OpenAI is quickly rolling out its budget-friendly ChatGPT Go subscription, priced below $5, to 16 additional Asian countries. This plan is now accessible in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, East Timor, and Vietnam.
In certain markets like Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Pakistan, users have the option to pay in their local currency. For the other countries, payment is required in USD at roughly $5, with the exact amount subject to local taxes.
Image Credits: OpenAI With ChatGPT Go, subscribers receive increased daily allowances for messaging, generating images, and uploading files or pictures. This plan also provides double the memory compared to the free version, allowing for more tailored replies.
OpenAI attributes this expansion to a surge in its weekly active users in Southeast Asia, which has grown up to fourfold. The Go plan debuted in India in August, followed by a launch in Indonesia in September. Since then, the number of paying users in India has doubled, according to OpenAI.
OpenAI is in a race with Google to offer cost-effective AI chatbot subscriptions in more locations. Google introduced its Google AI Plus plan, with a similar price point, in Indonesia in September, and later extended it to over 40 countries. The Plus plan grants access to Gemini 2.5 Pro, Google’s most sophisticated AI model, as well as creative tools for making images and videos—such as Flow for design, Whisk for image remixing, and Veo 3 Fast for video production—plus 200GB of cloud storage.
This expansion arrives at a crucial time for OpenAI. During its DevDay 2025 event in San Francisco this week, CEO Sam Altman revealed that ChatGPT now boasts 800 million weekly active users worldwide, up from 700 million in August. The company also announced a significant update to its platform, unveiling apps that run directly within ChatGPT, turning the chatbot into an app ecosystem reminiscent of an app store, with partners such as Spotify, Zillow, and Coursera, among others.
“Our goal over the coming years is to make ChatGPT function more like an operating system where users can access various applications,” Nick Turley, head of ChatGPT, explained to TechCrunch during the event. “If you want to write, there’s an app for that. If you want to code, there’s an app for that. If you want to engage with products and services, there are apps available for you.”
Even with OpenAI’s swift expansion and its recent $500 billion valuation, the company disclosed a $7.8 billion operating loss in the first half of 2025, as it continues to invest heavily in AI infrastructure. Affordable plans like ChatGPT Go are viewed as a key move toward profitability, while also growing its international user base—especially in rapidly developing Asian markets where both OpenAI and Google are vying for dominance.
