A charge from “OpenAI LLC” on your credit card statement comes from the company that makes ChatGPT. The most common amount is $20 per month, which is the ChatGPT Plus subscription, but the charge can be larger or smaller depending on which product is tied to your account. If you signed up on purpose, you can cancel from your account settings. If you didn’t, you can dispute it with OpenAI and, if needed, with your bank.
How the Charge Appears on Your Statement
The merchant descriptor isn’t always a clean “OpenAI LLC.” Depending on your bank, it may show up as OPENAI, *OPENAI CHATGPT, OPENAI.COM, *OPENAI CHATGPTPLUS, *OPENAI SUBSCRIPTION, or *OPENAI API. Some statements add “SAN FRANCISCO” to the name. If you subscribed through the ChatGPT iPhone app or an Android device, the charge may appear under Apple or Google’s billing name instead of OpenAI’s, which can make it harder to trace.
Matching the Amount to a Plan
The dollar figure is the fastest way to work out what you’re paying for.
$20 (Plus Sales Tax): ChatGPT Plus
$20 per month is ChatGPT Plus, the standard consumer subscription. Sales tax is added on top based on the address on your account, and rates range from zero in some states to over 7% in others, so the actual charge may run slightly higher than $20.1OpenAI Help Center. What is ChatGPT Plus2OpenAI Help Center. How Can I Request a US Sales Tax Exemption
Per-User Amounts: ChatGPT Business
A per-user charge points to ChatGPT Business (previously called Team). It costs $25 per user per month billed monthly, with a two-user minimum, and annual billing lowers the per-user rate. The workspace administrator handles billing, so an employee on a shared company card may see the charge before knowing a plan was set up.3OpenAI. ChatGPT Pricing
Larger Amounts: Pro or API
OpenAI also sells a Pro tier priced well above Plus, and a developer API that bills separately from any ChatGPT subscription. API charges depend on how much text your application processes and can range from a few cents to thousands of dollars in a month. The minimum credit purchase is $5, and auto-recharge can refill your balance automatically when it drops below a threshold you set, which is a common reason people see repeated API charges they weren’t expecting.4OpenAI. API Pricing5OpenAI Help Center. Managing Billing Settings on ChatGPT Web and Platform
Two OpenAI charges in the same month usually means you have both a ChatGPT subscription and an API account on the same card.
If You Don’t Remember Signing Up
Two things account for most “I never subscribed” cases.
The first is a promotional free trial. OpenAI occasionally offers free trials of paid plans, and these convert automatically into a paid subscription at the end of the trial using the payment method you entered when you signed up. The first real charge hits the day the trial ends unless you cancel first.6OpenAI Help Center. ChatGPT Promotional Subscriptions/Free Trial Invites FAQ The standard free version of ChatGPT does not require a card and will never generate a charge on its own; you have to actively upgrade and enter payment details.
The second is a temporary $5 authorization hold. When you add or update a payment method on the API platform, OpenAI places a $5 hold on your card. It’s not a real charge and drops off within seven days, though your bank may display it as “pending” in the meantime.7OpenAI Help Center. After Updating My API Payment Method, I Noticed a $5 Charge. Is This a Temporary Hold? If a pending $5 line is your only concern and you recently touched your API payment settings, wait a week.
Also check every email address you might have used. Signing up on the web with one email and again through a mobile app with another is a common way people end up double-billed.
How to Cancel
Where you cancel depends on where you subscribed. Canceling in the wrong place does nothing, and deleting the ChatGPT app doesn’t cancel anything either.
Web Subscriptions
Open ChatGPT, click your profile icon, go to Settings, select the Account tab, and choose Payment. Look for “Cancel plan” and confirm. Paid features stay active through the end of the current billing period.8OpenAI Help Center. Updating Billing Information, Tax ID, and VAT ID9OpenAI. How Do I Cancel My ChatGPT Subscription For a Business workspace, the path is the profile icon, then Workspace Settings, then Billing.
iPhone (Apple) Subscriptions
Go to Settings on your iPhone, tap your name, select Subscriptions, find ChatGPT, and tap Cancel Subscription. Apple charges 24 hours before each renewal, so cancel at least a day early to avoid the next charge.10OpenAI. How to Cancel Your Apple Subscription for ChatGPT in the ChatGPT iOS App
Android (Google Play) Subscriptions
Open the Google Play Store app, tap your profile icon, go to Payments and Subscriptions, select Subscriptions, find ChatGPT, and cancel from there.
Refunds
OpenAI’s default position is that subscription payments are non-refundable. When you cancel, you keep access through the end of the billing cycle, but you don’t get money back for unused days. API prepaid credits are also non-refundable and expire one year after purchase.11OpenAI. Service Credit Terms
A few situations fall outside that default:
- If you were billed twice for the same subscription, or charged after canceling, OpenAI will typically refund the extra charge in full. Report it through the help center.
- Residents of the EU, UK, and Turkey have a 14-day right to a full refund on an initial subscription under local consumer law. It applies to first-time sign-ups, not renewals.
- Accidental sign-ups reported quickly (ideally within 48 hours) with little use of the service may be refunded on a case-by-case basis.
Disputing a Charge You Didn’t Authorize
Start with OpenAI. Use the chat widget at help.openai.com and have the email address on the account, the charge date, and the amount ready. If someone else may have gotten into your account, change your password right away; all active sessions get logged out within 30 minutes of a password change.12OpenAI Help Center. I’m Seeing Unrecognized Activity on My OpenAI Account
If OpenAI doesn’t resolve it, or if you believe your card was used fraudulently, dispute the charge with your card issuer. For credit cards, federal rules require you to send written notice within 60 days of the statement date on which the charge appeared. The issuer must acknowledge the dispute within 30 days and complete its investigation within 90 days.13Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 1026.13 Billing Error Resolution Federal law caps personal liability for unauthorized credit card charges at $50, and most major issuers waive even that under zero-liability policies.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1643 – Liability of Holder of Credit Card
Debit cards fall under a different federal law with higher risk the longer you wait. If an unauthorized OpenAI charge hit a debit card, call your bank as soon as you notice it.