According to TechCrunch, OpenAI is accelerating the expansion of its ChatGPT Go subscription service of less than $5 per month (approximately 35.6 yuan renminbi) to 16 emerging countries and regions in Asia, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Viet Nam.
This low-threshold subscription scheme, which has rapidly covered hotspot markets in South and South-East Asia since its launch in India in August, aims to provide price-sensitive users with basic AI access, including unlimited chat queries and basic model support. In Malaysia, Thailand, Viet Nam, the Philippines and Pakistan, users can pay directly in local currency (e.g., the Malaysian baht) while the rest are settled in United States dollars, with the final price fluctuated slightly due to local taxes (approximately $4.5-5.5). ChatGPT Go plans to be positioned as a “prime level” service at a monthly cost of less than $5, well below the $20 of ChatGPT Plus, for individuals and SMEs with limited budgets. Core functions include unlimited chat: daily dialogue, content generation and simple task execution based on the GPT-4o Mini model.
Localized payments: In five countries, such as Malaysia, credit cards, mobile wallets (e.g., GrabPay) and bank transfers are supported to avoid exchange rate losses; other countries ‘ United States dollar payments are processed through Stripe and tax up to $5.5.
Access rights: No advertising interference, but limited to basic models, without advanced image generation or API call.
According to the OpenAI Product Manager: “Access rates are growing rapidly in Asian emerging markets, but prices are the biggest barrier. Go plans to reach more people in ChatGPT.” Since its launch in India, the programme has attracted 5 million subscribers, with a conversion rate of 8 per cent. This 16-country expansion will be on line by the end of October, with the initial focus mobile end of App, with more than 2 million new users expected in the first month. ChatGPT Go was launched in India in August 2025 at a low-key cost of $4.99 per month and quickly became the new OpenAI variable engine — the first week of subscriptions in the Indian market fell to $1 million and income contributed more than $5 million. Unlike ChatGPT Plus’s global high-end positioning, Go plans to provide a “simplified version” of the experience for “price-sensitive” groups, avoiding traffic bottlenecks for free users.
In Malaysia and Thailand, users can reduce exchange rate friction through local banks App-key subscriptions; GCash in the Philippines and MoMo integration in Viet Nam further lower the threshold. This facility is expected to boost the subscription rate of 15 per cent in South-East Asia, contributing to the markets of OpenAI Google Bard and indigenous AI, such as Line AI in Thailand.
