Our verdict: Claude Max wins for coders, ChatGPT Pro wins for mixed research and image work, and most people should pay neither. If you do upgrade, start at $100, not $200.
OpenAI charges $200 a month for ChatGPT Pro 200. Anthropic charges $200 a month for Claude Max 20x. Both also sell a $100 tier, and OpenAI now has a $500 Pro tier too. They sound interchangeable, but they're built for different people.
Claude Max 5x
Claude Max 20x
ChatGPT Pro 100
ChatGPT Pro 200
ChatGPT Pro 500
What the top plans cost
Neither tier gives you a smarter model than the $20 plans. What you're buying is headroom: more usage per session, longer agent runs and fewer "come back in four hours" messages.
The 5 plans at a glance
Claude Max 5x- 5x Claude Pro usage per 5-hour session
- $100 a month in API credits
- Bigger Claude Code budget
The catch: no image generation.
Claude Max 20x- 20x Claude Pro usage per 5-hour session
- $200 a month in API credits
- Priority access at peak times
The catch: overkill unless 5x runs out.
ChatGPT Pro 100- GPT-6 Astra Pro reasoning
- Unlimited, faster image creation
- Dots, OpenAI's always-on agent
The catch: Claude is stronger for daily coding.
ChatGPT Pro 200- More usage than Pro 100
- Maximum deep research
- Longer Codex and ChatGPT Work sessions
The catch: twice the price of Pro 100.
ChatGPT Pro 500- Adds Ultrafast Astra and Sol
- Highest included usage
- Everything in Pro 200
The catch: 25 times the price of Plus.
Prices and models
Prices checked October 15, 2026, on each company's own pricing page. Claude plans rechecked October 23.
| Plan | Price | Top models | Best for | Extras |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Max 5x | $100/mo | Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5.5, Fable (up to 50% of weekly limits) | Developers who outgrew Claude Pro | 5x Pro usage, $100/mo API credits |
| Claude Max 20x | $200/mo | Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5.5, Fable (up to 50% of weekly limits) | Full-time agentic coding in Claude Code | 20x Pro usage, $200/mo API credits |
| ChatGPT Pro 100 | $100/mo | GPT-6 Astra, GPT-6.1 Sol | Heavy Plus users who want Pro features | Dots agent, unlimited image creation |
| ChatGPT Pro 200 | $200/mo | GPT-6 Astra, GPT-6.1 Sol | Research, reasoning and image work | More usage than Pro 100 |
| ChatGPT Pro 500 | $500/mo | Adds Ultrafast Astra and Sol | People who need the fastest responses | Highest included usage |
What each plan includes
| Feature | Max 5x | Max 20x | Pro 100 | Pro 200 | Pro 500 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding agent | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Image generation | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Always-on agent | US waitlist | US waitlist | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Monthly API credits included | $100 | $200 | – | – | – |
| Priority at peak times | ✓ | ✓ | – | – | – |
| Ultrafast mode | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
– means the company hasn't said. Claude's always-on agent is Claude Duet; the coding agents are Claude Code and Codex.
Claude Max: the coder's plan
If you use Claude Code every day, Claude Max is the plan that matters. Real projects like multi-file refactors, long debug sessions and codebase reads burn through Pro quotas fast, and hitting the limit three times a day is a tax on your work.
The models back it up. Claude Opus 5.5 leads SWE-bench Pro at 89.9% and tops the Artificial Analysis index, per our September frontier ranking. Max 5x gives you 5x Pro's usage and $100 a month in API credits; for most people who hit Pro limits, that's the right step, not 20x.
ChatGPT Pro: the all-rounder
If your work crosses research, reasoning and images, ChatGPT Pro is the better buy. Image creation is unlimited and faster, deep research runs at its maximum limits, and GPT-6 Astra still leads on science-heavy reasoning.
Dots, OpenAI's always-on agent, keeps working on tasks in the background. One thing Pro no longer includes is Sora video, since OpenAI shut down the Sora app in April 2026. Start on Pro 100; Pro 200 adds usage, and only Pro 500 adds Ultrafast mode.
The case for paying neither
Most people asking "should I get the $200 tier?" should pay $20. The base plans cover dozens of long conversations, hundreds of code interactions and comfortable use of Claude Code or Codex. If you've hit a Pro limit twice ever, you're not the customer.
A better premium setup for most heavy users is Claude Pro plus ChatGPT Plus at $40 a month. You get both ecosystems and a fallback when one provider has an outage.
What about teams and stacking both?
Claude Team and ChatGPT Business both start at $20 a seat a month billed annually, or $25 monthly, and neither trains on your business data by default. With two or more seats, a team plan beats separate subscriptions. Stacking Pro 200 and Max 20x costs $400 a month; Max 5x plus ChatGPT Plus at $120 covers most heavy users.
Which one should you use?
The verdict
Developers who hit Claude Pro limits daily should get Claude Max 5x at $100 a month, and creators mixing research and images should start on ChatGPT Pro 100. Everyone else should stay at $20; if you're not sure you need these tiers, you don't.
FAQ
Should I pay $200/month for ChatGPT Pro or Claude Max?
Most users do not need either. The $20 tier of either provider covers normal daily use. Pay $200/month only if you run long agentic sessions, do large code refactors, or hit rate limits several times a day. Pick Claude Max if you code. Pick ChatGPT Pro if your work mixes research, science-heavy reasoning and image creation.
What's the difference between Claude Max 5x and Max 20x?
Claude Max 5x ($100/mo) gives you 5x the usage of Claude Pro per 5-hour session, plus $100 a month in API credits. Max 20x ($200/mo) gives you 20x and $200 in API credits. Both raise your Claude Code limits. The 20x tier is for full-time agentic coders running multi-hour sessions. Most people who hit Pro limits are fine on 5x.
Does ChatGPT Pro include image generation and Sora?
It includes image generation but not Sora. OpenAI shut down the Sora app on April 26, 2026, and the Sora API on September 24, 2026. ChatGPT Pro now comes in three tiers ($100, $200 and $500 a month) with GPT-6 Astra Pro reasoning, unlimited and faster image creation, maximum deep research and Dots, OpenAI's always-on agent.
Can I stack ChatGPT Pro and Claude Max?
Yes, and some heavy users do. $400/month gets you ChatGPT Pro 200 and Claude Max 20x with little rate-limit anxiety. For most people this is overkill. A more realistic premium stack is Claude Max 5x ($100) + ChatGPT Plus ($20) at $120/month total.
Are these tiers token-billed or rate-limited?
Both are limited by usage windows rather than billed per token. Claude resets usage on a rolling 5-hour window with weekly limits on top, and ChatGPT Pro has per-model allowances that reset on a schedule. Claude Max also includes $100 to $200 a month in API credits, and ChatGPT lets you buy credits for Codex and ChatGPT Work. For pure token billing, use the Anthropic or OpenAI API directly.