Pick ChatGPT if
everyone who wants a hosted general assistant — writing, Q&A, light research, images.
Read the ChatGPT pageChatGPT vs Consensus
Our take
Pick ChatGPT if everyone who wants a hosted general assistant — writing, Q&A, light research, images. Pick Consensus if students and clinicians who want a paper-backed answer with a Pro/Deep meter. Skip ChatGPT if teams that cannot send prompts to OpenAI, or developers who need a repo-aware IDE (Cursor) or a local runtime (Ollama). Skip Consensus if people who need a systematic-review screening table (Elicit) or a
Best for
ChatGPT A general-purpose conversation
Consensus A question over peer-reviewed papers
Free plan
ChatGPT $0 · unlimited everyday text chats (abuse guardrails). Limited uploads, images, voice, deep research, memory, Codex, and desktop Work. Confirmed as the free plan on chatgpt.com/pricing copy and Help
Consensus $0 · /mo. Basic paper search; 10 Pro messages/month; up to 3 Deep reviews/month
Lowest paid
ChatGPT Plus $20/mo, monthly only
Consensus Pro (annual display) $12/mo
Next step up
ChatGPT Pro $100 / $200 / $500 per month
Consensus Deep (annual display) $45/mo
Coding agent
ChatGPT Codex, rate-limited on Free
Consensus
Runs where
ChatGPT Local or hosted
Consensus Hosted
Watch out
ChatGPT chatgpt.com/pricing HTML still hides $
Consensus Free Pro messages and Deep reviews are capped
Last checked
ChatGPT 2026-10-19 · help.openai.com
Consensus 2026-10-19 · consensus.app/pricing
Which one, then?
Pick Consensus if
students and clinicians who want a paper-backed answer with a Pro/Deep meter.
Read the Consensus page