As a freelance writer, I rely heavily on ChatGPT daily for research, outlining and refining my client deliverables. To date, I have used ChatGPT Plus for over 200 articles, in some part.
I also make YouTube videos for my own channel where I use it for the boring tasks like descriptions and titles.
In short, I am delivering 5x more output while still charging competitively.
To give you a sneak peek, ChatGPT Plus saves me:
- 2-3 hours in summarizing and structuring my notes.
- 4-5 hours in creating data visualizations and thumbnails.
- Acts as “human” reviewer of my articles and video scripts/thumbnails.
Basically, I do the fun creative parts myself and let ChatGPT models do the grunt work.
Keep reading for how ChatGPT Plus can help you.
- Multiple models (4o, o3-mini, o3-mini-high, o1, GPT-4.5 preview) with higher limits
- Paid version has 32k context vs 8k context in free. Longer context helps the AI remember details better in longer chats
- ChatGPT's deep research is better than all other competitors
- ChatGPT's new 4o image generation is much better than Dall-E in free and Google's Imagen. It can handle text, people, make legible comics, and simple scientific diagrams! Plus users have higher limits
- Web search, Canvas, code interpreter, projects, tasks, advanced voice mode, Sora, customGPTs
- Drawback: Very low limits on deep research and GPT-4.5 preview. Deepseek V3 and Gemini are pretty good for text queries and are free of cost.
Bigger Models Lead to Better Replies
Honestly, the biggest reason I find upgrading to ChatGPT Plus worth it comes down to this: you get access to much bigger, smarter AI models, and that makes a huge difference in the quality of replies you get back. You pay money but save time.
When I’m using the free version, I’m usually interacting with models like 4o-mini (watered down 4o) or sometimes o3-mini (low thinking version). They’re decent, for sure.
But switching over to Plus gets me the full 4o model and even access to the GPT-4.5 preview, and let me tell you, the improvement is noticeable right away.
The answers feel more accurate, they actually follow my instructions more closely, there’s way less generic fluff, and the quality is just… higher.
Take this real prompt I used at work: “Suggest sub-niches within productivity for blogging. Along with sample article titles (max 70 chars).”
The free 4o-mini gave me back a couple of really basic, cliched ideas. Pretty bland. Here’s output of the 4o-mini on the free account:
Whereas just look at the output ChatGPT plus with the full 4o gave - it has novel ideas, practical suggestions on topics, and mentions the keywords to focus on (like Eisenhower matrix, SMART, Notion)
Here are several sub-niches within productivity, each with sample article titles (max 70 chars):
### 1. **Time Management**
- "10-Minute Hacks to Boost Your Daily Productivity"
- "How to Prioritize Tasks Using the Eisenhower Matrix"
- "Time Blocking 101: Organize Your Day Effectively"
### 2. **Goal Setting**
- "SMART Goals: Setting Targets You Can Actually Achieve"
- "Why Your Goals Fail and How to Fix Them"
- "Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Vision Board"
### 3. **Productivity Tools & Apps**
- "Top 7 Productivity Apps to Keep You Organized"
- "How to Use Notion to Streamline Your Workflow"
- "Evernote vs. OneNote: Which is Best for You?"
... truncated for brevity by meBetter Image Generation
Update March 2025: ChatGPT has released a new 4o image generation model which blows all AI image generators out of water.
The images produced by ChatGPT are super realistic, can render text, and adhere to prompt very closely.
See these examples from their announcement:
All the text on the whiteboard was rendered by AI along with the 2 humans.
Before 4o image generation, I frequently used Dall-E to generate images for my articles as well as YouTube thumbnails. For example, this image was generated in Dall-E and then I added some text over it in Canva. There is also a Canva plugin for GPT.
The Dall-E integration is not perfect though. It has a habit of censoring itself too much at times. But for most safe topics, you will be fine. And unlimited image generation means cost savings as compared to Midjourney, for example.
They do limit the number of messages sent every 3 hours.
Dall-E 3 also handles text in images pretty well. But you would most likely use Canva to edit images for final touches anyway like I did.
Check out my guide on how to use Dall-E 3 with ChatGPT Plus.
Better AI Feedback
You can upload any image and ask GPT-4o questions about it. I often use it to get feedback on my YouTube thumbnails.
I have been doing it since the time GPT-4 was released in Plus. Prompts have remained same.
I also asked for writing advice for my blog posts. ChatGPT Plus analyzed my website URL (with the help of linkreader plugin) and integrated recommendations from authoritative sources like HubSpot and Neil Patel to build my topical authority.
Again, the free model lacks the contextual internet research.
GPT Store
Coming to GPT store, I have created my own private GPTs with custom knowledge base (you can upload your own PDFs) and custom prompts. This saves time in having to prompt GPT-4 from scratch.
Like, I created this GPT to learn coding:
GPT store in itself is not that impressive. You can build most GPTs yourselves and probably do it better for your use cases like I am doing.
ChatGPT Plus vs Alternatives
| Service | Pricing | Key Features | Developer | Latest Model | Supported Languages | Input Types | Open Source | Primary Use Case | Mobile App |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT Plus | $20/month | Voice typing, voice conversations, upload files, GPT store, ChatGPT Search, Canvas | OpenAI | GPT-4o | English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, etc. | Text, Docs, Images | No | Conversational AI, content generation, coding | Yes |
| Perplexity Pro | $20/month | Collections to share, Threads, Focus mode, web indexing daily, search images/videos | Aravind Srinivas, Denis Yarats, Johnny Ho, Andy Konwinski | Sonar Small/Medium Chat | English, German, French, Japanese, Korean, Hindi | Text, Docs | Yes | Conversational AI, web search integration, research | Yes |
| Bing Copilot | CoPilot Pro: $20/user/month, CoPilot for Microsoft 365: $30/user/month (billed annually), Forever free | Integration with Microsoft 365, CoPilot Notebook, read aloud/export, analyze images | Microsoft | GPT-4 Turbo | English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, etc. | Text, Images | No | Integrated AI assistance across Microsoft products | Yes |
| Gemini Free | $0/month, Gemini Advanced: $23/month (after 1-month free trial) | Double-check response, longest context window, Gemini extensions (Google Maps, Youtube, Flights, Hotels) | Gemini 2.0 | More than 35 languages (e.g., Arabic, Bengali, English, Hindi, etc.) | Text, Images | No | Conversational AI, image analysis, coding | Yes | |
| Poe | Free tier: 150 messages or 3,000 points, Subscription: $19.99/month or $199.99/year | Access to multiple AI models, custom chatbot creation, multibot chat, image generation, monetization options | Quora (Adam D’Angelo) | Various (e.g., GPT-4, Claude 3.5 Sonnet) | Not specified (likely multiple) | Text, Images (generation) | No | Conversational AI, custom bot creation, accessing multiple models | Yes |
Verdict: Is ChatGPT Plus Worth It?
I can see ChatGPT Plus being overkill for more casual use cases. Students or hobbyists just using it for short queries or summaries may not need the advanced capabilities. The free model often gets simpler tasks done nearly as well.
But for power users like me, ChatGPT Plus easily returns the $20 through expanded capabilities and time savings. If you rely on ChatGPT daily for content, analysis, planning, or problem-solving, I highly recommend the upgrade. It takes useful AI assistance to the next level.