ChatGPT Business quietly gets cheaper — US$20 a seat if you commit for the year

Posted: 3 April 2026 · Category: AI Assistants & Chatbots

On 2 April OpenAI reduced ChatGPT Business annual pricing to US$20 per seat per month — a US$5 cut — while monthly billing stays at US$25. It also added a new Codex-only seat type on flexible pricing for teams that only want the coding agent.

What changed

The annual commitment now buys a real discount: US$20 versus US$25 is a 20% gap, where previously annual and monthly cost the same. And the Codex-only seat acknowledges something honest about how teams actually use this stuff — plenty of organisations have three people who need the full assistant and ten developers who only want the coding agent. Until now they all cost the same.

What it means for Australians

At roughly 1.40, the annual seat lands near A$31/month versus about A$38.75 monthly — billed in USD from overseas, so check GST treatment and card fees on your invoice. For a ten-seat Australian team, the annual commitment now saves around A$900 a year against monthly billing. That's not nothing, but it buys lock-in: the discount is the price of a twelve-month decision in a market where the products reshuffle quarterly.

Our standing advice for small teams: take the monthly rate for the first quarter while you confirm the tool has stuck, then switch to annual once usage is proven. The new Codex-only seats are worth a look for any business with developers who rolled their eyes at paying for the full assistant — price your actual mix of seats rather than defaulting everyone to the same tier.

What we're watching

Whether the price cut is competitive positioning ahead of more business-tier movement across the market — Microsoft's Copilot bundles have a promotional deadline of their own this quarter — and what the Codex-only seat costs in practice once flexible pricing meets real invoices.

Sources

• OpenAI Help — Flexible pricing for the Enterprise, Edu and Business plans: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/11487671-flexible-pricing-for-the-enterprise-edu-and-business-plans (primary) [Wayback snapshot TBC]

The AI Directory Australia is independent. We review and score AI tools for Australian users — AUD pricing, AU availability, data residency, GST. We don't write ads; affiliate links are disclosed and sponsored content is labelled. Edited by Adam.