Most people don't have one AI bill. They've quietly built a stack.
The usual suspects
| What you might pay for | What it actually is |
|---|---|
| ChatGPT Plus (~£16–20/mo) | OpenAI's consumer bundle — chat modes, images, research caps, agents (see the previous page) |
| Claude Pro (~£19–24/mo with VAT) | Anthropic's bundle — strong on docs and research; no ChatGPT-style image gen in Claude chat |
| Google AI Pro (£18.99/mo) | Gemini app + Deep Research + more video on higher tiers |
| SuperGrok (~$30/mo) | xAI — strong X/social angle, plus Imagine media |
| Microsoft 365 (£85–190/yr) | Copilot inside Word, Excel, Outlook — not the same thing as chatgpt.com |
| Notion AI, Canva, others | AI bolted onto tools you already pay for |
Stack two £20 services together and you're at ~£40/month before you've built a single thing you own.
Microsoft 365 Copilot — read this if you use Office
Copilot is not "ChatGPT included with Word." It's AI credits and limits inside Microsoft's own apps — chat in Copilot, drafting in Word, images in Designer, Deep Research on some Premium plans.
As of 2026 (see Microsoft's AI credits table):
- Personal / Family: Copilot features are for the subscription owner — not everyone on a Family plan gets full AI.
- Credits: e.g. 60 AI credits/month on Personal for image-heavy features — a world away from "unlimited ChatGPT."
- Premium tier unlocks higher limits and agents — at ~£190/yr in the UK.
I nearly double-paid here myself — ChatGPT and M365, assuming I already had "the AI" sitting in Excel. Turns out I did — but for spreadsheet-shaped jobs, not the same menu as ChatGPT at all. Know what each subscription is actually for.
Stack maths (honest)
- Overlapping chat apps (ChatGPT + Claude + Gemini) — pick one or two for daily chat, and use the free tiers to compare when we hit the hands-on lab.
- Office + ChatGPT — often genuinely justified; just be clear which job goes where.
You don't have to cancel a thing today. You just need a clear receipt for what you're already spending.
Continue — why renting breaks in ways the marketing would rather not mention.