Every consumer, team and enterprise plan from ChatGPT, Claude, Google AI, Perplexity, X Subscription (now including Cursor), Microsoft 365 and Mistral, in US dollars and in the euros each vendor shows a buyer in Germany. All seven vendors were re-checked against their own pricing and help pages on October 23, 2026. Prices and limits change often, so open the linked source before you pay.
Last verified: October 23, 2026, every vendor. Per-vendor check dates are in the check log below the table.
Every AI vendor runs a similar pricing ladder: a free tier to get you in, a $20 tier for individuals, premium tiers at $100 and $200 for power users (OpenAI added $500 on September 29, 2026), and per-seat business plans that now come in standard and premium seats. The price tags look similar. What differs is what sits behind each tier: model access, 5-hour and weekly limits, seat minimums, context windows, ads, and which currency you are billed in.
Most "which AI should I pay for" decisions get made on the wrong axis. People compare features in marketing copy instead of comparing the actual job-to-be-done. The cleaner frame: pick the dominant workflow you want the tool to handle, then pick the cheapest plan that doesn't bottleneck that workflow. If you're hitting caps by Wednesday, you've underbought. If you're paying for reasoning capacity you use once a month, you've overbought.
The table below links to each vendor's own pricing page, but it is not a live entitlement feed. Switch the price column to EUR to see what each vendor shows a buyer in Germany; where a vendor shows only USD, the table says so instead of converting.
Best first paid plan
Both are $20 a month in the US. Start with ChatGPT Plus (GPT-6 Sol, Codex, €23 in Germany) for breadth. Start with Claude Pro (Opus 5.5, Claude Code, USD only) if writing, documents or terminal coding dominate your week.
Best Google-native option
Gemini 4 Argon, Deep Research and 5 TB storage for $19.99 (€21.99 in Germany). Best when Gmail, Docs and Drive already hold your work.
Best research-first plan
$17 a month billed annually. Strongest when cited, current answers matter more than generation, coding or images.
Best team upgrade
Both start at $20 per seat billed annually. ChatGPT Business for broad apps and Codex; Claude Team when the work is document-heavy. Both now sell a premium seat for heavy users.
Money Stack
The mistake is not paying for AI. The mistake is paying for overlapping subscriptions that solve the same job. Start with one broad assistant, add one specialist only when a weekly workflow proves it can earn back the spend.
Free stack
$0/month
Learners and occasional users: ChatGPT Free with Codex on GPT-6 Luna, the Gemini app at standard limits, and 2,000 Copilot inline suggestions a month.
ChatGPT Free may show ads. Free tiers cap files, images and research tools, and Claude Free has no Opus.
Best stack under $50/month
$37/month before tax (Perplexity billed annually)
One broad execution assistant and one citation-first research engine.
Swap ChatGPT Plus for Claude Pro if writing quality is the main bottleneck. Skip Perplexity if you rarely need sourced research.
Best coding stack under $60
$50/month before tax
Claude Code for terminal agent work, Cursor for editor loops, Grok included in the same X pool.
Cheaper route: ChatGPT Plus (Codex included) + GitHub Copilot Pro for $30/month.
Heavy-use tier at $100
$99.99 to $100/month
People who hit their $20 plan limits every week. Buy the one whose window you already hit.
Do not stack two $100 plans. Read ChatGPT Pro vs Claude Max first.
