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If you're even a moderate user of chatGPT, the equivalent cost of using the smallest GPT4 model would run you a hell of a lot more. Let's actually run the numbe

If you're even a moderate user of chatGPT, the equivalent cost of using the smallest GPT4 model would run you a hell of a lot more. Let's actually run the numbers. The cost of the GPT-4 API is ballpark around $0.05 / 1000 tokens. If you want to include a rolling context window, you will easily hit 1000+ tokens if not a huge amount more. ChatGPT pro gives you 50 GPT-4 queries every three hours. If you're using it all day you might average about 100 daily queries. Using a dedicated GPT4 API would run you approximately five dollars a day for the same thing - that's $150 a month as opposed to flat cost of $20. How hard is it to hit 100 queries in a day? Pretty damn easy when you realize that most queries aren't usually standalone - instead they involve a back and forth approach which necessitates a rolling context window and you explore the problem space. When a query (plus back and forth) might cost as much as $0.25, paying for GPT-4 via the API would only net you a whopping 80-100 queries per month before you exceeded the cost of a pro subscription. The API certainly has its advantages over the web based ChatGPT, but price is definitely not one of them.

wkat4242 3y ago
Fair enough, but I generally use GPT-3 (3.5). Because I didn't really see much benefit from GPT-4 when I had the subscription. I really didn't find it a whole lot better. The one thing I did use was the bing web lookup but they disabled that, that's when I cancelled my subscription. I really hate the web interface also. It's constantly kicking me out, so I have to log back in and rewrite my query. And it keeps switching back to GPT-3 which is one of the reasons I ended up using that. Using it with my own tooling is just so much better. And I don't really use it that much. I just don't have a lot that I need it for yet. I definitely don't even get to the 100 a month :) Also I don't use it as hard every day. On the weekend I don't tend to even touch it. But you're right, your mileage may vary wildly here. Good point though I should revisit GPT-4 again. See if it's improved.
gardenhedge 3y ago
Thanks for this insight! Based on this, I am better off with the ChatGPT monthly subscription. I tend to use it a lot with a lot of back and forth. I regularly hit the 50 GPT-4 queries. I don't even bother using GPT-3.. it's not good enough for my use.

wkat4242 3y ago

Fair enough, but I generally use GPT-3 (3.5). Because I didn't really see much benefit from GPT-4 when I had the subscription. I really didn't find it a whole lot better. The one thing I did use was the bing web lookup but they disabled that, that's when I cancelled my subscription. I really hate the web interface also. It's constantly kicking me out, so I have to log back in and rewrite my query. And it keeps switching back to GPT-3 which is one of the reasons I ended up using that. Using it with my own tooling is just so much better. And I don't really use it that much. I just don't have a lot that I need it for yet. I definitely don't even get to the 100 a month :) Also I don't use it as hard every day. On the weekend I don't tend to even touch it. But you're right, your mileage may vary wildly here. Good point though I should revisit GPT-4 again. See if it's improved.

gardenhedge 3y ago

Thanks for this insight! Based on this, I am better off with the ChatGPT monthly subscription. I tend to use it a lot with a lot of back and forth. I regularly hit the 50 GPT-4 queries. I don't even bother using GPT-3.. it's not good enough for my use.