More ways to pay? ChatGPT may be exploring weekly and lifetime subscriptions (APK teardown)
Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority
TL;DR Code suggests ChatGPT might be testing weekly and lifetime subscriptions.
This could offer more flexible payment options for users, especially those looking for an annual discount or a lower starting price.
Annual billing for ChatGPT Plus may also be on the horizon.
ChatGPT has become a staple part of several people's routines, to the point that many of us happily pay for the ChatGPT Plus monthly subscription. However, at $20 per month for the digital AI assistant, there is no denying that it is fairly steep, even though it brings a lot of value. There's room for OpenAI to explore more subscription tiers, either with annual billing options that could save users money in the long term or weekly duration options that lower the barrier of entry. OpenAI seems to be doing all that, and then some, as there are clues the company is working on Weekly and Lifetime subscriptions.
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An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
X user M1 spotted code in the 'latest ChatGPT build' that suggests the digital AI assistant is exploring more subscription durations, namely Weekly and Lifetime subscriptions, in addition to the usual Monthly and Annual subscriptions.
One of the strings mentions 'Upgrade to Plus,' indicating that these durations could be for ChatGPT Plus. ChatGPT Plus is currently offered in a singular $20 per month subscription, billed monthly. If you need annual billing options, you must jump up to ChatGPT Team or Enterprise offerings. Even the $200 per month ChatGPT Pro is offered only as a monthly billing option.
Independently, we can confirm that the following strings exist within ChatGPT v1.2025.126:
Code Copy Text %1$s annually %1$s billed annually Annual Lifetime Monthly Weekly %1$s / month Choose your plan
Note that strings for monthly and annual prices are mentioned, but not for monthly and lifetime subscriptions. That doesn't necessarily mean these durations are not coming; just that they are still in development and could be added in the future.
A weekly subscription for ChatGPT Plus makes a lot of sense, especially for target audiences like students and young adults who may need the AI digital assistant for shorter durations (though students could get ChatGPT Plus for free recently, too). A weekly plan lowers the price barrier to accessing the Plus subscription since it will hopefully be cheaper than the monthly subscription (unless OpenAI raises prices across the board). Even extending the Plus subscription to annual billing makes plenty of sense for users who are loyal enough to ChatGPT.
However, a lifetime ChatGPT Plus subscription sounds a bit of a stretch. OpenAI will have to factor in future development costs for AI technology and features, potentially pricing the subscription tier to an absurdly high number. Yet, it might just make sense for some hardcore AI loyalists. Given the relatively nascent state of AI, it doesn't make much sense right now to subscribe to any AI digital assistant for such a long time. Who knows what the future holds, what ChatGPT looks like, how competitors catch up or lag behind, and if you'd even need a Plus subscription in the first place!
OpenAI hasn't discussed further billing options for ChatGPT Plus or other tiers. We'll keep you updated when we learn more. Keep in mind that Google has also been spotted working on more Google One AI plans with annual billing, so it could be that OpenAI is getting ready to react as needed.
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