ChatGPT ads are live: what actually launched

ChatGPT shows ads now. OpenAI began testing them in the United States on February 9, 2026, for logged-in users on the Free tier and the $8 per month Go plan. Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Edu accounts stay ad-free. Source After a year of speculation, the format people had been arguing about is in the product, and it has moved faster than the early rollout suggested.

How the ads work

The ads appear after a response, labeled “Sponsored” and kept separate from ChatGPT’s own answer. Source OpenAI picks which ad to show by matching it to the topic of your conversation, your past chats, and your prior interactions with ads. Ask about recipes and you may see a meal kit or grocery delivery ad. Source

OpenAI has drawn three lines around the format. Advertisers get aggregated data, not individual user information. Conversations are not sold to advertisers. And ads do not influence the answer itself. Source The company says the goal is “for ads to support broader access to more powerful ChatGPT features while maintaining the trust people place in ChatGPT.” Source Free users who do not want ads can switch to an ads-free experience that comes with lower usage limits, or pay for Plus to remove them without the limits. Source

What it costs advertisers

The beta was expensive and exclusive. Reported pricing put the CPM around $60, roughly three times typical social platform averages, with a minimum commitment between $200,000 and $250,000 to take part. Source That priced out everyone but large brands.

That changed quickly. OpenAI opened a self-serve Ads Manager around April 2026 and dropped the minimum, which let mid-market advertisers and smaller businesses in. Source Then in May 2026 it switched on cost-per-action ads, so advertisers can pay only when a user does something specific, such as clicking through, signing up, or making a purchase. Source That model runs on a new OpenAI conversion pixel that ties an ad to the action it drove. Source In four months the platform went from a six-figure minimum to pay-on-result buying, which is a faster commercialization curve than the early “we will go slow” messaging implied.

Where it runs

The rollout has been staged by country. Testing started in the US in February 2026, expanded to Canada, Australia, and New Zealand on March 26, and reached the United Kingdom, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, and South Korea on May 7. Source Each market opens on free and Go tiers first.

The pushback

Not everyone is playing. Anthropic ran a Super Bowl spot for Claude with the line “Ads are coming to AI. But not to Claude,” a direct shot at OpenAI’s move. Sam Altman called the campaign “dishonest.” Source The disagreement is real and it maps onto the wider split in the market, with Perplexity also rejecting ads in favor of subscriptions. The open question is whether ads inside an assistant erode the trust that made the assistant useful, or whether clear labeling and a separated placement are enough to keep that trust intact.

What it means for marketers

This is the first conversational ad inventory available at consumer scale, and the intent is unusually rich. People come to ChatGPT mid-decision, comparing options and asking for recommendations, which is the moment advertisers normally pay the most to reach. Two practical notes. First, your audience here is free and Go users, not the paying tiers, so the reach skews toward people who have not converted to a subscription. Second, the cost-per-action model lowers the risk of an early test, because you pay on outcomes rather than impressions. Source If you wanted a reason to run a controlled experiment, the removal of the minimum spend and the move to pay-on-action are it. Source

TL;DR

• ChatGPT began showing ads in the US on February 9, 2026, for Free and $8 Go users; Plus and higher tiers stay ad-free. Source
• Ads are labeled “Sponsored,” kept separate from answers, and matched to your conversation and history; OpenAI says they do not influence the answer. Source
• The beta started near a $60 CPM with a $200,000+ minimum, then opened to self-serve and dropped the minimum around April 2026. Source
• In May 2026 OpenAI added cost-per-action buying, so advertisers pay on clicks, signups, or purchases via a conversion pixel. Source
• The rollout reached Canada, Australia, and New Zealand in March and the UK, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, and South Korea in May. Source