| Provider | Plan | Tier | Price (USD) | Best for | Source and check |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAI (ChatGPT) | Free | Free | $0EUR shown by vendor | Trying ChatGPT and Codex (Codex on Free and Go uses GPT-6 Luna). Ads may appear on Free and Go. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| OpenAI (ChatGPT) | Go | Pro | $8/moEUR shown by vendor | Lowest-cost paid ChatGPT tier. The plan card says it may include ads. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| OpenAI (ChatGPT) | Plus | Pro | $20/moEUR shown by vendor | GPT-6 Sol in Chat, GPT-6 Astra in ChatGPT Work and Codex, no ads. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| OpenAI (ChatGPT) | Pro $100 | Max | $100/mo, monthly onlyEUR shown by vendor | GPT-6 Pro (Astra) in Chat; no five-hour limit in Codex and Work; weekly GPT-6 Pro allowance. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| OpenAI (ChatGPT) | Pro $200 | Max | $200/mo, monthly onlyEUR shown by vendor | Larger GPT-6 Pro weekly limit, then fallback to GPT-5.6 Thinking Medium. Reopened September 29, 2026. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| OpenAI (ChatGPT) | Pro $500 | Max | $500/mo, monthly onlyEUR shown by vendor | The only ChatGPT tier with Ultrafast speed, which uses 8x the included allowance. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| OpenAI (ChatGPT) | Business Standard | Team | $20/user/mo annual or $25 monthlyEUR shown by vendor | Teams of 2 to 200; 15 GPT-6 Pro messages per month. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| OpenAI (ChatGPT) | Business Premium | Team | $100/user/mo annual or $125 monthlyEUR shown by vendor | 5x Standard usage, no 5-hour limit, 50 Pro messages per week. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| OpenAI (ChatGPT) | Enterprise | Enterprise | CustomEUR shown by vendor | Credit- or token-based pricing; data residency in ten regions, including Europe. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| Anthropic (Claude) | Free | Free | $0USD only | Light Claude use on a rolling 5-hour window. No Opus or Fable. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| Anthropic (Claude) | Pro | Pro | $20/mo, or $17/mo billed annuallyUSD only | Claude Code, Opus 5.5, Fable 5.1 via usage credits; at least 5x Free per 5-hour session. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| Anthropic (Claude) | Max 5x | Max | $100/mo, monthly onlyUSD only | 5x Pro usage per session, plus $100/mo in Claude Platform API credits (not usable in Claude Code or the apps). | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| Anthropic (Claude) | Max 20x | Max | $200/mo, monthly onlyUSD only | 20x Pro usage per session, plus $200/mo in Claude Platform API credits. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| Anthropic (Claude) | Team Standard | Team | $20/seat/mo annual or $25 monthlyUSD only | 2 to 150 seats; 1.25x Pro usage per session; up to $500/mo pooled API credits per team. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| Anthropic (Claude) | Team Premium | Team | $100/seat/mo annual or $125 monthlyUSD only | 5x Standard seats (6.25x Pro per session) for the heaviest team members. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| Anthropic (Claude) | Enterprise | Enterprise | $20/seat/mo annual + usage at API ratesUSD only | Minimum 20 seats self-serve (50 sales-assisted); every token billed at API rates. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| Google AI | Free | Free | $0EUR shown by vendor | Gemini app at standard limits with a 32K context window. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| Google AI | Google AI Plus | Pro | $4.99/moEUR shown by vendor | 2x free limits, 128K context, 400 GB storage. Google One also lists a 2 TB AI Plus at €9.99. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| Google AI | Google AI Pro | Pro | $19.99/moEUR shown by vendor | Gemini 4 Argon, Deep Research, 4x free limits, 1M context, 5 TB storage. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| Google AI | Google AI Ultra (5x) | Max | $99.99/moEUR shown by vendor | 5x AI Pro limits, from 20 TB storage, YouTube Premium, 10,000 Flow credits. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| Google AI | Google AI Ultra (20x) | Max | $199.99/moEUR shown by vendor | 20x AI Pro limits and 25,000 Flow credits. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| Perplexity | Free | Free | $0USD only | 3 Pro Searches per day and 1 Research per month. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| Perplexity | Pro | Pro | $17/mo billed annuallyUSD only | Cited research with weekly Pro Search limits (no published number). Monthly price not shown publicly. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| Perplexity | Max | Max | $200/mo or $2,000/yrUSD only | Highest consumer limits; 10,000 monthly credits. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| Perplexity | Enterprise Pro | Enterprise | $34/seat/mo billed annuallyUSD only | 400 Pro Searches per week, 50 Research per month. Perplexity’s help center still lists $40, which conflicts. