Paid and Free GPT – Differences and How to Use Each One - The Best Lead Generation Content by Leadster

What Is the biggest difference between paid and free ChatGPT?

Honestly, this is a question you should ask yourself right now, before reading this article. Think about it: what is the biggest difference of all?

Many people reading this will run into the same problem I did when writing—even though I use both versions of ChatGPT: I don’t know exactly what the biggest practical difference is between the paid and free versions.

Notice the emphasis on practical. We all know that the paid ChatGPT uses the most advanced version of ChatGPT—at the time of writing, that’s GPT-4o.

But what kind of results does this more advanced version deliver? What’s the difference in the quality of generated responses? Are there extra features for prompt creation?

That’s exactly what we’ll discuss in this article—real differences between free and paid ChatGPT.

We’ll also give you a general overview of DeepSeek, a completely free open-source Chinese model, for comparison.

Let’s get started!

First of All: Is Free ChatGPT Bad?

Free ChatGPT has a reputation for being full of hallucinations and incapable of generating content beyond its standard format, but that’s not quite how it works.

First, the free ChatGPT offers, in a limited way, the possibility of using GPT-4o Mini, a lighter version of the paid GPT, which uses the GPT-4o Natural Language Model.

That already provides some great features for both prompts and functionalities, such as:

Integrated SearchGPT: You can click the “Search” button to let ChatGPT know a prompt is a keyword. It will then summarize top web results and provide sources. Be sure to read our article on AI SEO strategies for more details!
Custom memory: Free ChatGPT can remember specific prompt details and generate responses based on them. It keeps track of this during your session and only stops following the instruction when you ask.
Turn off learning: Even in the free version, you can prevent your prompts and ChatGPT’s responses from being used to train the model. This is crucial for privacy and information security.
Use of GPT-4o Mini: Free ChatGPT gives you a small taste of the Plus experience with limited access to GPT-4o Mini.
Basic voice commands: While not as advanced as the GPT Plus voice feature, it’s still much better than other assistants like Siri or Cortana.
Temporary chats: You can set Free ChatGPT to automatically delete and forget conversations.
File uploads: Highly limited. Only .doc, .txt, and .pdf text files are supported, and ChatGPT cannot read images inside the files. No image or video uploads are allowed in the free version. For transcriptions, use OpenAI’s Whisper.
Canvas mode: A powerful feature that allows you to edit text directly in the results.

🔎 Also read: How to Use Artificial Intelligence in Different Industries

So, Free ChatGPT isn’t necessarily bad. Its features are quite useful and might be enough for smaller teams with simpler demands.

The biggest issue is that Free ChatGPT isn’t ideal for consistent, heavy use—for a very specific reason.

Let’s get into that below.

What Are the Limitations of Free ChatGPT?

Despite offering many features, Free ChatGPT has several major limitations.

The biggest issue is the switch between GPT-4o and GPT-4o Mini, which happens unpredictably.

Your first interactions with ChatGPT will be on 4o, but as you keep using it, it transitions to 4o Mini. The problem is that ChatGPT itself can’t tell you exactly when this transition happens.

Additionally, uploaded files are quite limited, as we’ve seen.

Another major issue is the token limitation per use. Every time you request something from ChatGPT, you’re using tokens. The larger your request, the more tokens it consumes.

If you’re using the free ChatGPT for translations, for example, you’ll run into serious issues if you paste an article with more than 8,000 words—about 10 pages of continuous text—into the prompt.

Actually, you won’t run into an issue at all: ChatGPT simply won’t do the translation. But even if you paste a smaller amount of text, it will still struggle and may start making up parts instead of translating.

Translation is just one example. If you request a very long article, the quality will also decline as the word count increases. This is normal for the free ChatGPT.

Free ChatGPT Isn’t Bad, But GPT-3.5 Is

The problem with free GPT is actually a problem with its execution model.

The free GPT runs on GPT-3.5, which is by far one of the worst AIs on the market today.

This GPT-3.5 is the first evolution of GPT-3.0, which had serious issues with hallucinations.

There were so many that, at the time, it was very difficult to know what was true and what was a complete fabrication.

GPT-3.5 remains terrible and provides a lot of false information. But beyond that, it also has some very classic problems—especially with language.

GPT Plus ends up having more flexibility to deliver more varied results. Free GPT, having fewer resources, will always revert to the traditional way AIs communicate—that very robotic, AI-like tone.

