOXI slide: annual subscription cost by scenario, today $480, option A $440 with annual Claude Pro billing ($40 saved), option B $296 with ChatGPT Go plus Claude Pro annual ($184, 38.3% saved), option C Google AI Pro alone $239.88 ($240.12, 50.0% saved).
The worked example: three ways to lower a $480 yearly bill, and what each one changes.

Prices outside the US: India, UK, Canada, Australia and Pakistan

All prices on this page are US prices in US dollars; local prices differ, so check each vendor's own page from your country before you buy. OpenAI bills in dozens of local currencies, including INR, GBP, CAD, AUD and PKR, for subscriptions bought on chatgpt.com, and app-store purchases are charged in local currency by Apple or Google [9]. Anthropic says Pro prices vary by region [13]. Google AI Plus is sold in more than 160 countries and territories, AI Pro in more than 150 [14]. Microsoft's store and Mistral's pricing page switch by country or currency [19][31]. We do not quote local prices we have not opened.

If your goal is a presentation: free options and our pick

If you are pricing a subscription for slides, you may not need one. Free tiers already document slide features: Claude lists Claude Slides on its Free plan [11], OpenAI lists ChatGPT for PowerPoint for Free and Go users with limited usage [7], and Gemini's Canvas can export to Google Slides [16]. Our AI presentation maker pricing index compares what each presentation tool costs per deck, and the best free AI presentation maker ranking covers the free routes.

Our pick for turning a brief into a designed deck is NOXI, a presentation maker rather than an assistant subscription. NOXI is free: no card and no watermark, with a monthly allowance of 1,000 credits per account, and a full deck uses about 25, which is about 40 decks a month. Describe the topic and NOXI researches it on the web first, then builds the slides; figure slides carry a source line linking to where each number came from. You download an editable PowerPoint (.pptx) with real text boxes and embedded fonts, or a PDF.

Further reading: the best AI presentation maker for students, how ChatGPT compares for presentations and how Claude compares for presentations, the survey results presentation guide for numbers on slides, and, beyond slides, our ChatGPT vs Claude comparison.

Key terms

Definition What is a usage limit? A usage limit is the amount of AI work a plan allows before it pauses or slows, measured by the vendor in messages, compute or a shared pool. Most vendors now reset limits in rolling windows, such as every five hours, with a weekly cap on top, and publish them as multiples of another plan rather than as counts.
Definition What is annual billing? Annual billing is paying for twelve months up front at a lower total than twelve monthly payments. On 22 October 2026, Claude Pro, Perplexity Pro, Microsoft 365 and The X Subscription offered it; OpenAI did not offer it for Go, Plus or Pro, and Google's US page showed monthly prices only.
Definition What is a context window? A context window is the amount of text, measured in tokens, that a model can consider at once: your files, the conversation and its own reply. Vendors publish it per plan or per model.
Definition What is a plan tier? A plan tier is one of a vendor's paid levels, such as Go, Plus and Pro, each with a price, a usage allowance and a feature list. Tiers of the same vendor usually share an app and differ mainly in limits, model access and bundled services.

Build it in NOXI: your subscription review as a deck

A subscription decision for a partner, a finance team or a household fits in ten slides. The flow uses Create from scratch. Three prompts to copy:

Prompt 1 · A subscription review deck

Create a [10]-slide review of our AI subscriptions for [our two partners]. We pay [$20 a month each for two assistants, billed monthly]. Show today's 12-month cost, three options with their 12-month cost and saving in dollars and percent, what each plan does that we use weekly, and end with one decision and a review date.

Prompt 2 · A team AI budget for next year

Create an [8]-slide budget proposal for [AI tools in 2027] for a team of [6]. Compare [three] plans on yearly cost per person and per team, bundled extras, usage limits and training controls, with the arithmetic on the slides and one recommendation.

Prompt 3 · Tighten the decision slide

Rewrite every slide title as a full sentence that states the finding. On the last slide, keep only the decision, the 12-month saving in dollars and percent, the start date and the review date.

Step 1 — Start free

Open noxi.ai and create a free account; no card is needed. Each account gets a monthly allowance of 1,000 credits, and a full deck uses about 25.

Step 2 — Choose Create from scratch and describe the deck

On Home, choose Create from scratch and paste Prompt 1 with your own plans, prices and audience. Name the plans you pay for today and the options you are weighing, so every slide uses your numbers.

Step 3 — Review the outline first

Choose to review the outline first: today's 12-month cost, one slide per option, a decision and a review date. Then generate and watch each slide being built.

