I Audited My AI Subscriptions and Cut $47/Month: Here's the Spreadsheet

How I Ended Up Paying $67/Month for AI

It happened the way subscription creep always happens. One tool at a time, each justified in the moment, none reviewed after the first month.

ChatGPT Plus came first. Twenty dollars a month felt reasonable when GPT-4 launched. Then Claude Pro, because I wanted to compare models for coding work. Then Midjourney, for a project that needed generated images for about three weeks. Then GitHub Copilot, because everyone said it would make me faster. Then a couple of smaller tools, a writing assistant here, an AI summarizer there. Adding another $7/month in things I had genuinely forgotten about.

Total damage: $67/month. $804/year. For AI chatbots and assistants.

I did not realize the number until I pulled my credit card statements. The individual charges, $10 here, $20 there. Never triggered the mental alarm that a single $67 charge would have. That is how subscription pricing works, and AI companies know it.

The 4-Step Audit Process

The audit took about 30 minutes. Here is the exact process, which works for any set of subscriptions, not only AI tools.

Step 1: List everything

Pull up your credit card or bank statements for the past 90 days. Search for charges from OpenAI, Anthropic, Midjourney, GitHub, Google (Gemini Advanced), Microsoft (Copilot Pro), and any other AI-related vendor. Write each one down with the exact monthly amount. Do not rely on memory, I found two subscriptions I had completely forgotten about in this step.

Step 2: Check actual usage

For each tool, ask yourself: when did I last use this? Not "when did I last open it". When did I last use it for something that mattered? If the answer is "more than two weeks ago," that is a strong signal. If you cannot remember, that is an even stronger one.

Most AI tools have usage dashboards or conversation history. Check them. I discovered I had used Midjourney exactly twice in the previous month. For casual experiments, not for anything I needed. That is $10/month for two images I could have generated with DALL-E through ChatGPT.

Step 3: Identify overlap

This is where the real savings hide. I was paying for ChatGPT Plus AND Claude Pro AND GitHub Copilot. Three separate subscriptions that all do code assistance. Could one of them handle what I was using all three for? In my case, Claude Pro alone covered about 90% of my coding needs. The other two were redundant for how I actually work.

Common overlaps to look for:

• ChatGPT Plus + Claude Pro (both do writing, coding, analysis)
• ChatGPT Plus + Gemini Advanced (both do research, writing, image generation)
• GitHub Copilot + Claude Pro or ChatGPT Plus (all three assist with code)
• Any standalone writing AI + a general-purpose chatbot that writes well

Step 4: Decide, keep, cut, or downgrade

For each subscription, pick one of three options:

• Keep: You use it regularly for tasks nothing else handles as well.
• Cut: You rarely use it, or another tool you are keeping does the same thing.
• Downgrade: You need the tool but not at the current tier. Switch to free, or switch to a shared plan for significant savings.

My Actual Spreadsheet: What Stayed and What Got Cut

*The $47 in the title reflects additional savings after switching from the GamsGo monthly rate to a quarterly plan, which brought the effective ChatGPT cost down further to about $6/month. Saving an additional $6 versus the initial switch.

The final monthly bill: Claude Pro ($20) + GamsGo ChatGPT shared plan (~$6) = ~$26/month. Down from $67. Realistically, I could drop to $20 flat by canceling GamsGo too, but I still use ChatGPT for DALL-E image generation and its web browsing features, which Claude does not offer.

Free Tools That Actually Replaced Paid Ones

Cutting subscriptions only works if the replacement actually handles the job. Here is what I switched to and whether the trade-off was painful.

Gemini (free) replaced Midjourney for casual image work

I was using Midjourney maybe twice a month to generate quick visuals — blog headers, placeholder images, social media graphics. Google's Gemini with Imagen handles this for free. The image quality is not as refined as Midjourney's. Midjourney still produces more aesthetically consistent results, especially for stylized art. But for functional images that just need to look decent? Gemini is fine. And DALL-E through ChatGPT (which I kept via GamsGo) covers the rest.

Savings: $10/month. Pain level: minimal.

Kilo Code replaced GitHub Copilot for in-editor AI

This was the switch I was most nervous about. Copilot's inline code suggestions had become part of my muscle memory. Kilo Code is an open-source VS Code extension that connects to various AI models, including free ones. It does not have Copilot's polished ghost-text completions, but it handles code generation, refactoring, and explanation through a chat interface that I have honestly found more useful than Copilot's autocomplete for anything beyond simple boilerplate.

