Our ChatGPT review
ChatGPT earns its place in the AI chat assistants shortlist for writing & editing, provided usage caps on top models is not a dealbreaker.
We score ChatGPT 4.8 out of 5 — excellent ease of use, excellent performance and strong value for money.
What ChatGPT is
ChatGPT is OpenAI's AI chat assistants product, launched in 2022. The most widely used AI assistant, with reasoning models, voice mode, file analysis, image generation and a large ecosystem of custom GPTs.
It is aimed at beginner users — the learning curve is very gentle. Day one you would use it for writing & editing, research summaries and coding help. It runs on Web, iOS, Android, macOS and Windows, including a mobile app, and there is an API if you want it inside your own systems.
Where it shines
In testing against the rest of the category, three things stand out: best all-round capability, huge ecosystem and excellent mobile apps. The feature set behind that is reasoning models, voice mode, file & data analysis, image generation and custom GPTs.
We rate performance 4.7/5 and answer accuracy around 93% for the tasks in this category, which is why it holds up for writing & editing and research summaries.
Where it falls short
Where it frustrated us: usage caps on top models and occasional hallucinations.
Nothing here needs training, so the risk is not difficulty — it is paying for capability you never use.
Pricing and value for money
Pricing is Free · Go $8/mo · Plus $20/mo · Pro $200/mo. At $20 a month that is $240 a year per person, cheaper than most of its category (the category median is about $30). A free tier exists, so you can test it properly before paying.
If budget is the constraint, look at the free tiers of the alternatives below. Our cost calculator will show what adding ChatGPT does to your monthly stack before you commit.
Who should use ChatGPT
ChatGPT is the right call for writing & editing, research summaries, coding help and data analysis. Skip it if usage caps on top models is a bigger problem for you than best all-round capability is a benefit.
The alternatives worth comparing are Claude ($20/mo), Gemini ($20/mo) and Microsoft Copilot ($30/mo). Put them side by side before you buy.
Recommended: ChatGPT at $20/mo is best used for writing & editing and research summaries, and it earns 4.8/5 from us.