ChatGPT Plus and Claude Pro each list a US monthly price of $20; the Google One page checked for this article displays Google AI Pro at US$19.99 per month. These are a September 24, 2026 snapshot, not a guarantee of your checkout price. Regional availability, taxes, promotions, currency and account terms can change the amount you pay.
Compare the subscription and its billing terms
| Plan | Published price checked September 24 | What to check before paying |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT Plus | US$20 per month | Monthly billing; usage caps can apply; API usage is separate. |
| Claude Pro | US$20 monthly, or US$200 billed annually | Annual payment is upfront. Usage limits still apply; confirm local currency and tax. |
| Google AI Pro | US$19.99 per month on the checked Google One page | Gemini access plus a bundle of Google services; check which benefits your account can use. |
Anthropic’s Pro help page identifies the $20 monthly figure as the US price and explains regional billing differences. Google plan names and bundles change: search results mentioning “Gemini Advanced” should be checked against the plan currently offered in your account.
This comparison covers three personal subscriptions. It does not price developer APIs, business seats or specialist coding products. Similar monthly prices do not establish equivalent capacity or answer quality, and AIViewer has not run a controlled paid-plan comparison.
Updated September 24: unsupported “best subscription” recommendations have been replaced with a dated price snapshot and the task-based worksheet below. Pay for a recurring need you can identify, then check whether the plan actually resolves it.
Identify the problem before the plan
Write one sentence: “I need to complete ___, but my current setup prevents ___.” Examples include a file-size limit on documents you regularly process, an unavailable feature or a capacity limit that interrupts a time-sensitive task.
Then check whether the proposed plan addresses that precise limitation in your region and account. Do not treat paid access as unlimited. As one documented example, OpenAI’s Plus help page explains that usage limits can apply and that API usage is billed separately from the ChatGPT subscription.
Keep a task log
For one typical week, record the task, whether you finished, whether you hit a limit and how much active checking or repair was required. Define “useful” before counting: a draft you discarded is an attempt, not a completed result.
The following log is fictional teaching data, not an AIViewer product trial:
| Task type | Attempts | Useful completed results |
|---|---|---|
| Summaries checked against source documents | 3 | 2 |
| Meeting action lists checked against notes | 2 | 2 |
| Drafts adapted for the intended reader | 3 | 2 |
| Total | 8 | 6 |
Two attempts did not yield a useful result. The table does not establish why they failed, whether a paid plan would fix them or how much time was saved. Record those observations rather than inferring them from the task count.
Calculate cost per useful result carefully
Suppose a hypothetical plan costs CAD 24 per month and you repeat this exact fictional week four times. You would have 32 attempts and 24 useful results. Cost per useful result would be CAD 24 ÷ 24 = CAD 1.00.
Dividing by all 32 attempts gives CAD 0.75, which answers a different question. Neither figure measures the quality of the result or includes your review time. The four-week assumption is a simplification, not a claim that every calendar month contains exactly four weeks.
If you only completed six useful tasks over the entire billing period, the cost per useful result would be CAD 4.00. Occasional use can produce a different decision from frequent use even at the same subscription price.
Test the claim that matters
If your reason to upgrade is fewer interruptions, record interruptions during a bounded trial. If it is better document handling, use representative documents you are allowed to share and check the results against their sources. Keep the input and acceptance conditions consistent when comparing options.
Include checking and correction time in any claim about time savings. An answer produced quickly may take substantial effort to repair. Do not count the model’s self-reported confidence as a quality measurement.
Decide before the next renewal
Use these questions:
- Did the plan address the original limitation under my actual account conditions?
- How many useful tasks did I complete, and what did they require me to check?
- Which paid features did I actually use?
- Does an existing tool or free workflow already cover this task adequately?
- What are the renewal amount, currency, taxes and cancellation terms shown in my account?
Choose to keep, cancel or continue a bounded trial based on the record. This worksheet does not choose a provider for everyone or claim that a subscription will create income.
Your exercise
Keep the hypothetical CAD 24 price, but assume you need only eight useful results per billing period. The cost per useful result becomes CAD 3.00. Write what those results are worth to your task and what cheaper existing workflow you could compare. For API-based apps, use the separate Gemini usage-cost exercise.