Create your account and choose your plan
On this page
With or without an account
You can try ChatGPT without an account at chatgpt.com in supported countries, including those in Europe and the United Kingdom. The trial has limits: only one conversation at a time, and it disappears when you end the session. A free account changes everything: it saves your history, lets you share a conversation, export your data, and personalize responses. Count on five minutes to create one.
Sign up step by step
At chatgpt.com, choose Sign up. Several options are available: an email address and password, with a verification message to confirm; a Google, Apple, or Microsoft account, in one click; in some countries, just a phone number. If you start with just a number, you can link an email address later from Settings > Account. You’ll need it to upgrade to a paid plan and to enable two-factor authentication.
OpenAI also asks for your name and date of birth. ChatGPT isn’t intended for users under 13, and those aged 13 to 17 must have parental consent. One organizational tip: for personal use, use an address you own, not your work email. The account gets you logged in; the workspace, personal or organizational, holds your conversations and settings.
The different plans
OpenAI offers several plans, which lesson 18 compares in detail. At this stage, it’s mostly about knowing which one to start with.
Free is enough to discover the tool and follow most lessons: standard text conversations are unlimited, subject to abuse safeguards, and tools are capped: file uploads, image generation, voice, deep research, memory. Go expands these quotas and extends memory. These two plans may display ads, depending on the country. Plus unlocks advanced reasoning levels of GPT-6, extends deep research, Codex, and ChatGPT Work on desktop, web, and mobile: this is the plan that lets you follow this entire course without hitting a quota. Pro, in three tiers, targets intensive use and gives access to Pro reasoning, powered by GPT-6 Astra. Business, formerly Team, is for teams: admin console, SAML single sign-on, and no use of your business data for model training by default. Enterprise and Edu complete the range for large organizations.
| Plan | Price published by OpenAI |
|---|---|
| Free | $0 |
| Go | $8 per month |
| Plus | $20 per month |
| Pro | $100, $200, or $500 per month, depending on usage volume |
| Business | Standard Seat: $25 per user per month, or $20 with annual billing, from 2 users. Premium Seat, with more Work and Codex usage: $125, or $100 annually |
These amounts are the published rates in US dollars; the Pricing page on chatgpt.com shows the price applicable in your country. If you’re starting out, begin with Free. If you want to explore everything without constraints, take Plus. If usage is collective, Business settles the question of business data right away. Don’t take Pro as a precaution: the first tier costs five times Plus, for a difference you won’t notice without an identified need.
Configure your account
Once logged in, spend five minutes on your settings. Open your profile menu, then Settings.
- General: appearance (system, light, or dark) and interface language, in Language. By default, ChatGPT follows your browser language.
- Data controls: the Improve the model for everyone option decides whether your conversations serve to improve OpenAI’s models. On personal Free, Plus, and Pro workspaces, it is enabled by default; you can turn it off without losing your history.
- Security and login: two-factor authentication (MFA), via authenticator app, notification, SMS, or passkey. It protects an account that will soon contain sensitive information.
- Personalization: custom instructions, memory, and response style, which lesson 3 details.
Your turn
An account ready for what’s next. Create your account if you haven’t already. Set the language in Settings > General, make an informed decision on the Improve the model for everyone option in Data controls, then enable two-factor authentication in Security and login. Finally, open the models menu and note what your plan offers you: that’s the subject of lesson 5. This menu is authoritative; ChatGPT’s answer to the question “what model are you running on?” can be approximate.
Official sources: The ChatGPT home page (OpenAI help center: usage without an account) · Phone-only signups (phone sign-up, email required for paid plans) · Is ChatGPT safe for all ages? (minimum age) · Pricing (ChatGPT documentation: plan prices) · ChatGPT Business overview (Standard and Premium seats) · Data controls in ChatGPT · Managing multi-factor authentication
Key takeaways
- You can try ChatGPT without an account, but only an account saves history and personalization
- Sign up via email, Google, Apple, Microsoft, or, in some countries, by phone; 13 years minimum, parental consent under 18
- Free is enough to discover; Plus unlocks the entire course; Business protects a team’s data
- Prices are published in dollars; the Pricing page shows yours
- Set language, model training, and two-factor authentication from the start