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Summary. You cannot claim a free year of ChatGPT Go in India any more. OpenAI's release notes date the 12-month free Go promotion for India to 3 November 2025 and mark it as ended from 21 January 2026. If you claimed it, your free year runs to the date shown in your subscription; Business Today reported the earliest ending from 4 November 2026. Unless you cancel at least 24 hours before that date, Go then renews at ₹399 a month. Some accounts may see a continuation offer: a discounted monthly price for 3 paid billing periods, on the web and Android only, which does not restart the free year. The legitimate ways to pay nothing now are the Free plan, with unlimited text chats on GPT-6, or a partner promo code if one is offered to you. Checked on 12 November 2026, Go adds more uploads and image creation, a 54K context window against Free's 27K and scheduled tasks, and it may show ads. UPI works for Go and Plus.
About this article. For people in India who claimed the free ChatGPT Go year or are searching for it. We checked offer status, renewal terms, prices and plan features against OpenAI's release notes, help centre articles, pricing page, launch post and terms of use on 12 November 2026. Some OpenAI pages block automated readers, so we read archived copies from October and November 2026. Menu labels and prices can change; OpenAI did not pay for inclusion. Researched with AI assistance and reviewed by our editorial team.
Is the free ChatGPT Go offer for India still open?
No. The dates come from OpenAI's release notes and launch post, and the last row from Business Today.
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 18 August 2025 | ChatGPT Go launches in India only, at ₹399 a month including GST |
| 3 November 2025 | OpenAI release note: eligible users in India can get 12 months of Go at no cost |
| 16 January 2026 | Go rolls out worldwide, at $8 a month in the US and with local prices in some markets |
| 21 January 2026 | Release note updated: the promotion has ended |
| From 4 November 2026 | Earliest free years reach their end and start renewing (reported) |
OpenAI's old India promotion help page now redirects to its general Go article. Any video promising a free Go year describes an offer that closed nearly 10 months ago. The original terms: users in India who were new, on Free or already on Go; one redemption per account; no promo code; the web and Android first, the App Store a week later; and a card or UPI method on file, though the year cost nothing.
How to check if your free year is still running
If you claimed the offer before 21 January 2026, you may still have Go. Check with the provider you subscribed through.
- On chatgpt.com. Sign in, open your account menu, select Settings, then Billing. Your plan and invoices are listed there.
- In the Android app. Open the Google Play Store app, go to Subscriptions and select ChatGPT.
- On iPhone or iPad. Open Settings, tap your name, then Subscriptions and ChatGPT.
Note the end date, whether renewal is on and the next payment amount. If renewal is on, Go carries on as a paid monthly plan after that date.
Because sign-ups closed on 21 January 2026, the last 12-month free years should end around late January 2027 by our count. Existing Go subscribers who had the offer added at the end of a billing cycle may run a little later.
What happens when the free year ends
OpenAI's India renewals article, updated in early November 2026, sets out the outcomes.
You do nothing. Go renews monthly at the price your billing provider shows, which for India is ₹399. If you cancel less than 24 hours before the billing date, that charge may already have gone through.
You cancel. Cancel at least 24 hours before the renewal date, on the platform where you subscribed. On chatgpt.com that is Settings, then Billing, then Cancel under Cancel plan. Uninstalling the app does not cancel anything, and cancelling does not refund past charges. After an ordinary cancellation, paid features stay until the period ends, but OpenAI's promotion terms say cancelling a free promotion may end access at once, so cancel two or three days before the renewal date rather than weeks early.
You accept a continuation offer. Some accounts see an optional discounted price when they cancel or return to Go. It covers 3 paid billing periods, then the plan renews at ₹399 a month. It is offered on the web and Android, not iOS, it differs by account, and the free year does not guarantee one. Accepting it while your free year is active keeps the remaining free time, and the discount starts at the next renewal. A continuation offer you have already used cannot be restarted.
If your subscription has ended and you are back on Free, returning to Go needs a new checkout and does not bring back the free year.
One extra step for UPI users: open your UPI app and check whether an autopay mandate for ChatGPT is still active, as Business Today advised on 3 November 2026. Cancelling in ChatGPT is what stops renewals; checking the mandate confirms nothing is left pending.
