OpenAI has launched a new, more affordable paid subscription plan for ChatGPT in India called ChatGPT Go. The plan is priced at ₹399 per month, which is significantly cheaper than the existing Plus Plan that costs ₹1,999 per month.
The company recently enabled local currency pricing for all its plans. With this new launch, it will also allow users in India to pay through UPI, the country’s popular payment framework.
According to Nick Turley, VP at OpenAI and head of ChatGPT, the Go plan increases message limits, image generation capabilities, and file uploads by ten times compared to the free tier. He also stated that the plan enables better memory retention for more personalized responses.
Turley announced the launch, noting the plan offers 10x higher message limits, 10x more image generations, 10x more file uploads, and 2x longer memory than the free tier. He emphasized that making ChatGPT more affordable has been a key request from users. The plan is rolling out in India first, and OpenAI will learn from feedback before expanding to other countries.
From a currency perspective, the Plus plan was relatively expensive for Indian users when converted from dollars. The new Go plan provides a more affordable alternative for those primarily interested in chat, image generation, and file processing.
A software engineer, Tibor Blaho, who has a reputation for accurately leaking upcoming AI products, had previously teased this plan and its details. While the plan is currently restricted to India, OpenAI stated on its support page that it is working to expand it to more regions.
Last month, Turley noted that ChatGPT now has more than 700 million weekly users worldwide, a significant increase from 500 million in March. OpenAI launched its updated image generator feature for ChatGPT in March, which led to an uptick in usage in India. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently stated that India is the company’s second biggest market. The Go plan is an effort to capitalize on that growth.
According to app analytics firm AppFigures, India is the leading country for ChatGPT app downloads, with over 29 million downloads in the last 90 days. However, the app only generated $3.6 million in revenue from the country during that period.
This new pricing will likely encourage more consumers to subscribe to ChatGPT. Other AI companies are also making moves to attract users from India’s vast internet user base of over 850 million. Last month, Perplexity partnered with network provider Airtel to offer free Perplexity Pro subscriptions. Google also provided a free AI Pro plan for students in India for one year.
While OpenAI’s move is not a free offering, its local and affordable pricing is expected to significantly improve subscription conversion rates for ChatGPT in India.