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| Perplexity | Enterprise Max | Enterprise | $271/seat/mo billed annuallyUSD only | 4,000 Pro Searches per week and 500 Research per month. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| xAI (X Subscription, incl. Cursor) | Plus | Pro | $8/mo or $80/yrUSD only | Entry X Subscription; in Cursor it covers Grok models only. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| xAI (X Subscription, incl. Cursor) | Premium | Pro | $30/mo or $300/yrUSD only | Bundles SuperGrok, Cursor Pro and X Premium+ in one 4x usage pool. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| xAI (X Subscription, incl. Cursor) | Super | Max | $100/mo or $1,000/yrUSD only | 15x usage pool shared by Grok and Cursor. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| xAI (X Subscription, incl. Cursor) | Ultra | Max | $200/mo or $2,000/yrUSD only | 50x usage pool shared by Grok and Cursor. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| xAI (X Subscription, incl. Cursor) | Teams | Team | $30, $100 or $200 per seatUSD only | Premium, Super or Ultra seats; Plus is not available for teams. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| Microsoft 365 and Copilot | Copilot (free) | Free | $0EUR shown by vendor | Limited free Copilot, subject to available capacity. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| Microsoft 365 and Copilot | Microsoft 365 Personal | Pro | $9.99/mo or $99.99/yrEUR shown by vendor | Office apps for one person; check the plan page for the Copilot features included. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| Microsoft 365 and Copilot | Microsoft 365 Premium | Pro | $19.99/mo or $199.99/yrEUR shown by vendor | Agentic AI features and extended Copilot usage in Microsoft 365. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| Microsoft 365 and Copilot | Microsoft 365 Pro | Max | $99.99/mo, monthly onlyEUR shown by vendor | Microsoft’s highest Copilot usage limits for individuals. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| Mistral (Le Chat, Vibe) | Free | Free | $0EUR shown by vendor | Le Chat free tier. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| Mistral (Le Chat, Vibe) | Pro | Pro | $14.99/mo excl. taxEUR shown by vendor | Up to 6x Free messages, $15/mo API credits, and coding in Vibe (CLI, IDE, web). | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| Mistral (Le Chat, Vibe) | Team | Team | $24.99/user/mo excl. taxEUR shown by vendor | Shared workspace with Vibe coding included. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
| Mistral (Le Chat, Vibe) | Enterprise | Enterprise | Contact salesEUR shown by vendor | Custom deployment and controls. | LinkChecked October 23, 2026 |
Which currency each vendor shows a buyer in Germany, what it says about tax, and when we last checked it.
| Vendor | Currency in Germany | What the vendor says | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAI (ChatGPT) | EUR shown by vendor | chatgpt.com shows EUR to German visitors. VAT not stated. Pro shows only "from €103". | October 23, 2026 |
| Anthropic (Claude) | USD only | claude.com shows USD even in Germany. Prices exclude applicable tax. | October 23, 2026 |
| Google AI | EUR shown by vendor | gemini.google shows EUR for Germany. VAT not stated. | October 23, 2026 |
| Perplexity | USD only | USD on the site; web checkout lets you pick local currency or USD. | October 23, 2026 |
| xAI (X Subscription, incl. Cursor) | USD only | No EUR prices published. List prices exclude sales tax. | October 23, 2026 |
| Microsoft 365 and Copilot | EUR shown by vendor | microsoft.com/de-de shows EUR. VAT not stated. | October 23, 2026 |
| Mistral (Le Chat, Vibe) | EUR shown by vendor | With Germany selected, EUR prices include taxes; USD prices exclude them. | October 23, 2026 |
Changelog
Plan changes since late September, newest first, logged on October 23, 2026. The full monthly log lives on Monthly AI Changes.
October 21, 2026
ChatGPT ads reached 89 countries. Ads appear only on Free and Go; personalized ads are not initially offered in the EEA or Switzerland.
Vendor sourceOctober 21, 2026
Claude Duet opened as a research preview for Pro and Max, US only. It draws on the same 5-hour and weekly limits.
Vendor sourceOctober 16, 2026
ChatGPT Slides arrived for Pro, Business and Enterprise.
Vendor sourceOctober 14, 2026
GPT-5.5 was retired from ChatGPT, ChatGPT Work and Codex. API access was not affected.
Vendor sourceOctober 12, 2026
X Subscription launched: Plus $8, Premium $30, Super $100, Ultra $200. Premium bundles SuperGrok, Cursor Pro and X Premium+, and Cursor is now sold through it.
Vendor sourceOctober 9, 2026
Google stopped selling new Gemini Code Assist Standard and Enterprise subscriptions.
Vendor sourceOctober 7, 2026
Per OpenAI's release notes, GPT-6 became the ChatGPT Chat model: Sol on paid plans, Luna on Free and Go from October 8.
Vendor sourceOctober 7, 2026
Claude Max and Team began including monthly API credits: $100 on Max 5x, $200 on Max 20x, up to $500 pooled on Team.
Vendor sourceSeptember 29, 2026
OpenAI added ChatGPT Pro $500 with Ultrafast and reopened Pro $200 to new subscribers with a lower allowance.
