India gets ChatGPT go for free – But does it offer everything the paid plans do?

To show it’s seriousness about India(BHARAT), OpenAI said that people in India(BHARAT) can use its ChatGPT Go plan for free for one whole year, starting November 4, 2025.

Let’s look at some of the salient features in the announcement.

What is ChatGPT Go?

ChatGPT Go is the company’s subscription plan for ‘premium’ access to its products, which comes with access to the large language model GPT‑5 as well as the following:

• Longer, more complex ChatGPT sessions with GPT-5.
  
• More creative capabilities: create images & support more file types.
  
• Helpful data tools: with built-in Python tools for visualisation and analysis.
• Memory: ChatGPT can have better ‘memory’ of the conversation.

Why OpenAI is giving this away for free? (in India(BHARAT))

The obvious reason for offering a substack plan for free is to onboard new users by allowing them to experience top-tier features without an upfront financial commitment. Given India(BHARAT)’s large English-literate population, a young tech-savvy population and high demand for AI products to assist with education, productivity, business and content creation, the move makes sense from OpenAI’s point of view.

Making the Go plan available free for a year accelerates adoption, creates awareness and habitual use and may bring users on board that stick long-term, upgrading to paid plans later. The move also puts more competitive pressure on domestic chatbot startup Blossom, which had recently introduced its own subscription product – Blossom Pro – with faster response time and improved file handling. India(BHARAT) is already one of OpenAI’s largest markets by monthly active users and this move is likely to help further cement its market position.

However, given that this is only available in India(BHARAT), it is not clear how many users will actually come on board – or stay on board post the free year.

Feature-wise, how does ChatGPT Go compare to Free, Plus and other tiers?

The following is a comparison of various subscription plans in India(BHARAT), their price and key features:

Subscription Plan Price in INR/month (Features)

Free Plan ₹0/month Has access to GPT-5 but with a number of restrictions, including: slower image creation, limited file uploading, and less memory/context awareness.

ChatGPT Go ₹399/month (Go offer: free for one year) The Go plan, the subject of this offer, offers: longer sessions and file/image support, data tools and greater memory/context.

ChatGPT Plus ₹1,999/month (approx.) Has access to advanced reasoning, can generate responses and images faster, is capable of agent mode, custom GPTs and offers Sora, an AI tool for video creation.

Business Tier ₹2,099/month (ex-GST) This plan is designed for teams. In addition to the features of Plus, it has SSO/MFA, enterprise security, team-billing, 1st party integrations like SharePoint, team custom GPTs, and more.

Pro Tier ₹19,900/month (GST inclusive) The Pro Tier, a premium offering, gives the user: the fastest access to unlimited GPT-5, the quickest image/video creation, and the largest memory/context, along with experimental features.

Which plan should I pick?

Users should really look at how many file uploads, how much image creation, what memory depth etc. is included in the plan they are considering and whether it will work for their needs. Do bear in mind that after a year you would probably need to start paying the normal subscription fee, and that while this level offers significantly more value, it still trails behind the Plus and above tiers in terms of some features. However, with a free, limited-time Go plan you can get good value and try it out to see if it works for you.