So, GPT-3.5 actually brings more difficulties than solutions. Without knowing what is real or false, all articles need fact-checking.

And without control over how the tone of voice will come out in the generated results, all outputs need revision and rewriting.

In other words: it ends up being easier to research and write manually.

GPT-4o Mini Is Now the Free Default

But don’t worry: even though it’s quite bad, GPT-3.5 is already a thing of the past.

The current version of ChatGPT Plus uses the GPT-4o model, the most advanced version of Natural Language Processing.

With that, the default model for free ChatGPT has changed: it now uses GPT-4o mini for all your searches.

It’s very likely that this is a response to DeepSeek, which, besides being free, doesn’t have different versions and is also Open Source.

Well, now we understand the functionalities of free ChatGPT, right?

Now we need to talk about the paid GPT. What are its differences? Is it worth paying for?

The short answer is yes, it’s definitely worth paying for ChatGPT—but it depends on your usage.

If you need AI in your daily routine and rely on it for content creation, then, of course, it’s worth paying for ChatGPT.

But if your needs are simpler, the free GPT already covers a lot—especially now that GPT-3.5 is finally and completely buried.

Let’s now discuss the paid ChatGPT plans, understand what they offer, and see the differences between them.

Let’s go:

What Does Paid ChatGPT Offer?

The paid version of ChatGPT is one of the best AI assistants on the market.

It’s widely considered better than its two biggest Western competitors—Claude and Perplexity—and comparable to Google’s AI, Gemini.

Here’s a quick feature list before we break things down further:

Access to full GPT-4o: While the free version uses GPT-4o Mini, the Plus plan offers the full model, which is faster, more accurate, and better at complex tasks.
Access to DALL-E 3: This is one of the biggest advantages of paid ChatGPT. Your ChatGPT subscription gives you access to DALL-E 3, though with limitations on the number of images that can be generated. The exact number of images varies depending on OpenAI’s pricing policies.
Integrated SearchGPT: In Plus, web searches are even more efficient, allowing ChatGPT to retrieve real-time information for more precise and contextualized answers.
Enhanced custom memory: GPT Plus can remember instructions and preferences across multiple sessions, providing a more personalized and continuous experience.
Disable learning: Just like in the free version, you can prevent your conversations from being used for model training, ensuring greater privacy.
Advanced voice commands: Plus enables more natural and fluid voice interactions, with shorter response times and a more realistic conversation flow.
Temporary chats: Also available for Plus users, this feature allows your interactions to be automatically deleted after the conversation, without being stored.
Expanded file uploads: In Plus, you can upload files in more formats, and the full GPT-4o can analyze them with greater accuracy. This includes support for spreadsheets, more complex PDFs, and other types of documents. There is also support for PowerPoint presentations and source code files in .c, .cpp, .cs, .java, .php, .json, .html, and .md.
Canvas Mode: Just like in the free version, Plus allows direct edits in the article, making adjustments and refinements easier.
Better overall performance: In addition to access to full GPT-4o, Plus provides faster responses and higher priority access to servers, especially during peak hours.

These are its main benefits. All of this is unlocked for $20 per month, but only for individual use.

The Teams feature is more expensive, at $30 per user per month, but allows for greater team collaboration without the login-sharing workarounds that are common with shared accounts.

But there’s still another GPT: ChatGPT Plus for $200 per month, which is much more robust and geared toward power users and developers.

What Are the Features of GPT Pro?

GPT Pro is the most advanced and also the most expensive version of ChatGPT.

Its features include:

Access to the full and advanced GPT-4o model: GPT Pro users have access to the complete GPT-4o model, which offers deeper comprehension, better performance on complex tasks, and greater accuracy.
Higher token capacity (32,000): GPT Pro supports a context window of 32,000 tokens, allowing you to work with much longer articles without losing conversation context.
Superior and faster performance: With priority access to servers, GPT Pro provides faster responses and better performance, especially during peak hours.
Multimodal function access (article, image, and possibly audio): GPT Pro supports multimodal interactions, such as images and articles, and can analyze more complex documents.
Integrated SearchGPT: Like GPT Plus, GPT Pro can search for information on the web in real time, providing more updated and contextualized responses.
Enhanced custom memory: GPT Pro can retain interaction memory across multiple sessions, enabling a more personalized experience with responses based on previous information.
Advanced voice commands: GPT Pro allows for more natural voice commands and fluid interactions, improving the voice conversation experience.
Priority access to new features: As a GPT Pro user, you get early access to new functionalities, such as image creation tools, article editing, and new customization options.
More file uploads and supported formats: GPT Pro supports a wider variety of file types and has a higher processing capacity to analyze complex documents (e.g., PDFs, spreadsheets, presentations).
Temporary Chats: Like GPT Plus, you can request that your conversations be automatically deleted, ensuring greater privacy.
DALL·E 3 support for image generation: GPT Pro includes the use of DALL·E 3 to generate images from article descriptions, with greater control over editing and customization of the generated images.

