๐ 2 min read
OpenAI charges $200/month for ChatGPT Pro. Anthropic has Claude Max at $100-200/month. Google wants $250 for Gemini Ultra. I tested all of them for 30 days on real work.
ChatGPT Pro ($200/month) – Rating: 5/10
Worth it for: Heavy API users, researchers needing o1-pro reasoning.
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Not worth it for: 90% of people. I used o1-pro 23 times in 30 days. At API rates, that is $3.45 worth of queries. The $20 Plus plan covers everything else.
Claude Max ($100-200/month) – Rating: 7/10
Worth it for: Developers and analysts who hit Pro limits daily.
As someone coding 6+ hours/day with Claude, I hit Pro limits by 2pm most days. Max eliminated that bottleneck. Extended thinking caught bugs regular Claude missed. The $100 tier is the sweet spot.
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Gemini Advanced Ultra ($250/month) – Rating: 3/10
Worth it for: Almost nobody right now.
I struggled to find tasks where Ultra outperformed regular Advanced ($20). The 2TB storage is nice but irrelevant to AI value. Wait for Google to differentiate this tier.
Perplexity Pro ($20/month) – Rating: 9/10
Worth it for: Anyone who does research. Most underpriced AI tool on the market.
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Replaced 80% of my Google searches. Pro search with source citations saved hours of fact-checking. At $20/month, absolute no-brainer.
Cursor Pro ($20/month) – Rating: 10/10
Worth it for: Any developer. Full stop.
Saved roughly 15-20 hours of coding time this month. At freelance rates, that is $1,500-3,000 saved for $20. Highest-ROI AI subscription you can buy.
The Optimal Stack – What I Actually Keep
- Claude Pro ($20/mo) – Daily driver for writing and analysis
- Cursor Pro ($20/mo) – Coding companion
- Perplexity Pro ($20/mo) – Research engine
- Total: $60/month
Cancelled ChatGPT Pro, Gemini Ultra, and three other subs. Saved $410/month with zero productivity loss.
The Real Question
Before subscribing to any premium AI plan, ask: Am I hitting the limits of the free or basic tier? If no – do not upgrade. You are paying for a feeling, not a feature.