OpenAI is hoping to expand its reach with ChatGPT Go - and its plans are now priced in rands for South African users.

OpenAI is hoping to expand its reach in Africa with the launch of ChatGPT Go, a new subscription tier aimed at making its advanced AI tools more affordable and accessible – and for the first time, its subscription plans are priced in rands for South African users.

The new plan, powered by GPT-5, offers most of ChatGPT’s premium capabilities at R149/month, or roughly 75% less than the cost of the next-highest subscription tier.

“Millions of people across Africa are already using ChatGPT to learn new skills, solve everyday problems and start businesses,” said Nick Turley, vice-president and head of ChatGPT, in a statement on Wednesday. “With ChatGPT Go, we want to make cutting-edge AI affordable and accessible – so everyone can benefit from it.”

Compared to the free plan, ChatGPT Go users get:

• 10x higher message limits with GPT-5
• 10x more image generations per day
• 10x more file or image uploads per day
• 2x longer memory for more personalised conversations

Subscribers also gain access to image generation, file uploads and extended memory, giving them many of the benefits of the more expensive ChatGPT Plus tier, which costs R399/month.

The roll-out of ChatGPT Go covers all 54 African countries, following strong uptake in India, where paid subscriptions reportedly doubled within a month of launch. ChatGPT Go is now available in 89 countries, including across the Middle East, Central Asia, Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America.

For South Africans, the inclusion of rand-based pricing removes exchange-rate uncertainty and international payment hurdles that previously limited access to OpenAI’s premium services.

Rand pricing

ChatGPT Go became available across Africa on Wednesday. South African pricing tiers in rand are as follows:

• Free tier: Provides basic but limited access. Price: R0/month
• Go: Includes access to GPT-5; extended access to image generation; extended access to file uploads; extended access to advanced data analysis; and longer memory for more personalised responses. Price: R149/month
• Plus: Includes everything in Go, plus extended access to GPT-5; extended limits on messaging; file uploads; data analysis and image generation; standard and advanced voice mode with video and screen-sharing; access to ChatGPT agent, tasks and custom GPTs; limited access to Sora video generation; and access to a research preview of the Codex agent. Price: R399/month
• Pro: Includes everything in Plus, plus unlimited access to GPT-5; access to GPT-5 Pro, which uses more compute for “the best answers to the hardest questions”; unlimited access to advanced voice, with higher limits for video and screen-sharing; extended access to ChatGPT agent, and extended access to Sora. Price: R3 999.99/month

The Plus and Pro tiers are now more expensive than the US dollar pricing of $20 and $200/month, respectively, but the price discrepancy may be explained if OpenAI now collects VAT in South Africa at the standard rate of 15% of the sale price.  — (c) 2025 NewsCentral Media

By Duncan McLeod  Tech Central