An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Every ChatGPT AI Model

ChatGPT is more than just a chatbot—it’s a powerful platform that can be used to make some aspects of your work much easier. But it isn’t one-size-fits-all. The platform lets users choose between several distinct AI models, all with their own strengths, weaknesses, and use cases. Think of ChatGPT as a toolbox with multiple screwdrivers inside; just like different screws require different screwdrivers, different tasks and challenges require different AI models. But with so many models, nearly all of which have technical names like GPT-4o, o1 pro, and o4-mini-high, it isn’t always clear which models you should use, and when. Plus, ChatGPT’s lineup of models changes depending on your account status. Some are available to Free users of the app, some to Plus users who pay $20 a month, and some only for high-fee Pro and Enterprise accounts. Whether you’re using ChatGPT through the Free plan, the Plus plan, the $200 per month Pro plan, the SMB-focused Team plan, or the Enterprise plan to help your business get things done, we’ve created a living guide to ChatGPT’s current lineup of AI models. We’ll run through strengths, weaknesses, and example use cases for each of the models, and give you some points on how to use them in your everyday life. (One note: We’ll only be discussing models available on ChatGPT, not those exclusive to OpenAI’s API, such as GPT 4.1.) Ready? Let’s dive in. Available for free GPT-4o and GPT-4.1 mini GPT-4o is ChatGPT’s default, flagship model. It’s a jack-of-all-trades, but a master of none, and should be used for everyday tasks like brainstorming ideas, summarizing documents, or just throwing ideas around. GPT-4o was OpenAI’s first multimodal model, meaning it can process and analyze text, audio, images, and video. Imagine you had to miss a meeting at work in which a new business process you developed was introduced. You could upload a recording of the video to GPT-4o and ask it to analyze the meeting participants’ reactions to the new process. Other examples for how to use GPT-4o, according to OpenAI, include drafting follow-up emails and proofreading reports. The model doesn’t top the charts on any major benchmarks, but is fast and reliable, making it a great daily companion. There’s also a smaller, even faster version of the model called GPT-4o-mini, which OpenAI suggests using to handle small tasks that need to be repeated on a large scale. GPT-4o is available to every ChatGPT user, and is the only model available to users on the free tier. Free users can send GPT-4o a limited number of messages depending on the current traffic on ChatGPT. When free users exceed the allowed number of messages, they’ll be temporarily switched to GPT-4.1 mini, a smaller, faster version of a GPT-4.1, a model exclusive to paid subscribers. Recently, OpenAI had to roll back an update to GPT-4o that made the model too “sycophantic,” emphasizing the point that these models are constantly changing and evolving. Available to ChatGPT Plus and ChatGPT Team members GPT-4.5 (research preview) Released as a beta-like research preview in February 2025, GPT-4.5 has gained a reputation for being OpenAI’s most “emotionally intelligent” AI model, and was trained on significantly more data than its predecessors. OpenAI says GPT-4.5 is particularly skilled at writing, and should be used for creative projects and to help improve communications between people. Plus, because of its increased training data, GPT-4.5 tends to hallucinate less than other models. Because of the model’s enhanced ability to pick up on emotional tone, OpenAI has suggested that people use GPT-4.5 like a virtual therapist. At work, you could ask the model to help you figure out how to breach potentially fraught topics like pay and working conditions, or use it to help edit your end-of-week memo to employees. In your personal life, GPT-4.5 can serve as a neutral third party for you to talk things out with. If you’re just looking for a human-like personality to chat with, this is the model for you. GPT-4.1 Initially released exclusively for business use through OpenAI’s API, GPT-4.1 is an AI model specifically designed for software developers. It has a high level of capability when it comes to coding, and following complicated instructions, making it a useful companion for professionals who need to maintain codebases or develop applications. GPT-4.1 is also notable for its large context window size. In AI, context window size refers to the amount of tokens, or units of information, that a model can process at once. A larger context window means the model can process more data, enabling users to analyze larger datasets. Due to popular demand from software developers, OpenAI added GPT-4.1 to ChatGPT in mid-May 2025. o3 OpenAI’s o3 model is the company’s top-of-the-line “reasoning model,” meaning that instead of immediately attempting to answer queries, it will take time to reason out the best way to fulfill your request, and will solve the problem over multiple steps. o3 has a kind of inner monologue that it uses to talk with itself about what a user is requesting, and options for accomplishing the task. Then, it can search the internet for that data, analyze the information, and determine whether more steps are required. OpenAI says that you should use o3 to solve tasks that require strategic planning and detailed analysis, like developing a market environment report or converting sales data from an Excel spreadsheet into a forecast graphic. According to AI model evaluation company Vals, o3 is the best-performing AI model for handling tax-related questions and analysis, reaching 79 percent accuracy in the benchmark. Vals also found that o3 is the top model for replicating the work of an entry-level financial analyst, but even then answered only 48 percent of questions accurately. Outside of work, o3 can act like a powerful web search assistant that will continue searching even when you’re not using the app. Imagine you were attempting to fix an appliance but can’t find the instruction manual—you could take a photo of the machine and have o3 find the manual online for you. o4-mini and o4-mini-high o4-mini is the latest edition of OpenAI’s line of smaller, faster reasoning models. Mini models haven’t been trained on the same amount of data as their full-size counterparts, which means they aren’t as useful at answering questions about the world, pop culture, or history, but they make up for that with enhanced capabilities in coding, science, and math. OpenAI also offers a model called o4-mini-high, which basically just means that the model has been trained to put in a higher level of effort, markedly improving performance. OpenAI says that o4-mini and o4-mini-high should be used for STEM-related queries and programming assistance. If you need to analyze a very large data set in a short amount of time or need to quickly review a code repository, this might be your solution. Available for ChatGPT Pro and ChatGPT Enterprise members o1 pro Only those who have enterprise accounts or subscribe to OpenAI’s $200 per month Pro tier can use o1 pro, a version of OpenAI’s original reasoning model that uses additional compute to think harder. Like the name suggests, this model is really only for people looking to do highly technical work with ChatGPT, like analyzing and rewriting large amounts of code or creating documentation that needs to contain very specific details and information. For instance, OpenAI says that the model could be used to draft a detailed risk-analysis memo for an EU data-privacy rollout. Be sparing with your use of o1 pro, though, because you only get five requests per month. Retired models As OpenAI releases more capable models, they occasionally sunset older ones that have been replaced by better and cheaper alternatives. GPT-4 At the end of April 2025, the company announced that it would fully remove GPT-4 from ChatGPT. GPT-4 came out in early 2023 and marked a major step up for AI development, but has since been eclipsed by GPT-4o, which offers the same experience as its predecessor but is faster, cheaper, and more capable. GPT-4o mini In mid-May 2025, OpenAI announced that ChatGPT would replace GPT-4o-mini, a smaller, faster version of GPT-4o, with new model GPT-4.1 mini. Previously, free ChatGPT users would be forced to use GPT-4o mini after sending a limited number of messages to GPT-4o, but will now use GPT-4.1 mini. The future Finally, one model to look forward to: OpenAI says that it will launch GPT-5, the company’s next flagship model, this summer. According to Sam Altman, GPT-5 will unite OpenAI’s “GPT” and “o” series of models into a single line. “How about we fix our model naming by this summer,” Altman wrote on X in April, “and everyone gets a few more months to make fun of us (which we very much deserve) until then?” BY BEN SHERRY @BENLUCASSHERRY