Ways to use ChatGPT without paying
1. Use the Free plan. OpenAI's pricing page lists unlimited text chats with GPT-6, subject to abuse guardrails, plus limited uploads, image creation, voice chats, deep research, memory, Codex and ChatGPT Work on desktop. Study mode, search and projects are included. For many students, Free covers most of what the Go offer gave.
2. Finish an existing free year. If yours is still running, use it until the date shown, then decide.
3. Look for a partner promo code. OpenAI's promotion terms cover codes issued by partners such as mobile carriers: one code per subscriber, some only for people who have never had Go, Plus or Pro, and some that renew automatically at the standard Go rate when the promotion ends. The terms name no current Indian campaign, so treat a code from an unofficial source with suspicion.
4. Watch for limited campaigns. OpenAI ran a ChatGPT Free referral campaign for selected users in India, Indonesia and Mexico from 18 August to 17 September 2026. Each qualifying referral doubled Free usage limits for 7 days, up to 21 days in total. It did not give Go, and the window has closed.
OpenAI's ads FAQ also mentions a free option without ads but with tighter limits, such as fewer messages and no image tools, where available.
Avoid Telegram groups selling free Go, shared logins and modified apps. OpenAI's terms bar sharing account credentials, and its promotion terms say codes cannot be sold or transferred. They also put your account and its chats at risk.
ChatGPT Go India price and what Go adds over Free
Go costs ₹399 a month in India, billed monthly only. On chatgpt.com you can pay by card, or by UPI for Go and Plus but not Pro or Business; in the Android or iOS app, Google Play or Apple bills you in local currency.
The table reflects OpenAI's pricing page as read on 12 November 2026. Plus has a $20 a month list price, and its rupee amount appears only at checkout.
| Feature | Free | Go | Plus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price in India | ₹0 | ₹399 a month | INR price shown at checkout |
| Everyday text chats | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Uploads and image creation | Limited | More | Expanded |
| GPT Instant context window | 27K | 54K | 54K |
| GPT Instant input maximum | About 12 pages | About 40 pages | About 40 pages |
| GPT-6 Sol, GPT-6.1 Sol and GPT-6 Astra | No | No | Yes |
| Scheduled tasks | No | Yes | Yes |
| Deep research | Limited | Limited | Yes |
| Legacy models | No | No | Yes |
| Ads | May appear | May appear | None |
OpenAI's Go help article says Go includes a Think option for reasoning on the web and in the mobile app, but not the Sol models. Dots, OpenAI's always-on agent, is not part of Go; our OpenAI Dots guide covers the plans that include it.
Ads may appear for Free and Go users where OpenAI has rolled them out; Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu have none. OpenAI began testing ads in the US on 9 February 2026, says they do not influence answers, and lets you turn off ad personalisation in Settings under Ad Controls. India is on OpenAI's list of countries where advertisers can buy ChatGPT ads self-serve, and our ChatGPT ads in India explainer covers what is live.
Is ₹399 worth it? If you often hit Free's upload or image limits, or want longer memory, Go is the cheapest step up. For the advanced reasoning models or no ads, you need Plus.
For IT teams and businesses
The expiry is a good moment to check how staff use ChatGPT. Go is a personal plan, and OpenAI's pricing page says content on Free, Go and Plus can be used to train its models unless the user opts out. Customer or source-code data in personal accounts sits outside company control. Ask staff who claimed the offer with a company card to cancel or move it, and review card statements for new ₹399 charges from November 2026. Then decide whether a managed workspace fits your data rules: our comparison of business AI assistant plans sets out the options, and our DPDP Rules checklist covers the obligations under India's DPDP Act.
How eCorpIT can help
eCorpIT is a Gurugram-based technology organisation, founded in 2021, assessed at CMMI Level 5 and MSME certified, with senior-led engineering teams working across AWS, Microsoft and Google platforms. Our AI and machine learning team helps Indian companies move staff from personal AI accounts to approved, governed tools. Talk to us at /contact-us/.
Last updated: 12 November 2026.
