Buy the one plan that gives you the models you actually use, because most people who pay for AI pay for one product. Andreessen Horowitz found that only 13% of users who pay for one AI product pay for even one other AI tool. If you expect to keep one plan, choose one that lets you compare several models on your own work instead of locking you into one model's strengths and blind spots.
Do most people pay for more than one AI subscription?
No. Most people who pay for AI pay for one plan and stop there.
Andreessen Horowitz found that only 13% of users who pay for one AI product pay for even one other AI tool. The data comes from its Top 100 Gen AI Consumer Apps report, built on a U.S. e-receipt panel from YipitData, so it describes what people actually charged to their cards rather than what they said in a survey.
Paying at all is still a newer habit than it looks. Andreessen Horowitz found that as of August, just 4.5% of U.S. consumers had an active paid personal subscription to ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude, up from 2.1% a year earlier. Many people are making this decision for the first time right now.
Why does the first AI subscription matter so much?
Because the plan you pick decides which models you see every day, and most payers do not pay for a second AI tool.
Each chat model has different strengths. One may write a cleaner email, another may reason more carefully through a pricing decision, a third may find fresher sources. When your only plan covers one model, you only ever see that model's answer, and you have no easy way to notice when another model would have done better.
The spending data shows how uneven the habit is. Andreessen Horowitz found that the top 1% of AI payers pays an average of $903 per month on consumer cards for AI, while the median AI payer spends $25 per month. Heavy users stack plans; typical users keep one modest plan. If you are a typical user, your one plan has to do the work that heavy users spread across several.
What should you compare before you buy?
Compare plans on the work you do every week, not on a general ranking.
- **The models included.** Check which chat models the plan gives you and whether new models arrive on the same plan or need a new subscription.
- **The tasks you repeat.** Write down your three most frequent tasks, such as client emails, a weekly report or research for a decision.
- **The answer you would actually use.** For each task, judge the plan by the answer you would send or act on, not by the one that sounds most impressive.
- **The extras you would otherwise buy.** If you also need images, video or long writing, check whether the plan covers them or whether you would end up with a second subscription anyway.
- **The exit.** Check that you can start free or cancel at any time, so a wrong first choice does not cost months.
How do you test plans on your own work in one afternoon?
Run the same real prompts through the models you are choosing between, side by side.
- **Pick three prompts from this week.** Use the exact wording you sent at work, not a test question.
- **Freeze the wording.** Every model gets the same prompt, in a fresh conversation.
- **Read the answers next to each other.** Note where they agree, and where one adds something the others missed.
- **Mark the winner per task.** You will often find that the better model changes from one task to the next.
- **Count the tasks where a second model changed your decision.** If that happened even once, you want access to several models, which is a different question from paying for several subscriptions.
What does one subscription with several models look like?
SmophyAI is an AI workspace where ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Perplexity and DeepSeek answer the same prompt side by side in one subscription.
Multi-Chat sends one prompt to all six models at once, so the afternoon test above becomes a single action instead of six tabs. Best Answer then combines the strongest information from the six responses into one reply, and Smophy Mode picks the model best suited to a task when you would rather not choose. Image, video and writing studios sit in the same plan, so creative work does not need its own subscription.
The plan costs $19.98 a month, with a yearly option at $215.78. You can start free and run your three prompts before you decide.
Common questions
Which AI subscription should I buy first?
Buy the plan that covers the models you need for your most frequent tasks. Andreessen Horowitz found that only 13% of AI payers pay for a second AI tool, so expect this plan to carry most of your AI work.
Is it worth paying for an AI subscription?
It is worth it when the paid plan changes the answers you use at work. Test your three most frequent prompts on the free tier first, then pay for the plan whose answers you would actually send.
Should I pay for more than one AI subscription?
Only if one plan cannot give you the models you need. Most people do not: Andreessen Horowitz found that only 13% of users who pay for one AI product pay for another. One workspace with several models in one plan gives you the comparison without the second bill.
How much do people spend on AI subscriptions?
Andreessen Horowitz found that the median AI payer spends $25 per month, while the top 1% of payers spends an average of $903 per month on consumer cards for AI.
Can I use ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini in one subscription?
Yes. SmophyAI puts ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Perplexity and DeepSeek in one plan for $19.98 a month, and Multi-Chat shows their answers to the same prompt side by side.
Sources
About SmophyAI
SmophyAI is an AI workspace where ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Perplexity and DeepSeek answer the same prompt side by side in one subscription, with Best Answer, Smophy Mode routing and studios for images, video and writing. Try Multi-Chat
About the author. Kamil Kępiński is the founder of Smophy Labs Inc. and builder of SmophyAI.
Try SmophyAI today
One workspace for chat, images, video, writing, and business tools.
Start free with 10 messages, then upgrade from $19.98/month when you need more.
Start free at smophy.ai