ChatGPT likely to have 220 mn paying subscribers every week by 2030

OpenAI expects that at least 220 million users will pay for a ChatGPT subscription every week by 2030, The Information reported on Tuesday. According to the report, OpenAI believes that by 2030, about 8.5 per cent of its projected 2.6 billion weekly users will become paying subscribers. This would make ChatGPT one of the biggest subscription services in the world.

How many users ChatGPT have currently?

According to TechCrunch, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman last month said ChatGPT has reached 800 million weekly active users, driven by an increase in adoption among consumers, developers, enterprises, and governments.  

 

"More than 800 million people use ChatGPT every week, and we process over 6 billion tokens per minute on the application programming interface. Thanks to all of you, AI has gone from something people play with to something people build with every day," he said.

OpenAI has 35 mn paid users

According to The Information, around 35 million people (about 5 per cent of weekly users) were already paying for the ChatGPT Plus plan at $20 per month or the Pro plan at $200 per month as of July this year.

 

The report said that in September, OpenAI earned around $4.3 billion in revenue in the first half of 2025, marking a 16 per cent increase from the same period last year. However, the company also spent $2.5 billion, mainly on research and development and the high costs of running ChatGPT.

What revenue will come from new features?

OpenAI expects about 20 per cent of its future revenue to come from new features, such as shopping tools and advertising options. This week, it launched a personal shopping assistant in ChatGPT, which could later bring in money through ads or commissions from sales, The Information said.

OpenAI promoting affordable options

The company is also introducing more affordable pricing for users in India. OpenAI is offering ChatGPT Go at no cost for 12 months to Indian users who sign up during a limited-time promotional period, which started on November 4.

 

As reported earlier by Business Standard, the move has attracted strong user interest and pushed the app to the No. 1 position across all categories on the Google Play Store for more than a month. According to Sensor Tower trends, ChatGPT held the top spot from October 26 through November 24.

 

However, giving away its newest AI tier for free has also had a negative impact. ChatGPT slipped in the 'top grossing' charts, which are rankings based on users who pay for apps or make in-app purchases on the Google Play Store. It fell from No. 5 on November 4 to No. 11 by November 24.