The real reason Copilot was redundant: I already had Claude Pro. When I needed serious coding help. Debugging, architecture decisions, understanding complex codebases. I was opening Claude, not waiting for Copilot to autocomplete. Copilot handled the small stuff (auto-completing function signatures, writing boilerplate), but Kilo Code with Kimi K2.5 free handles that too.

Savings: $10/month. Pain level: one week of adjustment, then forgotten.

Kimi K2.5 (free) handles overflow research

When Claude Pro's daily messages run low and I need to keep working, Kimi K2.5 from Moonshot AI fills the gap. Its free tier offers a large context window and solid reasoning for research and analysis tasks. It is not as strong as Claude on nuanced coding problems, but for "summarize this document" or "explain this concept" tasks, it performs well enough that I stopped reaching for a second paid subscription.

Switching ChatGPT Plus to a Shared Plan

The single biggest line-item savings came from moving ChatGPT Plus from $20/month direct to a GamsGo shared plan at roughly $6/month.

What GamsGo does: they purchase ChatGPT Team subscriptions and coordinate seat access across multiple users. You get your own login, your own conversation history within the Team workspace, and full access to GPT-4o, DALL-E, Advanced Data Analysis, and web browsing. The day-to-day experience is identical to a personal Plus subscription.

What is different: your account exists inside a Team workspace managed by GamsGo, not as a standalone account you control entirely. If GamsGo has a billing issue with OpenAI, your access depends on their resolution. You also cannot upgrade a shared seat to ChatGPT Pro ($200/month).

I have been using it for several months. No downtime, no noticeable difference in speed or model quality, no issues with message limits. The $14/month savings is real and consistent.

The One Subscription That Is Worth Full Price

Not every AI subscription should be cut. Claude Pro at $20/month is the one I kept without hesitation, and here is why.

I code for roughly 3-4 hours daily. Claude's extended thinking mode, 200K context window, and ability to work through long, multi-file codebases are things no free tool replicates. When I am debugging a complex issue across multiple files, Claude Pro handles the full context in a way that free tiers and shared plans simply cannot match. The message limits on free Claude would have me locked out by noon.

The honest test for any subscription: if the tool disappeared tomorrow, would you notice within 24 hours? Claude Pro disappearing would break my workflow within an hour. Midjourney disappearing would not register for weeks. That gap tells you everything about which subscriptions are worth keeping.

Your "must-keep" tool will probably be different from mine. Maybe you generate dozens of images weekly, then Midjourney is your keeper and Claude is cuttable. The framework is the same: high-frequency, high-impact usage justifies the cost. Everything else is a candidate for the free tier, a shared plan, or the cancel button.

How We Tested This

This article reflects direct personal experience maintaining and then auditing five AI subscriptions over a four-month period. All pricing was verified on official vendor pages and checkout flows in March 2026. GamsGo pricing confirmed through an active subscription. Affiliate relationship disclosed. Free tier capabilities tested through regular use alongside paid tools over the same period.

Usage frequency claims are based on actual conversation history and billing records, not estimates. The $47/month savings figure reflects my specific combination of subscriptions and decisions. Your results will differ based on which tools you use and how heavily you rely on them. Someone who uses ChatGPT daily for image generation would reach different conclusions than someone who primarily codes.

Frequently Asked Questions

How often should I audit my AI subscriptions?

Every three months. AI tools change fast, free tiers get more generous, new competitors launch, pricing shifts. A quarterly review takes about 20 minutes and consistently catches at least one subscription that has become redundant or forgotten. Set a calendar reminder. The first audit finds the most savings; subsequent ones are maintenance.

Can I get ChatGPT Plus features without paying $20 per month?

Yes. Shared plan platforms like GamsGo offer full GPT-4o access. Including DALL-E, Advanced Data Analysis, and web browsing, for roughly $6-8/month. They coordinate seats on ChatGPT Team plans, so you get your own login and conversation history. The trade-off is that your account lives in a shared workspace managed by a third party. Use promo code WK2NU for additional savings.

Which AI subscriptions are actually worth paying full price for?

Only the ones you use intensively and frequently for tasks that free alternatives cannot handle. For me, that is Claude Pro for daily coding work. Nothing free matches its extended thinking and large context for sustained programming sessions. For someone else, it might be Midjourney for professional image work or Gemini Advanced for deep Google Workspace integration. The test: if the tool vanished for a week, would your work suffer? If not, the free tier or a shared plan is enough.

If you want to run this same audit on all your subscriptions. Not only AI tools. Our Subscription Audit Tool walks you through the full process. And for a deeper look at reducing your ChatGPT costs specifically, the ChatGPT Plus savings guide covers shared plans and alternatives in detail.