In the last few years I have become more and more of a regular user of ChatGPT, but so far I have refrained from spending money on the chatbot - simply because it was always possible without it, even if there were disadvantages.
But the reasons for a Plus account that costs $20 a month are becoming more and more numerous, and my decision is clear: After the holidays, I will test ChatGPT Plus for a month. But what reasons are there for this?
1. The text editor mode Canvas
Recently, every ChatGPT user can use the canvas function. This is a type of text editor that you can imagine as a mixture of the normal ChatGPT interface and Word or Google Docs - just without the countless formatting options.
Canvas is all about the content of the text, although you can use smaller formatting like headings or boldface.
The big advantage of Canvas is that you can work on the text with ChatGPT. For example, you can mark a paragraph and ask ChatGPT whether it is understandable enough for the target group, or simply have the entire text restructured if necessary.
So why ChatGPT Plus? Unfortunately, the use of Canvas for free users is currently limited to just 8 messages in four hours. For someone who writes a lot, that's clearly not enough. With Plus I would get 80 messages over three hours. I would certainly be able to get to grips with that and test out the possibilities of Canvas better.
2. Creating GPTs
I rarely hear anything about the GPT function, which is now several months old, but it has great potential. GPTs are separate variants of ChatGPT that can be trained for specific purposes.
With GPTs you can, among other things, create tax advisor chatbots or lecturer GPTs for your problem subject and much more.
If you use ChatGPT for free, you can already try out these GPTs. You just can't create your own GPTs.
Here you can see a selection of GPTs that are already available to you. However, that is only a tiny fraction.
So why ChatGPT Plus? With the paid version I would have the opportunity to train my own small AI. I'm more interested in the process of shaping the AI than the result itself, but who knows, maybe I'll build an outstanding deck-building machine for Magic: The Gathering. If so, I'll let you know.
3. New features available sooner
The third reason is simple, but no less important: OpenAI continually introduces new functions and GPT models, which are initially often only available to Plus users (and recently to the even more expensive Pro accounts).
Since we in Europe have to wait longer for some AI functions anyway, it could well be that you are months behind without being able to do anything about it - other than paying money.
By the way: There are other smaller reasons that also speak for a Plus subscription. They're not that important to me, but I don't want to leave them unmentioned:
- Extended limits on image generations through DALL-E
- Advanced Voice Mode
- Limited access to o1 and o1-mini
- Higher priority when servers are busy
All of this and the three main reasons mentioned above make me want to get a Plus subscription after the holidays. I'll tell you in just under a month whether it's really worth it.
Would you pay for ChatGPT? Tell us in the comments below!