Step 4 — Check the researched figures and source lines

A prompt-started deck is researched on the web first, and slides with figures carry a source line linking to where each number came from. Compare every price with the vendor's page and date.

Step 5 — Edit by chat or on the slide

Paste Prompt 3 to tighten the titles, ask the AI to change one slide or the whole deck in plain English, click any element and say what to change, or edit text, tables and chart numbers directly on the slide.

Step 6 — Share, present or export

Share a view-only or edit link, present full-screen from NOXI, or download an editable PowerPoint (.pptx) with real text boxes and embedded fonts, or a PDF, free and with no watermark.

Frequently asked questions

Which AI subscription is best?
On our six-criterion rubric (official pages, 22 October 2026), Google AI Plus and Google AI Pro tie at 87 of 100, followed by Microsoft 365 Personal (84) and Premium (83). The rubric rewards yearly cost and bundled extras; if tools matter most, ChatGPT Plus, Perplexity Pro, X Premium, Microsoft 365 Premium and Google's plans all document five of six.
Is ChatGPT Plus worth it?
ChatGPT Plus is worth $20 a month if you use deep research, voice and image generation together, since OpenAI lists all three on Plus. It costs $240 a year because OpenAI offers no annual billing. For everyday chat, images and files, ChatGPT Go at $8 a month covers most of the same ground for $96 a year.
What is the difference between ChatGPT Go and Plus?
ChatGPT Go costs $8 a month and gives Free's features with higher limits for image generation, file uploads and data analysis. Plus costs $20 a month and adds priority access, higher model limits and deep research tools. OpenAI says some advanced products may require Plus. Neither plan can be paid annually.
Is Claude Pro worth it?
Claude Pro is worth it for long documents and research: it lists a context window of up to 1M tokens, Research, Claude Code and at least 5x the Free plan's usage per five-hour session. Billed annually it costs $200 a year, the lowest of the $20-class plans. Its plan page lists no image or video generation.
What is Google AI Plus?
Google AI Plus is Google's $4.99-a-month tier in the US. It gives twice the free plan's usage in the Gemini app, video generation, a 128K-token context window, Gemini in Gmail and Vids, and 400 GB of storage across Gmail, Drive and Photos. Google says it is available in more than 160 countries and territories.
Is Google AI Pro free for students?
Yes, for eligible US college students aged 18 and over. Google offers a free year of Google AI Pro that must be redeemed by 31 December 2026. A payment method is required, eligibility is verified each year, and the plan then renews at $19.99 a month unless you cancel it before the trial ends.
Can I pay for ChatGPT annually?
No. OpenAI's help centre says it does not support annual billing or paying several months in advance for ChatGPT Go, Plus or Pro, as of 22 October 2026. Business is the exception: it costs $20 a user a month billed annually for two or more users, or $25 billed monthly.
What happened to Copilot Pro?
Microsoft stopped selling Copilot Pro and introduced Microsoft 365 Premium on 1 October 2025, at $19.99 a month or $199.99 a year. Premium combines Microsoft 365 Family with extensive Copilot usage and the Researcher agent. Microsoft's support page says support for existing Copilot Pro subscribers ended on 1 August 2026.
What does SuperGrok cost now?
New xAI customers no longer buy SuperGrok; they choose The X Subscription, while existing SuperGrok plans continue. Its tiers are Plus at $8 a month, Premium at $30, Super at $100 and Ultra at $200, with annual prices of $80, $300, $1,000 and $2,000. Premium and above include full X Premium+ benefits.
Is there a free AI that can make presentations?
Yes. Claude's Free plan lists Claude Slides, ChatGPT for PowerPoint is available on ChatGPT Free with limited usage, and Gemini's Canvas exports to Google Slides. NOXI, a presentation maker, is free with 1,000 credits a month, about 40 decks, and exports an editable PowerPoint or PDF with no watermark.

Sources & methodology

How this comparison was made: every price, plan name, limit, tool and setting was read on the vendor's own pricing page, help centre, documentation or privacy page on 22 October 2026, in a browser where the page renders by script. Prices are US list prices in US dollars as displayed, excluding tax. Scores credit documented capability only; they are editorial judgements by NOXI, which is not scored. Daniel Okafor and his consultancy are fictional.

Count the year before you pay for a month. And if the subscription was mostly for slides, NOXI builds the deck for free: describe the topic, review the outline, and download an editable PowerPoint.

Written by Aidar Akmaev

Founder and designer of NOXI, an AI presentation maker for professional, consulting-grade decks. NOXI is mentioned here but not scored; see the disclosure at the top.