ChatGPT paying users could reach an extraordinary 220 million by 2030, marking one of the most ambitious subscription growth targets ever set by a consumer-facing technology company. The projection, revealed in internal OpenAI forecasting shared by The Information and circulated through Reuters, suggests that about 8.5 percent of an estimated 2.6 billion weekly ChatGPT users will eventually convert to a paid plan.
If achieved, ChatGPT would stand alongside the largest subscription platforms in the world, rivaling the scale of services built over decades by companies in entertainment, productivity, and communications.
At present, the vast majority of ChatGPT’s enormous user base relies on the free tier. Reports indicate that paid users number somewhere in the tens of millions, with one widely referenced estimate pointing to at least 35 million subscribers across ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Team, and Enterprise plans.
This means that OpenAI is targeting growth of more than six times the current level, which would fundamentally transform the company’s revenue model and position ChatGPT as a cornerstone of the next era of AI-driven consumer and enterprise tools.
The anticipated rise in ChatGPT paying users aligns with OpenAI’s broader financial strategy. Earlier reporting on internal company projections outlined a long-term revenue path that could reach approximately 174 billion dollars by the end of the decade. Within that framework, ChatGPT itself is expected to serve as a major revenue engine for the next several years.
Though OpenAI envisions a future dominated by autonomous agents and deeply embedded AI systems, the company still sees its flagship chatbot as a primary catalyst for revenue growth and market penetration in the near term.
OpenAI’s plan to reach 220 million subscribers depends on a diversified product ladder and flexible pricing structure. ChatGPT already offers a variety of paid options, ranging from low-cost subscriptions in the five-dollar-per-month range to enterprise-grade plans near two hundred dollars a month.
In addition, ChatGPT Go aims to make advanced AI capabilities accessible in cost-sensitive regions, with markets such as India and fast-growing Southeast Asian countries providing a significant share of the platform’s global user activity. The tiered pricing strategy allows OpenAI to capture both casual users and high-intensity professional users, reducing its dependence on any single market segment.
Beyond subscription tiers, the company is exploring new monetisation strategies designed to nudge free users toward becoming ChatGPT paying users. Emerging features noted in external reporting include integrated shopping and commerce assistants, transaction-enabled AI agents, and tailored advertising experiences that blend into both consumer and business workflows.
These additions suggest that OpenAI intends to evolve ChatGPT into a multipurpose platform similar to a digital operating layer, where users can accomplish tasks that extend far beyond conversational prompts. The more daily functions that flow through ChatGPT, the higher the likelihood of users opting into premium access.
Even with these efforts, OpenAI faces tangible challenges. Converting a massive free user base into a large population of paying subscribers requires sustained delivery of value that users deem worth paying for.
With AI technology advancing rapidly across the industry, OpenAI must differentiate its offerings clearly enough to justify recurring fees. Stability, reliability, security, and high-quality model performance all become crucial selling points, especially for business users who need consistent results for mission-critical tasks. The competitive landscape continues to expand as well, with rival platforms offering strong alternatives at lower cost.
The cost of running frontier AI models introduces further complexity. Training and operating large-scale AI systems requires immense computational resources, specialised hardware, and extensive data infrastructure.
Analysts estimate that OpenAI’s long-term compute expenses could reach hundreds of billions of dollars, and some modelling suggests that data centre leasing commitments might eventually exceed the company’s projected annual revenue.
These financial pressures increase the importance of scaling subscription revenue and reaching the projected volume of ChatGPT paying users. Without sufficient recurring income, supporting the backbone of OpenAI’s AI ecosystem becomes far more difficult.
Despite these challenges, the company’s ambitious projections show how strongly OpenAI believes in the mainstream adoption of AI assistants across both personal and professional environments.
If even a significant portion of the 220 million user target is reached, ChatGPT would surpass many long-established subscription giants in both user count and annualised revenue.
Such an outcome would likely influence pricing and product strategies across the entire AI industry, encouraging competitors to introduce their own paid tiers and integrated ecosystem services.
Whether 220 million ChatGPT paying users is a realistic milestone or an over-optimistic moonshot, the target crystallises how quickly AI is expected to embed itself into everyday work and life. For the latest updates on AI business models, user adoption, and the next wave of subscription-powered innovation, keep tuning in to ainewstoday.org for more sharp, timely AI news!
