Can I turn off ads in ChatGPT for free?

Yes, on the Free plan. ChatGPT's settings let you switch ads off in exchange for fewer free messages a day, and OpenAI hasn't published the lower number. Paying $8 a month for Go keeps the ads; Plus at $20 a month removes them.

Does ChatGPT Plus have ads?

No. Plus at $20 a month has no ads, and neither do Pro (from $100 a month), Business, Enterprise or Edu. Ads appear only on the Free and Go plans (OpenAI, October 2026).

Can advertisers see my ChatGPT chats?

No, according to OpenAI. Advertisers receive aggregate figures such as views and clicks, never your conversations or personal details. OpenAI does use your chats to choose which ads you see, unless you turn ad personalization off in settings.

Does Claude have ads?

No. Anthropic pledged on 4 February 2026 that Claude will remain ad-free, with no sponsored links beside conversations and no advertiser influence on answers. The pledge is made for Claude as a whole and names no plan that is left out.

Does Gemini have ads?

The Gemini app had no ads as of October 2026. Google said in December 2025 there were no current plans to add them, and has since said it is open to exploring them (gHacks, May 2026). Ads already appear in Google Search's AI Overviews.

Does ChatGPT have ads? Yes, on Free and Go

Yes. ChatGPT shows ads on its Free and $8 Go plans. When they started, what they look like, how to avoid them, and which other AI apps run ads.

Does ChatGPT have ads?

Yes. ChatGPT shows ads on its Free plan and on ChatGPT Go ($8 a month). Plus ($20), Pro (from $100), Business, Enterprise and Edu have none. The ads sit below ChatGPT's answer, labeled as sponsored, and OpenAI says they don't change what ChatGPT tells you.

I have ChatGPT Go, which comes with my Revolut subscription, and it shows them. When I ran a writing test on it on 2 September 2026, ads appeared under three of the five answers I captured. They're reproduced word for word below.

When did ChatGPT start showing ads?

OpenAI began testing ads in the US on 9 February 2026, for logged-in adults on the Free and Go plans (Search Engine Journal, 9 February 2026). It had announced the plan in January, along with a set of advertising principles. Ads have since spread beyond the US: OpenAI announced an expansion across Europe on 1 September 2026, and my own Go account in Australia showed ads in early September.

On 6 October 2026 OpenAI announced a second format: visual ads shown beside images that ChatGPT generates for Free and Go users. A US test with a limited group of advertisers starts later in October (dpa via The Star, 8 October 2026).

What ChatGPT ads look like

A text ad appears below the end of an answer, labeled as sponsored and set apart from ChatGPT's reply. By default, OpenAI uses your conversations to choose which ads you see (CNN, 16 January 2026). A chat about recipes might bring an ad for a meal kit.

These are the three ads from my test, exactly as captured. The test rules stripped all formatting, so the layout is gone, but the words are unchanged.

Under an email politely turning down a recruiter:

Prosearch Partners -- AD

Sales & Revenue Leadership Executive Search

Appoint leaders who build high-performing sales teams, predictable revenue and sustainable growth.

Under a 40-word restaurant review:

Edible Blooms Pty Ltd -- AD

Father's Day Gifts for Dad

Gourmet hampers and thoughtful gifts for Dad, with Australia-wide delivery for 6 September.

Under an answer about why an AI app can charge $5 when its rivals charge $20:

The Amazon Publishing -- AD

Best Book Publishing Services | Affordable Prices!

Publish your book on AMZ, Kindle, Barns & Noble, Google Books, and more.

Two of the three followed the subject of the prompt: an executive search firm under a recruiter email, gift hampers under a food review. I was on the $8 Go plan at the time, and I wrote: "I was impressed by ChatGPT, but the ads were quite annoying." The full test, with every answer, is in the best AI for writing.

The new visual ads will sit next to a generated image. OpenAI says they'll be labeled and kept separate from the image itself.

Which ChatGPT plans have ads?

Plan	US price	Ads
Free	$0	Yes, unless you switch them off for fewer free messages
Go	$8 a month	Yes
Plus	$20 a month	No
Pro	From $100 a month	No
Business, Enterprise, Edu	Per seat	No

Prices from OpenAI's pricing page, checked October 2026. Ad status from OpenAI's help center and launch coverage.

