How Much Does AI Cost in India? Every Plan in ₹ (2026)

Paying for all three popular AI assistants in India costs about ₹45,000 a year. ChatGPT Go is ₹399 a month, Google AI Pro is ₹1,950 a month and Perplexity Pro is valued at about ₹17,000 a year. Most Indians got these free through 2025 promotions, and those free periods are now ending. If you use AI only a few times a week, paying per message with UPI can cost a small fraction of a subscription.

This guide puts every major AI plan in rupees, per month, per year and per day, so you can decide what to keep before the renewals start. Prices are as of November 2026.

India's free AI year is ending

In late 2025, India received more free premium AI than any other country:

ChatGPT Go became free for 12 months for users in India who signed up from 4 November 2025. When the year ends, billing switches to ₹399 a month automatically unless you cancel.
Google AI Pro was bundled free for 18 months with eligible Jio plans. The offer was valued at ₹35,100.
Perplexity Pro was given free for 12 months to Airtel customers. The offer was valued at about ₹17,000.

The first ChatGPT Go free years started ending this month. Everyone who activated the offer added a card or a UPI AutoPay mandate, so the first charge happens without any action from you.

Every major AI plan in rupees

Plan	Per month	Per year	Per day
ChatGPT Free	₹0	₹0	₹0
ChatGPT Go	₹399	₹4,788	₹13
Perplexity Pro	about ₹1,417	about ₹17,000	₹47
Google AI Pro	₹1,950	₹23,400	₹65
ChatGPT Plus	₹1,999	₹23,988	₹67
ChatGPT Pro	₹19,900	₹2,38,800	₹663
Pay per use with UPI (budget models)	from ₹10, only when needed	depends on use	₹0 on days you do not use it

ChatGPT Go, Google AI Pro and Perplexity Pro together come to about ₹45,188 a year (₹4,788 + ₹23,400 + ₹17,000). ChatGPT prices were published with GST included. Perplexity's monthly figure is the yearly value divided by 12.

How many Indians use AI, and how many pay

Measure	Figure
ChatGPT monthly users in India, January 2026	about 180 million
Gemini monthly users in India, January 2026	about 118 million
Perplexity monthly users in India, January 2026	about 19 million
Indian AI users with a paid or premium plan	3 in 10
Indian AI users who use AI for coding	39%

India has hundreds of millions of AI users, but most of them are on a free tier or a time-limited free promotion. As those promotions end, a very large number of people will choose between paying ₹399 or more a month and going back to the free tier.

Subscription or pay per use: which is cheaper?

It depends on how often you use AI.

How you use AI	Better choice	Why
Several hours every day, with voice, images and files	Subscription	Fixed price and the full app experience
A few times a week	Pay per use	You pay only for the messages you send
Coding agents, apps or automation	Pay per use API	Subscriptions do not include API access
Trying a new model	Pay per use	₹10 is enough to test, with no mandate

A ₹399 plan costs about ₹13 a day whether you use it or not. On a pay-per-use API, one typical message on a budget model costs a few paise:

Model	Messages for ₹399	Messages for ₹10
GPT-5 Nano	19,471	about 488
DeepSeek V4 Flash	10,937	about 274
GPT-5 Mini	3,893	about 97
Claude Sonnet 5	695	about 17

These counts assume 800 input and 400 output tokens per message, at Velona list prices on 30 October 2026. An API gives you the model, not the ChatGPT app, so features such as memory, voice mode and image generation in the app are not included.

Why UPI makes pay per use practical in India

UPI processed a record 25.47 billion transactions worth ₹31.53 lakh crore in October 2026, an average of about 822 million payments a day, according to NPCI data. Paying ₹10 for AI with UPI is as ordinary as paying for tea. A one-time UPI top-up also needs no international card, adds no forex markup and leaves no AutoPay mandate to cancel later.

How to keep using AI without a subscription

Find your renewal date. Check Settings in ChatGPT, the MyJio app or the Airtel Thanks app.
Decide before the charge. If you do not want to pay, cancel the plan, or revoke the AutoPay mandate in your UPI app.
Try pay per use for light use. On Velona you top up from ₹10 with any UPI app and use GPT, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek and 300+ other models from one account, priced in rupees.
Compare after a week. Check what you actually spent against ₹399.

Try AI pay per use with ₹10 by UPI. One-time payment, no mandate, no subscription. Create a free Velona account

Frequently asked questions

How much does AI cost per month in India?

ChatGPT Go costs ₹399 a month, ChatGPT Plus ₹1,999, Google AI Pro ₹1,950 and Perplexity Pro about ₹17,000 a year. Free tiers cost nothing, and pay-per-use platforms let you recharge from ₹10 with UPI.

What happens when the ChatGPT Go free year ends?

Billing switches to ₹399 a month automatically through the card or UPI mandate you added, unless you cancel before the renewal date.

What is the cheapest way to use AI in India?

The free tiers first, then pay per use for occasional needs. A ₹399 plan costs about ₹13 a day whether you use it or not, while a small UPI recharge is spent only when you send messages. ₹10 covers about 97 GPT-5 Mini messages.

Can I pay for AI with UPI in India?

Yes. ChatGPT accepts UPI through an AutoPay mandate. Pay-per-use platforms such as Velona accept one-time UPI top-ups from ₹10, with no mandate.

Disclosure: Velona publishes this guide and offers a pay-per-use AI service. Subscription prices are as published by each provider or reported in the sources below, checked in November 2026. Prices change, so confirm on the provider's checkout page.

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