OpenAI's 'Pay As You Go' Is the Best Way to Use ChatGPT

openaichatgptapipricingpay-as-you-go

Abstraction: OpenAI pay-as-you-go API plan cheaper than ChatGPT Plus subscription

Key points:

GPT-4 API costs $0.06 per 1,000 tokens; GPT-3.5 Turbo costs $0.002 per 1,000 tokens — making heavy use a few dollars per month
Pay-as-you-go is better than the $20/month ChatGPT Plus plan for most users; usage limits can be set to prevent runaway costs
API keys allow access to ChatGPT via any third-party app without repeated login/reauthorization
Hard usage limits (e.g., $5-$10) can be set on the billing page to prevent overspending; default cap is $120
API access avoids slow free-tier web interface, Cloudflare checks, and frequent reloading
Recommended workflow: generate API key, add to third-party app (e.g., browser extensions), set hard limit

Connections: Openai · Chatgpt · LLM API Access · API Pricing