AI Subscription & API Price Comparison (US, Spain, Mexico)
Prices checked on 2026-10-19. This is my AI subscription price comparison for the US, Spain and Mexico: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and DeepSeek, web vs App Store, plus API costs. I update this page regularly, and every number below links to the official page I took it from.
Contents
Short version: don’t buy Claude Max inside the iPhone app
This is the thing that made me start this page. Claude Max costs about 25% more if you buy it through the US App Store: Max 5x is $124.99 there, versus $100 on claude.com. Max 20x is $249.99 versus $200. Same plan, same usage, $25 or $50 extra every single month just for tapping “subscribe” in the app.
To be fair, it’s not every Claude plan. Claude Pro monthly is $20 in both places. Pro annual is $214.99 in the US App Store against $200 on the web, so about 7.5% more. Annoying, but not the same league.
Gemini is the opposite story. Google charges the same price on the web and in the App Store in all three countries I checked (US, Spain, Mexico), for every plan I could actually see in the store listing. So if you’re a Gemini person, buy wherever is convenient. If you’re a Claude Max person, open a browser.
(One caveat I’ll keep repeating: the US prices are before sales tax, on both web and App Store. More on tax below, because it’s messier than it should be, and it’s part of your real AI subscription costs.)
How to read this AI subscription price comparison
- US App Store prices exclude sales tax. Apple adds state/local tax at checkout.
- Spain and Mexico App Store prices include tax (21% IVA in Spain, 16% IVA in Mexico). Apple says so for every storefront outside the US and Canada.
- Claude web prices say “Prices shown don’t include applicable tax”, right on the pricing page.
- ChatGPT and Gemini web pages don’t say either way. I mark those as “unspecified”. In the US I’d assume tax gets added at checkout, but that’s my assumption, not something the page says.
- “Not yet verified” means I couldn’t confirm the number from an official page. I’d rather leave a gap than copy a figure from some random blog.
ChatGPT subscription prices
| Plan | US web | US App Store | Spain web | Spain App Store | Mexico web | Mexico App Store |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Go | $8/mo (tax unspecified) | $8.00 (excl. tax) | not yet verified | €7.99 (incl. IVA) | not yet verified | MX$129 (incl. IVA) |
| Plus | $20/mo (tax unspecified) | $19.99 (excl. tax) | not yet verified | €22.99 (incl. IVA) | not yet verified | MX$399 (incl. IVA) |
| Pro 100 | $100/mo | $100.00 (excl. tax) | not yet verified | €102.99 (incl. IVA) | not yet verified | MX$1,989 (incl. IVA) |
| Pro 200 | $200/mo | $200.00 (excl. tax) | not yet verified | €229.00 (incl. IVA) | not yet verified | MX$3,999 (incl. IVA) |
| Pro 500 | $500/mo | $500.00 (excl. tax) | not yet verified | €509.99 (incl. IVA) | not yet verified | MX$9,899 (incl. IVA) |
Pro now comes in three tiers, monthly only, and only Pro 500 includes Ultrafast (per OpenAI’s help center). The App Store doesn’t label billing periods, so I’m treating these as monthly based on the product names.
The ChatGPT web price in Spain and Mexico is a gap, and I’m not happy about it. OpenAI renders those prices based on your IP, and checkout needs a login. OpenAI’s help center does confirm that EEA accounts are billed in EUR and Mexico in MXN, but not the actual numbers.
Also odd: the App Store lists a second item called “ChatGPT Plus” at $200 / €229 / MX$3,999. It looks like an annual plan. But OpenAI’s own FAQ says Go and Plus are monthly only. So I don’t know what it is, and I’m not going to guess. Unresolved until someone checks it on an actual iPhone.
Claude subscription prices
| Plan | US web | US App Store | Spain web | Spain App Store | Mexico web | Mexico App Store |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pro monthly | $20 (excl. tax) | $20.00 (excl. tax) | not yet verified | €22.00 (incl. IVA) | not yet verified | MX$399 (incl. IVA) |
| Pro annual | $200 ($17/mo, excl. tax) | $214.99 (excl. tax) | not yet verified | €249.99 (incl. IVA) | not yet verified | MX$4,999 (incl. IVA) |
| Max 5x | $100 (excl. tax) | $124.99 (excl. tax) | not yet verified | €149.99 (incl. IVA) | not yet verified | MX$2,499 (incl. IVA) |
| Max 20x | $200 (excl. tax) | $249.99 (excl. tax) | not yet verified | €299.99 (incl. IVA) | not yet verified | MX$4,999 (incl. IVA) |
Max is monthly only. Anthropic’s own support article for Max literally says the price listed is the web price and mobile may differ. It does differ.
Spain and Mexico web prices: claude.com/es/pricing still shows USD to a US visitor, and the local price only shows up after you log in at claude.ai/upgrade. So I can’t put a confirmed number there yet. I’ve seen a Spanish figure floating around on third-party blogs. I’m not using it until I see it on Anthropic’s own checkout.
