Budget guide · verified September 25, 2026

Cheapest AI subscriptions (September 2026)

Every paid AI plan sorted by price, cheapest first. 3 plans cost under $10 a month; 9 providers have a usable free tier.

Under $10 a month

Plan	Provider	Price	Per year	Models	Best for
Google AI Plus	Gemini	$4.99/mo	$59.88/yr (monthly × 12)	Gemini 3.6 Flash, more Gemini 3.1 Pro	Anyone who wants more storage plus better AI for under $5.
Le Chat Student	Le Chat	$5.99/mo	$71.88/yr (monthly × 12)	Same as Pro	Students in Europe.
ChatGPT Go	ChatGPT	$8/mo	$96/yr (monthly × 12)	GPT-5.6 Luna (GPT-6 Luna in the desktop app)	Everyday users who hit Free limits on uploads or images.

Up to $20 a month

Plan	Provider	Price	Per year	Models	Best for
Perplexity Education Pro	Perplexity	$10/mo	$120/yr (monthly × 12)	Same as Pro	Students and teachers.
SuperGrok Lite	Grok	$10/mo	$100/yr (save 17%)	Grok 4.x	Testing Grok properly without paying $30.
Le Chat Pro	Le Chat	$14.99/mo	$179.88/yr (monthly × 12)	Mistral's top models	EU users who want a cheaper $20-class plan.
Google AI Pro	Gemini	$19.99/mo	$239.88/yr (monthly × 12)	Gemini 3.1 Pro, Gemini 3.8 Flash	Google Workspace users who also need lots of storage.
Microsoft 365 Premium	Copilot	$19.99/mo	$199.99/yr (save 17%)	Premium Copilot in Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint	Households and freelancers living in Office.
ChatGPT Plus	ChatGPT	$20/mo	$240/yr (monthly × 12)	GPT-6 Astra, GPT-6 Sol, GPT-6 Luna, GPT-5.6 Sol	Daily users who want the newest OpenAI models and research tools.
Claude Pro	Claude	$20/mo	$204/yr (save 15%)	Opus 5.5, Opus 5, Opus 4.8, Sonnet 5	Writers, analysts and developers who work with Claude daily.
Perplexity Pro	Perplexity	$20/mo	$200/yr (save 17%)	Choice of GPT, Claude and Sonar models	People who research daily and want citations.
MultipleChat Pro	MultipleChat	$20/mo	$240/yr (monthly × 12)	ChatGPT Astra, Claude Fable 5.1, Gemini 3.8 Flash, Grok 4.6, Perplexity	People who use several AI models and want one bill.

Free tiers

Plan	Provider	Price	Per year	Models	Best for
ChatGPT Free	ChatGPT	Free	—	GPT-5.6 Luna (GPT-6 Luna in the desktop app)	Occasional questions and trying ChatGPT out.
Claude Free	Claude	Free	—	Sonnet and Haiku models (no Opus, no Fable)	Trying Claude's writing quality before paying.
Gemini Free	Gemini	Free	—	Gemini 3.6 Flash, limited Gemini 3.1 Pro	Casual use, especially on Android.
Copilot Free	Copilot	Free	—	Microsoft's default Copilot models	Quick questions on a Windows PC.
Perplexity Free	Perplexity	Free	—	Perplexity default search models	Anyone who wants cited answers.
Grok Free	Grok	Free	—	Grok base model	Trying Grok out.
DeepSeek (free app)	DeepSeek	Free	—	DeepSeek V4.1-Flash, V4-Pro	Anyone who wants strong AI for $0.
Le Chat Free	Le Chat	Free	—	Mistral models	Trying a European assistant.
MultipleChat Free	MultipleChat	Free	—	Limited daily access to major models	Trying side-by-side answers from several models.

How to pay less

Pay yearly where offered: Claude Pro ($204/yr = $17/mo), Perplexity Pro ($200/yr), Grok plans (~17% off), Microsoft 365 Premium ($199.99/yr).
Buy the bundle you already need: Google AI Plus ($4.99, 400 GB) or AI Pro ($19.99, 5 TB) replaces a storage plan you might already pay for.
Use student pricing: Perplexity Education Pro, Le Chat Student.
Start free: DeepSeek, Perplexity Free and ChatGPT Free cover most casual use.

Add up your plans in the calculator →

Cheapest AI plans: questions

What is the cheapest AI subscription?

Google AI Plus at $4.99/mo. It includes 400 gb google one storage, about 2× free usage limits.

What's the cheapest way to get a top model?

Claude Pro on annual billing is $17/month and includes Opus 5.5. ChatGPT Plus ($20) includes the GPT-6 family. Google AI Pro ($19.99) adds 5 TB of storage.

Are there student discounts?

Yes: Perplexity Education Pro ($10/mo), Le Chat Student ($5.99/mo).

Sources

Checked against the official pages below on September 25, 2026. Prices are USD before local tax. See how we verify prices and the change log.