ChatGPT’s paid subscriber base for its chatbot climbed to over 20 million from 15.5 million in the past quarter, according to a report by The Information. The 30% rise in users corresponds to an estimated monthly revenue increase from $333 million to $415 million, also a 30% jump.
This comes shortly after OpenAI secured $40 billion in a historic funding round led by SoftBank, pushing its valuation to $300 billion. The company also revealed that more than 500 million people use ChatGPT weekly.
The company has projected significant revenue expansion, expecting to more than triple its total to $12.7 billion in 2025 from $3.7 billion in 2024. Bloomberg previously reported that OpenAI anticipates generating $29.4 billion in 2026.
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The rise in the paid subscription base indicates the growing popularity of OpenAI’s chatbot, which is used for various purposes. However, despite all the success, OpenAI continues to grapple with high operational costs, including expensive AI chips, data center expenses, and top-tier talent acquisition.
OpenAI on Tuesday announced GPT-4o’s native image generation, allowing users to upload and edit images with plans to expand it to all ChatGPT tiers. A popular trend that took over the internet recently that might’ve added to ChatGPT’s success is netizens using the chatbot’s latest iteration to edit images in the style of Japan’s Studio Ghibli.
As the trend took off, people began using ChatGPT to render all kinds of images—from personal photos, to memes and movie scenes, in that unique style. With a rapid increase in image generation prompts, CEO Sam Altman had to put a rate limit on them, stating that OpenAI’s GPUs were “melting” due to the demands of image generation on the OpenAI infrastructure.
READ: OpenAI limits image generation following the viral ‘Ghibli’ trend, claiming GPUs are ‘melting’ (March 28, 2025)
Currently, ChatGPT offers two subscription tiers: the Free and Pro plans. The Free tier provides access to GPT-3.5, offering basic conversational capabilities and limited features. In contrast, the Pro tier, priced at $20 per month, unlocks access to GPT-4, enhancing performance with better reasoning, faster response times, and advanced functionalities like multimodal tools for text and image generation. Pro users also benefit from higher usage limits, priority access during peak periods, and the ability to customize their own GPT models. The Pro plan is ideal for those who need more power and reliability in their AI interactions.