You don’t need a ChatGPT subscription or even an account to get started with OpenAI’s popular AI chatbot. You get better features if you do make an acocunt, however, including access to ChatGPT’s trendy new 4o image generation. An even better way to access ChatGPT features is with a paid subscription, which gives you access to more advanced tools, such as Deep Research, reasoning AI models like the o3 family, and preview models like GPT-4.5.

ChatGPT Plus is the cheapest option, starting at $20/month. That’s what you’d pay for Gemini Advanced, too, but Google also throws in lots of free cloud storage access with its premium AI offering.

I’ve been a ChatGPT Plus user for quite a while now, and I don’t see myself ditching it anytime soon. However, not all ChatGPT users might be willing to shell out money for another digital subscription.

If you’re a student, I’ve got some great news for you. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced that US and Canadian students can use ChatGPT Plus for free through the end of May. That’s a great deal, as students will save about $40/month for premium AI access. But why is OpenAI offering this deal?

“ChatGPT Plus is free for college students in the US and Canada through May!” Sam Altman wrote on X. Signing up for the deal is very easy. Just head over to this page on the OpenAI site and follow the instructions to verify that you’re eligible. OpenAI uses SheerID for verification, so students will likely already know if they’re eligible since it’s the same service used by other companies. Once you’ve determined that you’re eligible, you’ll just need to sign up for an account using your school email address.