Comparing Paid ChatGPT to DeepSeek

DeepSeek emerges as a great alternative to ChatGPT.

The first key difference is that there is no free and paid version with varying quality levels.

All versions of DeepSeek are available for free. Its “Pro version” is actually a license to use the DeepSeek API in other projects, and payment is only for the tokens used in the application you are developing.

In other words, the only distinction between paid and free users is at the system development level.

Full features of DeepSeek:

Advanced Language Model (DeepSeek-V3): DeepSeek-V3 offers deep contextual understanding, complex reasoning ability, and high response accuracy. Its goal is to surpass previous models. In fact, if you visit DeepSeek’s homepage, it explicitly states that it is better than GPT-4o.
Expanded Token Capacity (128,000 tokens): DeepSeek-V3 supports a context window of up to 128,000 tokens, larger than the limit of paid GPT.
Optimized Performance and Instant Responses: DeepSeek is faster than ChatGPT even during peak hours.
Integrated Multimodality (Article, Image, and Audio): Besides processing articles, DeepSeek can analyze and generate multimodal content, including image analysis, pattern recognition, audio transcription, sentiment analysis in recordings, and reading documents like PDFs, spreadsheets, and presentations.
Integrated DeepSearch (Real-Time Search): With the DeepSearch feature, DeepSeek-V3 accesses updated web information in real time.
Persistent Contextual Memory: DeepSeek retains conversation context across multiple sessions, remembering user preferences, interaction history, and specific details.
Voice Commands and Natural Interaction: DeepSeek supports advanced voice commands, with precise speech recognition and fluid responses.
Priority Access to New Features: DeepSeek-V3 users get early access to new functionalities, such as image creation tools, advanced article editing, data analysis, and model updates.
Support for File Uploads and Various Formats: DeepSeek-V3 accepts a wide range of file formats, including documents (PDF, DOCX, TXT, PPTX), spreadsheets (XLSX, CSV), images (JPEG, PNG, GIF), and audio (MP3, WAV), with efficient information processing.
Image Generation with DeepArt (AI Model Integration): With the DeepArt feature, DeepSeek-V3 generates high-quality images from textual descriptions, offering advanced control over style, colors, and composition.
Temporary Chats and Privacy Mode: DeepSeek-V3 offers a Temporary Chat option, where conversations are automatically deleted after the session ends, ensuring greater privacy and security.
Customization and Advanced Settings: DeepSeek-V3 allows response customization based on specific preferences, such as writing style, level of detail, and communication tone.
Support for Application Development: DeepSeek-V3 provides APIs and tools for external application integration, allowing developers to use its features in their own systems.

However, DeepSeek also comes with common AI-related issues and hallucinations.

It is very difficult to determine exactly which AI you should choose for your content production, mainly because it depends on what you plan to create.

The best approach is to test them. Both GPT-4o and DeepSeek-V3 have encountered similar fundamental issues. The most critical one was not knowing their own version.

When I asked DeepSeek if its version was DeepSeek-V3, it claimed that such a name didn’t even exist—even though it is mentioned on DeepSeek’s official website.

But the same issue also occurred with GPT-4o.

This happens because of its stochastic model, which will always present such artifacts, regardless of processing power.

The only solution to this problem is specific usage and training of the chosen AI.

You won’t encounter these issues in an application that uses data for training—only in more generalist systems, like these AI chatbots.

One example is Leadster’s ShopBot. It was designed with the e-commerce experience in mind. Everything in your e-commerce platform is within this AI’s knowledge, allowing it to respond to your visitors with maximum accuracy.

It can even make recommendations based on user inquiries without ever making mistakes.

To conclude this article, here’s an invitation: try a free test of ShopBot today by clicking the banner below!

Paid and Free GPT – Differences and How to Use Each One

First of All: Is Free ChatGPT Bad?