Gemini (Google AI) subscription prices
| Plan | US web | US App Store | Spain web | Spain App Store | Mexico web | Mexico App Store |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google AI Plus | $4.99 (tax unspecified) | $4.99 (excl. tax) | €4.99 (tax unspecified) | €4.99 (incl. IVA) | MX$99 (tax unspecified) | MX$99 (incl. IVA) |
| Google AI Pro | $19.99 | $19.99 (excl. tax) | €21.99 | €21.99 (incl. IVA) | MX$395 | MX$395 (incl. IVA) |
| Google AI Ultra (5x) | $99.99 | not visible in listing | €99.99 | not visible in listing | MX$1,999 | not visible in listing |
| Google AI Ultra (20x) | $199.99 | $199.99 (excl. tax) | €219.99 | not visible in listing | MX$3,949 | MX$3,949 (incl. IVA) |
All monthly. Google’s subscription page only lists monthly prices, so annual Gemini prices are not yet verified. The App Store item called “Ultra (30 TB)” matches the Ultra 20x price, so I’ve put it in that row. Ultra 5x doesn’t appear in the App Store listing in any of the three countries (Apple only shows the first 10 in-app purchases), and in Spain no Ultra item shows up at all.
Small observation: Ultra got split into 5x ($99.99) and 20x ($199.99). The old $249.99 Ultra price isn’t shown anymore.
DeepSeek
No paid consumer plan. The web chat and the iOS app are free, and the App Store page has no in-app purchases in the US, Spain or Mexico. You only pay if you use the API (table below).
API prices per 1M tokens (USD)
Standard tier, prices per 1 million tokens.
| Vendor | Model | Input | Cached input | Output | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAI | gpt-6-astra (flagship) | $10.00 | $1.00 | $50.00 | ≤272K input; above that $20 / $2 / $75 |
| OpenAI | gpt-6.1-sol | $2.00 | $0.10 | $10.00 | >272K: $4 / $0.20 / $15 |
| OpenAI | gpt-6-sol | $2.00 | $0.20 | $10.00 | >272K: $4 / $0.40 / $15 |
| OpenAI | gpt-6-luna | $0.10 | $0.01 | $0.50 | >272K: $0.20 / $0.02 / $0.75 |
| OpenAI | gpt-5.6-sol | $4.00 | $0.40 | $20.00 | promo price, stated to last at least until 2026-11-21 |
| OpenAI | gpt-5.6-luna | $0.20 | $0.02 | $1.20 | |
| OpenAI | gpt-5.4-mini | $0.75 | $0.075 | $4.50 | |
| OpenAI | gpt-5-mini | $0.25 | $0.025 | $2.00 | |
| OpenAI | gpt-5-nano | $0.05 | $0.005 | $0.40 | |
| Anthropic | Claude Fable 5.1 | $10 | $0.25 | $50 | top tier |
| Anthropic | Claude Opus 5.5 | $4 | $0.20 | $20 | Fast mode costs 2x |
| Anthropic | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | $2 | $0.10 | $10 | |
| Anthropic | Claude Haiku 5.5 (≤100K prompt) | $0.10 | $0.01 | $0.50 | >100K: $0.50 / $0.05 / $2.50 |
| Gemini 4 Argon | $2.00 | $0.10 | $10.00 | promo until 2026-11-30; from 12/1: $4 / $0.20 / $20 | |
| Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview | $2.00 | $0.20 | $12.00 | >200K: $4 / $0.40 / $18 | |
| Gemini 3.8 Flash | $0.75 | $0.075 | $3.75 | promo until 2026-12-31; from 2027-01-01: $1.50 / $0.15 / $7.50 | |
| Gemini 3.6 Flash | $0.75 | $0.075 | $3.75 | same promo note as 3.8 Flash | |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | $0.30 | $0.03 | $2.50 | ||
| Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite | $0.25 (audio $0.50) | see official page | see official page | I only verified the input price | |
| DeepSeek | deepseek-flash (V4.1-Flash-1017), peak | $0.30 | $0.006 | $1.20 | off-peak half price: $0.15 / $0.003 / $0.60 |
| DeepSeek | deepseek-v4-pro (V4-Pro-0813), peak | $1.32 | $0.044 | $3.96 | off-peak half price: $0.66 / $0.022 / $1.98 |
The funny part: Claude Sonnet 5.5, GPT-6.1 Sol and Gemini 4 Argon all cost exactly $2 input / $10 output right now. Three different companies, same price tag. So for the mid-tier, pick on quality and limits, not price. Until December, anyway.
Promo deadlines to put in your calendar
- Gemini 4 Argon: the promo price ends 11/30. From 12/1 it doubles to $4 / $20. If you’re building something on it, budget for the December price, not today’s.
- Gemini 3.8 Flash (and 3.6 Flash): promo runs to 12/31, then doubles to $1.50 / $7.50.
- GPT-5.6 Sol: OpenAI says the promo price lasts at least until 2026-11-21. “At least” is doing a lot of work in that sentence.
DeepSeek peak hours (read this before you compare)
The DeepSeek prices in the table are peak-hour prices. Peak means weekdays, 9:00–12:00 and 14:00–18:00 Beijing time (01:00–04:00 and 06:00–10:00 UTC). Everything else, including weekends and Chinese public holidays, is off-peak and costs half.
