An OpenAI charge on your bank statement almost always comes from a ChatGPT subscription or from developer use of OpenAI’s API. The most common amount is $20 a month for ChatGPT Plus. Charges of $100 or $200 a month are the Pro tiers, a one-time $5 charge right after you added a card is a verification hold that reverses itself, and small irregular amounts usually mean API usage. If the amount is close to but not exactly a plan price, sales tax is the likely reason.
How the Charge Reads on Your Statement
The descriptor varies by bank, but the word OPENAI is always in there somewhere. Common versions include OPENAI, OPENAI CHATGPT, OPENAI CHATGPTPLUS, OPENAI SUBSCRIPTION, OPENAI.COM, and OPENAI SAN FRANCISCO. Developer charges typically read OPENAI API.
ChatGPT subscriptions and the API are billed through separate systems, so an account that uses both will show separate line items.1OpenAI Help Center. Managing Billing Settings on ChatGPT Web and Platform One thing to watch for: if the subscription was bought inside the ChatGPT app on an iPhone, iPad, or Android device, the charge will read as Apple or Google rather than OpenAI, because those stores handle the billing.
What Each Amount Usually Means
Match the number on your statement against OpenAI’s published tier structure:
- $20 a month is ChatGPT Plus, the standard consumer tier.
- $100 a month is a Pro tier with roughly five times the usage limits of Plus.
- $200 a month is the top individual Pro tier, with 20 times the limits of Plus.2OpenAI Help Center. About ChatGPT Pro Tiers
- A one-off $5 charge right after you added or updated a card on the API platform is a temporary authorization hold. It reverses automatically within seven days.3OpenAI Help Center. After Updating My API Payment Method, I Noticed a $5 Charge. Is This a Temporary Hold?
- Smaller or irregular amounts, sometimes several in the same week, point to API usage. API accounts charge based on how much data an application processes, either drawing down a prepaid balance or hitting your card whenever usage crosses a threshold.
If the amount is slightly over a plan price, that is state and local sales tax, which OpenAI collects based on the address on your account and can add up to roughly 10%.4OpenAI Help Center. How Can I Request a U.S. Sales Tax Exemption?
Before Assuming Fraud, Check the Household
A charge you don’t recognize doesn’t always mean a stolen card. A few things to rule out first:
- Someone else on your card, a spouse, partner, teenager, or roommate, signed up for ChatGPT.
- A free trial you started converted to a paid subscription on its renewal date.
- You have an API account you loaded credits into and forgot about, or one that is quietly billing as an app you built runs.
- You subscribed months ago on a device and haven’t logged in since.
If none of that fits, treat it as an unauthorized charge and move to the dispute steps below.
How to Cancel the Subscription
Where you cancel depends on where you originally signed up. Canceling in the wrong place does nothing, which is how people end up billed for months after they thought they’d stopped.
If You Subscribed on the Web
Sign in at chatgpt.com, open Settings, and use the subscription or plan management option to cancel. You keep paid features until the end of the current billing period.5OpenAI Help Center. How Do I Cancel My ChatGPT Subscription
If You Subscribed Through the Apple App Store
On an iPhone or iPad, open Settings, tap your name, go to Subscriptions, find ChatGPT, and tap Cancel Subscription. On a Mac, open the App Store, click your name, then Account Settings, then Manage under Subscriptions.6Apple. If You Want to Cancel a Subscription from Apple Canceling inside the ChatGPT app itself, or on OpenAI’s website, will not stop an App Store subscription.
If You Subscribed Through Google Play
Open the Google Play Store app, tap your profile icon, then Payments and Subscriptions, then Subscriptions. Find ChatGPT and select Cancel Subscription. As with Apple, this is the only place the cancellation will actually take effect.
One boundary worth knowing: deleting your OpenAI account is not the same as canceling. Web subscriptions do get canceled automatically when the account is deleted, but Apple or Google subscriptions keep billing you even after the OpenAI account is gone, and you’ve now lost the ability to sign in and manage anything from OpenAI’s side.7OpenAI Help Center. How to Delete Your Account Always cancel first, confirm the cancellation date, and only then delete the account.
How to Request a Refund
Log in to ChatGPT with the account that was charged, open the Help Center, and use the chat widget in the bottom-right corner. Choose the billing category, and include the transaction date, the amount, and the last four digits of the card.8OpenAI Help Center. How Do I Request a Refund for My ChatGPT Subscription?
Whether you get the refund depends on your situation:
- Accidental purchases are generally eligible if you contact OpenAI within 14 days of the charge.
- Residents of the EU, UK, or Turkey are eligible for a prorated refund if they cancel within 14 days.
- Approved refunds on web subscriptions are processed within 5 to 7 business days. Google Play refunds take up to 10 business days.
- Apple subscriptions cannot be refunded by OpenAI. You have to request the refund from Apple directly.
After OpenAI issues the refund, your bank may take another 5 to 10 business days to post the credit to your statement.9Stripe. Where Is My Customer’s Refund?
Prepaid API credits are a separate matter. Under OpenAI’s service credit terms, credit sales are final and non-refundable except where the law requires otherwise, and unused credits expire one year after purchase.10OpenAI. Service Credit Terms
How to Dispute a Charge You Didn’t Authorize
If someone used your card to sign up for OpenAI without your permission, work both sides at once: OpenAI and your bank.
On OpenAI’s side, use the Help Center chat widget to reach the team that handles unauthorized purchases. Have the email address on the account, the charge amount, the transaction date, and the last four digits of the card ready.11OpenAI Help Center. Unauthorized ChatGPT or API Credit Purchase Charges: How to Request a Refund
On the bank side, you have federal protections, and the clock matters. If the card was a credit card, the Fair Credit Billing Act gives you 60 days from the date the statement was sent to notify the issuer in writing of a billing error, which includes unauthorized charges. The issuer then has 30 days to acknowledge the dispute and up to two billing cycles to resolve it.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors If it was a debit card, Regulation E gives you a similar 60-day window to report the error to your financial institution.13eCFR. 12 CFR 1005.11 – Procedures for Resolving Errors Missing the 60-day deadline can limit what your bank is required to do, so file the dispute in writing as soon as you’re sure the charge isn’t one of yours.