Go is the plan people pay for and still see ads on. OpenAI's pricing page says of it: "This plan may include ads." I call Go a bad tier for that reason, along with its smaller default model and the short working memory inside each chat. The longer case is in is ChatGPT Go worth it.

When ChatGPT won't show an ad

OpenAI doesn't show ads to accounts identified as under 18. It also keeps ads out of conversations about health, mental health and politics (Search Engine Journal, 9 February 2026). OpenAI says the visual ads carry the same safeguard against sensitive conversations.

Do ads affect ChatGPT's answers?

OpenAI says they don't. "Answer independence" is one of the advertising principles it published in January 2026, and it means ads have no say in what ChatGPT answers.

On data, OpenAI says advertisers receive aggregate figures such as views and clicks. They don't get your conversations, your memories or your personal details, and OpenAI says it doesn't sell user data to them.

Ad personalization is on by default and draws on your chats. In ChatGPT's settings you can turn personalization off, delete your ad data, hide an ad, or see why a particular ad appeared.

Nobody outside OpenAI can check how ads are chosen or how answers are made, so answer independence is a policy you take on trust. Consumer advocates have raised a related worry: some people may struggle to tell an AI answer about a product from an ad for one (dpa, October 2026). When Anthropic ruled ads out of Claude, it said there are many good places for advertising and a conversation with Claude is not one of them.

How to get rid of ChatGPT ads

On the Free plan, open Settings, then Ads controls, and switch to the ad-free option. You get fewer messages and lose tools such as image generation and deep research, and OpenAI hasn't published the new limit. The option is for Free accounts only: OpenAI's help article says Go users would have to move back to Free to use it.
Use a Temporary Chat, which OpenAI says never shows ads.
Pay for Plus at $20 a month, or a higher plan. Paying $8 for Go leaves the ads in place.
Use an app that carries no ads. The table below lists the main ones.

Every option, with exact steps and what each costs you, is in how to turn off ChatGPT ads.

My own rule for Plus: it's worth paying for if you program, if your work pays for it, or if you use it professionally. For personal use, or a little help at work, you don't need to pay. The details are in is ChatGPT Plus worth it.

Which AI apps have ads?

App	Ads in the chat?	Status, October 2026
ChatGPT Free and Go	Yes	Text ads under answers since February 2026; visual ads beside generated images in a US test from later in October
ChatGPT Plus and above	No	Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu are ad-free
Claude	No	Anthropic pledged on 4 February 2026 that "Claude will remain ad-free", and said it would explain its reasons publicly if that ever changed
Gemini app	No	Google said in December 2025 there were "no current plans" to put ads in the Gemini app; it has since said it is open to exploring them. Google Search's AI Overviews do carry ads
Microsoft Copilot	Yes	Microsoft's privacy statement says Copilot uses prompts to provide "relevant advertising" and that ads may relate to your Copilot conversations
Perplexity	No longer	Tested sponsored follow-up questions from November 2024, then wound its ads down, as the Financial Times reported in 2026
Meta AI	None reported in replies	Since 16 December 2025, Meta uses your Meta AI chats to choose the ads you see on Facebook and Instagram, excluding sensitive topics such as health and politics (Meta, 1 October 2025)
Plainly	No	$5 a month, paid for by subscribers

Sources: Anthropic, 4 February 2026; Google's Dan Taylor via Search Engine Journal, December 2025; gHacks, May 2026; Microsoft privacy statement, updated September 2026; Meta newsroom, 1 October 2025; Financial Times via Campaign, 2026.

Meta AI's chat window stays clear of ads, but what you tell it feeds the ads elsewhere in Meta's apps, and Meta's announcement offers no switch to stop it. Copilot's ads can draw on what you ask it, as ChatGPT's do by default.

Does Plainly have ads?

No. Plainly costs $5 a month, the subscription pays for it, and nothing inside the app is an ad. Nothing you type is sent to an ad platform, and your chats are never used to target advertising.

The website itself does advertise. Plainly runs ads on Facebook and Instagram, records page views with Meta, and tells Meta when someone signs up or subscribes, using a hashed email address so Meta never sees the address itself. Plainly's privacy page sets this out under "Advertising". How the $5 covers the running costs is in how a $5 AI app makes money.

If the ads don't bother you, ChatGPT's free plan is a good place to start. It's quick and smooth, and it costs nothing. In my test, ChatGPT on Go tied for the top score, and I found the ads quite annoying.