OpenAI offers free ChatGPT Go for one year to all users in India

OpenAI is offering its ChatGPT Go plan available free of charge for one year to users in India who sign up during a limited promotional period starting November 4, as the company looks to expand in one of its top markets.

On Tuesday, OpenAI announced the promotion but did not specify how long the offer would remain available. Existing ChatGPT Go subscribers in India will also be eligible for the free 12-month plan, the company said.

Priced at less than $5 per month, ChatGPT Go launched in India in August as OpenAI’s most affordable paid subscription plan. The service later expanded to Indonesia and, earlier this month, to 16 additional countries across Asia.

India, the world’s most populous country with over 700 million smartphone users and more than a billion internet subscribers, has been a key market for OpenAI. The company opened its New Delhi office in August and is currently building a local team to expand its presence.

Earlier this year, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said India was the company’s second-largest market after the U.S. However, making money from ChatGPT’s paid plans in the country has proven challenging. The app saw over 29 million downloads in the 90 days leading up to August, but generated just $3.6 million in in-app purchases during that period, according to Appfigures data reviewed by TechCrunch at the time.

ChatGPT Go offers 10 times more usage than the free version for generating responses, creating images, and uploading files. It also features improved memory for more personalized responses, according to OpenAI.

“Since initially launching ChatGPT Go in India a few months ago, the adoption and creativity we’ve seen from our users has been inspiring,” said Nick Turley, vice president and head of ChatGPT, in a statement. “We’re excited to see the amazing things our users will build, learn, and achieve with these tools.”

OpenAI’s rivals, including Perplexity and Google, are also looking to tap into India’s large and youthful user base. Perplexity recently partnered with Airtel to offer free Perplexity Pro subscriptions to the telecom operator’s 360 million subscribers. Similarly, Google introduced a free one-year AI Pro plan for students in India.

OpenAI is set to host its DevDay Exchange developer conference Bengaluru on November 4, where it’s expected to make India-specific announcements aimed at local developers and enterprises.