ChatGPT Plus, Claude Pro, Google AI Pro and Perplexity Pro all cost about $20 a month, and Cursor, the coding editor, now starts at $30 plus usage for the same models. They are five different products, four at one price point. See them side by side before you pick.
In this lesson you will
→Recognise the four main $20 plans, plus Cursor as the exception, and what each is built for
→Understand why they converge on the same price
→Stop comparing them on price, since the price is the same
The first thing to notice about AI subscriptions is that the price is not the decision. Four of the most popular plans cost $20 a month, or a cent under, and the fifth, Cursor, did too until it repriced to $30 plus metered usage. That is not a coincidence; it is a category, the way $10 became the price of a streaming service. So the question *which AI subscription is worth it?* is really *which $20 product is built for my job?*
Figure 1.Catalogue prices as of 2026-09-12; Cursor tiers rechecked 2026-10-17 (the legacy Pro plan at $20 is for existing subscribers only). The 'best' marker is illustrative: it is the plan most people with a writing job should look at first, not a ranking.
Why they all landed on $20
Because $20 is the most a consumer will pay without thinking about it, and because each vendor's costs per heavy user are roughly in that range. That means every $20 plan has usage caps, some visible and some not. A subscription is a usage budget with a nice interface, not unlimited access. Keep that in mind when a vendor's page says *unlimited*; it usually means *we will slow you down rather than stop you*. Cursor is the first of the five to leave the category: it now charges $30 for the editor and meters Claude and GPT usage on top, which is what a usage budget looks like once the vendor stops hiding it.
What sits either side of the $20 tier, for reference. Prices from the catalogue on 2026-09-12; Cursor, whose middle tier has moved to $30, rechecked 2026-10-17; ChatGPT and Google plans rechecked 2026-11-03.
Below $20
The $20 tier
Above $20
ChatGPT Free $0, ChatGPT Go $8
ChatGPT Plus $20
ChatGPT Pro from $100 ($100, $200 or $500)
Claude Free $0
Claude Pro $20
Claude Max from $100
Gemini Free $0, Google AI Plus $4.99 (Flash model only)
Google AI Pro $19.99
Google AI Ultra from $99.99, or $199.99
Cursor Free $0, Cursor Plus $8 (Cursor's own Grok and Composer models)
Cursor Premium $30 + metered usage
Cursor Super $100, Ultra $200
Knowledge check
ChatGPT Plus and Claude Pro both cost $20. What is the most useful basis for choosing between them?
Lesson FAQ
▸Which AI subscription is best?
There is no single best; the main plans are built for different jobs. ChatGPT Plus is the broadest, Claude Pro is strongest for writing and long documents, Google AI Pro fits work inside Google apps, and Perplexity Pro is for cited research, all at about $20. Cursor is for coding and now costs $30 a month plus metered model usage, or $8 on Plus if Cursor's own Grok and Composer models are enough.
▸Is ChatGPT Plus worth it over ChatGPT Go?
Go at $8 gives materially more usage than Free and suits moderate everyday use. Plus at $20 adds higher caps on the best model and the fuller feature set. If you mostly chat and draft, try Go first; if you rely on files, images or the top model on every message, Plus.
▸Do $20 plans have limits?
Yes, all of them. They raise the caps well above the free tier but do not remove them, and heavy users still see slowdowns or cooldowns. Check the vendor page for the current shape of the limit before assuming 'unlimited' means what it says.
Finished reading?
Mark it done to track your progress through the course.
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