ChatGPT Pro free trial: none on any tier, but open source maintainers get 6 months

Does ChatGPT Pro have a free trial?

No, not on any of its three tiers. We checked seven routes to free ChatGPT Pro on 9 November 2026. Two sell Pro with no trial at all, four lead to a different plan instead of Pro, and one needs an open source project that OpenAI accepts.

OpenAI's pricing page lists Pro as "From $100 / month" with "Your choice of 3 usage tiers." Those tiers are Pro 100, Pro 200 and Pro 500. Nothing on the page offers a trial, and its billing FAQ doesn't mention one. The About ChatGPT Pro tiers page, updated in early November, covers prices, allowances and billing with no trial either. It also rules out the usual workaround: "Annual billing and payment for multiple months in advance are not available."

The iPhone app is the same. Apple's US App Store listing sells ChatGPT Pro 100 at $100.00, Pro 200 at $200.00 and Pro 500 at $500.00. No trial appears next to any of them. OpenAI's own API credits guide even plans for trials it doesn't sell: "Free trials and complimentary subscriptions don't qualify" for Pro's API credit. We found no Pro trial for that rule to cover.

Every route to free ChatGPT Pro, checked 9 November 2026

Each row comes from an OpenAI page, except the App Store row, read from Apple's listing. Prices are US dollars before tax.

The Plus offers are why so many search results promise a free Pro month. A Plus trial is real for some groups, and guides blur the two plans. OpenAI's pricing page still lists ChatGPT for Teachers as free "through June 2027," and its veterans terms give a free year of Plus. Neither touches Pro. Plus gives you none of Pro's extras: GPT-6 Pro in Chat, the bigger Codex allowance and the missing five hour window. Our Plus free trial guide covers every Plus route.

How do you get six months of ChatGPT Pro as an open source maintainer?

You apply to Codex for Open Source, and OpenAI picks who gets in. Its program page, read on 9 November 2026, offers "Six months of ChatGPT Pro with Codex for day-to-day coding, triage, review, and maintainer workflows." The page doesn't name a tier. When the program opened on 7 March 2026, Pro had only one, at $200. Here's the route, step by step:

1. Check that you fit. OpenAI wants core maintainers and leaders of widely used public projects. A project that doesn't clearly fit can still apply and explain its role in the ecosystem.
2. Fill in the application form. Sending it means you agree to the Codex for Open Source Program Terms.
3. Wait for OpenAI's answer. Applying guarantees nothing, and the page lists no deadline.
4. Plan for month seven. The page doesn't say what happens when the six months end, so read your acceptance terms before then.

Two extras ride on the same form. Projects that use Codex for pull request review can get API credits from the Codex Open Source Fund. Codex Security comes "conditional," case by case, for core maintainers with write access. Don't count on Pro's monthly API credit, though: OpenAI's credits guide excludes complimentary subscriptions and doesn't say whether the open source months count as one. If you maintain nothing public, this route is closed to you.

Is there a ChatGPT Pro free trial code or invite?

No. OpenAI's promotion pages describe codes and invites for ChatGPT Plus and never name Pro. Its trial invites FAQ, read on 9 November 2026, uses Plus as its one example of a trial account type. It says OpenAI picks who can send invites for each campaign, and that new or free users are usually the ones who can accept.

The promo code page is about Plus too. It says "Some promotions are exclusively for new ChatGPT Plus subscribers," allows one code per subscriber, and adds: "Each promo code is meant for one user and cannot be transferred or sold for cash." So a Pro trial code on a coupon site or a Reddit thread is a Plus code, an expired code or an invention. Don't buy one. Our ChatGPT Pro discount guide checks every paid route to a lower Pro price.

What do ChatGPT Free and Plus give you instead of a Pro trial?

ChatGPT Free is the standing way to try ChatGPT, with no card and no end date, and Plus at $20 is the cheapest paid step. Neither one shows you Pro. OpenAI's pricing page gives Free "unlimited text chats," subject to abuse guardrails, with limits on uploads, images, voice and deep research. Plus adds advanced reasoning models, Projects, scheduled tasks and custom GPTs.

Pro is a different amount of room, not just more of the same. Since 29 October 2026, Pro 100 has about 10 times the Plus allowance in Codex and ChatGPT Work, Pro 200 about 20 times and Pro 500 about 50 times. OpenAI's help pages don't print those multiples; they follow from its April launch note for Pro 100 and the doubling it announced on 29 October. OpenAI's usage page confirms the bigger difference: "Pro 100, Pro 200 and Pro 500 currently have no five-hour usage limit in Work and Codex." Plus does. Pro also adds GPT-6 Pro in Chat, which OpenAI's pricing page describes as "Pro reasoning powered by GPT-6 Astra." ChatGPT Pro limits lists every allowance by tier. So a week on Plus tells you whether you like ChatGPT. It tells you nothing about whether you'll fill a Pro allowance.

What is the cheapest way to test ChatGPT Pro without a trial?

One month of Pro 100 at $100 is the cheapest real test of ChatGPT Pro. You can cancel the same day, and the Pro tiers page says you keep Pro until the billing period ends. Developers get part of the price back as API credit. Here's every paid route we found, as of 9 November 2026:

The API credit is the part most guides miss. OpenAI's API credits help page gives Pro 100 $100, Pro 200 $200 and Pro 500 $500 per monthly billing period, and OpenAI's release notes announced it on 28 October 2026. You claim it in Settings, then Billing, into an API organization you own under the same email. The catch is timing: "Your paid eligible subscription must have been active for at least 7 days before claiming." The first grant is prorated, so a first month returns less than the full $100. It also lapses fast: "Monthly grants expire at the end of the subscription billing cycle." It covers API Platform usage only, not Codex through API keys, and OpenAI's pricing page warns the benefit "is subject to change or discontinuation."

Refunds are tighter than the credit. OpenAI's refund page limits it to "an unused individual subscription purchase," where "a discretionary refund may be available if you contact us within seven days of the charge." A month you spent testing isn't unused. It also says "An accidental purchase, forgetting to cancel, dissatisfaction, or a plan change does not by itself qualify." Buyers in the EU, the UK and Turkey get a prorated refund if they cancel within 14 days. Apple subscribers ask Apple. So treat the $100 as spent the moment you pay.

Whizi, which publishes this page, sells the last two rows. They're paid first weeks, not free ones. The Powerhouse week is the cheapest way we know to send GPT-6 Astra prompts for 7 days, next to Claude and Gemini. It isn't ChatGPT Pro, though. There's no Codex, no ChatGPT Work, no GPT-6 Pro setting and no API credit, and 25 Astra messages is a sample, not a working week. If coding agents are why you want Pro, the Pro 100 month is the right test.