In practice: in Spain, peak lands in the early morning (roughly 3–6 am and 8 am–noon, summer time). In Mexico City it’s the evening and the middle of the night. A batch job in a Spanish afternoon or a Mexican working day is almost always off-peak. That’s where deepseek-flash at $0.15 in / $0.60 out becomes the cheapest thing on this page. Peak vs off-peak is the part of DeepSeek API pricing that most comparisons skip.
Why DeepSeek can price this low is a longer story. I wrote about it in DeepSeek and Huawei: it’s time for cheaper AI.
If you’re paying from Mexico
A few things I’d want to know before subscribing from Mexico:
- Claude Pro: web vs App Store. The App Store in Mexico charges MX$399 a month, IVA included. claude.com shows US$20 plus tax (that’s what it shows a US visitor; what a Mexican account sees at checkout is not yet verified). If you pay in dollars, your bank will probably add a currency conversion fee on top.
- Card declined? Pretty common. Anthropic doesn’t take PayPal, the billing address has to match what your bank has on file, and the payment may need 3D Secure. Both Anthropic and OpenAI have help pages for this.
- 16% IVA. Mexico charges 16% IVA on digital services from foreign providers. The SAT keeps a page on digital services and a registry of foreign providers. I haven’t checked line by line which AI companies are on it, so if you need a CFDI for expenses, check it yourself first.
Everything I could not verify (yet)
I’d rather show the gaps than fill them with guesses:
- ChatGPT web prices in Spain and Mexico (shown by IP, checkout needs a local login).
- Claude web prices in Spain and Mexico (local price only visible after login).
- The second “ChatGPT Plus” item in the App Store at $200 / €229 / MX$3,999. Looks annual, contradicts OpenAI’s FAQ. Unresolved.
- Gemini annual prices (Google’s page only lists monthly).
- Google AI Ultra 5x in the App Store: not visible in any of the three listings. Ultra isn’t visible at all in the Spanish App Store listing.
- Whether Gemini and ChatGPT web prices include tax: the pages don’t say.
If you’re in Spain or Mexico and can see one of these at checkout, tell me. That’s honestly the fastest way to fill the gaps in this AI subscription price comparison.
FAQ
How much does ChatGPT Go cost?
$8 a month in the US. In the App Store it’s $8.00 in the US, €7.99 in Spain (IVA included) and MX$129 in Mexico (IVA included). The Spain and Mexico web prices aren’t verified yet. The ChatGPT Plus price follows the same pattern: $20 on the web, $19.99 in the US App Store, €22.99 in the Spanish App Store and MX$399 in the Mexican one (both with IVA).
How much does Claude Code cost on the Pro plan?
Claude Code uses your Claude plan’s usage, so the price is the plan price: Pro is $20/month or $200/year on the web, before tax. If you hit limits a lot, Max 5x is $100 and Max 20x is $200. Just buy them on the web, not in the US App Store, where they’re $124.99 and $249.99. And when you do hit a limit, my Claude and Codex usage limit tracker has the 5-hour and weekly reset rules.
Is the $20 Claude plan worth it?
For me, yes, if you use it most days. But the Claude Pro price is the same for everyone and the limits are the real difference, so I wrote that part up separately in how Claude Pro and ChatGPT Plus limits work.
Is DeepSeek API cheaper than ChatGPT?
Per token, mostly yes. deepseek-flash is $0.30 in / $1.20 out at peak and half that off-peak. OpenAI’s cheapest models (gpt-5-nano at $0.05 / $0.40, gpt-6-luna at $0.10 / $0.50) are actually cheaper on paper, though. So “DeepSeek is always cheapest” isn’t true anymore. Compare the specific models you’d actually use.
Is DeepSeek API fully free?
No. The chat website and the app are free. The API is pay-as-you-go, per token, with peak and off-peak rates.
What is the new pricing for DeepSeek V4 Pro?
deepseek-v4-pro is $1.32 per 1M input tokens and $3.96 per 1M output at peak hours (cached input $0.044). Off-peak it’s half: $0.66 / $1.98.
How much does an API “subscription” cost?
APIs aren’t really subscriptions. You pay per million tokens in and out, which is why the API table above is per 1M tokens. A chat subscription is a flat monthly fee with usage limits. Which one keeps your AI subscription costs lower depends entirely on how much you use.
Sources for this AI subscription price comparison (all checked 2026-10-19)
ChatGPT / OpenAI
- ChatGPT Go announcement (US price)
- What is ChatGPT Plus (help center)
- About ChatGPT Pro tiers
- ChatGPT pricing page
- Multicurrency billing
- App Store: US · Spain · Mexico
- OpenAI API pricing
Claude / Anthropic
- Claude pricing · Claude pricing (es)
- What is the Max plan
- App Store: US · Spain · Mexico
- Claude API pricing
Gemini / Google
DeepSeek
- DeepSeek chat
- App Store: US · Spain · Mexico
- DeepSeek API pricing
Tax
- Apple: App Store pricing and tax by storefront
- Mexico: SAT digital services · SAT registry of foreign providers
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