ChatGPT now has nearly a billion daily users, and the company has given some insight into how much they actually use the product.
OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar recently offered a rare look at actual usage patterns across ChatGPT’s different subscription tiers — and the numbers reveal a sharp divide between casual users and paying ones. The core message: get someone hooked on AI for free, and they’ll eventually pay for more of it.
“Remember, our mission at OpenAI is AGI for the benefit of humanity — not for the benefit of humanity who can pay, or for the benefit of humanity who live in an enterprise, but very broad-based,” Friar said. “It’s why we offer so much for free, because we want people to get a taste. Once they get a taste of intelligence, the ability to come up a commitment curve is incredible.”
The usage data Friar shared is striking. Free users average about seven queries a day — seven turns, seven questions. The first paid tier doubles that, coming in at around fifteen. The real jump comes with ChatGPT Plus, priced at $20 a month: those users do roughly three times as many queries as free users. And at the Pro tier, the engagement is eleven times that of a free user.
“So remember when you got your flip phone, and you’re like, ‘Yeah, I don’t know, it does make some calls,'” Friar said. “Now, that same phone — think of all the things it does for you. That’s the path we’re on with intelligence right now.”
The analogy is apt, and the underlying strategy is familiar: give away enough to create habit, then convert habit into revenue. OpenAI has long bet that broad access to AI — not just among those willing to pay — is both a moral and commercial imperative. The free tier serves as a top-of-funnel, and the usage data suggests it’s working. People who pay aren’t just slightly more engaged; they’re using the product in a fundamentally different way.
That said, the strategy has its pressures. OpenAI missed its own internal targets for both new users and revenue, with CFO Friar herself reportedly warning senior leaders about the company’s ability to honour future computing contracts if growth doesn’t accelerate. With an IPO widely expected before the end of 2026, converting free users to paying ones isn’t just a product goal — it’s a financial necessity. OpenAI’s losses widened to $5 billion in 2024 on $3.7 billion in revenue, and the gap between its massive user base and its monetisation is exactly what public market investors will scrutinise. Friar’s flip phone metaphor is optimistic by design: the implication is that we’re still early, and usage — and therefore revenue — will compound. Whether the market buys that story when OpenAI eventually files will be the real test.