OpenAI just confirmed o3-mini is dropping on ChatGPT Plus by the end of January 2025. Sam Altman broke the news on Twitter, and I want to break down exactly what this means for Plus subscribers.
First, you’ll get o3-mini automatically with your Plus subscription – no extra cost beyond what you already pay. The API pricing is still getting worked out, but Altman said it won’t be expensive.
Based on my testing of previous OpenAI models, I expect o3-mini to bring major improvements over o1. We saw this pattern with GPT-4o, where even the mini version packed serious upgrades. If you’re interested in how these generational leaps typically play out, check out my analysis of o1 on Perplexity Pro here: https://adam.holter.com/perplexity-pro-adds-openais-o1-model-what-you-need-to-know/
One key question floating around is whether the full o3 model will come to Plus. From what I’ve seen testing early access models, I doubt it – the compute costs would likely be too high for the Plus subscription price point unless it’s set to very low compute. The mini version strikes a good balance of capability and cost.
Here’s my advice: if you’re on the fence about ChatGPT Plus, now is a good time to jump in. You’ll get immediate access to o3-mini when it launches, and based on OpenAI’s track record, it should be a solid upgrade over current models.
I’ll update this post with hands-on testing once o3-mini launches. For now, what matters is that Plus subscribers are getting a significant model upgrade included in their existing subscription.
