OpenAI is expanding its low-cost ChatGPT Go plan to 16 new countries across Asia, offering broader access to its AI tools. This plan, which costs under $5 per month, is now available in countries such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, East Timor, and Vietnam.
In several of these countries—including Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Pakistan—OpenAI now accepts payments in local currencies. For the rest, the subscription remains priced in U.S. dollars, with the final amount depending on regional taxes. The approach is aimed at improving affordability and accessibility in emerging markets.
ChatGPT Go includes increased daily usage limits, covering more messages, image generations, and file or image uploads. It also doubles the memory available to users compared to the free version, allowing for more context-aware and personalized conversations over time.
This expansion follows rapid growth in the region, with OpenAI noting that its weekly active user base in Southeast Asia has increased by up to four times recently. The rollout of ChatGPT Go began in India in August and extended to Indonesia in September, where the company has already seen a significant rise in paid subscriptions.
OpenAI’s push into Asia comes as competition heats up with Google, which has also launched its own affordable AI subscription. Google’s AI Plus plan, first introduced in Indonesia, has since expanded to more than 40 countries. It offers access to Gemini 2.5 Pro—Google’s most advanced model—along with tools for designing, editing images, and creating videos, plus 200GB of cloud storage.
The timing of OpenAI’s expansion aligns with several major developments at the company. At its recent DevDay 2025 event in San Francisco, CEO Sam Altman revealed that ChatGPT now has 800 million weekly active users globally, up from 700 million in August. The company also announced the introduction of apps that work directly within ChatGPT, transforming it into a broader platform.
This new platform vision positions ChatGPT as more than just a chatbot. OpenAI aims to make it a hub for various tasks and services. Whether users want to write, code, or engage with external tools and providers, these new apps are designed to offer dedicated, seamless experiences within the ChatGPT interface.
Despite its explosive growth and a staggering $500 billion valuation, OpenAI is still operating at a significant loss, reporting $7.8 billion in operating expenses for the first half of 2025. Affordable offerings like ChatGPT Go are part of its strategy to drive global adoption and move toward long-term profitability, particularly in fast-growing Asian markets where user demand is rapidly increasing.
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