Vendor sourceMethodology
Every vendor row is checked against the vendor’s own pricing or help page, and the check date is shown per vendor. US prices come from US pages or vendor docs; EUR prices are what the vendor shows a visitor in Germany.
Where a vendor shows only USD to German buyers, we say so instead of converting. Where the vendor does not say whether VAT is included, we do not claim either way.
Recommendations are workflow-first: the best plan is the lowest-cost plan that does not bottleneck the job you do every week.
Comparison cluster
ChatGPT Pro vs Claude Max
The $100, $200 and $500 tier decision, with Google AI Ultra and X.
Open comparisonAI usage limits compared
5-hour windows, weekly caps and multipliers by vendor.
Open comparisonBest AI model right now
GPT-6, Claude Opus 5.5, Gemini 4 Argon and Grok 4.7 by job.
Open comparisonChatGPT Plus vs Claude Pro
The core $20 assistant decision for most operators.
Open comparisonGoogle AI Pro vs ChatGPT Plus
Standalone OpenAI workbench vs Google-native bundle.
Open comparisonPerplexity Pro vs ChatGPT Plus
Research-first subscription or broad execution assistant.
Open comparisonCursor vs GitHub Copilot
X Subscription bundle vs AI Credits inside your current IDE.
Open comparisonClaude Code vs Cursor
Claude-first coding agent vs dedicated AI coding cockpit.
Open comparisonClaude Pro vs Google AI Pro
Writing and documents vs Google ecosystem leverage.
Open comparisonUse when you're evaluating a tool or your AI use is sporadic. Free tiers expose enough capability to test a workflow, but usage caps, smaller context windows, and no premium-model access make them unreliable for daily work.
The default for individual professionals. ChatGPT Go and Plus, Claude Pro, Google AI Plus and Pro, Perplexity Pro, X Plus and Premium, Microsoft 365 Premium and Mistral Pro sit here. If AI is part of your daily work, this is the minimum viable plan.
For power users running heavy reasoning, deep research or agentic workflows. Worth it only when you hit the entry tier's limits every week; otherwise you are paying for capacity you will not consume. Compare the premium tiers.
Adds admin controls, shared workspaces, data-handling terms and, at OpenAI, a premium seat with no 5-hour limit. EU data residency differs sharply: OpenAI offers European residency for eligible new Enterprise customers, while Anthropic's API offers US or global inference only. Buy enterprise for compliance and governance, not to save money.
Four hidden cost lines get missed when comparing AI plans on sticker price alone.
After the comparison
The plan decision is only step one. The Power Guides turn your subscription stack into repeatable workflows for model choice, prompt quality, and weekly execution.
There is no single winner. As of October 23, 2026, ChatGPT Plus ($20, GPT-6 Sol) is the broader default for mixed work, Claude Pro ($20, Opus 5.5 and Claude Code) is the stronger writing and long-document option, Google AI Pro ($19.99, Gemini 4 Argon) wins for Google-native work, and Perplexity Pro ($17 billed annually) is the research-first choice.
Both start at $20 per seat per month billed annually ($25 monthly). ChatGPT Business Standard runs GPT-6 Sol in Chat since October 7, 2026 and includes 15 GPT-6 Pro messages a month; in Germany it shows €21 annual or €26 monthly. Claude Team Standard gives each member 1.25x Pro usage per session and is billed in USD. Choose ChatGPT Business for broad apps and Codex; choose Claude Team when writing, analysis and Claude Code are the core of the work.
It depends on the vendor. OpenAI, Google, Microsoft and Mistral show EUR to visitors in Germany. Anthropic (Claude), Perplexity and xAI (X Subscription, which now includes Cursor) show USD. Only Mistral says its EUR price includes taxes; the others do not state VAT treatment, and Anthropic and xAI say their USD prices exclude tax.
No. Microsoft says Copilot Pro is no longer available for purchase and support ended on August 1, 2026. For individuals, Microsoft now lists Microsoft 365 Premium ($19.99/month, €22.00 in Germany) with extended Copilot usage and Microsoft 365 Pro ($99.99/month, €110.00 in Germany) with the highest usage limits.
Since October 7, 2026, Max 5x includes $100 and Max 20x includes $200 of monthly Claude Platform API credits. Anthropic says they cannot be used in Claude Code or the Claude apps, so they are extra API budget, not extra chat capacity.
When source-backed search and research reports matter more than all-purpose generation. It is usually not the best first paid plan if your real bottleneck is writing, coding or broad workflow execution.