How To Use ChatGPT-4 For Free (Without A Plus Subscription)

In late 2022, ChatGPT took the world by storm. The chatbot introduced millions of people to the concept of large language model AI. It stoked both excitement about how far AI could go, and fears about what that could mean for certain professions — and humanity as a whole. Despite the fact people were staggered by ChatGPT as things were, OpenAI didn't stop there.

The company announced the release of GPT-4 shortly after its chatbot's initial launch. The model ChatGPT ran on, and still runs on, is GPT-3.5 — GPT-4 is far more powerful. It's 40% more likely to give a relevant answer, over 80% less likely to be tricked into breaking OpenAI's rules, and is capable of giving in-depth responses that are 25,000 words long. It's also multi-modal, as in it can generate sounds and images, not just text — though OpenAI has yet to demonstrate these capabilities.

There is a catch. If you're a ChatGPT user, GPT-4 is only available with a paid subscription. Even then, access to it is very limited. Users can only send a maximum of 25 messages every three hours. But OpenAI's chatbot isn't the only program to run off GPT-4. There are other ways to access it, many of which are free, and some don't restrict the amount you can use the model in a short space of time at the time of writing.

ChatGPT is the core of Microsoft's recent Bing revamp. Users can now ask a conversational version of the tech giant's search engine to perform tasks. The LLM chatbot will then do its best to complete these tasks. Although it isn't always accurate, it does provide a new way of gathering and digesting information. What the general public knows less about is what's going on under the hood. Bing Chat is actually powered by GPT-4. 

Microsoft is one of OpenAI's biggest investors, so it's understandable that the company would have access to the best language model OpenAI has released so far. Like ChatGPT, the original Bing chat was powered by GPT-3.5 and wasn't really anything special. It received an upgrade a while ago, and the model powering it was switched to GPT-4 when that happened. You can talk to Bing as much as you want to, and it also has some other advantages over OpenAI's original model. While ChatGPT's internet access is plugin-dependent and limited, the ability to search the web is central to Bing's design.

Bing is arguably the better chatbot of the two, but even then, it has some limitations. It is less teachable than the vanilla GPT-4 and less suited to providing lengthy answers. Still, it's free to check out provided you have a Microsoft account and access to the company's Edge browser, so why not give it a go?

Forefront is one of the more unique ways to interact with the GPT-4 model. It's also totally free, fast, and allows for unlimited use. Forefront's unique selling point revolves around the persona you select prior to the chat. Pre-made personas are available, and there are plenty of both real and fictional characters to choose from. So if you want to converse with an AI pretending to be Joan of Arc, Taylor Swift, or Batman, now is your chance.

Users can even create their own personas if none of the pre-made options seem appealing. If you're just looking for something close to vanilla GPT-4, the "helpful assistant" option might be your best bet. Equally, if you're looking for a recipe, a chef persona like Gordon Ramsay may provide a more unique answer. If you have a question about tech, why not ask AI Steve Jobs?

One of the ways Forefront is superior to ChatGPT is in its organization. You can create multiple folders and store chats within them. So you can keep your roleplays separate from your business questions. While Forefront is free to use, it does require an account. Users can create one specifically or simply sign in with Google.

Quora's Poe platform is a great way to interact with many AI chatbots, one of which is GPT-4. To access the bot, you'll need to sign in with a dedicated account or with a Google or Apple account. While you can access GPT-4 and a number of other language models through Poe, access to some of them is limited and GPT-4 is one of the models on the limited list. You'll only be able to send so many free messages a day before Poe shuts you down. 

This is more access to GPT-4 than ChatGPT currently allows its free users, and is pretty close to the level of service OpenAI users are paying $20 per month for — though those OpenAI users may be able to send more messages as things stand. You can't subscribe to Poe online, either; instead, you have to do it through Apple's App Store.

The number of free messages you can send seems to depend on overall demand. During testing, we could only send one message before getting locked out. The reset timer also seems to be set to GMT +1, so your message count will reset at around 8 p.m. Eastern Time if you're in the United States. This is more one to watch than anything else. It's a platform with great potential, and the other chatbots are worth using. When the company eventually ups the message count, it could be the go-to for GPT-4, as well.

Despite getting enough signups to break its own system, OpenAI isn't generating the majority of its income from ChatGPT Plus subscriptions. Instead, it leases its models to other companies, which then use them to create their own programs. What this means is, there are already many sites on the internet that will let you interact with GPT-4 — and there's likely to be many more as time goes on. 

Some sites, like Poe and Ora, also offer the model but with pretty heavy limitations. You can't get a decent chat going with their current message limits in place, but they are worth bookmarking and keeping an eye on. Those message limits are likely to be loosened up at some point, which will lead to both platforms becoming viable and well-constructed options for people who want to use GPT-4. OpenAI may also make GPT-4 its standard model for ChatGPT once the hype surrounding the model has calmed down a bit.

There's also a good chance you could be interacting with the model now or in the near future and not even know it. GPT-4 wasn't built to be a novelty you can chat with online — it was designed to bring AI to the next level. So there's every chance even more search engines will take it or something similar on board. Customer services are another area where GPT-4 is likely to shine — though Amazon, like Google, has its own LLM AI in the works, so keep your eyes and mind open as you chat online.