ChatGPT Plus Review: 12 Months Later

I have paid for cheap ChatGPT Plus for 12 consecutive months as part of my reviewing work. The product has changed dramatically since GPT-4o launched, and the value calculus shifts almost monthly. Here is the steady-state view.

What you get

GPT-5 access, DALL·E 3 image generation, Code Interpreter, custom GPTs, voice mode, web browsing, file uploads, slightly higher rate limits. Everything in one place at $20/month.

The actual day-to-day

Drafting email replies, summarizing long PDFs, code-completion-style work in unfamiliar languages, image generation for illustration. The tools that earn their keep are the boring ones — first-draft writing and code Q&A.

Where ChatGPT wins over Claude

Native image generation. Voice mode. Code Interpreter for sandboxed Python. The plugin store for niche workflows. The mobile app polish. The general-purpose chat experience.

Where Claude wins

Long-context work (1M tokens vs 128k). Structured technical writing. Coding refactors. Extended thinking on hard problems. Writing voice quality.

Wrapping up

Most knowledge workers should pick Claude Pro over ChatGPT Plus keys in 2026 — but a meaningful share will benefit from running both. Get either at a discount via crypto.